I was just at a pizza place on Clybourne Ave (Pequod’s; great crust but I prefer the sauce at Lou’s), and that reminded me that I’d never seen Clybourne Park, despite having gone many times to Steppenwolf (mostly positive experiences except for a performance of Uncle Vanya that was so horrible we left after intermission; on this trip we saw The Thanksgiving Play, which was excellent), so I picked up a copy of the script of Clybourne Park and read it. We read A Raisin in the Sun in English class one year in high school but I don’t remember it well.
Clybourne Park was hilarious. I would’ve preferred a bit more plot and a bit less shtick, but that’s just my taste. Also it could be different in performance than on the page. Years ago I saw a play called Dealer’s Choice which I absolutely loved—it’s the best representation of poker I’ve ever seen in any form—so much that I bought the script, which also is great, but for that I now have the opposite bit of uncertainty, which is to what extent my enjoyment of the script was conditioned on having seen the play live.
P.S. On the way to Pequod’s, I noticed a Jamaican beef patty place on the side of the road. I was gonna keep on pedaling, but I felt like I owed it to the readership to try one out. It cost $4.95 (more than it cost in New York last time I tried one, but still only a very tiny fraction of the cost of meeting Gray Davis, Grover Norquist, and a rabbi). The flavor of the spices was excellent, but I have to say that I otherwise didn’t enjoy the patty—the grease level was too high and I’m just not so into beef anymore, so I didn’t finish it. I have the feeling I’d have had the same reaction to a Golden Krust patty. I think I’ll have to try Bob’s advice and make something for myself using my own baguette dough and some sort of lentil concoction in the middle.
Over the weekend on a long car ride, my wife played the tape of “Just Kids” by Patti Smith, a famous person I had never heard of. Smith’s name dropping was incomprehensible to me. Ditto her lifestyle. With regard to the above commentary by Andrew, I recognized Gray Davis and Grover Norquist but came up blank on Golden Krust patty and have no idea who “Bob” is and why a baguette dough should have “some sort of lentil concoction in the middle.” It is absolutely depressing that I am so far behind what others are talking about.
However, just in case it is alleged that I am out of it completely, I do know a fair amount about Happy Felton and Gladys Gooding even though I have been to Ebbets Field only once in my life. I imagine that few other contributors to this blog can top my admittedly meager performance.
Paul,
The blog has a search function! Search on Jamaican beef patties, search on Gray Davis and Grover Norquist, and all will be clear.
Quote from above: “I imagine that few other contributors to this blog can top my admittedly meager performance.”
I understood and/or recognized “pizza” and thought I understood “Steppenwolf” but after reading what followed, and looking it up, it seems that it’s not referring to the band but a theater or something like that (?). That’s about it.
Anyway, I like pizza and I am going to play “Magic Carpet Ride” by Steppenwolf now because I thought of that song after reading “Steppenwolf”.
Steppenwolf is a Hermann Hesse novel from 1927, looking up Pequod’s it appears to be on Clybourn Ave in Chicago, the Steppenwolf Theater Company is on Halsted a block or two above Clybourn about a half a mile south east of the pizza place. According to Wikipedia, the theater was named after the novel.
I also decided to listen to Magic Carpet Ride. Thanks for the suggestion.
I looked up the pizza place “Pequods” but it’s “deep dish pizza” which makes sense because it’s in Chicago and if I am not mistaken that’s a famous pizza style/version there. I never had one of those but I think I prefer the thin kind, I believe those are called “Neopolitan Pizza”
That reminds me of that tv show in NY where this man went to different pizza places and talked to the owners and pizza-makers. I thought that was a pretty fun show to watch, I like watching people talk with passion about something they are doing for a living like making pizza’s. I think it is called “The Pizza Show”.
I’ve eaten at Pequod’s and it is great (and I’m usually a NY style pizza person). Their specialty is carmelized crust if I remember correctly.
Looked up the pizza tv show and there is an episode on the youtube “Munchies” channel titled: “The Pizza Show: From Deep Dish To Thin Crust” that seems to be filmed in Chicago!
I thought it was nice to mention here given the discussion and that I talked about thin crust and deep dish and the tv show and all. I am about 9 minutes into the episode and the man talking now states that the deep dish style is not the only “typical” Chicago pizza style. He then talks about “(…) the real pizza, which is tavern style, thin crispy crust, square cut” if I understand correctly. And he states that that is a very Chicago thing.
Anyway, perhaps interesting to mention given the blog post and discussion.
Dale:
Yeah, the caramelized crust at Pequod’s was great. The only complicating factor is that I prefer the sauce at Lou Malnati’s. I recently learned how to make Detroit-style pizza which also has that caramelized thing going. I like it!
As far as who Bob is, I guess I really should have been following all those requests to say “This post is from Bob.” By the blog’s reckoning, I’ve made 252 posts on this blog (the total is over 12K, so my posts are a drop in the bucket).
When I made homemade beef patties and brought them into a Stan meeting, I believe I can paraphrase Andrew’s reaction as “blech.” Andrew’s a real stickler for tradition and having thing the way he’s used to having them. I think he’s still mad about our inviting him for Thanksgiving and serving duck.
Detroit pizza is something I grew up on. Of course, we just called it “pizza.” I haven’t found anything like the Detroit version in NYC, despite several pretenders. Jets has a branch, but even if they replicate the Detroit branches, it’s basically the worst of the Detroit pizzas (Detroit is to blame for Little Caesar’s and Domino’s, too, neither of which are in the traditional Detroit pizza style, which sort of fries up a Sicilian-type crust in a high-sided parts tray).
Bob:
1. I don’t remember your beef patties, but I do think that with some experimentation I could make some lentil patties that I would like!
2. I was never mad at you for serving duck at Thanksgiving! I was happy that youall invited me over. I was surprised at the duck, and I guess it’s come up in conversation from time to time because it was so unexpected. But I was never mad.
3. I found the Detroit pizza recipe in a pizza cookbook that I got out of the library a few weeks ago. After some experimentation, I made a Detroit pizza that I think was pretty good! I’m sure it doesn’t live up to the real thing; here, perhaps, ignorance is bliss. I like the pizzas I make at home, but not as much as I like my favorite pizzas like Lou’s in Chicago or Pepe’s in New Haven or the Cheese Board in Berkeley. I’ve never been to a NY pizza place that I really love. V&T’s is ok, but I don’t actually prefer it to my homemade. One advantage of making it myself is that I don’t add all the heavy cheese (which is done at low-grade pizza places) or douse it in olive oil (which is what the fancy places do). I prefer a non-greasy texture. Just yesterday I had a slice at the Cheese Board, and it was great, but I could’ve done without the gallon of I’m-sure-very-high-quality olive oil that they threw on top.
I find it amazing that Andrew, via the Pequod, continues his quest for an elusive Jamaican beef patty. He finds it and injures it (he eats it partially), but as he “didn’t finish it,” we conclude that it escaped. The story ends. I especially like the strange chapter in which we are told that, like whales being fish, baguette dough lentils are a form of Jamaican beef patty.
For some reason or other, pizza has come to the fore today in the blog. I claim no real pizza expertise, but in 1965 I introduced pizza to my neighborhood in Trondheim, Norway. The necessary ingredients, yeast, flour, tomato sauce, and instructions, came in one package which originated in Lebanon, known then as The Lebanon. My landlord and landlady were polite but their son as he came into the house, remarked, “hva som stinker her?”
Some time has passed since then. Norwegians have become much wealthier and more sophisticated so that pizza is now almost as common as boiled potatoes.
Hi, Paul, this is the Bob to whom Andrew was referring. :-)
I happened to run into the European rep for Old El Paso in Paris last year, and she told me the Norwegians eat more Mexican food per capita than any other country in Europe. I just fact checked that, and learned she’s not only right, tomorrow’s Tacofredag!
At the pre-ISBA satellite meeting in Lugano, Switzerland, the cafeteria served Old El Paso tacos one day—they were pulling those hard shells out of Old El Paso boxes!
Bob Carpenter’s comment about Tacofredag has ruined my self esteem and indicates that I may not be the most trustworthy specialist when it comes to current Norwegian cuisine. At my age, the urge to pontificate based on “back in the old days in the old country,” is overwhelming. In order to offset the cost of visiting Norway, a very expensive country, perhaps I should start a “Go-Fund-Me Campaign” on this blog in order to be able to afford the research.
I happened to have lived a couple of years in Mexico City, more or less where the current President, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, lives. I would be devastated to learn that her favorite food is lutefisk.
P.S. The food culture discussions are fun, but I’m kinda disappointed that nobody wanted to talk about the play!
All pizza and no play
I’m sorry, but I just got nothing to say
The theatre is just not my forte
It just happens to simply be that way
I have thought about this from time to time
About acting, the theatre, and things like mime
And why it rarely seems to fit or rhyme
With what I enjoy watching, or think is sublime
Perhaps if I can clearly tell it’s not “real”
It results in certain things I think and feel
I think I’m not immersed enough, unlike with cinema
Or perhaps that’s not it, and it remains an enigma
So maybe I’d rather see someone real talk about dough
than seeing some actor putting on a show
Maybe I’d rather listen to someone talk with passion
than seeing someone merely follow fashion
Rather than taking a deep dive investigation with more wondering
I’d rather take a deep dish pizza without the pondering
I conclude that just like with pizzas, there are a lot of styles
And a lot of things to pick, from a lot of different aisles
Not gonna lie, I am a bit disappointed that I did not write “direction” instead of “fashion”. That would have made it much better. Still not bad overall I think.