Sep 06
Jun 24
So I was in NYC in mid-June for (what else) more meetings. I did manage to attend some interesting business dinners, first at Jeffrey Chodorow’s Wild Salmon (NYMag review, official website) and the following night at Mario Batali’s hoity-toity venue Del Posto (NYMag review, official website). The food experience at Wild Salmon was disappointing - the set menu for our group of Interactive Advertising Bureau members didn’t offer the restaurant’s namesake fish - salmon, wild or otherwise. The Yellow Eye Rockfish with heirloom beans and lacinato kale was yummy enough, as was the Pacific Northwest nuts & berries salad. I probably ate too many of the oven roasted rosemary garlic fingerling potatoes served family style on the side, but that combo is a major weakness of mine.
The following night was a client advisory board dinner for clients of DoubleClick at Del Posto. During cocktails before dinner, folks were talking about the fact that Paul McCartney was playing a ’secret’ gig around the corner - giving me momentary pause to consider abandoning dinner to see one of my idols. But the wine, cocktail morsels like buttery chopped liver, chunks of aged parmesan and other tidbits all helped to keep me there. The most delicious part of the dinner in the private downstairs dining room was the agnolotti dal plin with truffle butter. Really just enough for a tasting, these were divine. After fish the prior night, the sirloin with smoked polenta and vegetable sottaceto was my choice - fine, but nothing to write home about. By the time the crostata di cioccolato arrived with coffee, I was ready to pack it in and caught a cab back to midtown and my hotel. Hence I missed the group that headed out soon after and caught the last four songs of McCartney’s set. Bad choice on my part.
Tags: batali, chodorow, del-posto, doubleclick, Food, iab, mccartney, nyc, restaurant, wild-salmon
Apr 30
So what was by all accounts the best Japanese chef in Atlanta has resurfaced in New York City with the opening of his restaurant Soto later this week at 357 Sixth Ave. Chef Sotohiro Kosugi came to Atlanta from Japan to lead the cuisine at a now-defunct Japanese hotel where the Hyatt Buckhead now stands, and moved his show across the street next to Disco Kroger in an unassuming strip mall when the hotel changed hands. Now comes the news that Soto has landed in another sushi-hungry town where the competition is fierce among the two-syllable sushi destinations (Masa, anyone?). Anyway, I was always blown away by Soto before he closed the first time, and hope to visit on some future trip to NYC. New York Magazine reports that Architect Hiro Tsuruta, known for his sleekly minimalist designs of ChikaLicious and Momofuku Noodle Bar is behind the design of his new digs - a far cry from the strip mall from whence he comes.
Dec 13
Back in NYC for business this week. I obviously miss Amy and the little man tremendously, but do enjoy the chance to enjoy some good food here in the big apple. Headed to Jean Georges Vongerichten’s Spice Market last night with a vendor after a late meeting around 6:30pm. The place is in the recently-trendy Meat Packing District. Surprisingly, the hostess showed zero ‘tude and seated our party of three immediately, albeit in the slightly less posh downstairs.
I happened to think the design of the place was pretty spiffy - it really reminded me of an exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum I saw a few years ago of a home moved there from China which dated back to 1800, and had been occupied for over 200 years, with the added bonus of good drinks and better food - and the prices are not unreasonable for a fun night out. And the food was great - including at least one dish I’ll remember for a long time to come. Read on after the jump for more about the food…
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Oct 22
So this post is more about food than anything else, but let me highlight the beautiful little dumpling morsels seen above, caught through a window of a joint in Koreatown. As far as work goes, I spent most of last week at meetings in the city, punctuated by a couple of fun dinners with coworkers and friends. First up on Tuesday and Wednesday were a couple of Internet Advertising Bureau events. I spoke on a panel discussing ‘New Mediums, New Challenges - How Ad Operations is Being Redefined.’ Former coworker Mike Stoeckel (now of Fox Interactive) was the moderator, and Tim Messier from Weather.com, Jared Iwata from Microsoft and I had an energetic discussion on podcasting, vodcasting, mobile, video syndication, AJAX and the general implications of Web 2.0 technologies on existing counting, ops and reporting methodologies. Wednesday featured more IAB meetings, including a joint publisher-agency ad ops summit at the NYC ‘Googleplex’ which only opened recently - with quite the cafeteria, let me tell you! Thursday and Friday was a return to all things Turner as we kicked off several major ad technology projects that will keep my team busy through January. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the awesome dinners I had while in NY. First at a great Argentinian steakhouse on 9th Ave with my fellow AdOps council members, then a great selection of gourmet pizzas featuring lobster and bacon on one and a white clam topping on another delivered to my old coworker and friend Hart’s place in Chelsea. And finally, a fun outing with coworkers Lauren Gardner and Beth Kuenzi to Koreatown for some hardwood charcoal goodness. That evening was topped off by cheescake (multiples for some of us) at a 100+ year-old bakery in the East Village. Yummy. Photos are here for your salivating enjoyment.
Tags: advertising, Food, nyc, Travel
Sep 06
I was in New York last week for a long series of meetings over three days, and I’m back for a quick set of meetings today. First for the IAB’s Ad Operations committee, then for the MRC Internet Council (pictures from IAB dinner are here). That was followed by vendor meetings for the next two days. And boy was I tired by the time I got home. I did manage to hang with some old friends from SI.com and have a nice dinner one evening. I’m back again this week for a quick trip - spending some more quality time with CNN Digital ad sales. I can’t wait to get home and forget about travel for a few weeks - I hope work allows me to stay put for a while. Photo above taken while I was waiting to meet folks at the Time-Life Building.
Tags: advertising, nyc
Jul 07
Quick trip to NYC for one night this week - stayed close to Columbus Circle at Dream NYC - where the rooms have a lovely glow about them. It took me at least 10 minutes to figure out which switch turned off the ’soothing’ lights. Felt like I was back in the 70s, less the shag carpet. Nice room nonetheless.
Jun 26
On Saturday, we explored Manhattan briefly and then headed out to Brooklyn to meet Siena Camille. What a cutie! We had great fun riding the subway out (less so on the local returning), and Baila and Arthur hosted a fabulous spread - and we won’t hold Arthur responsible for showing Sam how to use his beloved Dustbuster ;-). More photos of the afternoon in Brooklyn are here. That evening, we had a sitter for Sam and had a fab dinner at Abboccato - a very lovely meal. 
Amy and I split the Spaghettini - with razor clams sliced like garlic, toasted bread crumbs for a lovely toothy effect, and pressed mullet roe for a wonderfully briny flavor. I’d never had this experience, but every sip of the Montefalco Rosso Tiburzi that Marty had selected (on the basis of being lost in Montefalco on a trip to Italy once) really opend up the flavor of the sea. Yummy! On Sunday, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Blooomingdales for some good shopping opps for the ladies - and had a chance to walk amidst the annual Pride parade in NYC. Photos of all that fun are here. It was a great weekend spent with Sam’s grandparents, Amy’s niece Kailey, and the extended Golus-Celedonia-Sparacin clan. Hope to do it again sometime soon!
Jun 23
After visiting Miriam in the hospital when she was on bed rest a few weeks back, I was thrilled to get a chance to see her, Steven and the newest additions to the extended family - Chella and Grey. They are awfully cute, if still awfully tiny. Sam seemed to enjoy seeing them - but may have bonded more with the dog, Freddie. More photos here.
