Jonathan Lethem Fuels His Writing With ‘White Trash’ SandwichesBoerum Hill resident and author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem is at work on a still untitled novel that’s set on the Upper East Side and features a character that’s always seen eating either an H&H bagel or a burger deluxe from Jackson Hole. The author also happens to be a bagel lover and tends to wolf them down with egg and cheese during writing breaks, something he describes as an “abject New York style of white-trash eating.” Of course, he’d never indulge in that for breakfast. “My tendency,” he says, “is to go from purity to decadence, like I’m reliving the fall of a great empire.” Here he recounts the rise and fall of his diet this week.
Neighborhood Watch
Day of the Dead in Midtown; Smoked Fish and Bagels Almost Ready to Eat inBoerum Hill: Now that Trout has taken over Gravy, the new menu is not surprisingly chock-full of fish dishes. [Bergen Carroll]
Midtown East: Richard Sandoval’s restaurants including Pampano are celebrating Day of the Dead through November 2 with specialty foods like pan de muertos, which is a sweet bread that’s baked to look like a skull! [Grub Street]
Midtown West: At convivial spot La Bonne Soup, which has been a French staple on West 55th Street since 1974, you can have a soup, salad, bread, dessert, and a glass of wine for $16.75, only slightly more than half the price of lunch at Jean Georges. [Lost City]
Nolita: D.J. Mark Ronson has designed a playlist specifically for Noble Food & Wine. Dinner gets it own soundtrack. [Down by the Hipster]
Tribeca: A Murray’s Bagel partner is opening Original Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish on Chambers Street at the end of November. [NYS]
Upper West Side: The Triad Theater is now promoting a new musical called Wine Lover. The audience will sample six wines throughout the performance. [Snack]
Neighborhood Watch
Wise Hooters Girls Loose in Midtown West; Gael Greene Down With ParkBoerum Hill: The owners of Gravy have surrendered the struggling space to their adjacent beer garden Trout and are now serving “fish shack fare.” [Brownstoner via Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Carroll Gardens: Nino’s Pizzeria on Henry Street has closed, possibly another victim of Lucali’s favoritism. [Bergen Carroll]
Fort Greene: iCi is hosting a winemaker dinner on October 25 with guests Emmanuel Guillot-Broux from Macon and Laurent Tibes of Clos des Camuzeilles in Languedoc. [Grub Street]
Long Island City: Central restaurant and bar is hosting Greek Aid on Friday to raise money for victims of the country’s recent fires. [Joey in Astoria]
Midtown West: Hooters unveiled its 2008 calendar last night where the cover girl had these wise words: “I started off with a small picture, then split the back cover with another girl, finally made it to Ms. February and now I’m on the cover. I’ve made it. I’m at the very top of my profession.” [Gawker]
Upper East Side: “There is definitely a slightly Home Depot feel to the AvroKO switch on Park Avenue: the screw-on wall panels, the tacky little leatherette placemats … the reversible chair backs’ upholstery reversed…” But Gael Greene loves it anyway. [Insatiable Critic]
