Best Just a Couple Steps Behind the Rest

FIRST I finally saw the Fantastic Mr. Fox Saturday morning (guess who's only working five days a week now?). This was the only good move I've seen all year...all the other movies that I thought I liked this year, I was just telling myself that. Actually, Star Trek might have really been good, I should have seen it a second time. And 500 Days of Summer? Avoid watching it a second time if you can.


But this Fox movie? I went in with moderate hopes, I was entertained and delighted throughout. About 15 minutes in I already wanted to see it a second time, I just knew I was missing so much. I wonder if my whole family has seen this? I wonder if we will all go see it together at Christmas, it seems so family-together appropriate. After a second viewing I could probably make a nice list of what's best, to me, about the movie.

And the above photo, where's it from? The Bergdorf Goodman Men's store Christmas windows are all Fantastic Mr. Foxy. I think these are the actual models and bits of sets and props they're using, but what do I know? The mannequins in the windows wear the same outfits as the characters, or close approximations, so head over to Bergdorf's to get fixed up sharp, high-fashion stopmotion style.

SECOND Friday night a Shake Shack style line at the Burger Joint had me thinking to finally go try Ma Peche, a.k.a. Momofuku Midtown.


If you didn't know, the Momofuku people are opening a restaurant in the Chambers Hotel on 56th street just West of 5th Ave. The actual restaurant won't be open until some unspecified "Winter" date but almost two months ago they began serving a limited menu in the hotel lobby—essentially, it seems to be the room service menu, that's the vibe I get.

We had the cheeseburger and squid salad, followed with a peanut butter cookie. The cheeseburger was solid but very, very normal. I had wondered what a Momofuku burger would be like before, I'm sure if the Ssam Bar served a burger it would make more of an impression, something like the Spotted Pig's burger—but this burger, a high class general public, was very satisfactory. The squid salad was good, not the same as the Ssam Bar's excellent charred squid salad—I'd continue to explore the menu before returning to this one. The cookie was good, not the same as the old Milk Bar peanut butter cookie, I believe this one may have had toffee in it. I'm glad I finally made it over to Ma Peche, I'm surprised it took me so long, and I look forward to learning more about the establishment in the months to come.