N.Y. Scene Jan. 2011: Annisa review & interview with owner/celesbian chef Anita Lo, Cubbyhole, Stonewall, Camp Wanatachi & more!
N.Y. Scene is a monthly column that chronicles lesbian nightlife, and venues and events of interest in New York. Grace Chu has come out of lesbian scene retirement to navigate the vast and ever-evolving New York City scene, so you don’t have to.
Annisa Restaurant and short interview with owner and celesbian chef Anita Lo
Sometimes a girl needs to take a break from the hustle and bustle of New York City lesbian nightlife and have some quiet time, so this month, a friend and I decided to take a trip to celesbian chef Anita Lo’s acclaimed restaurant Annisa. While Anita Lo has attained celebrity chef status, first by trouncing Iron Chef Mario Batali in Iron Chef America and then making it to the top 5 in Top Chef Masters, she comes across as more reserved than many of her more flamboyant celebrity chef counterparts. Rather than creating a cult of personality around herself, Anita Lo’s confidence shines through her food.
This is an account of our culinary adventure.
First came an amuse bouche called “hake brandade with chives,” which is Swahili for “excellent foreplay.” Google and Wikipedia tell you differently. They seem to think that it is merely an emulsion of salted fish and olive oil, but I think my definition is more accurate.
Then came one of her signature dishes, the foie gras soup dumplings — a decadent French-inspired and blinged out take on the low brow yet delicious xiao long bao found in Chinatown joints. The dumplings are stuffed with foie gras mousse swimming in a chicken, veal and pork broth and topped with a sliver of seared foie gras. Yes, they were as ridiculously succulent as they sound, but don’t be fooled by the foie that they got — they’re still dumplings from the block.
Scallops with loofah and sea urchin arrived soon afterwards. The scallops were cooked to perfection, and they were set on a bed of loofah — the cucumber-like gourd, not the bath accessory — and they were perched on a small pond of sea urchin broth.
Next came the miso marinated sable with crispy silken tofu in a bonito broth, which is basically an orgasm in a dish. The sable was buttery, sitting in a broth containing fish roe that popped in your mouth, like tiny explosive easter eggs. I realize that I’ve already made two allusions to sex in this segment about food, and while you may be reminded of that infamous scene involving apple pie in American Pie, rest assured that the comparisons are figurative and not literal. My dinner companion and I are ladies, after all.
Finally we sampled the pecan and salted butterscotch beignets with bourbon milk ice. A great ending to an excellent meal, but holy moly, the bourbon milk ice should be renamed “milk ice in bourbon.” You can probably light it on fire — and that’s a good thing.
Verdict:
My friend, a self-identified food snob, so this means something: “Annisa – definitely the best meal I’ve had in the gayborhood!”
Me: “Nom nom nom nom.” That’s four out of four “noms,” you homos.
After being rolled out of the restaurant on a dolly, I was able to chat briefly with Chef Lo about her restaurant and her plans for world domination.
AfterEllen.com: If you could describe the cuisine at Annisa to the uninitiated, how would you characterize it?
Anita Lo: Contemporary American. I bring in influences from all over the world. I am French trained, so that is the base of my technique, but I’m an adventurous eater and that informs the way I create.
AE: This past summer, you sold your share at Rickshaw to concentrate on Annisa and to work on your cookbook. When should we expect the cookbook to arrive on the shelves, and what kinds of cuisines will it feature?
AL: The cookbook will be on shelves in the fall of this year. It is a contemporary American book, taking nods from cuisines throughout the world. The title is Cooking Without Borders.
AE: Are you planning any more television appearances? What’s next in the world of the Anita Lo empire?
AL: I taped a show recently that hasn’t aired, but I’m not allowed to talk about it yet. For now, I’m happy to concentrate on Annisa, but I hope to have other restaurant projects in the long run.
AE: If a meteor were expected to strike tomorrow, wiping out all of humanity, what would you choose as your last meal, and what would be the accompanying wine or cocktail?
AL: Ah, the last supper! It would be a long, multicoursed affair shared with good friends and family. I’m an omnivore, so it would have to include a little bit of everything, including great wines and sakes.
AE: A haiku about your favorite ingredient, quick!
AL:
Sweet, spiny urchin
Mouth haunting and buttery
Get on my chopsticks
Annisa is located on 13 Barrow Street in the West Village.
While roving parties for women sprout up like weeds around Brooklyn and Manhattan — and often die as quickly as they appear, there are a few 24-7 bars catering to the lesbian community in the West Village, including Henrietta Hudson, RF Lounge, Cubbyhole and The Stonewall Inn. This month, we’ll cover Cubbyhole and Stonewall.
Cubbyhole
Cubbyhole is located at the corner of West 12th Street and West 4th Street. Yes, you read that correctly. West 12th Street and West 4th Street cross and form an intersection. Unlike the rest of Manhattan, where streets cross avenues, the roads in the West Village defy all reason and logic and are designed to keep you walking in circles, trapping you in the gayborhood like some sort of pink Bermuda Triangle.
If you end up finding Cubbyhole without getting lost, pat yourself on the back, go inside, and celebrate with a beer.
While the weekly, monthly or one-off lesbian parties held at venues outside of the traditional lesbian bars generally tend to attract the same type of crowd over and over again, more often than not you will find new faces at Cubbyhole. If your intent is to meet new people or to find a nice girl and leave the lesbian scene in a cloud of dust, Cubbyhole is your go to spot. Of course, this is New York, and you are also just as likely to find a crackpot or a lunatic, but life is a crapshoot. No risk, no reward.
The space is tiny, but the crowd is generally friendly, which is a breath of fresh air from the usual sea of aloof and cliquey lesbians in the scene. The later it gets, though, the less likely you will be able to have a conversation, because as the gals start getting tipsier, they start belting out of tune versions of “Don’t Stop Believin'” and Bon Jovi’s greatest hits over the jukebox.
Poor student? Starving artist? Former Lehman Brothers analyst? Unemployed attorney swimming in $150,000 of non-dischargeable student debt? Check out the $2 margarita special on Tuesday. The crowd skews young that night, but not to worry – cougars are in vogue. Just don’t get ensnared by jailbait. I heard a rumor that real prison isn’t very fun, i.e. you don’t get to make out with Lady Gaga or Helena Peabody.
Danielle Presents, Stonewall Inn, Thursday Nights
The next stop is The Stonewall Inn, which is quite possibly the gayest building in the world, next to the Abercrombie and Fitch flagship on Fifth Avenue. Thursday nights is Danielle Presents, which is ladies’ flip cup and karaoke night. After several rounds of flip cup, the ladies are filled with enough liquid courage to take the stage and grace everyone in attendance of their cacophonous renditions of Rihanna — and of course “Don’t Stop Believin'” and Bon Jovi‘s greatest hits. It can get a little rowdy. Someone will lose her jacket or iPhone. Someone will lose her pants. Someone will chase someone else around the room, spanking the latter with a pool cue. Photographs will be taken that are too ridiculous for AfterEllen.com. And so I will just post these two.
If you don’t wake up the next morning feeling like the entire percussion section of the New York Philharmonic is rehearsing in your head, you have failed to absorb the full Danielle Presents experience.
Camp Wanatachi, Full Performance @ La Mama Etc. Theater – 1/26/11
Last June, I attended an abbreviated version of Camp Wanatachi, a musical comedy about an all-girls Christian summer camp in which two of the campers fall in love. At the time, its creators and producers, who include Legend of the Seeker‘s Bridget Regan, Blue Man Group‘s Ian Pai and Unicornicopia’s Natalie Weiss, were looking for financing to allow them to produce the full version of the musical in an off Broadway run.
I have good news. Weiss and company were able to secure the funds to perform a two and a half week run for the full production of Camp Wanatachi at La Mama Etc. Theater at 74A E. 4th Street. There’s even better news — the run isn’t over yet. There is still one weekend left — February 4th through February 6th, and you can go to Camp Wanatachi‘s official site for ticket information.
This hormonally-driven musical will warm your heart while you laugh at the off-color jokes and bask in the sounds of the musically forward electro beats. While the producers eventually want to take Camp Wanatachi to Broadway, nothing in the entertainment world is certain, so if you are in or around the New York City area this weekend, check it out before the run ends.
Choice C*nts @ Identity Bar — 1/29/11
January 29th was a busy night. First, I headed downtown to the critics’ darling, Choice C*nts, which Time Out New York has hailed as “the best place to cut loose” for lesbians in its Essential New York 2010 roundup. The Village Voice also runs breathtaking photo sets by acclaimed photographer Maro Hagopian, who is not only Choice’s staff photographer, she is also a celebrity photographer who has photographed the likes of Lady Gaga and Mary J. Blige. Promoter Ellie Conant has said that she “handcrafted her parties” to the New York Press, and it shows; if Choice were a film, it would get a nod from the Academy.
If you are a regular reader of this column you already know that a good percentage of the crowd arrives in glammed up outfits set to each month’s theme — it is a place where lesbians feel comfortable channeling their inner f-g and/or drag queen. But if you feel like showing up in a t-shirt and jeans, that’s fine too. You won’t be judged. This month’s theme was military style — to commemorate the demise of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Take a look.
Choice C*nts is normally held at Santos Party House. For up to date information about Choice C*nts, follow Choice’s head honcho Ellie Conant on Facebook.
Truck Stop NY — Slate Lounge — 1/29/11
Truck Stop. Oh, Truck Stop. After making an unprecedented splash in NYC as a one-off during Pride 2010, it has returned again and again and has become the most buzzed about and well attended mega-party for women in the city. Whereas Choice C*nts is the critics’ top pick, Truck Stop is the winner of the People’s Choice Awards. We all know about Truck Stop. You’ve seen the photos of the crowd letting go and going berzerk.
You know about the energetic and sexually-charged dance routines.
You know about the epic lap dances.
But the greatest – and most underrated – show can be seen by observing the crowd itself between sets. The promoters of Truck Stop should seriously consider renting a popcorn machine at their events, because the general tomfoolery at any Truck Stop rivals and often surpasses anything Ilene Chaiken and her Magical Elves ever force fed us on Showtime. Ilene Chaiken, are you out there? Come to New York City and film the conversations at Truck Stop. Unscripted. It will be a masterpiece. I guarantee.
Over 600 ladies come in from all over the Tri-State region. The single ladies are chasing people around the venue in a chaotic and vodka-fueled game of tag. A is scoping out B who is scoping out C who is scoping out D, who is scoping out both A and B. A declares, “I ain’t chasin’ no woman.” Moments later, she makes a beeline for B. Round and round the lounge they go, like Tom and Jerry.
A contestant from A Shot At Love with Tila Tequila is spotted. No one can remember her name, but her name isn’t Dani Campbell, so no one seems to dwell on it too much.
Let’s go upstairs. E and F are buddies, and they’re just chillin’ outside having a smoke, and E’s ex jumps into a cab with F’s ex. “Did your ex just get into a cab with my ex?” yelps F. The cigarette falls from her lips. Time to go back downstairs.
The sexual energy is unnaturally high. At 1:30am, girls are making out all over the lounge, some intertwined in gravity-defying positions. People who probably should not be flirting are flirting shamelessly with one another. Complete strangers have stormed the stage and are grinding in some sort of lesbian love octagon. No one knows where to look, because at every angle is something wrong, something so wrong that it is right.
It’s anarchy. It’s chaos. It’s awesome. It’s Truck Stop. But never fear. Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow Slate Lounge is sanitized from floor to ceiling, and likewise, everyone begins anew with a blank slate. All sins are forgiven. Life goes on. Truck Stop is like Vegas. What happens at Truck Stop stays at Truck Stop. Unless it ends up on AfterEllen.com, of course. Natch.
Truck Stop NY, a collaboration between NY-based Proposition NYC and LA-based Fuse Events, is now going monthly. For upcoming announcements about NY-based Truck Stop parties, check out Proposition NYC’s Facebook page.
But wait… there’s more!
- Kiki, the ladies party launched in Astoria, Queens at Mix, is currently on hiatus, but it will be moving to Manhattan in the next month. Founder KC Finance has teamed up with her friend Sam LaRoche, a familiar face in the NYC lesbian scene, and they will be relaunching the party in March in the biggest and baddest borough in NYC. Said Finance and LaRoche to AfterEllen, “KIKI is a new ladies party coming to Manhattan mid March. KIKI first started its nights on Tuesdays in Astoria. With a large following it is now being taken to the masses. The word ‘KIKI’ is a term from the 1950’s to mean not butch, and not femme. KIKI takes on that meaning and gives it a new twist making it unique and vintage in its own right. Stayed tuned for more about KIKI and friend us on Facebook.” As you will recall, this party was the one that brought lesbian Turkish oil wresting from the fictional L Word to the real lesbians of Astoria, Queens. Stay tuned for more updates.
- Hey queer activists! The wildly successful Brooklyn queer party HEY QUEEN! will hold a charity event on February 12th at its usual location at Public Assembly. Said HEY QUEEN! promoter Sarah Jenny, “Celebrate the important work of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project and dance your butt off at this benefit party. SRLP is a progressive non-profit organization that does pro-bono legal work, trainings, and education around transgender issues at the intersections of gender, economic, and racial justice. This event is the official after party for the 6th Annual Small Works for Big Change Art Sale. All proceeds will go to SRLP.” Check out HEY QUEEN!‘s site for more details.
- There’s more news in the world of NYC uber-promoter Maggie C, who has teamed up with co-promoter Nikki Tissington to produce special one off events around Manhattan. Said Maggie to AfterEllen, “Maggie Collier and Nikki Tissington are proud to present the subsidiary company to the popular Maggie C Events, Maggie C and Nikki T Productions. MCNTP will produce special one-off holiday events and benefits beginning winter, 2011. Expect high caliber and performance driven events in nightclubs all over the city including Gay Pride NYC, Halloween and New Years Eve among others.” The first will be a Valentine’s Day weekend blowout at Veranda on February 11. Click here for more details.
- Manhattan socialite/nightlife site Guest of a Guest has compiled a list of V-Day options for lady lovers as well.
Well that’s it for this month. Until next month. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!
