Thursday, November 11, 2010

NYC with a plan : Find a new Restaurant Name

Even the cab ride is exciting to me, my flip cam recording each swerve and swear word with high def accuracy. Walking the streets with thousands of people, seeing Al Pacino opening night on Broadway, walking through Soho and feeling the culture drip down off of the graffiti-laden buildings. I love this town. I love NYC. If I didn't surf, I'd be there...

No wonder the New Yorker is so adamant about the town. No wonder all the Yankees fans love their team even if the players are mercenaries. No wonder JayZ sings about the town (er, raps). I even caught myself blasting that tune as I rolled down 7th Ave & W 23rd. It's an energy, a brother and sisterhood of strangers. It's fuckin cool.

Don't get me wrong LA - you've got alot to offer. Beach, desert, mountains, city, entertainment...all a stones throw away. And the weather, always nice. But when you talk culture, art, food, spirit....NYC is so clearly above the grade that as I went to the 20 restaurants I went to in 4 days, and ate and drank like Bacchus (thats the Greek God of wine, no need for Wikipedia), I felt like a novice. Oxymoron? a 12-year experienced novice?

I went to NYC with a purpose: to find a new name for a restaurant I start building in January. I wanted to find some inspiration & creative outlet, or more precisely: see their food, see their plates, see their walls, how the light their room, how they layout their occupant loads, how they wire their speakers, and what they play. If you ever go to a restaurant with me, you'll notice that the first 10 minutes of our conversation, my head is swallowing as much information about the space as it can handle, down to doorknobs and floor tiles. But, above all, I wanted a name.

And when I got there, I got an idea. Why not let the people of NYC name it? After all, they are here all the time...so I got my video camera, told my friend (Im camera shy as you'll see), and we walked the city for four days asking people to name the restaurant. Im almost finished editing the video, and I'll post it for all to see, because it's actually pretty funny - security guards, landlords, actresses, bartenders - they all took a shot at the crown.

Did it work? Do I have a name? Lets just say that next week, my camera will be out in LA doing the same thing. But it was the creative process that was born out of that city - the ability to make someone creative in a non-creative endeavor. So thank you NYC. And by the way, if you've got a cool name for an American Gastropub serving breakfast lunch dinner, throw a comment here. Or better yet, throw a video here. You'll eat there for free if we pick your name....

4 comments:

jen said...

Hey Allen, makes me wanna go to NY! You and I would have a field day together, along with my husband Cam! (remember us from the Amos Lee show?) WE love restaurants and all that they aspire to offer. Whenever we go out, which is often and a huge part of our budget, we do the same thing...taking in all the details and admiring all the creativity and hard work. That's what we did most of the night a Saint Rocke, is admire all the hard work and the dream that was so obviously being lived out. As for a name...I like what you said in your blog..."American ???" Can't wait to hear more about it and try the great food! Saint Rocke's food was awesome!-Jen Carter
ps- I'm the kind of person that will travel great distances just to have great food again, believe me I have :)

Sass said...

"It's an energy, a brother and sisterhood of strangers." ...you totally get it. Love that you love NYC.

Sass said...

"It's an energy, a brother and sisterhood of strangers." ...you totally get it. Love that you love NYC.

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