rakemag Maybe this will be the year when you make that extra effort to actually find the art at the Uptown Art Festival. Sure, there are food booths, live music, games, and the general hubbub of another summer festival. And who can deny the cheap thrill of wandering around the middle of Lake Street slightly buzzed, … Read more
“Greek food is arousing,” declared one of my table companions after a big bite of his spicy soutzokakia sandwich. The rest of us raised our eyebrows and waited for him to explain. He chose instead to blush and mumble that he “just meant intriguing.” But he’s right. All that garlic and olive oil, lemony ambelodolmades … Read more
If you have difficulty making decisions, the Sample Room wants you. As the name implies, this brand-new, swank café bar is centered around sharable, nibbleworthy combination platters—3,500 possible combinations of veggie, meat, cheese, and seafood treats. That goes for wine too: Try a number of vintages with a flight of three 2-oz. glasses. Our entrees … Read more
Dear Rake Editors, Are you out of your alleged minds? Judy Garland is less famous than Josh Hartnett? Okay, maybe among twenty-somethings at this exact second, but the cover said "of all time." Let’s see if "Black Hawk Down" is an annual TV event 60 years from now. Let’s see if people can name the … Read more
In our ongoing survey of bars that serve good food at odd hours, we’re pleased to report that Grumpy’s features an exhaustive—though occasionally sticky—menu of sandwiches, burgers, and delightful comfort foods, all of which we’d stand right up against the menus of any other bar anywhere in the city. We recently worked through a bad … Read more
Ever since your publication of “You Don’t Know Jack” [Gastronomer, June 2002], I’ve had trouble sleeping. What has been keeping me awake nights is the turmoil over whether or not to expose your “Gastronomer,” Joe Pastoor, as the fraud he is. I have made the decision to come clean. (And C.J., if you’re reading, please … Read more
Meleah Maynard’s article [“I Against I,” May] was well written, informative, and palpable. Maynard is right on point that just being “black” does not make one community. The Somalis and African Americans are going through the same integration problems that waves of immigrants have been experiencing for centuries—Italians versus the Irish at the turn of … Read more
Every year you conduct this moronic “Top Doctors” contest (Kildare, Dentons, Demento) and every year the imbeciles in your mail room miss the truly greats (Scholl’s, Death, Welby). Even though I’ve been a longstanding subscriber (Roboto, Casey, Doom), in fact a charter member, (Johnny Fever, Glass, Love), please cancel my subscription (Evil, Haushka, Phibes)! Deborah … Read more
Two watch-at-night thrillers that rely mainly on mood and atmosphere for their impact, each very pleasurable in its own way. Be warned: Neither is very big on the element of surprise or particularly strong in plotting. Mothman is of the MTV generation in its abrupt, disconcerting imagery; it’s a glossy B-movie that charms by its … Read more
Writer-director Wes Anderson’s third feature film, The Royal Tenenbaums, is set in New York. That is, the enchanting New York of post-World War II, of glamorous old hotels, of The New Yorker in its prime. Gene Hackman plays Royal Tenenbaum, an absentee father who attempts to reinsert himself into his family by faking terminal illness. … Read more