Pat Arnow's Personal and Political

Archived Home Page, April 2004
*From the Subway Series . . . of pictures*
The Virgin of Guadalupe and friends

	*Selling food in New York* Gossip occurs at Moishe's Kosher Bakery on Grand St. where they also sell hamentashen. It's this giant dry shortbready cookie filled with poppy seeds. Inexplicably, it's what Christine wants when she visits from Johnson City, Tenn. Inexplicably, I buy them and eat them all the time, too. Moishe's also sells good ol black and white cookies, this dry vanilla cookie frosted half with chocolate, half with white. Why does anyone eat these cookies? Why do I?
It's easier to figure out what's so good about Russo's on First Ave. and 11th St. in the East Village, right next to Veniero's. They make fresh mozzarella in the basement. They have fresh ravioli, look at that sopreseta sausage hanging above. Outstanding Italian sausages. Olives. marinated mushrooms.
Photos by Pat Arnow © 2004

The butchers at Jeffrey's in the Essex Market at Delancey and Avenue A on the Lower East Side. Jeffrey himself, right, who just got new counters, rolls his own, tells you how to cook ém too.

		The dumpling shop on Eldridge (left) between the Lower East Side and Chinatown is why our friend Toby comes to New York from East Tennessee. Kossar's (above) on Grand and Essex has the best bialys, and Steve lives on the sesame bagels.
		DeRoberti's Italian pastries, First Ave., East Village. Try the sfogliatelles, crispy pastry on the outside, baked ricotta on the inside, not too sweet. Bite in, flakes fly.


Economy candy on Rivington and Essex on the Lower East Side, has floor to ceiling candy, dried fruit, nuts, Halvah (another inexplicable treat--ground up sesame that Steve says feels like eating sweetened sand. That says yum to me). Economy also displays a vast collection of old candy machines, radios and Pez dispensers.
		Everything is shaped like a grain of rice at Rice to Riches, the rice pudding store on Spring St., NoLiTa. It's the only store on earth devoted only to rice pudding.
Memorial to Jodie Lane
During the winter with much snow and slush, a 31-year-old woman was walking her two dogs. Both pooches suddenly went crazy, barking and fighting. Their owner went to pull them apart, stepping on a utility manhole cover in the snowy street. One of the frantic dogs bit her, and she fell. The dogs had gone nuts because they were being shocked by exposed Con Ed wires under the plate. When Jodie Lane fell, she was shocked, too. Passersby and the police could not pull her off without getting shocked themselves, and by the time the EMTs got there, she was dead. The dogs survived. This is outside of Veniero's on 11th St. and First Ave. a few weeks later.
*Screening for new movie, 2BPerfectly Honest*

			John Turturro, Aida Turturro, and Tony Sirico. I got invited to this by the director and producer after I interviewed them for an article about moviemaking in New York for Gotham Gazette. The movie is so small and personal it probably won't be coming to a cineplex near you anytime soon.

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