The Hudson Cafeteria
 I'm no foodie, so don't look to me for informed remarks about what seems to be a merely interesting menu that combines U.S. comfort food (the ubiquitous macaroni and cheese) with East Asian dishes (Vietnamese shrimp lettuce wraps).
The real pleasure of the Hudson Cafeteria -- at Ian Schrager's Hudson Hotel on 58th St. between 8th and 9th Avenues -- is the rectangular, high-ceilinged dining room, spacious as a small warehouse but made dignified, like a library, by tall, illuminated bookcases and stained glass panels that soar to the ceiling like columns. The ceiling lamps reflect off polished redwood walls and produce a warm light as if a fireplace were crackling behind you. Diners sit on elaborately carved wooden chairs and long wooden tables apparently acquired from a baronial manor house. Or you may eat at a counter surrounding the open kitchen and watch the chefs prepare the meals.
Here's one picture (thumbnail version above left), taken in the daytime and showing a window illuminated by sunshine that I've never noticed before. Here's another from the hotel's own Web site. Because this print-wannabe site is Flash (sigh) I can't give a direct URL; navigate to "Hudson Cafeteria" for a look at the evening ambiance.
The occasion for the meal was a weekend visit by my smart and witty friend Jocelyn Byrne and her beau Raney, both up from D.C for the weekend. I worked with Jocelyn at Linuxcare and Juice Software during the years of the tech thrill ride. While eating we debated the impending war with Iraq, the possibility of Japanese-style deflation in the U.S., and how successfully or not the current Age of Sincerity has replaced the Age of Irony.
11:42:44 PM 
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