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The bench in my garden is an excellent gauge of how much snow has fallen:

Here it is at 11:27 today:

Sometime in the winter of 2006, my good friend Jonas and I had a couple burgers and some wine at Café Loup. Burgers so good in fact–and wine in an adequate quantity–that we decided to write about the experience. A short time later, Burger & Bordeaux (burgerandbordeaux.com) came online. The idea of a burger blog was, and continues to be, far from original. For us, however, it was less about informing the public and more about giving us an excuse to eat burgers and drink wine on a semi-regular basis. Yes, we are selfish people.

We had a reasonable run, ate some quality burgers and quaffed our share of wine. And, in the process of writing about it, we used my favorite food blog word, devoid, on four separate occasions. But, as of this writing, it has been nearly a year since out last post. After a brief conversation, we decided that it was time to retire Burger & Bordeaux.

I know this loss may be tough to swallow for all one of our reader. But, there are many, many others out there eating and writing with much more frequency and doing a more thorough job. So, It’s not as if the burger eaters of NYC will be uninformed in our absence.

Thank you for reading our little burger blog and happy eating–don’t forget to put bacon on it.

Everyone is tired of hearing about New Year’s Resolutions by now–it’s the second day of the year after all. But, this is one we would all do well by:

Cut down still further on American fast food.
–Dave Cook (Eating in Translation)

Photo: Partially whitewashed McDonald’s ad, First Avenue, New York © Dave Cook

I’m not posting any resolutions this year, although, I do have a couple. We’ll see if I can stick to them for more than a few days.

If you’re feeling a bit rough this New Year’s Day, take some pleasure in knowing that you must feel better than the twenty-something guy that was urinating on the F platform at York Street at about 1:30 this morning. This cat was so far gone that his date had to prop the poor bastard up while he messily went about doing his business. Discretion? Not necessary for this guy. He just let it all dribble out about 6 feet from the stairs, directly on the yellow line. The unfortunate people that walked through this puddle later would have been delighted to know that his fashionable, paper “happy new year” hat landed squarely in the middle of said puddle about halfway through this pathetic display. He’s going to have an epic hangover when he wakes up today. And his shoes, well, let’s just say that they won’t be wet from walking in the snow. I’m also thinking that his girlfriend may be resolving to find someone that can hold their liquor. So, hat’s off to you, dude, for making all of our commutes just a little more entertaining.

Happy 2010!

This is the scene at the bus stop on 2nd Avenue at 34th Street around 17:30 on Tuesday the 15th. Sorry, the image quality here is quite poor, but you can see how the buses are forced to stop in traffic. What you can’t see is that there are at least 3 or 4 of these police vans parked side by side (behind the one shown). I’m sure there’s a good reason for the police to be parked here with their lights flashing; I’ve seen them doing the same thing in this spot once before. But, it seems like fewer people would be inconvenienced if they set up on the other side of the avenue when they are doing whatever they are doing.

Here’s a short list of what is wrong with this picture:

• Major bus stop is blocked forcing busses to pick up and drop off in the street. If this were a better picture, you could see the woman with a cane that would have had an easier time boarding from the curb.
• Police vans backed up onto the sidewalk are blocking about half of it.
• Busses stopped in one of the travel lanes cause other street traffic to back up for blocks.

Those visiting any of the Open House New York sites next weekend may find themselves in strange and unfamiliar neighborhoods. If you think you may find yourself in that situation, keep this OHNY Food Map from Serious Eats close at hand–just in case you get hungry.

“What Kind of Dog is That?”

People with dogs must get tired of answering that question all the time. Today’s busy dog owner has better things to do than repeat statements like “It’s a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel” (that’s a mouthful) or “It’s a French Bulldog” to random passers by. But, ignoring them would just be rude.

Enter Dog ID Tees. Put doggy’s details right on your chest so you don’t have to repeat them. Now you can concentrate on that important tweet, text, email, or phone conversation rather than talking to strangers.

Four or five years back, this guy was flyering on 5th Avenue around 37th Street. At the time, he must have been working for a juice bar or something. I surmised this solely on the carrot getup he wore. For all I know, he might have been the marketing division of a major vegetable cart.

He was there for a couple weeks, then he was gone. Most people plying the inhabitants of New York with handbills don’t leave such a lasting impression. This carrot, however, was memorable not only for being a carrot, but the whole schtick. Clearly, he is well versed in the art and science of flyering. He even added his own special twist by doing a subtle, rhythmic dance while he distributed his flyers. Plus, as you can tell from the photo, he is a huge hit with the ladies–even sans carrot outfit.

This afternoon, he was handing out flyers for a local health club on the corner of 34th and 3rd. The sombrero doesn’t have quite as much visual impact as the old carrot suit, but it is a nice touch. If you are in need of a good flyer distributor, I strongly suggest you track this guy down.

Dave Cook created a great map of gastronomic highlights in Red Hook. The map includes, among other things, a comprehensive description of what is on offer at the Red Hook ball fields. Whether you are heading to Ikea to shop for low-cost goods, or just want to explore the neighborhood, this is a great map to have in your back pocket when hunger strikes.

This week’s special inauguration issue of the Sunday Magazine is without an Ethicist column. Instead, Randy Cohen has a podcast-only feature where he explores the ethics of driving a private automobile in Manhattan (mp3).

Cohen discusses the same subject in this Streetfilm. It’s a little dusty (from those days when we thought we might actually get congestion pricing in New York City) but still very relevant.

If you don’t see the embedded video above, check it out on the Streetfilms site.