Nosferatu? I hardly know you
...I'll see myself out
Do you ever get a horrible rash on your face and then have to take antibiotics for a month and then you feel so tired that you’re basically Weekend at Bernies-ing yourself through the day? Just me? October is absolutely kicking my ass 🥴
Even without meds, the news of what’s going on around the world is enough to make anyone sick. I purposefully haven’t shared any videos or articles because literal fake news is everywhere and I barely know which sources I can trust. A couple other newsletters I subscribe to, This Needs Hot Sauce + The Simple Things, both shared a ton of links in their issues this week that I found to be smart, calming, and all around insightful. Please check them out if you’re looking for some great information!
1. Noshing 😋
Last week was October’s Beef Fancy Dinner™️! We went to Trust Bae, which serves a Filipino-Japanese Omakase and fam, it was great. Getting a reservation wasn’t that difficult, but be prepared to prepay about $240 per person up front (includes meal + tax + tip). This is definitely a special occasion meal, but I think it’s totally worth the price.
We had to wait a bit for the group before us to finish, so the staff kindly provided everyone with sake shots and when I told them I don’t drink, they were so sweet to mix me up a little mocktail shooter 🥹 They were incredibly accommodating with drinks and said they could make anything into a mocktail - Lorenzo and I ended up having the calamansi + hibiscus drinks as mocktails and they were very good.
The meal begins with a bunch of Filipino dishes - lumpia, palabok, sinigang. Even though this was the tiniest lumpia I had ever seen, it was full of so much flavor that I wasn’t even mad (though Lorenzo’s parents were borderline offended at the size). The palabok was topped with the crispiest fucking chicharron I’ve ever encountered and was a favorite amongst the group. The only let down for me was the sinigang, which is one of my favorite soups. It’s usually quite sour and tangy from the tamarind, but this one tasted much more like a mild miso soup.
Next up were the nigiri courses. All of the fish was so fuckin good, man. Trust Bae is from the same restaurant group that does Sushi by Bou (I’ve been to Sushi Suite) and I’ve never had bad sushi from them. Most of the pieces were a simple mix of high quality fish + tasty sauce brushed on and honestly, that’s all you need. However, their piece de resistance is the gold dusted tuna taco. Now, I think gold dust is dumb as shit and it didn’t impart any flavor to the dish - the tuna was good enough on its own. But when the chef was preparing the course she told us that we’d have an opportunity to take a photo while she sprays it with gold and that she’d make sure the lighting was perfect. I laughed because like, haha, funny joke. I kid you not, the second that taco hit my plate a man appeared behind me with a little portable light so I could perfectly capture the gold spray. It was so silly, but I did it for the ‘gram. Follow me?
Dessert was a freshly rolled ube mochi, branded with a hot iron. I thought the Trust Bae brand was going to be too extra, but it actually added a toasty flavor that I really liked. And they even sent us home with a little to go box of rice, fish, and tamago! Beef and Lorenzo ate theirs before we even left the restaurant, but I saved mine for breakfast the next morning and it was perfect.
2. Watching 👀
SAG-AFTRA is still on strike! They recently tried negotiating with the AMPTP, but were allegedly “presented an offer that was, shockingly, worth less than they proposed before the strike began.” 👎
I recently saw a screening of Nosferatu at Alamo Drafthouse that had a live score by Invincible Czars and it was really fun! Also - I forgot how goofy this movie was. Or are all old movies just sort of goofy?
What’s interesting about Nosferatu is that it’s pretty widely regarded as a classic cinematic depiction of Dracula, but it was a completely unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It was so unauthorized that Stoker’s family sued the production company into bankruptcy and demanded that all prints of the film be destroyed. Most were destroyed, but some survived and those, along with bits and pieces of test prints, were put back together to create the Nosferatu film that I saw.
The story itself is a bit silly and I haven’t read Dracula so I’m not sure how close of an adaptation it actually is. The story begins when our hero, Hutter, is sent to Transylvania to sell a house to Count Orlok (aka copyright infringement free Dracula). Count Orlok ends up deciding to buy the house across the street and I will forever be disappointed that we don’t get a zany “My neighbor Dracula” comedy film, but alas. Count Orlok hides in his coffin, ships himself (in his coffin) to Hutter’s town, and thankfully we get a long series of shots of him carrying his coffin across town and into his new home. Apparently vampires have to take their coffins + the dirt they were buried in with them, who knew? Anyways, a curse befalls the town, people die, yadda yadda yadda.
Of course there are some classic German Expressionism shots throughout, though this film is actually much tamer than I remember it being. I took a German Expressionism class in college (nerd alert) and I think I remember The Cabinet of Dr Caligari being really dark and twisted visually.
The live film score was excellent and apparently this band travels and just plays their music along to films, which sounds like a great freakin life. They certainly inserted their own flair to the score and I particularly enjoyed their exaltation of the lamp lighter character. I purchased really nice movie posters from the band and rode the bus home!
3. Exploring 🛼
A couple weeks ago I decided to treat myself and not just any treat would do - I wanted the king of treats. I wanted the feeling that could only be attained when a stranger mixes a bunch of candy into a pile of peanut butter and scoops that into a chocolate shell. I wanted Hershey’s to stuff my cup!
Before I go too far here, let me be clear: I would never explicitly tell anyone to go to Time Square. It is, and always has been, the literal buttcrack of NYC. However, if you happen to find yourself between the cheeks of 7th ave and Broadway, may I suggest a quick trip to Hershey’s Chocolate World?
The store was surprisingly not too busy for a Sunday midday trip and upon entering the staff gives you mini Hershey bars. I tossed my bar at Lorenzo because I had no time for distractions - I was here for one thing: a big ass peanut butter cup. I found the Reese’s Stuff Your Cup counter (they desperately need a new name for that) and got on line to place my order. You get to choose 4 mix ins to be folded into a huge glob of peanut butter a la Coldstone Creamery and then 2 toppings to finish things off. I chose Reese’s Pieces, cookies, mini marshmallows, and pretzels to be mixed in. For the topping, I asked for more peanut butter (natch) and marshmallow fluff. Unfortunately they were out of fluff, so the cashier offered me the substitute of a “big pile of mini marshmallows on top” which honestly sounded even better.
This was the best $20 I’ve ever spent. I ended the last few nights sitting on my couch eating spoonfulls of peanut butter laced with candy and more peanut butter and I couldn’t be happier. I was worried about the peanut butter to chocolate ratio, but taking a little bite of chocolate after every couple scoops has worked out perfectly. If you love peanut butter, you simply need to get this giant peanut butter cup.
4. Learning 🧠
I haven’t talked about enough spooky stuff this month so how about a tale of murder 🔪🩸 with a side of history 📜🤓? This is the story of the first recorded murder trial in US, featuring some very notable old-timey dudes, and ending in the basement of a SoHo clothing store.
On Dec 22, 1799, Elma Sands left her Greenwich Village boarding house to meet up with her sweetie, Levi Weeks. Those two crazy kids were apparently planning to elope that night, but instead poor Elma’s body was found floating in a neighbor’s well a few days later in the area that was then called Lispenard Meadows. Her neck showed signs of strangulation and the coroner surmised that after passing out, she was thrown into the well where she cracked her skull and ultimately drowned.
Obviously, Levi Weeks was the prime suspect and I mean, the evidence was there. However, Levi’s brother, Ezra, happened to have a few very notable gentlemen in his debt - Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. These two have so much history together they made a musical about it, but apparently this trial only gets a tiny throwaway mention (I haven’t seen Hamilton, so you’ll have to tell me if this is true). Ezra was a contractor and had recently built grandiose houses for both men, who were apparently broke AF and owed him mad money. So, he told the lawyers that he’d cancel their debts if they defended Levi at trial. Lawyering ensued and after deliberating for only 5 minutes, the jury declared Levi Weeks innocent of Elma’s murder.
After the verdict was read, Elma’s badass cousin Catherine essentially put a curse on all of the men by yelling dramatically at Hamilton, “If thee dies a natural death, I shall think there is no justice in heaven!” And well, getting off for murder is great and all, but all of the men’s lives took a pretty shitty turn soon after. Levi was ostracized and moved to Mississippi. Sure, he got married, had kids, and had a successful business - but he was in Mississippi. Hamilton famously lost a duel with Burr and died in 1804 (I assume there’s a song about this?). And Aaron Burr actually had a pretty shit life - people were mad that he killed Hamilton, his daughter fucking vanished, and he died broke on Staten Island of all places.
This brings us to present day SoHo and The Murder Well. In the 90’s a restaurant began renovating their basement when they uncovered a fully intact well - the well in which Elma’s body was found. And props to them for leaving it there because it’s got quite a history to it! Later the clothing store COS opened up at 129 Spring St and not only did they leave the well, they just built their men’s clothing section right around it. Like you can literally browse a rack of t-shirts and then turn around and touch the freakin murder well! One of my favorite accounts, LandmarksofNY, recently visited the murder well, too.
Author’s Note: I’ve since done some more reading and it’s actually unlikely that this was the exact well poor Elma drowned in. But does it really matter? If everyone believes this well is haunted, then isn’t it haunted?
5. What’s Good 😎
Halloween happenings are ramping up around the city! Recreate Collective is hosting a Pumpkin Decoupaging class tomorrow night. It costs a pretty reasonable $45, all supplies are included, as well as snacks and drinks.
Send Chinatown Love’s next Supper Club is on Oct 24 at Hainan Chicken House. You’ll enjoy a $45 prix fix menu served family style. I attended their Supper Club at 886 and both the food and company were top notch!
I’ve been wanting to attend a Produce Party for ages, so please attend this weekend’s mushroom themed party in my stead. It’s at the Farm to People space in Bushwick (which has great food). Tickets are $25pp and all you have to do is bring along your own mushroom-themed dish to share with everyone else.
I recently hosted a Lunch + Learn at my office with the fine folks from Soft Skills Creamery and they’re having a popup this weekend at Polly’s in Crown Heights! They’re using my company’s Bored Cow milk to create it and - I kid you not - it’s the best vegan soft serve I’ve ever had.
The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival is looking for script readers! You’ll get to help parse through their screenwriting applicants and best of all - it’s a paid gig.
Weather-willing, you can attend Met Fest this Saturday. It’s a block party that features live music, performances, and artist-led experiences.
NY is gearing up for it’s 7th rainy weekend in a row and the Prospect Park Zoo has announced an indefinite closure after being waterlogged a few weeks ago. I wanted to go there so bad, but it’ll have to wait til next season. All of NY’s other zoos remain open though and they have lots of Halloween fun going on for the kiddos.
More historical retellings from Eden, please! Also thank you so much for the newsletter shoutout!