I have a phobia about certain types of launch parties. You know the type—where lots of C-list celebs show up so they can get their picture taken in their frozen America’s Top Model pose (toe pointed, knee tucked in, gut sucked in) in front of the step-and-repeat and then get a some swag. But when the good people at Club Monaco (where the books are now being sold), asked if they could throw parties in honor of the new editions of eat.shop chicago, boston and vancouver (there’s also new editions for seattle and new england), I changed my tune.
Tonight is the first party in Chicago at the Damen location. Anna will be there, as will goodies from Southport Grocery and Sarah’s Candies. Drop by between 7 – 9p. You will find Jon and I happily ensconced at the Vancouver party this Thursday the 19th at the Robson location from 7 – 9p. Come have a drink with us and grab a book while you are at it. And then Tuesday the 1st of December is the Boston party at the Prudential Center location. Same time as the others. Anna will be there will bells on.
Here in NYC the “it” shoe of the fall seems to be the Dieppa Restrepo patent leather lace-up “moccasin.” We’ve seen it at Jumelle (where Jan took this shot), Maryam Nassir Zadeh, and beyond. I guess I should say that it is not just the “it” shoe here, but all over the country as I recently tried a pair on at Stand Up Comedy in Portland. Alas, my foot didn’t get along with these loverly shoes. Here’s our question at eat.shop: why are they moccasins? We’re thinking they are more of an oxford… Whatever they’re called, we like.
Here’s how it works in the eat.shop universe. We make Kevin Bacon’s world look desolate and empty.
Tyler Doran owns Heir Antiques, the single greatest thing to happen to Providence since, oh let’s go bold, and say, the Talking Heads. Tyler worked at the brilliant gallery/store Obsolete in Los Angeles where he met a woman launching a fledgling guidebook series on local eating and shopping. We’ll call her Kaie, and her series, eat.shop.
Kaie and the eat.shop guides hail from Portland, Oregon. So does Carson Ellis, who lives there with her husband, Colin Meloy, the lead singer of The Decemberists. She illustrates their album covers and sometimes does commercial work. Like when she did the identity for Tyler’s shop, here in Providence.
And Providence is about 40 minutes from Newport where the 50th anniversary of the legendary Folk Festival took place (remember when Bob Dylan went electric?). And guess who was at the Folk Festival: The Decemberists. Oh, and me.
I knew it would get around to me eventually.
http://www.vimeo.com/5280804
Way back when I thought I would have a new website in like February, I wrote this post. Since I still think about Hot Doug’s daily, I figure it’s worthwhile to throw this up even though it’s now burning, crispy hot in the Windy City. Here’s the original post: It was a stinking cold Thursday in Chicago. I was in town working on the iPhone apps, and visiting my brother along with my Mother and daughter Lola. When it’s 10 degrees out, where’s the best place to go to lunch? Hot Doug’s of course, because you are guaranteed a wait in line. You may be wondering, are there heaters while you wait? People… this is Chicago, what do you think? So strangers are huddled together asking themselves “why are we waiting in this stinking long line?” Because it’s a duck fat fries day, that’s why. Sure the dogs here are good. But the duck fat fries are legendary. The combination of hypothermia and the delight of these fries (and the cheesy fries) is what has my brother David (shown here) lose his professorial cool and act like Jerry Lewis.