Gyros and Modern Art

Santorini, Sleepy Hollow, NY

Stepping away from my normal lunch of a low carb, high protein bar, I decided to give Santorini (Sleepy Hollow, New York) a try since it was only a short walk from the Tarrytown library.

As you can see, the space is fairly small (I was sitting near the back to avoid the arctic blasts of air from the opening door) and it’s painted a cheerful orange. The waitress was also bizarrely cheerful and accomodating to a random singular diner.

I mostly went here because it got good reviews on Yelp.com. I cannot live without Yelp, especially when there are sometimes reviews that go along the lines of, “Wow, I don’t remember what the food was like, but the hostess was the most breathtakingly beautiful woman I’ve ever seen! Ever!” I mean, how can you not go there?

As an aside, I really hate taking pictures during meals out. It makes me feel like a pretentious, touristy creep. Whenever I’m eating out with somebody, I have to apologize first before I set my camera on macro and try to get a decent shot of creme brulee.

Pita and hummus

Anyway, she brings out a free starter. This is a little ridiculous for one person. This is essentially a meal for a girl with a small stomach. The hummus was excellent – creamy and light. I’m used to far more thick, dense varieties that imitate the texture of heavy cream, so this was a pleasant surprise. And the two salty olives (I’d like to guess they’re kalamata) were a nice touch to go with the toasted pita bread. After eating this, and a bowl of Avgolemono soup, I was pretty much done. But then the waitress brings out the actual meal.

Gyro

One thing I’ve noted is that my meat-eating capacity is severely limited. I mean, I can kind of choke it down, but the way other cultures prepare their meats is such a huge contrast to Chinese food, which tends to shred it up and mix it with vegetables. Where a Chinese meal might be 70% veggies, 30% meat, an American meal might use the opposite ratio. (This is a gross generalization, obviously.) And with this gyro in particular, I cried uncle after eating only half the part that is not covered by foil. There’s obviously a lot more to the gyro than what’s in the picture.

Which reminds me of my failure to ever really enjoy steak. I mean, how could I enjoy eating a steak when it is just a gigantic hunk of relentless protein? How can I finish eating such a thing without feeling like my stomach juices are attacking an obstinate chunk of granite?

So, moving on, I was in NYC for New Year’s. I visited MoMA.

Pollock + Intruder

The Museum of Modern Art is an interesting place. I think the odd thing about seeing some modern art in person is that there’s not the same sense of revelation (for some pieces) as there is for, say, Van Gogh, whose paintings lose a lot in the reproduction process. With Pollock, there’s a sense of the sheer scale and the textural component that you don’t get from viewing prints, but with other artists, like Warhol and Lichtenstein, it’s not all that exciting and revelatory to see it in person.

It’s like, oh, soupcans. Comic book girl. I guess with Lichtenstein you can see his manual reproduction of the printing process.

Warhol's soupcans

Lichtenstein