The POPE of GREENWICH VILLAGE
PAULIE'S SANDWICH in The PARK
The POPE of GREENWICH VILLAGE
PAULIE'S SANDWICH in The PARK
TWIN ANCHORS BBQ RIBS
Frank Sinatra loved Chicago. He performed there more than any other city in America, including Las Vegas. Frank had his favorite hangouts, and places to eat in Chicago. He ate many times at Twin Anchors Restaurant & Tavern, and he loved the Barbecued Ribs.
One visit to the Twin Anchors in the 1970s was described like this. “Frank Sinatra entertained a large group of friends at The Twin Anchors last night. The guestlist included ; Jilly Rizzo, football great Sid Luckman, Frank’s girlfriend Barbara Marx, comedian Pat Henry, composer Don Costas, Joey Bishop, and agent Mickey Houston. Frank’s order was Ribs, and keep them coming, he said. One of Mr. Sinatra’s bodyguards was positioned by the pay phone, preventing patrons from making calls that would cause a mob scene. Mr. Sinatra was very gracious about signing autographs, and was extremely generous with tipping everyone working his table, giving them $100 each.”
TWIN ANCHORS BBQ RIBS
BBQ SAUCE RECIPE :
2 & ½ cups Tomato Ketchup
½ cup Dark Molasses
⅓ cup Brown Sugar
4 tablespoons Soy Sauce
8 tablespoons Cider or Red Wine Vinegar
2 shot glasses of Jack Daniels Whiskey (Frank’s Fave)
1 teaspoon Salt. 1 tablespoon ground Black Pepper
1 Navel Orange
Place all the ingredients except the orange in a stainless steel pot.
Grated the Orange Skin into the pot. Juice the Orange and add to the pot. Cook at low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Turn off heat and let cool.
The RIBS
2 Racks Baby Back Ribs
½ teaspoon Salt, 2 tablespoons Sweet Paprika
1 tablespoon Dry Oregano
Mix above spices together. Sprinkle evenly on both sides of the two racks of ribs.
Turn oven on to 375 degrees.
Place the Ribs in a large baking pan with 1 cup of water.
Cover pan with aluminum foil.
Place the Ribs in the oven. Turn the heat down to 300 degrees, and bake ribs until tender. About 2 ½ hours
Remove ribs from the oven. Take foil off of the pan and discard.
Turn the oven up to 400 degrees.
Brush the top of the ribs with BBQ Sauce. Bake the ribs for 10 to 12 minutes.
Remove from the oven. Let Ribs rest for 8 minutes before serving.
Serve with a Corn Bread, Bake Potato or Cottage Fries on the side, and Enjoy as Frank did whenever he was in Chicago at the famed Twin Anchors Tavern.
“Buon Appetito” !!!
Insight Into an OLD SCHOOL ITALIAN RED SAUCE JOINT
CLICK HERE to WATCH The TRAILER !
Vanessa McDonell on "JOHN'S of 12th STREET"
Interview with the filmmaker - Filmmaker Magazine
If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant, you may have a sense of the sort of family dynamics the harried environment can rapidly inspire. John’s of 12th Street, a dyed-in-the-wool Italian establishment in the East Village, takes this close-knit enclave to its apotheosis. As rendered in Vanessa McDonnell’s observational documentary of the same name, the restaurant is purely populated by the sort of old school New York characters that can only be regarded as a dying breed. From opening till close, McDonnell captures as many yarns spun over the tables as chicken parms are laid into the oven. In advance of John’s of 12th Street‘s world premiere at Spectacle Theater this Wednesday, Filmmaker spoke to McDonnell about the freeing nature of technical limitations, whittling down footage, and the new New York.
Filmmaker: How did you first come across John’s? Were they immediately receptive to the documentary?
Vanessa McDonnell: I used to live on 14th Street and Avenue C, and my boyfriend (now husband) lived on 8th, so John’s was equidistant for us and we ate dinner there pretty often. On one of our early dates, I ordered spaghetti and meatballs and the waiter didn’t hear the part about the meatballs. So I repeated it quietly, and kind of sheepishly. The waiter took a step back and said very loudly to the whole room, “Of course you can have meatballs. The lady likes meatballs. So what?” This is the kind of thing I want in a restaurant.
One night Mike Alpert, one of the owners, chatted with us after we’d finished a bottle of wine. After he walked away my boyfriend half-jokingly said I should ask him for a job. I’d worked as a cook in an Italian restaurant throughout high school and I was quite wistful about it. No woman had ever worked at John’s and we thought I could be the first. I asked Mike and was rebuffed, so I said, “I make films. Let me make a documentary about this place instead.” And he said, “Fine, whatever. Just don’t get in the way.” Mike and his partner of 40 years Nick Sitnycky were great sports about it. They said I was going to be the next Nora Ephron. I guess they never heard of Lena Dunham – she probably doesn’t eat there. I imagine she’s gluten-free or something.
Filmmaker: The film is designed to convey the course of a day at John’s from open to close. Did you know this was the structure from the outset? How long was the actual filming process?
McDonnell: I basically filmed everything that happened at the restaurant for a month or so. Then I went home and became paralyzed by the mountain of footage I had. It took me a very long time just to watch all of it. I didn’t decide on the structure right away. I tried out different things until I came up with something that would allow me to tell a story in an uncomplicated way. A day in the life of a restaurant is a great way to mark time – there is an arc already in there. The structure had to be simple because I didn’t want to use much conventional exposition – I didn’t want to create a historical portrait or a food network-type thing. I wanted the audience to be able to see this unique place and how it works, but also to just observe the everyday lives of some strangers, which is something I find inherently interesting. Not everyone does.