I spent the morning of the fourth day in Amsterdam doing my own walking tour of the Jordaan neighborhood, an old working class neighborhood that is now the equivalent to Amsterdam as what the Greenwich Village is to New York City.
I started out with breakfast of apple pie and coffee at Winkel’s:
There is a Saturday farmers market in the neighborhood. Much nicer things for sale as compared to the Albert Cuyps market I had been to the day before.
The neighborhood was mostly quiet residential streets with pretty old houses and some canals with nice houseboats.
One of the larger canals in the neighborhood:
A couple of houseboats:
Many houses have interesting carvings:
I learned that that you could push open certain doors and find common gardens behind them.
Lots of bikes and lace curtains:
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Night 3 in Amsterdam
I had one of those memorable meals that are so rare on my third night in Amsterdam. Gebr. Hartering restaurant offers a choice of a 6 or 9 course set menu. The extra 3 courses are a ribeye steak, a cheese course, and an extra dessert. I went with the six course option. I got there at 7:30 and didn’t leave until after 11. Three and a half hours of bliss.
Before the first course they brought me three mini pre-courses.
The first pre-course looks like someone had already eaten. It was a plate of fish bones–anchovy bones that have been fried and dusted with smoked pimenton. It tasted like whole anchovies.
The second pre-course was an Italian green pepper roasted with chive oil and flakes salt
The third pre-course was a red pepper roasted on a charcoal grill.
First course: salted cod with oil, leek ash and watercress.
Second course: lardo with arugula (from a nearby village), caramelized shallots, crispy capers, and peach infused oil.
Third course: shrimp croquette with lemon mayonnaise
The shrimp were the tiny Dutch ones I had the first night in the amuse bouche.
Fourth course: monkfish liver with wild mushrooms
The main course was a porchetta with leek coulis, endives, potatoes (also from a nearby village) and crispy pigs skin. It was a dish with some tang.
Dessert was a creme brûlée that was not too sweet and creamier than most.
This was truly a meal worth travelling for.
After breakfast of a coffee and a croissant at an outdoor café in the capital and nine Streets part of the Canal District, I headed to the Albert Cuyp outdoor market in the De Pijp neighborhood, a poorer neighborhood to the south.
The market had a lot of junk:
And plenty of food including fish, cheese and berries.
And even a food cart:
I stopped at Van Dobben, a cafe famous for their croquettes. I had a beef croquettes on bread.
Then I walked for a while and stopped at a herring stall for herring and pickles on a roll.
I headed to Rembrandt’s house
And learned about printmaking:
Next up the Old Church. There were odd art pieces by various artists all throughout the church in every little nook and cranny
One was a giant Jesus whose face was selfies anyone could upload:
I entered the old churchmaster’s offices. On the wall were the shields of many of the church masters. Most were elaborate. Why did Nicholaus get a hotdog for his coat of arms?
And inlaid in the ground just outside the church with no explanation is a hand groping a breast
Dinner that night was at Geb. Hartering. A separate post to come on how amazing it was.
Dinner day 2 of Amsterdam
I decided I had to try some Rifsttafel while I was in Amsterdam. My second night I headed to Tempo Doeloe restaurant.
Rifsttafel is a style of eating and type of cuisine that developed out of the Dutch living in colonized Indonesia.
There were two Rifsttafel options on the menu (not counting a vegetarian option). One was euro 32.50 and the other was euro 37.50. The menu stated that a minimum of two people could order the more expensive one. I asked if I could order the large one. The waitress tried to dissuade me from ordering the larger one she said it would be too many dishes and too much food. I proved her wrong. Later in the evening she said I did an impressive job.
They brought out 24 different items and two types of rice.
A plate of 5 cold items/accompaniments.
One skewer of satay (no photo)
A plate of nine non-spicy items.
And a plate of nine spicier items.
This is what it looked like in front of me:
Here is a list of what I had:
It was a lot of fun trying everything and figuring out which I like the most.
Some of the meat dishes had some sweetness to them in addition to their spices and flavorings. I tended to like those the most. They reminded me of the type of dishes I loved in Malaysia. In addition, there was a chicken liver dish that was terrific, the satay was great, and the vegetables, especially the ones in peanut sauce, were great too. There were a lot of distinctive flavors and I liked that I found actual cardamom pods and stars of anise in my dishes. The dish that was the spiciest was truly spicy. One of the cold dishes was grated coconut and peanuts. That could be sprinkled on any dish to cool it down or to add a different flavor to it.
Everyone who worked there was very nice. The meal ended with a glass of a liqueur called Sayah. It was described as an anise type drink. I don’t love the flavor of anise, but I liked this drink. It was slightly sweet and more then anise, I noted flavors of spices like cardamom and cinnamon.
After spending the morning changing hotels, I headed to the Rikjsmuseum.
My new hotel:
Here are some of the things that caught my eye at the museum.
A Vermeer:
A man:
What’s with the dead frog:
An odd seeing-eye dog by Rembrandt:
Another odd dog:
For some reason I was focused on odd animals:
Odd people too:
The afternoon was more somber with a visit to the Anne Frank House
Eight people lived on the 3rd and 4th floors at the back of the building which otherwise housed a pectin (for making jam) distribution business. They were discovered after about two years. Only Anne Frank’s father survived.
I met an old friend for dinner. She happened to be in Amsterdam the same day–we had figured this out thanks to Facebook.
We ate at Restaurant Greetje, a restaurant that has revived old Dutch dishes in a new atmosphere.
Tourists don’t seem to eat Dutch food while they are in Amsterdam. There seem to be about three Argentine restaurants on each block.
But I’m a purist so no Argentine, Italian, Mexican, or French food for me while I am in Amsterdam.
We started with an amuse bouche which was a thin purée of cucumber and apple with tiny shrimp.
For our appetizers I had blood pudding and my friend had mustard soup. The soup was the winner of this pair of dishes.
We both went for the porkchops for our main course. The moist chops came with peas and truffled mashed potatoes and had a delicious sauce made with duck liver to pour over it.
Surprisingly the best choices on the wine list were Italian. I picked a Corvina which I thought went perfectly with the pork chops.
I arrived in Amsterdam early in the morning and headed straight to my hotel. No rest or shower for the weary. I had to wait till the afternoon for my room so I headed out into the streets early in the morning before most people had woken up.
Walked around the quiet Canal streets and then headed to the Van Gogh museum. Got there 15 minutes before they opened. I had a reservation for 2 PM that afternoon but I hoped to be checking into my room at that time.
The museum seemed run down and poorly lit but they’re doing work on one of the buildings so perhaps that’s why.
I saw lots of great Van Gogh paintings. Somewhere so familiar that I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen them in person before. Others, I definitely have not seen before.
An unlikely Van Gogh painting:
From there I moved on to the modern art museum, the Stedlijk.
They had works by well-known Dutch and non-Dutch artists and many Dutch artists I have never heard of.
While the works or heavy on abstraction, I was struck by two self-portraits that were side-by-side one by German Max Beckmann:
And another by Brit Stanley Spencer:
I’ve become a big fan of German artist Martin Kippenberger and they had quite a few of his works I hadn’t seen before. The museum had recently put on display three paintings of his from 1985 that I was not familiar with. They are three different buildings that all have narrow horizontal windows one is the Betty Ford clinic another is a present and another is a school. Guess which one this is:
Me and Rauschenberg:
After a night on the plane and a day in the museums, I headed back to the hotel to check in to my room.
My hotel (a great location but I checked out this morning–they put me in the sauna room, which I hadn’t requested):
After a quick shower, I then I headed off to meet a friend for drinks followed by dinner at Restaurant Greetje (separate post to come).
This week I am hitting all my favorite places. I had lunch at Union Square Cafe the other day (read about it here) and yesterday I had lunch at M. Wells Dinette. The owner, Hugue Dufour, and the chef de cuisine, Aidan O’Neal, are among my favorite chefs.
They now have a prix fixe lunch: any starter and any main for $28.00. The main courses alone were between $22 and $26. And you can get a wine pairing of two short pours for $10. These are both great deals but we would have been there anyways because the food is so rich, unique and flavorful.
Everything we had was terrific.
Here is the menu:
M Wells menu July 17, 2014
One of our starters was beef tartare. Fresh and tasty, the mustard seeds have a great pop to them. They’ve added edible flowers since the last time I had this dish. They make the plate pretty, but I am not sure they added anything to the taste profile of the dish.
Another starter was called cauliflower and mussels. I am not generally a huge fan of mussels, but I love Aidan’s smoked mussels. The dish was a fresh mediterranean salad. Fresh crispy cauliflower, cucumbers, croutons, radishes, some amazing super thin ribbons of pickled red onions and the wonderful smoky mussels. A great way to start.
Our third starter was a creamy summer squash soup with micro greens and some crunchy toast on top.
Summer squash soup
One main course was a beef short rib dish. The dish included fava beans and thin slices of turnips. The sauce was excellent but I could not figure out what was in it. It was the consistency of a curry or a peanut sauce but didn’t have the favors of either. Turns out it was a sauce made of almonds and red peppers.
Another main course was a pork chop with a lighter sauce. It included peaches, parsnips and crunchy parsnip ribbons.
Pork chop
The third main course was roasted poussin. It was stuffed and served over lentils and tomatoes.
Poussin
Both our desserts included blueberries. One was a blueberry crumb creme brûlée and other was a cheesecake.
Blueberry crème brûlée
Blueberry cheesecake
Union Square Cafe is one of my favorite restaurants and I love going to lunch there. I’ve had a tradition of lunch on New Year’s Eve at Union Square Cafe since 1995. A couple of weeks ago, Union Square Cafe announced that it will have to close due to rent hikes. I thought that meant it was going to close almost immediately, so I suggested to lunch group that we have our next lunch there. Actually, the announcement said that they will close when their lease is up at the end of 2015.
Lunch there this week was great, as usual. Everything we had was delicious.
We shared three appetizers:
Scallop Crudo at Union Square Cafe
Scallop crudo (with gooseberry and pickled porcini)
Mezzi Paccheri at Union Square Cafe
Mezzi Paccheri Pasta with Eggplant, Peppers, Fresh Tomato, Ricotta Salata
Sugar Snap Pea Salad at Union Square Cafe
Sugar Snap Pea Salad “Tagliatini” with Guanciale, Mint, Pecorino Romano
Tuna Burger at Union Square Cafe
I almost always get the tuna burger (it comes with with grilled red onions and pickled ginger)
We shared two desserts:
Union Square Cafe Cookies & Biscotti
Blueberry Crumb Pie w/ corn ice cream
Piece of My Heart
People love biopics and bioplays. Recently, you could go to the theater in New York to see shows about real people like Carole King, Janis Joplin, Billie Holliday, Louis Armstrong, Bruce Lee, and Lyndon Johnson. Now you can see one about Bert Berns. Who is Bert Berns, you might ask? Well, I had never heard of him. But there is a musical about his life: Piece of My Heart. Now I know that he is the writer of 51 hit songs in the 1960’s, including Twist and Shout, Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, Cry Baby and Hang on Sloopy. His songs were made into hits by groups like The Isley Brothers, The Drifters, Solomon Burke, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin and Neil Diamond. They’ve been covered by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Faith Hill, Cee-Lo Green, Salt N Pepa and many more.
Berns was one of the most successful songwriters and producers of the 1960’s, but, suffering from a bad heart since a bout of rheumatic fever at the age of 14, he died in 1967 at the age of 38 and has faded into obscurity.
Piece of My Heart starts out in recent years when Berns’ grown daughter, Jessie, gets a call from one of her father’s old friends. The story of Berns life is told in flashbacks as the old friend tells her about her father. We learn a little about Berns love life, influences on his music (such as the time he spent in Cuba), and his years of success. There are references to his partnership and subsequent dispute with music moguls Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun. There is also some modern-day conflict: It turns out that Jessie’s mother, Ilene, has been lying to the children all these years about some of the details of their father’s life. In addition, she has been selling off his song rights, even though she promised that she wouldn’t. A couple of the characters are portrayed both in flashbacks and in the current time. For instance, we see Berns wife, Ilene when they meet and marry (played by Teal Wick) and as the older widow (played by Linda Hart).
But the heart of the show is the music. The songs are terrific. The band is terrific. And the singers are terrific.
The 26 songs in the show are weaved into the story surprisingly well. The transitions from story to song were perfect—it was sometimes hard to believe the songs weren’t written for the musical. Often a character or two would start a song, but then they would be joined by a full chorus of the 15-person cast. Other times, the wall at the back of the stage would open to reveal a set of 60’s style back-up singers.
I loved the moments when the whole cast was singing, but one of the highlights of the show was a solo by Linda Hart, as the mother. She sings one of the lesser-known songs called “I’m a Liar,” explaining that she is going to keep lying to her family. She really belts it out.
Linda Hart as Ilene in Piece of My Heart
Piece of My Heart playing off Broadway at the Signature Theater on 42nd Street. Not part of the Signature Theater’s season, it is being produced by a separate group that has rented the space. Two of Bern’s three children are part of the production team. They were too young when their father died to know him (Brett was 3 years old and Cassandra was 10 months old). According to the show, Berns wanted to be famous. This musical is part of Brett and Cassandra’s efforts to help him achieve that goal–almost 50 years after his death. I was a little confused that the daughter in the show is named Jessie, while the actual daughter is Cassie–I read that the Jessie is supposed to be a composite of the two siblings.
The show is still in previews. It opens July 21st and runs until August 31. Broadway bound? I think so.
Get tickets to the show here.
Purchase a biography of Bert Berns here and CDs here.
SONGLIST
Here is a list of the 26 songs in the show:
Are you lonely for me baby
Baby let me take you home
I’d go back and watch that little girl dance
Show Me Your Monkey
I Want Candy
If I didn’t have a dime to play the jukebox
Everybody Needs Somebody to Love
Look Away
Up in the Streets of Havana
Twist and Shout
My Block
Hang on Sloopy
I’ll Be a Liar
Cry to me
Here comes the night
I’ll Take Good Car of You
I’m Gonna Run Away from You
I say Love
Just Like Mine
Piece of My Heart
Twenty-five miles
The World is Mine
Tell Him
Heart Be Still
Let the Water Run Down
Cry Baby
CAST AND CREDITS:
Cast List:
Zak Resnick
Leslie Kritzer
Linda Hart
Joseph Siravo
de’Adre Aziza
Derrick Baskin
Teal Wicks
Bryan Fenkart
Carleigh Bettiol
Teresa Gattison
Shonica Gooden
Sydney James Harcourt
Jessica McRoberts
Ralph Meitzler
Harris Milgrim
Michael Millan
Heather Parcells
Gabrielle Ruiz
Amos Wolff
Mark Zeisler
Production Credits:
Denis Jones (Direction & Choreography)
Alexander Dodge (Scenic Design)
David C. Woolard (Costume Design)
Ben Stanton (Lighting Design)
Other Credits:
Music by: Bert Berns
Book by: Daniel Goldfarb
Wendi Eats and Reads 