Brazen Fox (White Plains, NY)

What better way to bring in the warm summer breath of Mother Nature then with an old buddy over a lunch? Not much amirite? That’s why on a beautiful Saturday afternoon me an my childhood buddy Franco decided to hit the White Plains strip and grab a sit at one of the outside seating areas of the many bar and grilles in the area. After very little time thinking about it (we were starving), we decided on the popular Brazen Fox.

Typical of the many bar and grilles in the area, the Brazen Fox does lunch and dinner in the afternoon/evening and after-hours gives way to the drinking and partying youth (and not so youth) of Westchester and beyond. It’s always interesting to see a place like Brazen Fox so quiet after spending so many late nights fighting through the crowd just to grab a drink. This particular afternoon would be an entirely different pace and it served to be a very nice treat.

We were seated by a pretty hostess at one of the outside seating areas. A great way to people watch, though White Plains doesn’t offer up nearly the same eye candy as NYC, it was still better than sitting in the restaurant staring at the fuzzy TV reception of the Mets game. Our waitress was a sweet young lady who was very eager to help us, always a welcome sign. After a brief review of the menus, I ordered a delicious B.L.T. wrap with sweet potatoes. To wash it down, I ordered my first Sam Adams Summer Ale of the year, which pretty much seals the deal for me that summer is upon us.

All in all, it was a great lunch. The food was great and the beer was perfect. My buddy and I shot the shit about the past, present and future. The sun was shining, the streets were a live with the buzz of summer. Good times.

More Info:
www.thebrazenfox.com

Tony Bennett LIVE (Mohegan Sun, CT)

"Vegas Baby, Vegas"! Those are the three words people remember most from the cult classic and my all time favorite movie, Swingers. It's where the world fell in love with Vince Vaughn, who played the slick talking ladies man, Trent. Not to mention Jon Faverau, who played Trent's Charlie Brown-ish best friend, Mikey. "That's right, who's the big winner tonight? Mikey is, that's who"! That is such a great scene. Anyway while I can quote that movie line for line, what I really took away from that movie was the soundtrack which was influenced heavily by the 90's resurgence of swing music. Artists like Big Bad Voodoo Daddies and Cherry Poppin' Daddies swept up airtime on both MTV and pop radio stations for a couple of years. Right around this time, one of America's greatest vocalist had bridged the gap with the MTV generation after a brilliant MTV Unplugged performance. It was then and there that most young Americans began to dig into the musical archives of Mr. Anthony Dominick Benedetto and discover his amazing catalog of hits. I soon became a huge fan and hoped to at some point see the classic crooner perform live.

You can imagine my excitement when while scanning the calendar for Mohegan Sun events, I saw Mr. Bennett’s name scheduled to perform on my birthday. I jumped on the phone and ordered my tickets immediately. The show was still weeks away so you can imagine how hard it was to contain my excitement. Eventually the day arrived and I was off to see Mr. Bennett at what better place than a casino. I’d heard mixed reviews about Mr. Bennett’s ability to perform at this stage in his career, so my expectations weren’t incredibly high. Still I couldn’t but feel giddy that one of the last performers of the so-called Golden Era of Entertainment would be standing on stage in front of me. I envisioned him in his tuxedo, piano in the background, while belting out classics like “Because of You” and “I Wanna Be Around” at the top of his lungs. I wouldn’t be let down either as Mr. Bennett left nothing on the stage. From the moment he stepped on the stage, he sang, he charmed, and he even danced a little. I was afraid he was going to miss one his little spins and need a hip replacement right there on stage but he was in top form.

Throughout the night, Mr. Bennett broke between songs with great stories of his yesteryears, which for a history buff like myself is always fun to listen to. Stories of Sinatra, Broadway, Columbia Records and other notable points of interest from an era long gone. To tell you that Mr. Bennett still sounds as good as he did earlier in his career would be lying but make no mistake, when he was on, you could close your eyes and almost envision yourself at the Copacabana during his heydays. A pleasant surprise was when Mr. Bennett introduced his beautiful daughter, Antonia Bennett and they sang together. It was a fun and touching duet. One of the funnier moments of the night was when someone threw their panties on the stage. Mr. Bennett took exception to this and threw the panties back in the audience only offering a stinging, “What am I Tom Jones?!?”

Aureole (NYC)

So what do you order when you are dining at a high-end establishment like Aureole? Why a burger of course. Well at least during lunch time. With the sun shining and the women of midtown strutting there stuff, nothing like a nice window view from the bar and a good buddy keeping you company. That would sum up my afternoon at Aureole.

Located somewhere in between Bryant Park and Times Square, Aureole is a higher-end business attire restaurant. The entire first level is viewable form the street via the large glass windows. The interior is elegant and spacious. You know this place means business and you are going to be paying for a quality experience in the heart of New York City.

Sitting at the bar a full view of the oncoming Times Square area, I was looking forward to seeing what this place could do to a burger. Especially a $20 burger. At the bar I was great by a very pretty bartender who setup us up with our menus. I decided to do the Eight Songs Shiraz which I thought would be a nice match for my burger. As we waited for our burgers to be delivered we chatted up about baseball, girls, wine, ladies, restaurants, babes, and well, chicks. Okay I’m exaggerating a bit…or am I?!?!

Soon our burgers showed up and what a thrill it was. The burger was grilled to perfection, with apple wood smoked bacon, white cheddar, and pickled ramp dressing. I wrapped my hands around the burger and took a nice healthy bite (can I say healthy straight face?) and the burgers juices just flowed down my mouth like a ripe pear. A sip of the shiraz proved my theory that rich spice and plum flavors with kick ass with the burger. The side of French fries was fine but nothing to write home about.

Eventually I was down the last bite of my burger, the last fry and the last drop of wine. Every moment spent in my mouth was delicious and quite memorable. Me and my buddy were able to catch up and enjoy a wonderful lunch while people watching the norms and odds of the mid-town populous. The check came and I’ll be very honest that while the meal and the company were great, the price tag is not for everyone. However if you’ve got the cash to spare and are looking for a nice place in mid-town to enjoy a very quality meal, you can’t go wrong with Aureole.

- Aureole -
135 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
212.319.1660

Come Fly Away Review

Call me crazy but I don’t often read reviews before going out to eat/drink or see a show/movie. Yes, there is plenty of irony is this considering that a hobby of mine is write about the places I’ve been. See here’s the thing though, I love surprises. So I tend to just head somewhere based on buzz or even worse, I pick some places just on looks. Wait…didn’t I already write this in my last post? Yeah but fortunately this story has a MUCH happier ending.

How do I say this? Okay, you make reservations for a restaurant that sounds like it’ll be delicious. They make your favorite dish and you figure that it’s probably going to be delicious. Then you get to the restaurant and everything you thought it was turned out to be something else…but you still loved it. Well that’s what “Come Fly Away” is like. Having not read too much about the show before hand, all I really new was that it was a story of four couples being told to the soundtrack of Frank Sinatra. What I failed to realize was that it was in a sense Interpretive dance all done to Sinatra’s greatest hits. There was no acting in the traditional sense and no dialogue. What unfolded on stage was a swing era niteclub where a group of young people meet for the first time and each couple connects in their own unique way.

Any fan of Sinatra will just be happy to be hearing ol’ blues voice conducting the dancers in this dance of love. The dancers are fun, energetic, attractive and best of all, very good. The moved along the stage with the gracefulness of a gazelle and danced together like two leaves in the wind. The outfits and the set were simple but fit perfectly into the swing era backdrop.

Overall the show was a great treat but won’t be for everyone. If you are a fan of Sinatra you should dig the music but not be a fan of all the dance and lack of dialogue. However if you can appreciate the talent and beauty of talented dance, then Come Fly Away is the show for you.

Buy Your Tickets NOW!!!