Awaiting your invite!

[Ore]

Ciao Arthur,

You might remember me, I am the 'americano' working with Antonio Pisaniello at La Locanda di Bu! How are you!?! Tonino says hello and wants to know when you will be inviting him to the US!!

I want to know what you are doing now. I know you are consulting now, but what else is keeping you busy?

How is the restaurant scene now in NYC - and throughout the US?

Have the recent elections changed anything in the way of people dining out, etc.?

well, thanks for being here on eGullet! Check out my signature links for my blog!

Ciao,

Ore

[Arthur Schwartz]

Ciao Arthur,

You might remember me, I am the 'americano' working with Antonio Pisaniello at La Locanda di Bu!  How are you!?!  Tonino says hello and wants to know when you will be inviting him to the US!!

I want to know what you are doing now.  I know you are consulting now, but what else is keeping you busy?

How is the restaurant scene now in NYC - and throughout the US?

Have the recent elections changed anything in the way of people dining out, etc.?

well, thanks for being here on eGullet!  Check out my signature links for my blog!

Ciao,

Ore

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Dear Ore,

Great to hear from you. How are things in Nusco? We loved our visit with you guys, and of course Tonino's food. Well, your food, too. (To eGullet people: This guy is a young American chef doing a stage in the middle of nowhere in Avellino province of Campania. His mentor Antonion (Tonino) is one of the top chefs in the south of Italy. He makes very local food with very local ingredients, but in a contemporary manner. Great flavor with great of-the-moment presentation.)

Tell Tonino, I have a guest room. He can come almost any time. As long as I am here. I will be up your way again in December.

Anyway, casual is the word here in New York. We have plenty of expensive restaurants -- too many expensive restaurants -- but the new ones are for younger people than the old expensive places were -- and the food is more eclectic. I think seriously plain eating may be coming back. I think New Yorkers my age -- as opposed to your age -- are tired of creative food. It all tastes alike. You've got the tuna dish, the steak dish, the veal dish, you get the picture. It's all just how it is garnished, what fusion is going to fuse the thing.

But I may not be the right person to ask. I am jaded. Eating out doesn't excite me as much as eating in. All that said, New York is the most exciting eating place on earth. Just today, I went to the bank and when I walked out I saw a women frying empanadas on the street. She's from Ecuador. She fries these one at a time. Nurses them along. She made her meat, chicken and bean-and-cheese fillings at home. It was fabulous! And last night I ate sensational Chinese food in Bensonhurst. I mean, most places on earth don't allow me to eat Italian one night and great Malaysian the next.

Come back Ore. A