Jacob Hadjigeorgis with his family at last year’s New Taste festival.
Several new Upper West Side restaurants will be serving dishes at the upcoming New Taste of the Upper West Side food festival, which is set for May 18-19. The food fest, put on by the Columbus Avenue BID, will once again have a lineup of more than 80 chefs, serving small plates and drinks to attendees. Proceeds go to community projects and organizations.
Among the restaurants that will be featured are some new spots. Jacob Hadjigeorgis, the owner of Jacob’s Pickles and Maison Pickle, is opening a new spinoff restaurant called Lucky Pickle Dumpling Co. at 513 Amsterdam Avenue (85th Street), a former laundromat. It’s expected to open in March.
Bakery Make My Cake is opening at 805 Columbus Avenue (100th) in June, according to the Post. Another restaurant called Elea plans to open in June at 213 W. 85th St. Its chef Joe Ragonese formerly ran an Asian restaurant called Kenta on Long Island, according to Eater, though it’s not clear what kind of food Elea will serve. Twin Palms, from Chef Ryan Turner, is set to open at 200 W. 84th Street, the former home of Spiga (which moved) in June. We wrote about Twin Palms here.
See our latest story about upcoming bars and restaurants here.
“…a new spinoff restaurant called Lucky Pickle Dumpling Co. …a former laundromat.”
Wow! They’re gonna have really clean food and some powerful salad spinners !!
😂
S.S. Meinkindt: Food is okay but a bit dry.
It certainly is a NEW Taste of the UWS with ticket prices between $115-235 IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLYARD.
(1) Is there possibly a more ostentatious display than this?
(2) Can these restaurants have a more bold-faced self-promotion in out public spaces?
(1) Yes, there are plenty of ways the could be more ostentatious. They could make it an invite only event, they could cover the ground in gold, they could require people to only wear a very specific outfit made by a high priced brand, etc. I don’t really see the event as ostentatious, the ticket prices reflect the demand for tickets. If they were any lower in price the place would be overrun and the quality of the event would suffer.
(2) I’m sure there could be more bold-faced self-promotion in a public space. Perhaps all the chefs could get jumbo sized posters of their faces printed out to parade around with? Personally, I’m ok with the self-promotion of local restaurants as is brings money, jobs, and fun to the locals how are in search of such things. As for it being in a “public space”, the proceeds go back to the neighborhood and help fund projects in the area which seems like a worthwhile cause. Also, I believe the schoolyard is not in use during Friday evenings and Saturdays.
Interesting that none of the Replies denied the “ostentatious display” or the “bold-faced self-promotion in our public spaces”, but rather attempted to discredit and shut down MY EVEN BRINGING IT UP, by name-calling and other personal derision.
But I stand by my values, and expose those without; those who must display their conspicuous consumption, despite the inappropriate venue. Those who feel the need to publicly display their [imagined] privilege in a Public Schoolyard, as untoward as they appear.
Oh Dannyboy, the gripes, the gripes are calling ….
Do you ridicule only Irish songs, or do you ridicule other ethnic groups as well?
If the tickets were cheaper would you feel differently about the event or are you just a chronic complainer?
Your name calling puts you in good with the other name-callers on this thread. I won’t rerspond to your nastiness.
Just looking at the corporate promotion of this tells me a lot about this tasteless showboating (“New Poor Taste of the Upper West Side” get it?).
My favorite promotional photo is of the young woman dressed in a gold lame cat suit and dangled from the ceiling. Oh yea, she is holding a gold-covered bottle of champagne to match her catsuit and tasteless display. Gatsby couldn’t have conceived of anything better even inspired by the Roaring Twenties. Did I mention this all takes place in a Public Schoolyard?
And the price is well within my means. I frequent many of the restaurants represented, where a meal for 2 costs a bit more.
But did I mention that I eat in the restaurant and not on display in a Public Schoolyard?
I fail to see how asking you if you are a chronic complainer is name calling. At any rate, why don’t you answer my initial question?
A substantial amount of the money raised from the event will be donated to the school.
This event will also showcase and promote neighborhood restaurants, many of which are struggling.
It is also a nice opportunity for residents of the community to interact with each other.
In my view the New Taste of the UWS is a win-win for local businesses and the community.
If you’re unhappy with the price of the tickets then I recommend that you don’t attend. The entitlements you enjoy in housing should not extend towards entertainment.
Sherman,
Please stop bullying people regarding “housing entitlements” you don’t know anything about. You accused me at least three times of being entitled to those and each time I explained that I paid the market price, not that I have to defend myself to you. I just want you to stop harassing people who might have discounted rents.
Sherman has tortured the English language to such an extent that it his is pure hate talk. He uses the word “Entitlement” to discuss everything from inside pricing on a coop purchase to rent regulation.
The core is of course his crybaby attitude about how everyone who has such ‘entitlements’ has somehow stolen them from him.
I have suggested to him that it would be more productive to stop his victimization and crybaby whining, and rather get on with making something of himself to end his ‘victimization’.
All to no avail, however.
Sherman said:
“The entitlements you enjoy in housing should not extend towards entertainment.”
As seems to be often the case with Sherman, personal nastiness…
how does SHerman know anything about Dannyboy’s housing arrangements?
$115 — $235 is not something many of us “entitled” UWSers can afford.
Bruce, you must by now sense that Sherman’s hostility is the the result of the deprivation he has invented ‘because Entitlements steal everything good’. Besides defining entitlements as anything that he doesn’t have and yet covets, he plays his victim card poorly. In this Comment he cites the poor struggling restaurants and schoolchildren who need support from this event. If he even glanced at the event he would know that is Mastercard, it’s main sponsor and the Columbus Avenue BID who reap the benefit of the ‘benefit’.
thanks, Dannyboy.
Sherman seems to be a very angry person, and he targets his anger at people who live in rent stabilized apts. the vast majority of these people are working people, poor, and elderly, and if not for rent stabilization would have to move off of the UWS, where they have made their lives for many years.
however, i don’t think Sherman is alone in his political beliefs. that is what troubles me.
i try not to make assumptions about people when i don’t actually know them. Sherman is anonymous, so i don’t know where he is coming from. For all i know, he could be a rich guy who just enjoys railing at those below him on the income scale.
Sherman,
You continue your quest to exclude others from having anything that you don’t. Why don’t you stop your crybaby whining and spend time making the money that you need to get what others have and that you covet.
absolutely right- part of alarming trend in recent years of public space being lent/sold to corporations- all the talk about inclusivity these days does not extend to class and money- I’m sure fine print shows they are donating 10% of proceeds to meals on wheels or some such effort but point remains the same-
Dannyboy –
(1) would you prefer they do it in private school yard? Im sure they have to pay something to use the yard for this event (just as im sure the Greenmarket flea also has to) which goes back to the community/school.
(2) what is wrong with promoting the UWS food scene? Do you not wish these establishments success? I have learned about many new places from events like this that I would never have gone to otherwise. Encouraging a vibrant dining scene on the UWS is important to me and Im sure many others given for a long time the restaurant scene was a little lacking.
(3) does making a comment like this make you feel good about yourself?
Minx,
I feel good about myself, in fact, I respect myself enough that I won’t respond to your 3 questions BECAUSE YOU DID NOT RESPOND TO MY TWO. Perhaps you should learn some consideration before replying to others.
Oh Dannyboy, your cranky responses to people calling you out on your grumpiness have made my morning!
Minx,
You continue to use all kinds of name-calling to avoid dealing with the issue of having a public school used for selling and promoting &115-$235 food tastings.
I expect that name-calling is the limit of your debate.
You get to taste food from over 80 chefs. Some of them highly respected and awarded chefs. It’s like $2 per restaurant. Well worth the ticket price and a fun time. Also, proceeds go to charity so stop being a cheap skate.
Don’t expect me to reply to your Comment when you end it with ‘stop being a cheap skate.’
You obviously have nothing to add to this conversation but rudeness.
UWS “truth teller”…there a more misleading handle than that?
Writing “proceeds go to charity so stop being a cheap skate.” gave the deceit away. Clearly this is a Corporate Event grabbing a Public Schoolyard. It is presented by American Airlines and Mastercard, the main beneficiary of this “benefit”.
I give my donations to causes I choose to support. I don’t expect Credit Card companies and Corporate Restaurateurs to offer inducements for THEIR benefit.
It is not me who “cleary lack[s} knowledge about fundraising and how these events actually work (see below @ March 3, 2018 at 8:14 am). For years I sat on the Board of an important NYC non-profit and currently Chair an Internal non-profit.
So I’ll explain yet again.
From the very link provided in the WSR article above:”Taste of the Upper West Side is presented by the Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District,..the event serves to raise vital funds for the Columbus Avenue BID”. That’s a Business Organization, just so you understand. As to American Airlines and Mastercard sponsorship, you gotta understand that the put their name on everything and self-promote to generate credit card fees and interest from restaurant meals forever.
As to “you are clearly overlooking is the cost to put on an event.” Yes restaurants want your business, but they are far from offering tastes. In fact, on the same page promoting the event it reads: “tickets are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law, with the exception of $25.00 per ticket., the value they put on the event.
dannyboy- you clearly lack knowledge about fundraising and how these events actually work. The sponsors don’t get a dime from ticket sales, in fact they pay a hefty amount to be a marquee sponsor. The other logistic you are clearly overlooking is the cost to put on an event. Do you think the tents, tables, electric, signage, etc. are free? No, they cost money and ticket sales help cover that cost. I’m also willing to bet that the organizer has to pay the city for permits to put this event on. The restaurants donate their time and resources to participate as well so I don’t know why you are calling them ostentatious. They are paying for the food, paper goods, and the employees time to prep and work the event and receive no financial gain. When all is said and done $115 is actually pretty reasonable.
Are they really going to be cooking that baby? 😮
Seriously, Jacob’s a great guy and a culinary asset to our neighborhood. If he adds soup dumplings to the menu I think he may be under control of my daughter who’s been dying for some decent XLB nearby.
Dannyboy, it’s a fundraiser, but I get that many may need to raise funds to attend.
Gigi, it is that, but more also.
Public Schools are not intended to be venues for the displays of unequal wealth. This is a huge problem in our neighborhood, where there is tremendous segregation in our schools.
But dannyboy, the recent rezoning solved all of our public school segregation issues in the southern part of our district…..
Peter,
I take your reply as sarc…well done!
It is disheartening to watch the Upper West Side degrade from a beacon of Social Justice to SEGREGATED SCHOOLS.
Bake My Cake , isn’t my favorite place. A certain guy has baked cakes , for a certain private group : Bravo for him. Don’t have to be [my ] Jewish to eat pickles. Where, an old cracker barrel ? Hope that the infant in that photo was : born on time; is healthy. Hope that BID treats those worker-cleaner-uppers :well. Bon appetit. Save family farms.
How does one get tickets for this food extravaganza?
Dumplings? Two and a half blocks from me? Can’t wait!
The whining in these chat rooms is unbelievable. Don’t like a sidewalk cafe. Don’t like Radio Amsterdam. Don’t like the proposed prices at Twin Palms.
Stay home then and soak in your own self-loathing. I’ll drink to your good health and the return of any business to Broadway.
Where did Spiga move to?
Make My Cake is DELICIOUS. The yellow cake with chocolate icing is my personal favorite.
That laundry place was the only “cheap “option around. To bad that a service that the community needs was priced out for yet another pickle place.
With any luck they’ll cut way back on the attitude, man buns, and grease that are the hallmarks of Maison Pickle
Beautiful Baby. Congrats.
The school yard largely sits empty outside of school hours. Monetizing the space is an excellent idea. Schools should be doing this more often. I know multiple religious groups that also pay to use school space on weekends – it is no different.
And charge as much as possible. Everyone is complaining that the wealthy don’t pay their fair share towards the greater good of the neighborhood. Well, by soaking the rich with exorbitant prices for something like this, we are effectively taxing the rich for the benefit of the community.
This is an event that I would love to go to, but it would be a big stretch for me financially. So I don’t go. And I recognize that everything that goes on is not supposed to be priced to accommodate my budget. Is this Russia? This isn’t Russia, is it?
I find it ironic that 99% of the people on the UWS vote for the same people in elections, but otherwise it is impossible to make everyone happy around here on anything involving the neighborhood.
Juan,
In fact, religious groups are very different from a restaurant gala. I will try to help you see the difference with an example:
Rather than restaurants, what if the next extravaganza were a schoolyard display of German and Italian Luxury Cars. I know that you, yourself would not be attending, as it would be beyond your means, but what message does it send to to schoolkids and their parents in the community that their Public Schoolyard has become the showcase for Mercedes-Benz Sl 550s, BMW Z8, a couple of Lamborginis and Masaratis?
Can you see how this is not the same as religious groups renting the space? You don’t have to be from Russia to see the difference.
I have stopped trying to explain the poor taste (“New Poor Taste of the Upper West Side” get it?) to the name callers on Thread #1, as their Pavlovian Response to the mention of food has elicited a conditioned response that has blinded their intellects.
I would be perfectly fine with the schoolyard being used for a high end auto show if the bulk of the funds were going to support the school. Public schools are horribly underfunded so if there are new and creative ways to raise funds that do not interfere with the educational experience (i.e. no auto-shows during school hours), I am all for them. Bake sales, carnivals and auctions only raise so much money…
Juan, you must know that the bulk of this money does not go to the school. It is being run by American Airlines, Mastercard and Business Improvement District for their benefit, not yours.
I want to make a comment on the rent stabilization system, and the viewpoints people have towards it. this might seem to be off-subject, but it is not: it was provoked by an exchange between DannyBoy and Sherman in the thread above.
Sherman criticized Dannyboy:
“The entitlements you enjoy in housing should not extend towards entertainment.”
My reading of this is that Sherman is assuming that Dannyboy is an “entitled” rent stabilized tenant. I have no idea what Danny’s housing situation is, and i doubt Sherman does, either. but that is beside the point.
Dannyboy responded:
“You continue your quest to exclude others from having anything that you don’t. Why don’t you stop your crybaby whining and spend time making the money that you need to get what others have and that you covet.”
He seems to be saying that Sherman is coveting Danny’s less expensive and/or superior living situation. He is assuming that Sherman is a market rate tenant.
I’ve noticed that a lot of market rate tenants seem to think that the rent stabilized tenants are “privileged” or “entitled.” And it made me think about the history of the situation.
Until the 1990s, on the UWS, unless you were a coop owner or lived in one of the few new buildings, we were ALL rent stabilized tenants. We were all in the same boat, and these divisions did not exist. and the neighborhood was much more affordable.
In 1994, and 1997, laws were passed by the City Council (1994) and the State Legislature (1997, under the leadership of the now discredited Sheldon Silver) that allowed “vacancy decontrol” and “luxury decontrol”. These laws were written and pushed by the landlord lobby. Tenant advocates predicted that they would mean the end of the rent stabilization system in NYC… and that prediction turned out to be right. Basically, vacant rent stabilized apartments that come on the market in the UWS are few and far between. the remaining UWS rent stabilized tenants are “legacies.”
What the landlords won, in effect, was a vast increase in rents, over a period of time. they could ONLY win this if they allowed the existing rent stabilized tenants to stay in the system… otherwise, it would have mean mass evictions, and political outcry.
We now have a situation where the legacy tenants make up less than a majority. the “non-legacy” market rate tenants, operating under a system devised by the landlords, pay vastly more than the rent stabilized tenants.
And yet the ire of many of these market rate tenants is not directed at the landlords who devised this system… but at the rent stabilized legacy tenants, who were lucky enough to be outside of it, as long as they stayed in their apartments.
the market rate tenants have to remember that it was the landlord lobby that gave them these exorbitant rents.
speaking of rent stabilization…what happened to the people that were burnt out of the bldg. that Jacob pickles is located..are they gonna be let back in?
In reading through the Comments, there seems to be a great deal of misunderstanding about this event. To set the record straight here:
(1) The event is being presented by American Airlines and Mastercard. Their rake on this is the millions of dollars in AAdvantage fees and interest on the restaurant bills to be generated for many years of billing card use at these restaurants.
(2) The proceeds of the gate go to the Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District. That is no charity folks, those are Businesses!
(3) The attendees’ ticket to eating and strutting is a tax deduction for them, so there’s no charity their either, unless you consider that the rest of the population carries their tax burden.
(4) The Parents of the schools do their networking and stake claim for all that they have done for the schools. Nothing could be further from the truth. They have sold their kid’s schoolyard to the highest bidder.
So, let’s be clear: we are exploiting the kid’s playground for lots of money, strutting, false claims of good works, false charity work, and on and on.
Eat Up!
To set the record straight from the Columbus Avenue BID, a 501 (c)(3) not for profit, every penny from the event goes into a dedicated account for neighborhood improvement projects. Full details are on our website, tasteuws.com. We have also paid for the O’Shea School’s operational expenses of their Wellness in the Schools program, and for PS 87’s as well. Our sponsors pay to be in our event, which enables us to put the event on in the first place, and the chefs all generously donate their food and staff for the evening. The BID supplies the tent, decor, music, and supplies such as paper goods, tablecloths, etc. The event is well loved and supported by UWSers, which is why we have put in the efforts to produce it every year. Frankly, it actually produces a very small revenue, which as mentioned goes for projects to improve the neighborhood, such as our streetscape block (on Columbus bet. 76th-77th) or the 19 BigBelly solar trash baskets we gave to Theodore Roosevelt Park to help ameliorate a rat problem there.
So Dannyboy, now that you have the facts straight, please stop spreading false information.
Hi Barbara
Please keep up the great work of the Columbus Avenue BID and good luck with the upcoming New Taste of the UWS.
I’ll likely attend with my wife. It’s a win-win for local businesses and the community.
It’s a shame that a certain malcontent has to spread nonsensical lies and discredit your good work.
Sherm
Sherman, you are the first that I expected to attend. You feel Entitled to other people’s apartments, so I expect it’s consistent that you’d want to get a meal that is 90% tax deductible, and not care a bit about using the school as your restaurant.
Barbara, the “very small revenue” seems to be enough for you and your intentional corporate partners to need to take away the schoolyard from the kids of the neighborhood. Who Benefits, your corporate takeover of the schoolyard for business profit motive or kids without a schoolyard to play, hold bake sales, meet friends, enjoy childhood, or hang out with their parents? Don’t try to justify your businesses takeover of our children’s schoolyard.
I’m hoping that we can continue this discussion, so that you can even begin to understand what neighborhood means, and why our children and neighborhood do not equal business. There’s more than money in the equation, if you can believe it.
Danny boy please stop trolling this blog. The vein of your posts obviously outlay from the general opinion of the people who view and post in the comments. Many of them see the altruistic benefits of the event and are willing to accept the incentives to the corporations to enable the fundraising that results. High jacking the comment section with constant attacks at anything that has a hint of capitalism associated with it neither contributes to the ultimate benefit of the comments section or the recognizes the fact that we live in a free market country.
Clearly not “Proceeds go to community projects and organizations.” as claimed.
Why don’t the businesses of the BID come up with their own funds to improve their businesses?
Follow the money
CUI BONO?