Hail to Half a Year
American Fried, Lure Fish House, Slaid Cleaves, Willis Reed, Otter Limits
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. I hope you enjoy the picks and pics.
Fave Five 26: Hail to Half a Year. Tummy Trilogy (American Fried), Birthday Bash (Lure Fish House), Texas Tunesmith (Slaid Cleaves), Championship Captain (Willis Reed), and an Outstanding Otter (Otter Limits).
This is the 26th issue of Fave Five and marks the first half-year of this newsletter. Thanks to all of you for reading, subscribing to, and sharing it. It comes after my family helped me celebrate my 70th birthday in style. I have heard from many of you how much you enjoy reading each issue, and I appreciate that feedback very much.
Looking back over the past half-year, here are updates on some of the people and places featured in previous issues:
Caitlin Clark led her Iowa team to the Final Four with 41 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists.
Nickel Creek released a new album, Celebrants.
I returned twice to Farmer Boy where I enjoyed FRIED CHICKEN & WAFFLES (two boneless chicken tenders atop a Belgian waffle) and a SANTA BARBARA LOCAL SCRAMBLE (three eggs, prepared with house-made tomatillo salsa, bacon, diced tomatoes, cheddar cheese, avocado) with extra crispy home fries, a grilled jalapeno, and a side of cilantro.
Antoine Davis came up three points short of Pete Maravich’s career scoring record.
Donovan Mitchell scored 41 points last night, tying LeBron James’s Cavaliers record of 10 games of 40-or-more points in a season. Mitchell passed 10,000 career points in his reunion with Atlanta Hawks coach Quin Snyder, his former coach at Utah.
Primanti Bros suddenly closed its Michigan locations.
Michigan advanced to the College Football Playoff but lost to TCU in the semifinal.
Hunter Dickinson and Terrance Williams II were unable to lead their team to a berth in the field of 68, despite coming close. Michigan lost to Vanderbilt in the second round of the NIT, ending a disappointing season.
David Garfield and I published a Band of Brothers playlist. He performed two wonderful live stream concerts as an acoustic jazz trio and played a great full band show at Vibrato in LA.
May Erlewine has a fantastic new album, The Real Thing. David and I saw her perform the day it was released in LA.
Slaid Cleaves sings about “One Good Year.” I am pleased that Fave Five has had one good half-year.
Book Best Bet
American Fried by Calvin Trillin
My sister Joan recommended this book to me many years ago, and as a lover of great writing, humor, and food, I devoured it. I have read all three parts of The Tummy Trilogy: American Fried; Alice, Let's Eat; and Third Helpings, and many more of his books. I am finishing Too Soon to Tell, which is an enjoyable anthology of his columns, but not nearly as much fun as the trilogy nor as touching his more personal memoirs, especially About Alice.
American Fried provides details on authentic, non-froufrou places to eat. Here are few excerpts:
The best restaurants in the world are, of course, in Kansas City.
It has long been acknowledged that the single best restaurant in the world is Arthur Bryant’s Barbecue.
For Fats Goldberg, Kansas City is the DMZ. He currently holds the world record for getting from the airport to Winstead’s.
We’d cut the pie down the middle and put half in a bowl for each of us and then take a quart of ice cream and cut that down the middle and put it on top of the pie. We’d wash it down with Pepsi-Cola.
Joan and I liked this book so much that we would read excerpts and crack each other up. If you are a Roadfood disciple, then you should read this and the subsequent volumes in the trilogy.
From Amazon: The author describes his cross-country search for the best in such foods as hamburgers, fried chicken, and chili dogs.
From Goodreads: The New Yorker's Calvin Trillin loves food while despising the très haut Francophile gourmet—the kind who can produce a dissertation on the proper consistency of sauce Béarnaise. Trillin knows that the search for good food requires constant vigilance particularly when outside the Big Apple. Not that Cincinnati and Houston and Kansas City (his hometown) lack magnificent places to eat—if one can resist the importunities of those well-meaning ignoramuses who insist on hauling you off to La Maison de la Casa House, the pride of local epicures too dumb to realize that the noblest culinary creations of the American heartland are barbecued ribs, fried chicken, hash browns and hamburgers.
Trillin is ready to do battle for K.C.'s Winstead's as the home of the greatest burger in the USA. Generally, he advises, you will do fine if you avoid "any restaurant the executive secretary of the chamber of commerce is particularly proud of." Also, any restaurant with (ply)wood paneling and "atmosphere," where the food is likely to taste "something like a medium-rare sponge." This then is not a celebration of multi-star "restaurants" but of diners, roadhouses, eateries—the kind that serve food on wax paper or plastic plates and to hell with Craig Claiborne. With tongue in stuffed cheek Trillin gives the finger to the food snobs, confessing his secret vices with fiendish glee and high good humor.
Restaurant Recommendation
Lure Fish House 3815 State Street, Suite G131, Santa Barbara, CA 93105
On Saturday my family threw a party for me in a private room at this place not far from where we are staying in Santa Barbara. I knew that this is a local chain and didn’t know how much to expect. It turned out to be the perfect spot. The food and service were outstanding, the room offered us privacy, and sharing the meal with my family, including my brother, made for a very memorable evening. After we were done eating, I was given presents, cards, and a few special words from my children and brother. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate my 70th birthday.
We started with a custom-built seafood tower and two orders of brussels sprouts:
BUILD YOUR OWN TOWER
OYSTERS ON THE HALF SHELL
DUNGENESS CRAB COCKTAIL
TIGER SHRIMP COCKTAIL
AHI CEVICHE
TUNA PONZU: Line caught Ahi, serranos, avocado, peanuts
POP ROCK SHRIMP: Crispy shrimp bites with a sriracha glaze
CHARBROILED OYSTERS: Parmesan, butter, garlic, parsley
MAPLE MISO BRUSSELS SPROUTS
The oysters were the star, both raw and charbroiled.
I doubled up on Veracruz: a cup of chowder and a platter (shared with my daughter Kathy):
VERACRUZ FISH CHOWDER: Spicy roasted tomato broth, pasilla chiles, onion, carrot, and red potatoes
VERACRUZ PLATTER: Blackened wild rockfish, avocado, cilantro crema, organic black beans, cilantro lime rice, organic corn tortillas
I loved the spicy chowder. The platter was also very good.
From the restaurant: Lure Fish House is a family-owned restaurant featuring the freshest sustainable seafood from trusted sources. We always strive to serve locally caught seafood, organically grown local produce, and wines from local vineyards whenever possible. We also feature a full bar with specialty cocktails made with freshly squeezed fruit juices and a raw bar serving a variety of fresh oysters.
Lure's seasonally focused menu offers an array of classics like mussels, fish tacos, chowders, ceviche, lobster, organic salads, and simply seared fish served with delicious sides. We also serve unique specialties such as our renowned charbroiled oysters and cioppino.
Lure Fish House is a celebration of all things seafood. Our goal is to provide our guests with a fun and exciting seafood experience full of healthy, environmentally sound, and delicious options!
Marvelous Musician
Slaid released a new album, Together Through the Dark, earlier this month. It’s his first in six years, and it’s excellent.
I first heard his music in 2000 on WUMB when a number of songs from Broke Down were played regularly. My favorites are “Broke Down.” “One Good Year,” “Horseshoe Lounge,” “Breakfast In Hell,” and “Lydia.”
I have seen him twice at The Ark in Ann Arbor and on Cayamo 2016. He performed in our home on October 7, 2016.
From Slaid’s site: Grew up in Maine. Lives in Texas. Writes songs. Makes records. Travels around. Tries to be good.
Joseph Hudak of Rolling Stone calls Cleaves “a master storyteller, one influenced not by the shine of pop-culture but by the dirt of real life.”
From Wikipedia: Slaid Cleaves is an American singer-songwriter born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Maine. An alumnus of Tufts University, where he majored in English and philosophy, Cleaves lives in Austin, Texas.
One Good Year
Lydia
My Playlist
Sports Star
Willis Reed died on March 21, 2023. He was revered by New York Knicks fans, of which I was an ardent one when I lived in New Jersey. As the team captain, he led the Knicks to their first championship in 1970, right before I moved back to St. Louis. I remained a Knicks fan through their second championship in 1973. I watched all the games with fellow basketball junkies at Washington University in St. Louis that year.
I loved the 1970 starting five of Willis Reed (center), Dave DeBusschere (power forward, from Detroit), Bill Bradley (small forward, from Crystal City, Missouri), Walt Frazier (point guard, from Southern Illinois University), and Dick Barnett (shooting guard, from Gary, Indiana) and the radio play-by-play announcer, Marv Albert. The 1973 champs added Earl (The Pearl) Monroe, who had given the Knicks fits during playoff matchu.ps when he was with the Baltimore Bullets.
For his career, Willis averaged 18.7 points and 12.9 rebounds. His career high in points was 53 and in rebounds was 33. In the playoffs, he averaged 17.4 points and 10.3 rebounds. I will always remember his incredible performance at the start of Game 7 in the 1970 Finals against the Lakers, running out just before the game started to hit two jumpers and set the winning tone. He was truly one of the greats.
From Wikipedia: Willis Reed Jr. (June 25, 1942 – March 21, 2023) was an American professional basketball player, coach, and general manager. He spent his entire 10-year pro playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Reed was a seven-time NBA All-Star and five-time All-NBA selection, including once on the first team in 1970, when he was named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP). He was a two-time NBA champion (1970, 1973) and was voted the NBA Finals MVP both times. In 1982, Reed was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was named to both the NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams.
After retiring as a player, Reed served as assistant and head coach with several teams for nearly a decade, then was promoted to general manager and vice president of basketball operations (1989–1996) for the New Jersey Nets. As senior vice president of basketball operations, he helped to lead them to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003.
Born on June 25, 1942, in Hico, Louisiana, Willis Reed Jr. was the only child of Willis Sr. and Inell Reed. His parents moved from his grandparents' farm to Bernice, Louisiana, where they worked to ensure Reed got an education in the segregated South. Reed showed athletic ability at an early age and played basketball at West Side High School in Lillie, Louisiana.
Reed attended Grambling State University, a historically black college. Playing for the Grambling State Tigers men's basketball team, Reed scored 2,280 career points, averaging 26.6 points per game and 21.3 rebounds per game during his senior year. He led the Tigers to one NAIA title and three Southwestern Athletic Conference championships.
Willis Reed, Hall of Fame Center for Champion Knicks, Dies at 80 - by Harvey Araton, The New York Times
When the Knicks went out to warm up before the start of Game 7, Reed stayed behind in the trainer’s room for treatment. As everyone in the packed Garden anxiously awaited word on whether he would play, he made his way stiff-legged through the players’ tunnel and emerged to a crescendo of cheers to join his teammates, who were already warming up.
“You’re five stories above the ground and I swear you could feel the vibrations,” Reed said in 2009. “I thought, this is what an earthquake must feel like.”
Limping noticeably, he hit his first two southpaw jump shots for his only points of the game. Frazier carried the Knicks from there, with 36 points and 19 assists, and the Knicks, with a 113-99 victory, clinched the franchise’s first title.
In 1990, around the 20th anniversary of Game 7, Reed told The New York Times: “There isn’t a day in my life that people don’t remind me of that game.”
Willis Reed was the sports world’s role model we need now by Marv Zimmerman
I couldn’t help but reflect back on when our paths crossed in the summer of 1968. I had gone to the Pocono Mountain Basketball camp with a couple of teammates from the Central Square varsity basketball team to hone my skills for a week. Each session there was a guest NBA player, and the week we were there it was Willis Reed.
Each afternoon, we had free time in which we were expected to play pick-up games on the outdoor courts. One day as we were playing a 3-on-3 game I looked over to see Reed standing next to the court watching us play. Suddenly he walked out on the court and said, “Do you mind if I play?” We were stunned but quickly said, “Yes!”
We played 4 on 3, and I was on the team playing against Reed. We had been playing for only a few minutes when a shot went up and he and I rose for the rebound at the same time. He rose above the rim and grabbed the ball with his 6-foot-9, 235-pound chiseled body, and as he was coming down, he slammed into my skinny 5-foot-9, 125-pound body. I went crashing to the ground and had the wind knocked out of me. Reed seemed more shook up than I was. He asked if I was OK and then proceeded to pick me up in his arms and carry me to the bench as if he were lifting a toddler. I was OK but sat out the rest of the game feeling more embarrassed than injured.
That night I had one of the biggest thrills of my life. There was a game for the college counselors, and Reed was also playing. My friends and I were standing behind the bench, and when he came out of the game, he saw me standing there. He said, “Hey Marv, how are you doing? Come and sit for a minute?” My friends watched admiringly as I sat on the bench between Willis Reed and a college player from Princeton named Geoff Petrie, who went on to become the 1970 NBA Rookie of the Year. Reed just wanted to know if I was OK but left me with the impression that this was one of the kindest people I’d ever met and a guy who really cared about kids.
Willis Reed returns in Game 7
Picture Pun
My 70th birthday celebration dinner with my family was otterly fantastic.
