Iridium

I caught pianist Linda Presgrave's set at Iridium the other night and enjoyed it immensely. Anyone who can start a set with a Melba Liston tune, wrap it up with a Mary Lou Williams piece and play lots of good, solid originals in between is all right with me. And as I overheard someone say, you can't go wrong with Harvie S and Allison Miller as a rhythm section.

I skipped the food, went straight for a glass of Hogue Riesling, which was not on par with the vineyard's other whites. Maybe it had been open way too long. I wouldn't order it again.

My waiter committed a service faux pas that was new to me. He picked up my check and cash, then interrupted the conversation to ask how much money I wanted back. He stood by the table to sort through a wad of bills and count out my change.

I can feel my friend the Billder gnashing his teeth over this one, all the way from California.

Keens Steakhouse

When we first moved to New York, we used to go to Keens fairly often. It was a good place to stop on the way to the D train at Herald Square (the block between 5th and 6th may be the longest block in the whole world).

But once we changed jobs and commutes, the place dropped off our radar. For some reason we headed there around the holidays -- the line at the TKTS booth was impossible, the city was packed, and we wanted to do something before we turned around and went home. The cold weather wasn't conducive to a long walk, and it was way too early to hit a club for some music. We started heading south from Times Square and somehow ended up seated in a cozy booth in front of the fireplace in Keens Pub Room.

The food menu offers standard steakhouse fare -- but the Scotch menu has hundreds of entries. I chose an Auchentoshan 3 Wood, which I enjoyed very much.

We both started with lobster bisque, which had a beautiful golden color and smooth texture. It had the kind of complexity that made me want to savor every bite, to enjoy the seafood, sherry and veggie flavors. The Grumpy Diner treated himself to prime rib and I chose a tuna steak. Both arrived on the rare side, juicy and piping hot. My tuna came with a delicious creamy, mildly spicy chili sauce, the combination was new to me and very much to my liking. Sides included mashed yukon gold potatoes, creamed spinach and steamed veg. For some reason, we had no room for dessert.

This was a real four-star meal, and we were happy to take home leftovers to enjoy over the next couple of days. The price puts Keens in the splurge category for us, though the Pub Room has a reasonable "light dining" menu. The atmosphere is very pleasant, I prefer the Pub Room over the bar or the larger dining rooms. We were able to talk and enjoy our time together without straining to be heard. The service was excellent -- attentive, welcoming, nonintrusive.

Hmmm ... maybe the Grumpy Diner would like to go there for his birthday ... I certainly want to go back!

Jazz Standard

There's never a food or drink minimum at Jazz Standard, making it lighter on the budget and on the diet than other clubs. But my dietary resolve dissolves as soon as I open the front door and catch the fragrance of wood-smoked barbecue.

Sometimes the food actually lives up to that seductive promise. It did last Saturday, when I went to check out drummer extraordinaire Cindy Blackman. I wasn't really hungry, so I opted to share a burger, fries, and a mac-and-cheese side -- nice light meal, huh?

We told the waiter we wanted to share. Instead of bringing a plated meal and an extra dish, he brought two plates, each with an individual small, thick, ultra-juicy burger on fresh buns that had the consistency of home-made english muffins. The burger was topped with semi-melted bleu cheese running down the sides. Lettuce, tomato, onion slices and pickles garnished each dish, along with more than enough fries. On request, the waiter brought two kinds of barbecue sauce. One was good; the other was amazing, pairing a slightly fruity flavor that may have been tamarind with a nice smoky chipotle bite.

The mac-and-cheese was served separately in a rather large ramekin, the top nicely browned and crunchy. It was a little saucy, the way I like it -- sometimes it's been nice and cheddar-y but a little dry at this venue.

The burger was the star. It had a wonderful grilled, meaty flavor, and was so juicy I was glad the lights were down so no one could see me dribbling. Even the cheese had a wonderful texture. How often do I kvell about a burger?

The food menu isn't huge. I don't find the appetizers especially interesting, calamari with a sweet red pepper dip is the exception. I've never tried the salads -- who goes to a bbq joint for a salad? And they're up toward the $10 range and I just can't make myself pay that much for a little salad. The spicy cheese fries are great, fun to share.

I've tried chicken, sausage, salmon and sausage entrees. When the entrees are good, they're very good. Sometimes they're dry and not that interesting.

Jazz Standard has an extensive drink menu, including Old Overholt rye whiskey, a fave of mine, which I grew up calling "Old Overalls." I was surprised to see Auchentoshan 3 Wood single malt whisky is considerably more expensive at the Standard than at Keen's, where I recently tasted it for the first time. For the price of three shots you could buy a bottle at Zachy's.

The service can be a bit problematic. The Lady in Red wants to write a book about table service at jazz clubs -- it ranges from uneven to awful, across the board. Everyone at the Standard is very nice, they always are at Danny Meyer restaurants. I always try to get to a club in time to eat before the music starts. Cindy Blackman doesn't play dinner music. None of the jazz I like is dinner music. Besides, I don't want to multitask: I can't give either the food or the music the attention it deserves.

But time of arrival has nothing to do with when you can order, which has nothing to do with when you're served. So that's why I always vow I won't eat at the club. Until I open the door and pick up that delightful aroma ...

Obama and me

Since we're all into all things Barack, a 2001 video has surfaced of him talking about one of his favorite restaurants in Chicago. I laughed when he talked about ordering the Southern sampler because he couldn't make up his mind. Sounds like me.

I study the menu as if I'll never eat again, then pick something that lets me taste several things: mixing and matching soups, salads, and small dishes, or choosing an entree that combines a variety of ingredients or comes with appealing sides. I rarely order something like a steak and a spud. I love cuisines that encourage ordering multiple dishes and sharing. And then there's the time-honored tradition of "bitesies" that the jewelry maven and I have been into for decades.

Obama also declares that when it comes to restaurants, he's interested in "food that tastes good, for a good price." Yup, that's me again.

It doesn't surprise me that a wonderful feast for two can be had for an investment the size of a week's unemployment check. What's more amazing is to be served a quite good meal that costs no more than an hour or two of minimum wage.

I've actually been to at least three places Obama favors for chow, and all of them fall into the second category.

Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington is a long-time fave. I heard about it through Jane and Michael Stern's book Roadfood , the bible for those of us who favor category no. 2 cuisine.

Ben's is a down-home place, with a counter and a few booths in the front and tables in the back. There's something about it that reminds me of the late, lamented Landrum's, my long-time Reno hang.

You make your choices from a board posted behind the counter, place your order, then find a seat. Ben's serves good, unpretentious food, and lots of it. I always order the chili, fries and half-smoked sausage, it's all good. I promise I'll go back some day for the scrapple and egg breakfast. I hope Obama's watching his cholesterol -- Ben's is a temple of heart-stopping goodness.

Last year on Oahu with the Grumpy Diner, the Jewelry Maven and the Billder, one of us asked a parking lot cashier about a good place to get a burger. She told us about a few rather spiffy places in downtown Honolulu, then confided that most local people prefer the Rainbow Drive-In. I recently found out that Obama was a regular there when he lived in Hawaii, and went back several times during his vacation when he was our president elect.

The Rainbow is a great place to get a quick bite. You place your order at the window, then hover around waiting for a seat at an outdoor table. There's a relaxed atmosphere, but you probably don't want to linger because: 1) There's someone waiting for a table, and/or 2) you're on your way to do something fun.

The Rainbow burger was thin, gray, not remotely interesting. Fortunately, only one of us ordered it. The rest of us scarfed down our mahi-mahi (or pork cutlet or mix plate) served with rice, macaroni salad and sauce, offering bitesies to the poor burger eater. We ate there at least four or five times, it was usually our main meal of the day. The food is good, inexpensive, and abundant. There's great people watching, and a good vintage aloha shirt store in the neighborhood. What's not to like?!

During our two weeks on Oahu, we usually picked breakfast from the fruit trees surrounding our house, then headed out for our day of fun. First stop: Matsumoto's in Haleiwa for a shave ice. I don't think we went a single day without stopping at the place, which has the feel of an old-time general store. Locals and tourists alike line up to order crushed ice topped with flavored syrup in colors that are only found in nature if you're in a tropical environment. Choices range from lilikoi to root beer to guava to bubblegum to peach, up to three kinds per cone. I skipped the optional toppings like condensed milk or azuki bean, and mostly stuck with the fresh fruit flavors. Once we all got our orders, we'd sit outside on the benches or window shop along the street while enjoying our treats. A great way to start the day!

Evergreen Shanghai

When I worked at 38th and Madison toward the end of the '90s, Evergreen Shanghai was one of the few affordable places in the neighborhood to have lunch. I was a regular. It may not be the first place I ever had soup dumplings, but it's one of the first to really stand out in my memory for the succulent morsels of pork and spices steamed in tender paper-thin wrappers.

After a long stretch between visits, I've been back to Evergreen a couple of times recently. In December I dropped in for a snack with the Networking Maven after we went to a professional event together. We paused in front of the door right at closing time, and a waiter came out to invite us in. We ordered soup dumplings (still succulent) and crispy scallion pancakes. We nibbled and chatted, recapping the conversations and interactions at our earlier event. We were the only people in the place, I wish I had left a bigger tip. I'm afraid my arithmetic skills were somewhat impaired by our earlier networking session.

I was back at Evergreen earlier this week with Miz Style and the Practical Joker. We were waiting for Mean Cuisine to possibly join us. Once we were seated in the practically empty restaurant, no one approached our table for ages. We happily filled a half hour with conversation, then I flagged down a waiter to ask if we could order drinks. He explained that Evergreen no longer has a liquor license, but if we wanted beer or wine he could tell us where to buy it. I ran out to the liquor store around the corner.

When I returned with a bottle of Hogue Fume Blanc, the staff quickly brought glasses and four dishes of tasty appetizers: sea-veg salad, marinated daikon and carrots, another marinated veg dish, and herbed salted nuts. We relaxed and settled in for an evening of fun.

We ordered soup dumplings, moo shu chicken, Buddha's Delight and broccoli with garlic sauce. All of the portions were large enough to share, the food was hot and fresh. The soup dumplings were divine, as always. The Buddha's Delight was mostly broccoli, with a brown sauce and some cellophane noodles. I enjoyed it, but it was a very different preparation than I'd expected -- the sauce is usually lighter and the veg combination more varied. The moo shu pancakes were very thin and light, the waiter wrapped them for us at tableside and served them with a side dish of hoisin sauce.

The service was a little odd. They mostly left us to our own devices, which is fine with me, since we were there for an evening of food, wine and conversation. But it did seem strange that they didn't offer tea or water or rice, or volunteer the information about the BYOB policy or mention that our main course selections consisted mostly of broccoli.

I would eat there again, but would probably be more "proactive," as the consultants love to say.