One night I was in Newark, New Jersey back in the ’90s, but today’s post is not quite that scary.
Last night/earlier this morning ended a 21 hour work/travel day that started in Ft. Lauderdale and ended in New York City. Missed the big storm in the area as well as the President hanging out with David Letterman and later with Jay-Z at the 40/40 Club in NYC. Got four hours of sleep and headed out with a crew for a video shoot in New Jersey.
Shot and directed a project today at the home of Tony Siragusa; a guy with an interesting (and diverse) resume; NFL tackle for the Baltimore Ravens when they won the Super Bowl in 2001, sideline reporter for NFL on Fox, co-host of the DIY Network show Man Cave, owner of several restaurants, actor on the Tv show The Sopranos and in the movie 25th Hour, and author of the newly published book Goose: The Outrageous Life and Times of a Football Guy.
After the shoot I stopped in Chatham, New Jersey for lunch and had a vision. An illusion of sorts—interesting shadows created by a Halloween display/artwork outside one of the shops on Main Street. More charming than scary.
But if you really want to hear something really scary, on the cab ride in from JFK airport I learned that you can now buy a 12 oz Kobe Steak from Japan in NYC for $350. When I told that to the cab driver he said, “For $350 I can buy a cow.” Later I learned until last month it had been illegal to buy, sell or import Japanese beef in the United States. The ban was recently lifted and the Old Homestead Steakhouse (sounds like a restaurant that should be in Iowa, right?) began offering the steaks, and quickly sold out their first batch.
P.S. I passed on the $350 steak, but did get a nice steak at one of writer Stephen King’s favorite restaurants in NYC, Palm Too. He writes about it in his book On Writing.
Scott W. Smith
