Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Ali Frazier Sneakers LimitedEdition

 





"CHECK OUT THESE AWESOME SNEAKER" !!!

YOU GOTTA LOVE THEM !!!

ALI / FRAZIER

Two of The GREATEST FIGHTERS in BOXING HISTORY

Muhammad Ali and Smokin Joe Frazier




Fight of The Century High-Top Sneakers


The FIGHT of The CENTURY - Ali / Frazier at Madison Square Garden in New York on March 8, 1971 for The World Heavyweight Boxing Title. The Fight was Won by Joe Frazier in 15 Round. This fight is considered to be one of the Greatest in Boxing History, if not The Greatest Ever. These are Limited Edition Sneakers created by Bellino.












Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Lost Italian New York

 





LANZA'S

1st Avenue, New York - East Village

SINCE 1904





Robert DeNiro in LANZA'S

Filming of ANgel Heart

starring Mickey Rourke









DeROBERTI''S SICILIAN PASTIES










Saturday, June 26, 2021

My Favorite Burger NYC

 

"WHO MAKES YOUR FAVORITE BURGER? In NEW YORK" ?

TELL US !!!




SHAKE SHACK BURGER

WHO MAKES YOUR FAVORITE BURGER ?

TELL US ! WE WANT to KNOW


Monday, June 21, 2021

SINATRA at ALI FRAZIER FIGHT 1971





ALI - FRAZIER

"FIGHT of The CENTURY"

Madison Square Garden

NEW YORK

March 8, 1971


When Joe Frazier met Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971, the storyline went much deeper than two undefeated heavyweights clashing for the belt. Ali had refused induction in the U.S. Army, was considered radical chic and seemed to embody the culture of the 1960s. Frazier was cast as a champion fighting for the establishment. Frank Sinatra was a ring-side photographer for Life magazine. Barbra Streisand, Sammy Davis Jr., Hugh Hefner, Dustin Hoffman and Diana Ross were ringside. Burt Lancaster was part of the closed circuit broadcast team. All that, and the fight actually lived up to its billing as the "Fight of the Century." After 15 rounds of thrilling toe-to-toe action, Frazier won a unanimous decision.






ALI FRAZIER Fight Poster





FRANK SINATRA at The ALI - FRAZIER Fight

March 1971  MADISON SQUARE GARDEN , New York


Frank Sinatra figures into this story as a boxing fan and amateur photographer – and also, of course, by his own high-powered celebrity (for more on Sinatra see “Sinatra Stories”). The famous singer and Hollywood actor was then known for his 1969 hit song, “My Way,” which had reached the Top 40 in the U.S. and did even better in the U.K. However, by early 1971 he was also talking retirement, possibly by June, after he completed a charity event.
But that March of 1971, Sinatra was keen to get a ringside seat for the Ali-Frazier fight, but few were available. One report had it that he made a deal withLife magazine to do some photography for the magazine at the Ali-Frazier fight, which would give him more or less free license to roam around up close to the action. But in the introduction to Life’s March 16th, 1971 edition reporting on the fight, managing editor Ralph Graves explained in an “editor’s note” column how the magazine came to use both Sinatra and writer Norman Mailer beyond its own reporters and photographers. On Sinatra’s role, contrary to some other stories at the time, here’s how Graves described it:
…For our pictures of the action, we were relying on the magazine pool photographers at ringside, especially Sport’s Illustrated’s Neil Leifer and Tony Triolo, who delivered outstanding pictures. But it never hurts to have a horseshoe in your glove. Six years ago staff writer Tommy Thompson and photographer John Dominis were doing a story on Frank Sinatra. Sinatra was fascinated by Dominis’ equipment and admitted he had been interested in taking pictures for 20 years. Shortly before the fight Tommy learned that Sinatra had wangled himself a ringside seat and was going to take pictures with a battery of cameras. Tommy went to work wangling Sinatra into letting us have a look at his film. We didn’t expect to get anything the professional photographers didn’t have, but it might be worth inspecting. Indeed, Sinatra wound up getting the cover, a memorable full-spread picture [inside the magazine] (yes, he held his camera at that angle on purpose), and two other shots in our story. We are offering him a job…





ALI Dodges a BULLET From JOE FRAZIER








FRANK SINATRA

COVER PHOTO For LIFE MAGAZINE

MARCH 1971


ALI FRAZIER


The FIGHT of THE CENTURY



Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, billed as the Fight of the Century (also known as The Fight), was the boxing match between WBC/WBA heavyweight champion Joe Frazier (26–0, 23 KOs) and The Ring heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali (31–0, 25 KOs), held on Monday, March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.It was the first time that two undefeated boxers fought each other for the heavyweight title. Frazier won in 15 rounds via unanimous decision. It was the first of a trilogy, followed by the rematch fights Super Fight II (1974) and Thrilla in Manila (1975), both won by Ali.


On the evening of the match, Madison Square Garden had a circus-like atmosphere, with scores of policemen to control the crowd, outrageously dressed fans, and countless celebrities, from Norman Mailer to Woody Allen. Frank Sinatra, who, after being unable to procure a ringside seat, took photographs for Life magazine instead. Artist LeRoy Neiman painted Ali and Frazier as they fought. Burt Lancaster served as a color commentator for the closed-circuit broadcast. Though Lancaster had never performed as a sports commentator before, he was hired by the fight's promoter, Jerry Perenchio, who was also a friend. The other commentators were play-by-play announcer Don Dunphy and boxing champion Archie Moore. The fight was sold to, and broadcast by closed circuit, to 50 countries in 12 languages via ringside reporters to an audience estimated at 300 million, a record viewership for a television event at that time. Riots broke out at several venues as unresolvable technical issues interrupted the broadcast in several cities in the third round. And, although no live radio coverage of the fight itself was allowed under the terms of the promotion, the Mutual Radio Network did broadcast the fight, the night of March 8th, with announcers Van Patrick and Charles King, together with many other sports commentators, providing round-by-round summaries live as they came out over the UPI and AP wire services.
The referee for the fight was Arthur Mercante, Sr. After the fight, Mercante, a veteran referee of hundreds of fights, said "They both threw some of the best punches I've ever seen."
The fight itself exceeded even its promotional hype and went the full 15-round championship distance. Ali dominated the first three rounds, peppering the shorter Frazier with rapier-like jabs that raised welts on the champion's face. In the closing seconds of round three, Frazier connected with a tremendous hook to Ali's jaw, snapping his head back. Frazier began to dominate in the fourth round, catching Ali with several of his famed left hooks and pinning him against the ropes to deliver tremendous body blows.
Ali was visibly tired after the sixth round, and though he put together some flurries of punches after that round, he was unable to keep the pace he had set in the first third of the fight. At 1 minute and 59 seconds into round eight, following his clean left hook to Ali's right jaw, Frazier grabbed Ali's wrists and swung Ali into the center of the ring; however, Ali immediately grabbed Frazier again until they were once again separated by Mercante.
Frazier caught Ali with a left hook at nine seconds into round 11. A fraction of a second later, slipping on water in Frazier's corner, Ali fell with both gloves and his right knee to the canvas. Mercante stepped between Ali and Frazier, separating them as Ali rose. Mercante wiped Ali's gloves and waved "no knockdown." At 18 seconds into round 11, Mercante signaled the fighters to engage once again. Round 11 wound down with Frazier staggering Ali with a left hook. Ali stumbled and grabbed at Frazier to keep his balance and finally stumbled back first to the ropes before bouncing forward again to Frazier and grabbing on to Frazier until the fighters were separated by Mercante at 2:55 into the round.
Heading into Round 15, Frazier held the thinnest of leads on the judges scorecards (7–6–1, 10–4–0, and 8–6–0); so thin that, were he to lose the final round, he could still win, but only be by a single point. To be sure, Frazier closed convincingly. Early in round 15, Frazier landed a left hook that put Ali on the canvas. Ali, his jaw swollen noticeably, got up at the count of four, and managed to stay on his feet for the rest of the round despite several terrific blows from Frazier. A few minutes later the judges made it official: Frazier had retained the title with a unanimous decision, dealing Ali his first professional loss.







FRAZIER / ALI

by Leroy Neiman




SUNDAY SAUCE

alla SINATRA








FRANK SINATRA

PHOTOGRAPHS ALI FRAZIER FIGHT

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN 1971

NEW YORK CITY





FRANK SINATRA

At Ali Frazier Fight


"The FIGHT of The CENTURY" !!!






Francis Albert Sinatra

For Life Magazine

"The FIGHT of The CENTURY"


Hang This Wonderful Art of The Great Frank Sinatra in Your Home

Or Office







Ali vs. Frazier














.









.






.
















World_Gifts .

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Top 6 New York Foods Eat NYC

 

# 1    PIZZA




NEW YORK'S BEST LOVED FOOD

PIZZA TOPS THEM ALL !!!


There are all sorts of List for New York's Best Loved Food, Top 10 List, Top 25 or whatever?
Many have Bagels at the Top of The List, and I can see why, as many when you talk of New York's most iconic food items, Bagels might first come to mind for many, while others like me say it's Pizza.
I do Love Bagels and agree that they are one of the most iconic of New York Foods, and I rank them quite high, but my ranking for Bagels is in the # 2 Spot, with Pizza being first. Why you ask? Hey they're both great and at the top of the art in America and even the World for these two tasty items that New Yorker's just can't get enough of. But I'm picking Pizza as # 1 as far more Pizza is consumed than Bagels. They are both great, and New York Bagels are the Best Bagels in America, just as New York makes by far the Best Pizza in America, and maybe even the Best in the World. Some say the city of Naples is the Pizza Capital of the World, but I tell you what. I know many will think I'm Crazy and out of my mind, but the Pizza in New York is better than Pizza in Naples, Italy and the City of New York is better Pizza City than Napoli. What? Yes. Have you ever eaten Pizza in Napoli? I have, many times, and I tell you, some times it's good, and at times it is not. Neapolitan Pizza is often soggy in the middle, and if you pick up a slice, it will droop down, and is all soggy in the middle and not crisp at all. It's just crips around the crust, and the overall consistency is not good. And the consistency for making great Pizza all or most of the time, Neapolitan Pizza doesn't come close to New York. New York Pizza is better, it's as simple as that. New York Pizza is crisp throughout and not soggy like Neapolitan Pizza. And 9 times out of 10, you're going to get a great piece of Pizza in New York, where in Naples the ratio is more like 6 or 7 good Pizzas out of 10, as compared to New York's better consistently good Pizza ratio as compared to Napoli. Don't get me wrong, I love eating Pizza in Napoli, and I've had some really tasty pizza there, and other times I have not, and I've had  a lot more good pizza in New York than Napoli, and I'm talking about percentage wise, if you have Pizza 100 times in Naples, and 100 times in New York, the Pizza in New York will be better more times out of those 100 times than in Napoli. "It's true." You don't believe me? Go and try it yourself, New York Pizzaioli are better than those in Napoli, The Pizza Capital of The World. I actually thought my Uncle Frank Bellino was a little off his rocker, when he said to me once, "I don't like the Pizza in Italy. They make it better here (New York & New Jersey). Those guys (meaning the Italians) could learn something from them (NY & New Jersey Pizza Makers)." I though he was a little  cracked, but recently, especially after I had so-so Pizza at both Da Matteo and other Pizzerias in Napoli in 2019.  I did however have some wonderful Pizza at Tuttino Pizzeria, Napoli, and at L'Archetto Pizzeria in Salerno, and a pretty good (but not the best) Pizza at Da Gaetano Pizzeria and Pizzeria President in Naples, both good, but not as good as the best in New York, at places like: 
Lucali Pizza and Di Fara Pizza, both in Brooklyn, and John's Pizzeria of Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, New York. Joe's Pizza in Greenwich Village makes damn good Pizza as do most Slice Shops in all 5 Boroughs of New York and their neighbors over the river in New Jersey, and is where I was in Lodi, New Jersey, picking up a couple Pies with my Uncle Frank when he made that statement, "Those guys in Italy can learn something from these guys," a statement I shall never forget. My Uncle Frank was the leader of our family (The Bellino's) and for good reasons; his intelligence and integrity of which he had both in Spades.


Best Pizza in New York :

Di Fara Pizza, Avenue J, Brooklyn, New York, by the great Dom DeMarco.

Lucali Pizza, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, NY, from the great Mark Iacono.

John's Pizza of Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, NY

Spumoni Gardens Pizza, Brooklyn, NY

Joe's Pizza, Carmine Street, Greenwich Village, NY



MAKE PIZZA at HOME  RECIPE



# 2   BAGELS






NEW YORK BAGELS

An EVERYTHING BAGEL, POPPY SEED,

SESAME, and ???


What New Yorker doesn't Love a good Bagel? Not too many I guess? It's one of New York's most iconic foods, along with New York Pizza. Some say Bagels get their vote as New York's most iconic foods, and you won't get an argument from me, I Love then too, and understand how many New Yorkers give Bagels their vote for # 1 .. For me, it's Pizza # 1, and Bagels # 2, and I'm not saying I'm right, it's just my own choice, and you make yours. And I do love going to a good Bagel Shop on Sunday mornings for my special Sunday Treat of a nice fresh baked Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese, now that's breakfast. Great at lunch time too. Every now and then, I'll give myself a very special treat and get some Lox thrown on as well. In the same sort of category, though not technically the same, all bagel shops have bialys as well, and I really love those too.



NEW YORK'S TOP BAGEL JOINTS

Kossar's Bialys on The Lower East Side, New York, NY

Sadells, West Broadway, Soho, New York

Russ & Daughters, East Houston Street, NY

Murray's Bagels, 6th Avenue, Greenwich Village, NY NY

Ess-a-Bagel, 3rd Avenue at 50th Street NY NY

Tompkins Square Bagels in the East Village, New York NY




# 3  PASTRAMI




NEW YORK PASTRAMI

"DAMN I LOVE IT"

"JUST WISH IT WASN'T SO DAMN EXPENSIVE"



Yes, I Love Pastrami, but I only eat it 2 or 3 times a year. Why you ask? It's so Damn Expensive! "Give a guy a Break! $23 for a little damn sandwich?" Yep that's the going rate these days. I they're not even gigantic, like before. Like at the great old Carnegie Deli. But damn,they are as tasty as can be, and there's nothing quite like them, all fatty, succulent, and tasty as can be. Damn, why do they have to be so F_ _ in Expensive? They're just a damn sandwich? Sandwich should never be that expensive. But they are.




# 4  STEAK





NEW YORK CUT STEAK

COOK PERFECT STEAK RECIPE


The city of New York is so famous for its Steak and World Renowned Steak Houses that the most popular cut of Steak for Steak Houses and restaurants around America is known as The New Cut Steak, or New York Strip. New York Steak Houses and the Steaks they serve are legendary all around the World. The only other place in the entire World that people think of as having great Steaks is the country of Argentina. Yes when you think of Steaks, you think of New York, and with good reason, with names like Peter Luger, Keene's, Gallagher's, The Old Homestead, and Park's Steak House where Gambino Nob Boss "Big Paul Castellano" was whacked (murdered) on
December 16, 1985 ...

All New York Steak Houses serve Prime Dry Aged Beef, that are considered to be the World's Best whether you get a New York Cut Sirloin, T-Bone, Filet Mignon, Ribeye, or Porterhouse Steak, you'll be eating as good of a steak as you will get anywhere in the World, but it's going to cost you. The price of a NY Cut Steak at famed Smith & Wollensky is going to set you back $57.00, while the famed
Porterhouse Steak at Peter Luger Steak House in Brooklyn cost $104 for 2 people, and these prices are before tax and tip, and do not include anything else on the plate. If you want some potatoes on your plate, that's going to cost you about $13, and $14 for the Steak House STaple of Creamed Spinach, an absolute must. It'll cost you $25 for Shrimp Cocktail the most popular Steak House appetizer, and about $17 if you want a Caesar Salad.

Yes, New York Steak Houses are expensive, but for those with big bank rolls, the money is nothing, and for the rest of us, going to one of these famous New York Steak Houses can be a very special treat once a year, or two time or more if you're really lucky.


My FAVORITE NEW YORK STEAK HOUSE


My favorite two Steak House's in New York, I can tell you without hesitation are # 1 Keens, and # 2 Peter Luger's in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, just over the Williamsburg Bridge. On my own choice, I only go to one of these two Steak Houses, as I don't go to these places that often as they are quite expensive, and when I do go, it has to be one of these two. Every year I treat myself to a nice Steak Dinner at Keens Steak House during the month of December as a special Christmas Season meal that has become a yearly ritual. As a group of my friends got me going to Peter Luger for a Luger Burger Lunch at Peter Luger, that's what I do on or around my Birthday every year for the past 12 years or so. 

Yes there are other great steak houses, and I do recommend them all, but these are my preferred. Often I'll end up being invited to a Steak Dinner at some other steak house that some friends have picked and I'll end up at the original Wolfgang's or Smith & Wollensky. I used to love Spark's, but the last time I was there, I wasn't too happy, and I had doubts if the meat they were serving was Certified Prime Beef, but I could be wrong (take note). 

I haven't been to Spark's Steak House in quite a long time and I'm thinking I'm due for a trip back to a place where I had one of the most wonderful dinners in my entire life. The special dinner in question was an Italian Wine Dinner that I was invited to by Jacopo Biondi Santi and his wine distributor in New York, Martin Scott Wines. The dinner was amazing. There were just 15 of us lucky folks who were the top Italian Wine and restaurant people in New York and I was utterly honored to be there. We had Baked Clams Orenatat, Stuffed Mushrooms, and all sorts of tasty Italian Appetizers sot start, which were later followed with a tasty New York Cut Sirloin Steak for each one of us. Along with the meal, of course we drank Jacopo's fine wines from his family Montalcino Estate Biondi Santi. We drank Sassoalloro a Super Tuscan Wine made of 100% Sangiovese Grosso. We drank their other Super Tuscan "Schidione" made form a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. And then of course we drank the wine that Biondi Santi is most famous for (this family invented it), Brunello di Montalcino, of which we tasted 3 different vintages. Everything was absolutely amazing. With dessert, Jacopo served us Biondi Santi's wonderful luxurious Moscadello di Montalcino dessert wine to end one of the most wonderful meals imaginable. Imagine it if you will? Steaks at one of the most famous Steak Houses (Spark's) in the entire World, with tasty Italian Antipasti, and drinking Brunello and other fine wines with Jacopo Biondi Santi, the great great grandson of Clemente Santi the man who created the first Brunello, way back in 1865 in the town of Montalcino, Italy.





NEW YORK'S TOP STEAK HOUSES

Peter Luger
Keens
Spark's
The Old Homestead
Delmonico's
Smith & Wollensky
Gallagher's
Wolfgang's


NEW YORK'S BEST BUTCHERS, to buy Steaks ...

Lobell's
Florence Prime Meats
Faicco's
Ottomanelli's



# 5 NEW YORK CHEESECAKE






JUNIORS NEW YORK CHEESECAKE



NEW YORK CHEESECAKE

New York Cheesecake is the larger, richer and more indulgent cousin of the traditional cheesecake. ... This cheesecake steps it up a notch with even more cream cheese and the addition of cream and a few extra egg yolks to create an ultra-rich, creamy and larger than life cheesecake.



JUNIORS CHEESECAKE

Hail a taxicab anywhere in New York City and tell the driver, "Take me to the best cheesecake in New York." Odds are you will end up at the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues in Brooklyn, at Juniors. Founded by Harry Rosen in 1950, Junior's landmark restaurant is known as the home of New York's best cheesecake. For decades, Brooklynites (and other New Yorkers) have come to eat, laugh, and kibbtiz (argue) over cheesecake. In the 1950's, an entire generation came of age at Junior's. Our cheesecake was as important as the Brooklyn Dodgers...the Fox Theater...Coney Island...Brighton Beach. Today loyal customers still come --from all over and all walks of life. Famous mayors. Presidents. Hall of Fame athletes. Authors, singers, movie stars. In fact, it's as true today as it was 70 years ago when we started, "You haven't really lived until you've had cheesecake at Junior's."





# 6 CHINESE FOOD






The CORLEONE'S EAT CHINESE

"TAKEOUT"


Chinese Food and Chinese takeout are easily of of the most iconic New York Foods whenever you think of food in New York City. We have the Best Chinatown and Chinese Food in all of America, and it's so iconic that you see, as the picture above, Sonny Corleone, Clemenza, Michael Corleone, Tessio, and other Corleone associates eating Chinese Takeout Food at a Corleone Crime Family Sit-Down. You also see or hear about Chinese Food in Woody Allen films, and numerous times in episodes of Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners."

Chinatown in downtown Manhattan has such renowned Chinese Restaurants, like; Wo Hops, 
Hop Kee's, Sun Say Gai Rice Shop, and The Peking Duck House, and every neighborhood in all 5 Boroughs of New York have at least one good Chinese Takeout Joint where you can call up for some General Tso's Chicken, Wonton Soup, Pork Fried Rice, or whatever your heart desires, and at quite cheap prices to boo.




Guide by Daniel Bellino Zwicke





Woody Allen Eats in a Chinese Restaurant

PLAY IT AGAIN SAM


From "The New Yorker" October 2009


Is there anything more American than Chinese food? Remember that scene in “MANHATTAN” where Woody Allen and Mariel Hemingway cozy up in bed in his cramped apartment with cardboard boxes of something in black-bean sauce while W. C. Fields plays on the television? Or the scene in “A Christmas Story” when the holiday meal is rescued by crispy duck? Both examples highlight one of the key features of American Chinese food: it’s always there when you’re in a tight spot. And it really is always there. One of the fascinating facts in Andrew Coe’s new history “Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States” is that there are today over forty thousand Chinese restaurants in the country, “as exciting,” Coe writes, “as the corner gas station or the Super 8 Motel down by the highway entrance.” Of course, it took a while—two centuries—for Chinese food to achieve ubiquity. So how did it happen? Recently, Coe answered a few questions about Chinese cuisine’s remarkable American journey. He also tells us what chop suey is, exactly, and where to find the best Chinese food in New York City.






Woody Allen & Mariel Hemingway

MANHATTAN







CHOP SUEY

Edward Hopper

1929






FAVORITE ITALIAN DISHES

And SECRET RECIPES  

SOUPS - PASTA - ANTIPASTI

FISH - CHICKEN - MEAT



















.. to be Continued




Top 10 BEST NEW YORK FOOD BLOGS

BEST NEW YORK FOOD BLOG






PIZZA


BAGELS


PASTRAMI 


STEAK


SANDWICHES : CHOPPED CHEESE, BEC, PASTRAMI, Banh Mi and ???


NEW YORK CHEESECAKE


BURGERS


CHINESE FOOD

TACOS


RAMEN





Monday, June 14, 2021

Jersey Shore Crab Sauce

 

"IT'S THAT TIME of The YEAR" !!!


TIME For JERSEY SHORE CRAB SAUCE PASTA




PASTA with JERSEY CRAB SAUCE






JERSEY CRAB SAUCE

GINO'S SECRET PASTA RECIPE

ANd More ...

In SEGRETO ITALIANO

by Daniel Bellino Zwicke