Basil Thief Post Inspired Dozens of Bad Jokes

Brownstoner picked up my recent post about a Carroll Gardens basil thief this morning. Now, I know that the venerable Brooklyn blog regularly attracts many comments--but 120! About basil?!

For some reason, many of the comments have taken the form of bad puns. I guess the topic is so inherently ridiculous, this is to be expected. But there are so many. Here's a sampling of the worst.

Set a trap and "Pesto" your problems will be over.

Part of a larger scheme, or just a capresious act? Anyway, they should leave it alone next thyme.

In that hood it might well be an oreganosed crime syndicate.

sage advise from slopefarm.

but what is really at the root of this problem?

Pinching the top leaves does produce a fuller bush.

Basilly, I don't care.

Is it safe to cumin to this conversation?

Only if you want to curry favor, Biff.

Is anyone going to Scarborough Fair this eeekend???

This thread is allspice now.
Its driving me nutmeg.

Back to the security issue, we'd better cardamom off the area, before any more unsuspecting herbs are, ah, salted. Anyway, you know what I mint.

A Good Sign: Barney's Hardware

Since 1929, the sign says. In Greenwich Village on Sixth, near 11th.

For Those Heartsick Over Joe Jr.'s Closing

During all the Sturm and Drang surrounding the closing of the beloved Greenwich Village diner Joe Jr. last week, I was surprised that no one mentioned that there's another diner of the same name on Third Avenue and 16th Street.

Both diners were once owned by the same family but operated independently. (No one has yet discovered the identity of the diners' namesake.) The two have had nothing to do with each other for some decades. But the remaining Joe Junior (which spells out the name for some reason) has much of the same classic diner-ish appeal as the deceased Joe Jr. For those aching for their lost Village diner, they may want to give the remaining, estranged sibling a try.

Basil Thieves Rampant in Carroll Gardens

Some gourmet, locavore thieves have been relieving a law-abiding, pesto-loving Carroll Gardens gardener of his or her hard-won fresh basil. And it's just horrible!

"PLEASE Stop taking our BASIL!" cried the sign on President Street near Henry. "IT IS VERY Cheap AND YOU CAN buy you own."

This is true. Also, you can buy your own seeds, which is even cheaper.

But here's where your heart breaks. "P.S. The children are quite disturbed by your actions. And so are the adults."

Won't someone please, please, think of the children!

Another Landmark Leveled In The Name of Higher Education

The new blog ArchiTakes, subtitled "on architecture in New York and beyond," tells us that everybody's favorite New York preservation watchdog—The City University of New York (almost as good at NYU and Columbia)—has demolished a 1914 garage on its LaGuardia Community College campus that was part of the historic Loose-Wiles Sunshine Biscuit plant in Long Island City.

The building had been protected by its formal status as “eligible” for listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places until the New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) issued a Letter of Resolution allowing its demolition in January. The ground on which the building stood will be paved for parking.

The garage was built to house trucks for the adjacent main building of the Loose-Wiles Sunshine Biscuit Company, the world’s largest bakery from its completion in 1912 until 1955. The bakery’s famous 1000 windows allowed for a daylit workplace and gave the Sunshine brand its name. It is now part of LaGuardia’s Campus...

A 2000 inspection report estimated the cost of restoring the 63,000 square foot garage at $6.5 million and the cost of replacement at $7.9 million... The 2000 report was updated in 2005 to say that “the overall condition of the building has not significantly changed in 5 years”, but that “the cost at this time will have mushroomed to $9 million given escalation and increased construction costs generally”.

DASNY’s letter proposing the building’s demolition to SHPO cites this $9 million restoration estimate and asserts CUNY’s mission “to provide higher education to those who may not have any other opportunity for college”. It states that “repairing the Garage does not fulfill the mission of CUNY or LGCC” and concludes that demolition is “the only reasonable, prudent and cost effective alternative”.

Vile, dissembling insects. They're like rampaging robots who can only understand they're pre-programmed mission. "Must destroy garage. Does not fulfill mission. Must fulfill mission. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy."

A Good Sign: Day-O Restaurant

I know a lot of people thought it tacky and were glad when it closed down, but I always thought Day-O Restaurant on Greenwich Village had a certain charm. Certainly, it's sign did.

Remembering Steak Row

Some time ago I posted an item about how one measure of the paling character New York is that its streets used to have more interesting nicknames (Swing Street, Newspaper Row, The Bloody Angle, etc.)

One I forgot is Steak Row. East 45th Street between Lexington and First used to have so many red-meat joints that it won this moniker. By most accounts, the "Mayor of Steak Row" was John C. Bruno, the owner of the Pen and Pencil at 205 E. 45th Street. Also on this strip were Joe & Rose's and The Pressbox, The Editorial and Danny's Hideaway. These last three were founded by former Pen & Pencil employees.

Bruno died in 1965, and Steak Row started to fade soon after. A few joints still merited a mention in the 1976 New York Times Guide to Dining Out in New York. The Press Box Steakhouse at 139 E. 45th Street was termed to have the "atmosphere, neither elegant nor simple, [of] that of a slightly rundown businessman's pub." Joe & Rose (which was actually on Third) was said to have "the air of an old-timer," and a place where "you don't feel really welcome unless you're one of the gang."

Nowadays, there's hardly a trace. Remnants include Pietro's, which used to be on 45th but is now on 43rd, and The Palm. The Palm was never on 45th, but, being just around the corner on Second Avenue, is was somewhat considered part of Steak Row.

Read this article from 1959 for more:

NORTH, EAST, SOUTH, WEST, YOU'LL FIND THE "NEW YORK CUT" IS BEST

LIKE steak?

There are more good steak houses in one small area of New York, specifically between Lexington and Second Aves. in the East 40's, than you'll find in the average city of a half million population. There are so many steak houses in that neighborhood, in fact, that East 45th St., within those boundary lines, has become known as Steak Row.

It all started back in 1923, when CHRIST CELLA, a former plasterer, opened a tiny basement kitchen in an apartment house and gave it his name. A fellow immigrant from Parma, Italy, Colombo Pecci, followed suit by converting a Chinese laundry and shoe store into the present COLOMBO'S steak house. Next in line was John Ganzi, who opened THE PALM on the site of a former funeral parlor. Pietro Donnini then established himself in an upstairs room on the northeast corner of 45th St. and Third Ave. as PIETRO'S. SCRIBE'S was opened by Louis Agazzi, another immigrant from Italy, further up the street.

These men, along with Joseph Resteghini, John C. (PEN & PENCIL) Bruno, Dalmo Pozzi, Lino Conti, and Pio Bossi are the pioneers of Steak Row. Resteghini opened JOE & ROSE's in 1915 as a delicatessen with a tiny back room which became a restaurant. Resteghini's son, Fred, present owner of JOE & ROSE's, recalls that when Prohibition came in, JOE & ROSE's became a speakeasy, serving regular customers and all the other restaurateurs who patronized the place in their off hours. After repeal it reverted back to a legitimate Italian restaurant.

Charles Stradella owned a liquor store on Ninth Ave. which he sold in order to buy a small restaurant, in 1938, for his son, Danny. He took over a beer joint at 203 E. 45th St. and with the aid of his son-in-law, Dalmo Pozzi, created the original PEN & PENCIL, then known as Charley's Rail.

In 1939 John C. Bruno left the Hotel Lincoln's Blue Room to become headwaiter at the PEN & PENCIL (his wife was Frances Stradella, Danny's sister). With him, Bruno brought along Henry Castello. In the years that followed, Bruno's PEN & PENCIL was to become the spawning spot for three rival steak houses on Steak Row: The PRESSBOX, the EDITORIAL, and DANNY'S HIDEAWAY. They were founded by PEN & PENCIL employees who had been trained by John Bruno.

Danny's Hideaway (& His Inferno), at 151 E. 45th St., started as a one-room bistro seating six, with Mamma Rosa doing the cooking and Danny acting as his own waiter and barkeep. Within the next dozen years the operation was to expand to take in three four-story buildings, with 11 dining rooms seating 300, two separate kitchens and two completely stocked bars on different levels.

Outside, a 60-ft. awning proclaims it the home of DANNY'S HIDEAWAY and His Inferno; His Music Room; His Menu Room; His Key Room; His Nook. Celebrity parties have become his specialty and everything has been celebrated there from the signing of a new TV contract to the taking of a bride.

One of the youngest restaurateurs on Steak Row, and certainly the smallest—he weighs 130 pounds, stands 5 ft. 2 inches on tiptoe—Dante Charles Stradella, as he was christened (Stradella means "little street"), is also probably the most photographed. The walls of his restaurant are adorned with some 2,000 photographs of celebrities of stage, screen, TV, radio, sports, advertising, magazines and newspapers, and in at least 90 per cent of these pictures Danny appears as a host.

DANNY'S HIDEAWAY still is largely a family affair. Mamma Stradella died several years ago but sister Dora's husband, Pete Berutti, is Danny's maitre d'hotel; sister Josephine's husband, Dalmo Pozzi, is treasurer and general manager; and Frank Longo, the office manager, is a cousin.

The secret of Danny's success, aside from good food, is his gentleness of manner and his quiet charm. He is a hard-working host who doesn't find it beneath his dignity to clear a table or pinch hit in the kitchen during rush hours. His own explanation is simpler. He merely says, "I like people."

Danny's success spurred Henry Castello and Harry Storm, both PEN & PENCIL bartenders, to team up with former VOISIN waitercaptain Fred O. Manfredi and open the PRESSBOX. ChaLles Fallini and Lino Conti, onetime chefs at PEN & PENCIL got the same notion and they, too, teamed to open the EDITORIAL, next door to Danny's.

Bruno's Pen & Pencil expanded from 203 E. 45th St. to a larger location at 205, on the premises of a former soda fountain. John redecorated the new place to include watercolor paintings by Milton Marx of famous writers, from Lord Byron down, and at least two great newspaper publishers—Joseph Medill Patterson and William Randolph Hearst.

(It was, incidentally, the pre-World War II patronage of newspapermen and magazine employees in the neighborhood which inspired the local restaurants to take such names as PEN & PENCIL, EDITORIAL, PRESSBOX, FOURTH ESTATE, LATE EDITION and FRONT PAGE. In those days a steak dinner could be had for $1.75. Today, the same platter costs nearer $7.00.)

John C. Bruno, tall, still slim and handsome, is an opera fan (owns a box at the Metropolitan every sea-son) and indulges in an expensive sideline—horse racing; but can still take time out to tell you how to cook a steak. Several seasons ago, to introduce his restaurant to a newer set of patrons, he employed publicist Michael Sean O'Shea to stage semi-annual champagne-and-steak supper parties for celebrities of the stage and screen. At one memorable affair that went from mid-night to dawn the guests included Ethel Merman, Joan Crawford, Tallulah Bankhead, Shirley Booth and Ginger Rogers.

Around the corner from Steak Row is THE PALM on Second Ave., originally a newspaperman's hangout (its walls are decorated with cartoons) but now too expensive for most newspapermen unless they have expense accounts.

Across the street from THE PALM at 834 Second Ave. is MIKE MANUCHE'S and that was formerly CAMILLO'S. (CAMILLO's is now at 160 E. 48th St.) Mike is a former Air Force pilot who took up the restaurant business more or less by accident after the war and made a success of it. He is, incidentally, the husband of Martha Wright, the TV star who succeeded Mary Martin as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific on Broadway and played the role for three successive seasons.

The Assembly, at 207 E. 43rd St., is another steak house, and a good one, under the management of a young man with the picturesque name of Ronnie Drinkhouse, who learned the business from his father. The ASSEMBLY is a favorite lunching place for United Nations personnel.

Stella D’oro Factory In Bronx to Close

Stella D'oro, a sweets brand known to all New Yorkers and a rare food product actually made in New York, will close its factory in the Bronx in October. The baked goods will continue to be made, but elsewhere, announced Brynwood Partners, the private equity company based in Greenwich, CT, which bought the company in 2006.

Last week, a federal judge ordered Stella D’oro to reinstate 134 workers after a protracted 10-month strike. This week, the company invited the workers back. It also announced that it would close the factory in October.

The decision to close Stella D’oro’s only factory, which is based in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx, was made by Brynwood Partners, the private equity company based in Greenwich, Conn., which bought the company in 2006. The closing appears to be the result of a labor dispute that has festered over the past couple years. Writes City Room:

Last week, a federal judge ordered Stella D’oro to reinstate 134 workers after a protracted 10-month strike... The workers had gone on strike on strike last Aug. 14, two weeks after their contract had expired. The owners maintained that the hourly wages of $18 to $22 an hour and nine weeks of paid leave made the factory unprofitable. It wanted significant reductions in wages.

Last week, an administrative law judge with the National Labor Relations Board in Washington found that the company had improperly refused to bargain with the union by declining to provide the union with a copy of its 2007 audited financial statement.

Stella D’oro was founded in New York in 1932 by an Italian immigrant, Angela Kresevich, and her husband, Joseph, who came from Trieste, Italy. The company was sold in 1992 to Nabisco and then to Kraft, before it was bought by Brynwood Partners. Stella D'Oro's bakery is on West 237th Street at the north end of Kingsbridge, Bronx. Stella D'Oro always has a big following among Jews, because some of their desserts were made with no milk or butter, making them "Pareve" and acceptable at both meat and dairy meals. In fact, when Kraft took over, they stupidly removed the Pareve designation from Stella D'Oro's baked products, and then saw sales drop. They put the insignias back.

The factory, which used to have a restaurant next door, once employed 575 people in New York. No more.

New Painted Ad Covers Old Painted Ads

The faded ad crowd went ga-ga last year when these two old hand-painted jobbies appeared on the side of a building on W. 32nd near Broadway. Forgotten New York, citing Walter Grutchfield, explained: "Protective Ventilator is more or less definitely 1910. The one above (Alliance Press?) is probably slightly older. The Manhattan telephone directory has Alliance Press at 114 W. 32nd St. in 1907. They were printers, but seem to have been founded by the Rev. Albert B. Simpson. Both he and a couple of colleagues lived in Nyack, N.Y."


A couple months ago, the wall was taken over by another ad, also painted, for Jack's discount store. Not an unappealing ad, if you ask me. Bold colors. Simple, but engaging imagery. The painters made an interest made an interesting choice, though, by not painting over the two old ads completely, but just painting over the half of them that got in the way. Kind of makes the old ads cooler, and more mysterious. Kind of.

Some Stuff That's Interesting

Fireworks destroys Rosenwach Tanks warehouse in Williamsburg. Rosenwach makes all those great wooden water tanks you see on top of New York buildings. This can't be good. [Brooklyn 11211]

Squatters help fix up the East Village's beloved, but violation-laden Ray's Candy Shop. [The Villager]

The Food Emporium in Union Square is a lousy, cheating scofflaw. [Restless]

Joe Jr.'s—the gutting begins. [EV Grieve]

Di Fara has reopened. Yeah! But hours have been cut. Aw! And slices are now $5. Hey! [Grub Street]

More anti-bike propaganda, because, you know, car drivers are totally innocent of having destroyed the planet, and brake for puppies and shit. [NY1]