Château d’Esclans has partnered with the iconic Beverly Wilshire Hotel to introduce Rosé on Rodeo!
Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown are brilliant in the satirical comedy, HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL about the Church, faith, extreme abundance, sexuality, and more topics that often go unaddressed.
For most of the series, Scrappy appears to be the most loyal member of Raq’s crew, played by Ade Chike Torbert in Starz’s ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’, the prequel to ‘Power’.
As a result of Kanan killing Howard and Marvin not showing up on time in the season 1 finale, Raq sends Scrappy to pick Kanan up and navigate him out of the traps that the police have set up for Kanan. The second season, however, seems to have shifted Scrappy’s focus away from the people who have been his enemies for the past few seasons to people who are his new enemies. In order to deal with him permanently, Raq decides to deal with him permanently after learning that he might be a C.I.
This led to Scrappy’s shocking death as he was led to a warehouse by Lou-Lou and Marvin which was preceded by Raquel shooting him in the head.
“I just thought about all of Scrappy’s grievances from season one, from being passed up from them giving Kanan power and me having to babysit Kanan, just really swallowing a lot of things and never fully speaking my truth,” said Abe as he reflected on the storytelling of Scrappy for this season. Scrappy has been on Raq’s side since day one and he has been central to her group.
Scrappy was there when he saw Kanan shoot Detective Howard. For the first season, Scrappy took a backside and did not stand up to anyone for the most part. But for the one time he did, it was because he witnessed what just transpired. “I think the one time you kind of really hear Scrappy stand up is the season one finale when I pick up Kanan and then I’m like, ‘Wait, Kanan shot the cop? We got to go.’ So I think feeling these even accusations that I’m possibly disloyal just made me go. Well, you know what? You want to have this conversation, then we’re going to air out all of our grievances because I got some bones I want to pick, too. So it was just an opportunity to me to approach it from a place where who is someone that doesn’t have an opportunity to fully speak up within their at their limit and finally explode,” said Abe.
Within the months between the production of the first season and the production of the second season, Abe found out that the character was going to be killed off. Abe also said that he had enough time to mourn the loss of Scrappy before they shot the pivotal scene. “I was just getting started. I’m thinking about my impact for season two and all the possibilities, but it gave me a lot of time to really just to mourn it as a because these people, they become real, they become a part of you. He’s done a hell of a job. He’s gone through a lot of things. So now I just wanted to try to honor him so that I could leave on a high note, as high as I possibly could, even on labeled as a snitch. But, you know, I try to do everything in my control to just honor the characters,” said Abe.
Nestled into Chelsea Market, one of the first fine dining restaurants to grace the ever-popular market boasts authentic Italian cuisine, artisan goods, and more. La Devozione splits into 4 sections. First, their to-go pasta bar emulates the typical grab and go Chelsea Market food scene. Their artisan goods table displays hand crafted plates and cups from Italy, colorful Moka Pots, and Dolce & Gabbana collaboration gift boxes, and the walls are lined with bags full of every imaginable shape of pasta (or at least, far beyond the average American pasta imagination – 126 to be exact). The third part is their chef’s table, dubbed “The Oval,” where Michelin-starred chef Peppe Guida provides an interactive fine dining experience.
Finally, the fourth a part of La Devozione is A Tavola, their casual dining area. Featuring a sprawling set of square quad tables, the space has a modern feel that humbly offers you a taste of a storied 110-year old pasta business. Pastificio Di Martino has been making dried pasta for home consumption for over a century, and expanded into the restaurant scene with takeaway in Naples. Now, their first-ever establishment in the United States opened last November, to guests from all over the world. La Devozione is Italian for The Devotion in Italian, and their signature dish of the same name evokes the spirit of Italian dedication to quality cooking and well-sourced ingredients.
Giuseppe Martino, the third generation owner of Pastificio Di Martino, is the restaurant owner. Along with Chef Alessio Rosetti (Hotel Grand Hotel Fasano in Gardone Riviera, Tony May’s SD26, Black Barn), he developed this menu to highlight traditional recipes based on the best ingredients. Bar Director Cristhian Rodriguez (formerly of NoMad Hotel and Eleven Madison Park) works with the bar staff to develop the unique cocktails featured on the menu, and each gets his stamp of approval before it’s offered to guests.
We stopped by on Wednesday to sample some of their authentic cuisine – starting off with drinks, we ordered the Redwood, a cherry and gin combo, and the Fantasma, a pisco-based lemon and strawberry drink. Each had distinct and unique flavors that were the perfect intro to our meal. For our appetizer, we had to try one of their highlights, the Lollipop Di Macaroni, a breaded macaroni and cheese lollipop with truffle-hazelnut sauce. With flavors both familiar and comforting from the mac n cheese and enticing from the truffle and hazelnut, this appetizer was incredible!
Next, for our main course, we had the restaurant’s namesake dish La Devozione. It’s spaghetti cooked in tomato sauce and fresh basil – their take on the classic spaghetti al pomodoro. The standout ingredient in this dish is tomatoes from Sorrento, which are harvested in the summer and canned to send to the US in the fall. In contrast to San Marzano tomatoes, these are richer and sweeter, giving the sauce an extraordinary flavor. The store will start selling these as soon as they arrive from this summer’s harvest, so stay tuned for their arrival on the shelves!
We finished off our meal with a nightcap and some dessert – their Figli Di Fiori cocktail, a cappuccino, and their Paris-Brest dessert. This gin and elderflower cocktail is one of their summer specialties, and was the perfect fizzy and light drink to top off a meal of delicious pasta. The cappuccino was strong yet perfectly palatable, with that satisfying espresso flavor rounded out with creamy, frothy milk. Finally, our dessert had layers of fluffy pastry, hazelnut chocolate creme, and was topped with hazelnuts. Each bite was perfectly creamy from the pastry, sweet from the creme, and crunchy from the nuts – the ultimate combo for a dessert. We loved our meal at A Tavola and can’t wait to come back to try The Oval. We even grabbed some of their signature pastas, the item that made them famous across Italy, and have our eyes on the Dolce & Gabbana box for next time
Make your reservation and learn more about La Devozione here!
The first thing you’ll notice about Barbara Tober is that she’s a sharp observer, picking up on the slightest of details and reacting to them. During a speech to a roomful of guests at the St. Bartholomew’s Conservancy Gala Organ Concert (an event which she chaired), Mrs. Tober vocalized her observations in real time, from the heft of the award she was giving to the decor of the space, to the size of the paper her speech was written on.
During my interview in her private office at her uptown home, she was at it again. As she told a story about growing up near New Jersey’s “Pre-DDT” Kittatinny Mountain, Mrs. Tober watched my eyes drift toward a plate of cookies. Instantly, Mrs. Tober interrupted her own line of thinking with a remark on how delicious they were. “Try those chocolate ones. You must take some home.” I do, then we’re back on track: “Anyway, that’s my childhood.”
I soon learned that this was partially Mrs. Tober’s wry sense of humor at play. Mrs. Tober isn’t constantly cracking jokes, but by sharing her thoughts- big and small- she is inviting you to enjoy the world with her. When telling a story, she sometimes speaks in what sounds like vocal italics, imbuing a certain amusement by the very thing she’s thinking before she ever finishes the thought. Pair that with a penchant for incidental pauses and whole sentences effortlessly shift meaning, gaining humor or becoming grounded in seriousness. She is a master of the language, running the full gamut of its tricks and tools.
Barbara Tober. Graphic by Benjamin Schmidt
Mrs. Tober’s love affair with details and language has defined her career, beginning with a copywriter job at Vogue Magazine which eventually led her to the role of editor-in-chief at Conde Nast’s Bride’s magazine. Along the way, she’s written two books, The Bride: A Celebration, featuring fascinating lore as well as facts about courtship, engagements, weddings, and honeymoons, as well as ABCs of Beauty, from when she was a beauty editor.
Mrs. Tober speaks candidly about how important language is to her, remarking, “I like to put everything in words in a way that is graceful, gracious, charming… interesting. You use interesting words. I love the language. I love being involved in a language.”
Mrs. Tober isn’t hesitant to verbalize how impactful her time at Bride’s was on the broader culture, where she was the editor-in-chief for 30 years. “We changed the way America married!” She smiled. “We asked so many questions. ‘Why is the bride the only person in the picture? Why is he over there? Why don’t they write their own vows?’ We just kept saying, ‘Why is this the way it is?’” It wasn’t about solving anything, but a matter of knowing something else was possible, if you wanted it.
“In those days, they had these huge weddings in Vietnam and in Russia where they’d have 50 couples getting married at the same time. It wasn’t personal at all. A lot of these people escaped and came to the United States. They wanted to have a wedding for themselves. We started there. It was really a matter of anthropology.” Indeed, Mrs. Tober surrounded herself with people who wanted to observe the condition first, heavily influenced by the theories of Margaret Mead, the foremost anthropologist of the time. “One of my best friends is Helen Fisher. She’s an anthropologist and both of us sat at the feet of Margaret Mead. Together we explored so much. It was only the tip of the iceberg.”
Under Mrs. Tober’s bold leadership, the content of Bride’s magazine expanded as Barbara’s interests did. Eventually, Bride’s magazine went so far as to change its name to Brides & Your New Home. “That was done for one simple reason. Everyone knows we have fashion because we have a bridal dress on the cover. But not everyone realized we talk about decorating and entertainment as well. Marriage is a lot more than the ceremony.”
Barbara Tober, The Queen of Hearts By Ron Alexander for The New York Times, June 14, 1992
One of Mrs. Tober’s most prescient quotes captures the scope: “When people marry, other people work. A wedding brings economic health… It is a great banquet from which everyone can derive a living. It makes enormous economic sense to me.”
Indeed, in her personal life, marriage has had a near-perpetual presence. Tober has been married three times, but it’s impossible to chat with Mrs. Tober without a mention of her late husband of 49 years, Donald Tober, who died in early 2021 amid a challenging diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. Over the course of their long marriage, while Donald found success leading Sugar Foods Corporation, the couple rose to the top of the New York City philanthropic scene; becoming increasingly involved in the intersection of craftsmanship and art.
It’s on this topic that Mrs. Tober becomes particularly enthusiastic, demonstrating her passion for craft in real time. She tells me about a few details of the office we’re sitting in. A pair of columns: “Those are tribute to the Isabel O’Neil school. That’s not pore-free concrete. They’re painted.”
They’re truly remarkable, impressing a sense of heft and realism that feels increasingly rare. The walls and molding: “It’s paint behind you. It’s not Cinnabar. That’s paint. The artist was here for six months painting and sanding and painting and sanding and painting until he had it the way he wanted.” She finishes it off with a charming bonus, the classic extra detail: “Polish guy; a fabulous guy.” Without missing a beat, “Come to the living room”. The living room is vast and painted, of course, with commentary on every detail. She describes everything with a juvenile sense of giddy. “We took everything out and started over. We redid it.”
A some point, Mrs. Tober becomes a bit woeful. “You see how they decorate now. I know whoever buys this will paint it white. People shouldn’t do that!”
After his passing, Mrs. Tober turned Mr. Tobers’s bedroom into a well-preserved memorial space, packed with notes of appreciation, condolences, and a variety of ephemera and photos of the loved man. “I still visit him. I still talk to him. We did everything together.”
Barbara and Donald Tober. Graphic by Benjamin Schmidt
Mrs. Tober, now 87, hasn’t slowed down by any measure. If anything, she’s more active than ever, having treated her staff to a holiday in Abu Dhabi (“I’ve never seen anything like it.”) and returning to New York City in the middle of the crowded Spring social season. “Mrs. Tober does have an engagement this evening, we’re going to have to get ready.”
An early woman in the male-dominated world of advertising and magazine editing, Mrs. Tober has served on the Boards of a number of women’s oriented organizations including the Women’s Forum and the Women’s Leadership Initiative at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Just recently, Play for Pink, the Breast Cancer research initiative founded by Evelyn Lauder (herself a breast cancer patient), is honored the philanthropist for her contributions to the cause.
Her all-female staff supports the efforts of her venture capital fund, Acronym, Inc., which focus on art-related projects including The Guild Publishing Company, Inc., publishers of The Sourcebook for Architectural and Interior, and CODAworx, a global online hub for commissioned artwork where Mrs. Tober serves on the Advisory Board.
A true patron of the arts, Mrs. Tober has collected works by established as well as emerging artists such as Dale Chihuly, Bernar Venet, Boaz Vaadia, Michelle Oka Doner, Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Otterness, Olga de Amaral, William Morris, Betty Woodman, Lino Tagliapietra, and more. Her collection is defined by the practice and technique of the creation itself; an obsession with the how of the work.
The Museum of Arts and Design’s MAD Ball 2019
Currently, Barbara Tober serves as Chairman Emerita at the Museum of Arts and Design, where she was Chairman of the Board of Trustees for 15 years, critically seeing the completion of the new museum building, now sited at the southern curve of Columbus Circle. Mrs. Tober now heads the Museum’s International Council and Education Committee and remains an active member of the Amati group at the Metropolitan Museum, New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Opera, and New York Philharmonic.
Her enthusiasm for the beauty of the natural world, first instilled as a young girl in the hills and farms of New Jersey, continues with her support of the Central Park Conservancy, Friends of Wethersfield organization, and the Duchess Land Conservancy. She maintains Yellow Frame Farm in Millbrook, New York, a working farm where she’s able to indulge her green thumb.
Purchase Barbara Tober’s book, The Bride: A Celebration here. Read Ron Alexander’s 1992 New York Times story on Barbara Tober here.
From their mouth-watering mac & cheese to their Roku-based cocktail, Little Rebel’s two-level bar and restaurant is a treat on the Lower East Side of Manhatten!
AVYA, an Ayurvedic-inspired skincare brand from the minds of Deepika Vyas and Dr. Tanuj Nakra, recently launched 3 new products. As a skincare aficionado, I couldn’t wait to try out their new items. Over the last month, I tested out the newly developed Daily Milk Cleanser, Daily Detox Clay Mask, and Sheer Tinted Moisturizer SPF 40, along with their fan-favorite Anti-Aging Power Serum, Eye Bright Cream, and Night Moisturizer with Vitamin A. Read more to hear how the products worked and to learn more about the brand!
Seeking to “take traditional Ayurvedic ingredients and implement state-of-the-art technology to concentrate and boost their natural healing powers,” Vyas and Nakra say their brand is inspired by nature, and perfected by science. Ayurveda, meaning “the knowledge of life”, is an ancient Indian form of medicine that encourages “certain lifestyle interventions and natural therapies
to regain a balance between the body, mind, spirit, and the environment.” By combining these principles with their medical and pharmacy backgrounds, the co-founders have created a special connection of Eastern and Western medicine, and harnessed the unique powers of both, to deliver the highest-quality results.
As Avya means “First Rays of the Sun”, I thought it would be fitting to go through the products in the order I’ve been using them throughout the day.
First up, we have the Daily Milk Cleanser. It feels exactly like the name claims, like a creamy milk, and foams up ever so slightly when you massage it onto your skin. The scent of fresh blossoms fills the air, and the mild formula cleans and moisturizes your skin. It’s perfect for first thing in the morning, when you want to remove any residue of the previous night’s skincare, and leaves you with a fresh canvas.
After cleansing, I use the Anti-Aging Power Serum with Vitamin C, one of my favorite ingredients and my favorite product from Avya’s original line. This serum absorbs quickly into your skin and plumps and brightens it up for the day ahead. Vitamin C works great with SPF, so it’s a great ingredient to use in the morning when you can’t use harsher ingredients like retinol or chemical exfoliants, but still want to add something to improve your skin. I also add the Eye Bright Cream, which contains caffeine to brighten and refresh the eyes after a night’s rest, and leave you looking well-rested.
To protect my skin from the sun’s damaging UV rays, I apply their Sheer Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 40. This sunscreen / makeup hybrid feels soothing and lightweight on the skin without adding grease, which sunscreens high in SPF are notorious for. I would love to see Avya expand their shade range to fit the skintones of all consumers, especially since their brand inspiration comes from a part of the world where people have darker-toned skin!
When the evening hits and it’s time to wind down, I grab the Daily Milk Cleanser again after removing my makeup (you need something stronger to get off skin and eye makeup) and then apply their Daily Detox Clay Mask for 10 minutes. The scent of Camphor feels comforting and medicinal in a way that evokes childhood for me, and other ingredients like bentonite clay, salicylic acid, and zinc work to clear and deep cleanse your skin. After rinsing the mask off, I’ll apply their Night Moisturizer with Vitamin A, which contains a mild form of retinol and peptides to hydrate, improve fine lines, wrinkles, and hyperpigmentation.
I’ve been using this regimen for about a month now, and I look forward to using the products every evening and morning. The routine is calming and the aromatherapy feels like I’m pampering myself, and my skin definitely agrees with the products. Looking forward to continuing using AVYA’s new line and noticing even more brightening and firming effects on my skin!
On a mission to uplift the resilient robusta bean and bring Vietnamese coffee to the masses, Nguyen Coffee Supply is a proud disrupter to the RTD coffee category.
Take the film ‘Jaws’, combine it with the ‘The Lion King‘, add a stellar cast starring the amazing Idris Elba, and you’ve got one ‘Beast’ of a movie!
Antidote, a Dim Sum / Sichuan hotspot in Williamsburg, just launched Jazz Nights on the first and third Wednesday of every month. With a plethora of exuberant cocktails and mouth-watering dishes lining their menu, Antidote has been calling our name for a while now and we couldn’t wait to check it out.
We stopped by on the first Wednesday of August to sample their tasty small plates and catch some live jazz! It was actually the first installment of jazz nights at Antidote, which launched as a new restaurant only 5 months ago, and we had a blast.
We started off our night by ordering drinks from their house menu – the Drunk in Love, a lychee puree-rose cocktail with a gold filigree leaf detail, was absolutely beautiful and tasted sweet, floral, and light. We also tried the Cloudy Enigma, a classic hit for gin lovers with a splash of grapefruit. The Chai-spresso was a unique take on the ever-popular espresso martini, with smoky mezcal and spiced chai to add depth. The last cocktail we tried, the Flu Shot, was our favorite: a yuzu-heavy prosecco cocktail that brightened our meal with its citrusy punch and bubbles.
The first dish we tried was the Sichuan Cold Noodle – a zingy, spicy noodle dish with sesame and green onion, it was an impeccable appetizer. A few bites of this primed us for the flavorful dishes to come, and the spice satisfied that quintessential Sichuan craving. From the dim sum menu, we loved the Siu Mai with Tea-Smoked Duck and the Crab and Pork Soup Dumplings. To freshen up our meal, we tried the Wood Ear Mushroom Salad, which is poached and mixed with chili and lemon sauce.
Another item we tried was the Honey Glazed Short Ribs – the day we went they had a different flavor spin on their menu staple, the Sweet & Sour Ribs. Juicy, tangy, and tender, these ribs were substantial and delicious. Exactly right for when you want an indulgent complement to a light meal. For us, though, the indulgence was about to reach another level. The main event of our meal arrived next: the Dongpo Pork. Scored and glazed to a level of food-magazine worthy perfection, the tender pork layered with rich fat on top absolutely melts in your mouth and is a must-try at Antidote.
After our meal, we learned a bit about the place’s origins from Rudi. The four owners have been in the restaurant business for eight years, and are Indonesian, European, Chinese, and Taiwanese, respectively. They’re all passionate about good fusion cuisine, focusing on making food taste incredible rather than sticking to traditional recipes just for the sake of tradition. To create Antidote, they transformed what was previously an abandoned warehouse near Domino Park into an industrial-chic dining establishment. We can’t wait to go back to Antidote to try some more of the menu items, and if you make your reservation soon, here are some of Rudi’s favorite dishes to spark inspiration:
- Wood Leaf Mushroom Salad
- Wontons in Chili Sauce
- Siu Mai with Smoked Duck
- Fish with Spicy Bean Paste
- Antidote Curry Fried Rice