Need Suggestions for Monthly "Risk-Your-Life-For-Food-Night"

Every month I try to get a few people together for what I call a "Risk Your Life For Food Night". The idea is to go out for a great meal in a really bad neighborhood. It's a lot of fun and, there's safety in numbers. Does anyone have any suggestions? Know any out-of-the-way places? Funky dives in a desolate part of town? The riskier the better. Pls. advise if anything comes to mind. Wd love to know of some uptown and Queens and Brooklyn places.

What comes immediately to my mind is Wilson's @ 158th and Amsterdam, though better Southern cooking can be had at the place Jim mentioned. Still, the neighborhood for Wilson's fits the bill.

What to risk your life for food? Go to Le Cirque 2000
and order the most expensive food and wine available.
Then try to leave without paying the bill.

I'm sure Amy is a kind person, and I've enjoyed
the knowledge she's displayed in her other
posts, but I find the idea of a `risk-your-
life-for-food night' incredibly offensive
and dehumanizing.

I don't mean to get all PC about things:
If you want to eat Haitian food in Washington
Heights, great. If you want to look for pizza
in Harlem or mofongo on Avenue D,
wonderful--that's what this forum, I think,
is all about. It is amazing, the amount of
culture you can absorb over a dinner table.

But nobody chooses to live in a dangerous
neighborhood; poverty is not a tourist
attraction. And if the revolution ever comes,
it well may be sparked by the sight of
half a dozen upper-middle-class white folk
congratulating each other giddily on the
bravery of eating octopus tostadas in a
guarded restaurant on a block where you
happen to live.

Peace.

John,

If Amy is in fact white and upper middle class, as are all her dining companions, and they plan on congragulating themselves on "surviving" an "ethnic" meal in a dangerous neighborhood, then ignore the rest of this post.

I don't think that your reply is PC, as much as full of assumptions. You jump to a conclusion without even questioning her further about her post, which was very vague and non-specific. You assume, without knowing, that Amy and her friends are all white, and all upper middle class. Nothing in her post gave you such information.

This is simply my take on the situation, and in no way is meant as a personal attack on you or your views. And again, if your reading of Amy's post is correct, then I would agree with your sentiments.

Actually, it wouldn't matter if they were
penniless Zambian performance artists living
on the sixth floor of a cold-water Loisada
tenement--though we know damn well that they
aren't. The idea is still offensive.

I guess that means that you won't be joining me for dinner at Rao's the next time your in NY?

If you know "Frankie Cigar" or any other way of
obtaining a table at Rao's, please advise.

Amy:

Better yet, let's fix up Jonathan with Gwen Jolicoeur of "Critiquing Suggestions" fame. They seem to have much in common.
FYI: I lived in Washington Hts for close to fifteen years till 1992, both my wife and I were mugged (I at gunpoint, she on Christmas Eve) and my next door neighbor, a doctor was shot and killed as he was on his way to the hospital. Risking our lives were a very real and daily event. We survived it by joking about it. If someone choses to find that offensive, then they know nothing about living in a bad nabe. I'd prefer the company of your friends than he.

Pete

As a follow-up to Jonathon's comments: No, I do not know "damn well" that Amy and her friends are not a bunch of upper-middle class white girls. And neither do you.

Maybe Pete, Amy and myself should take our ignorant and offensive selves out for a nice dinner, and leave Jonathon and his assumptions at home.

Dear Alex,

If I ever have the pleasure of meeting you, remind me to completely make out with you. Thanks for your support. All of my intentions are good. I'm just a curious person who likes to explore. That's all.

Jonathan -- I know Amy personally, and I can assure
you and others that she does not have a racist bone in
her body. She has a wonderful curiousity about all
kinds of food, and will go anywhere to find it. I
KNOW she does not go to blighted neighborhoods to
laugh at the people there. Perhaps the term "risk
your life for food" needs to be changed to something
that is inoffensive.

I think that there should be more people who are just
as comfortable eating at Le Cirque 2000 one night, and
eating a $3 plate of food the next night at some hole-
in-the-wall in Ave B. Believe me, I've had more than
my fill of coming across snotty, ignorant people who
say to me "When we go out, we DINE". Now I find that
offensive. As if monetary value is the sole arbiter
of great food -- how ridiculous !

word....i have to say, my reaction was quite similar.

When I saw the title of the posting, I thoought that
you had in mind eating to extreme excess!

Whereas I thought you meant eating food at restaurants
of dubious cleanliness.

I hate to break it to you, but you're too late, Amy:
all the bad neighborhoods in New York have been cleaned
up. Now how about that killer cholesterol? Sautéed
brains with hollandaise, maybe?

I also originally thought from the title that you
meant going overboard with the eats rather than the
travels, and had a slightly negative reaction to the
actual message, I don't think it is worth getting
worked up into a huge frenzy. Though I must say that
someone saying all of the neighborhoods have been
cleaned up is a bit inaccurate. There are still some
neighborhoods that people are trying to get out of or
are trying to clean up.

That's the last socially conscious email I intend to
post here. I'm all about food. Bring it on!

Amen!

Now that all of the spleens have been sufficiently
vented, how about an answer for John Rikkers??
pat

There are two ways to get a reservation at Rao's...1)Know Frank and the crew there 2)Know someone who has a standing reservation there and tag along w/ them but...above all, you must be willing to RISK YOUR LIFE FOR FOOD!(Okay, that's the final thing I'm going to say about that topic. Who knew it wd prove to be such a scandal.)

P.S. Frank is coming out w/ a Rao's cookbook and a CD of songs that they play at the restaurant. If you can't get a reservation, preparing their food at home will be the next best thing to being there.

How about if I know the dog?

Thanks for your note. I'll watch for the cookbook.
pat

Their jarred sauces are pretty darn good, especially
the puttanesca.