Lost City Asks "Who Goes to Quatorze Bis?"
I said in my farewell to the blogging life two weeks ago that I would continue to write the "Who Goes There?" column for Eater. Well, I meant what I said, and a said what I meant. And I'll post links to the column here every fortnight, as the columns go up. I went to the well-heeled French bistro Quatorze Bis this week. Unfortunately, it kinda reminded me of a lot of the reasons I shut Lost City down. Here's the link.
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8 comments:
glad you're back. We need your voice
"Unfortunately, it kinda reminded me of a lot of the reasons I shut Lost City down"
Oh, that hurts to read.....but since you were on the UES, it doesn't surprise me. The neighborhood begs the question "Why Go There?
Lost City is a book in the making - I hope to see it in print someday. Your work is important, your writing is beautiful.
Because the city belongs to ME. To YOU. To everyone. That's why I go there.
Thank you for what you said.
I happen to live on the border of the Upper East Side, and I haven't been able to figure the place out. On the side streets there are some surprisingly quirky establishments, but you always wind up paying just a little bit more, or sometimes a lot more, than what you are really getting.
The area sometimes reminds of the right bank of Paris, and sometimes reminds me of Bay Ridge. And I'm cool with both of these places, but its an odd juxtiposition. And I get that New York has wealthy people, and they need an enclave, but why not just live in someplace like Chappaqua and come to the city when you have business there?
On the UES and USW you get wealthy-mediocre, as opposed to wealthy-flashy downtown, or wealthy-smug in brownstone Brooklyn. I can't decide which I like best.
Incidentally, this was a great review. Brooks' writing seems to have improved after he gave up the blog, and if this is a trend this is an argument in favor of the decision.
Not sure why this reminds you of why you shut the blog down... The UES has always been exactly like this - in fact, it's more diverse now than back in the day.
I'm quoting Pierrot's comment to you - it said everything I meant to say:"Lost City is a book in the making. I hope to see it someday in print. Your work is important, your writing is beautiful."
This place was actually next door to my wife's apartment building on the corner. We used to eat out in the neighborhood all the time, but oddly never even considered this place, I think for the reasons you outlined in your post.
I loved the place, back in the day, when eating out meant splurging. We were not of the well-heeled...but I did love it. I'd like to go back, to see what it's like now.
Having just found you, I'm terribly sorry you're not posting anymore.
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