BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM, chefs Jody Williams and Rita Sodi own three insanely popular West Village restaurants (Buvette, I Sodi, Via Carota) plus an aperitivo bar (Bar Pisellino), and were in the midst of construction on another project when the coronavirus suspended ordinary life. We talked to them in early May by phone in their West Village apartment, where they’ve been sheltering in place and preparing to reopen for pickup and delivery.
How are you?
RITA SODI: Up and down, up and down. Our days are going by fast.
JODY WILLIAMS: We haven’t left the house in 54 days. We haven’t left the house since the 16th of March. I haven’t wanted to go outside, not because I’m afraid; I haven’t wanted to go outside because I don’t want to see my restaurants shuttered. We used to dream of being home for three months. I mean, Can’t I just stay home for one day? Rita says these two things: dolce far niente (literally “sweet doing nothing”). What’s the plan? No plan. That’s great. Sweet nothing. The other thing that she said the fiRSt day was chi si ferma è perduto: “If you stop, you’re lost.” We’re pushing through everything we ever started and dreamt little by little. It might be the end of us, or we may reap the benefit of it. I can’t tell from here. But we believe in what we’re doing, and we love it. We’re trying to figure it out: what’s worthwhile, what’s safe, what’s the future. Hopefully, we’ll all work together: Our landlords will work with us, and our people will work with us and our vendoRS.
That sounds optimistic.
Denne historien er fra May 25 - June 07, 2020-utgaven av New York magazine.
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Denne historien er fra May 25 - June 07, 2020-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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THE BEST ART SHOWS OF THE YEAR
IN NOVEMBER, Sotheby's made history when it sold for a million bucks a painting made by artificial intelligence. Ai-Da, \"the first humanoid robot artist to have an artwork auctioned by a major auction house,\" created a portrait of Alan Turing that resembles nothing more than a bad Francis Bacon rip-off. Still, the auction house described the sale as \"a new frontier in the global art market.\"
THE BIGGEST PODCAST MOMENTS OF THE YEAR
A STRANGE THING happened with podcasts in 2024: The industry was repeatedly thrust into the spotlight owing to a preponderance of head-turning events and a presidential-election cycle that radically foregrounded the medium's consequential nature. To reflect this, we've carved out a list of ten big moments from the year as refracted through podcasting.
THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - BEST BOOKS
THE BEST THEATER OF THE YEAR
IT'S BEEN a year of successful straight plays, even measured by a metric at which they usually do poorly: ticket sales. Partially that's owed to Hollywood stars: Jeremy Strong, Jim Parsons, Rachel Zegler, Rachel McAdams (to my mind, the most compelling).
THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
2024 WAS one big stress test that presented artists with a choice: Face uncomfortable realities or serve distractions to the audience. Pop music turned inward while hip-hop weathered court cases and incalculable losses. Country struggled to reconcile conservative interests with a much wider base of artists. But the year's best music offered a reprieve.
THE BEST TELEVISION OF THE YEAR
IT WAS SURPRISING how much 2024 felt like an uneventful wake for the Peak TV era. There was still great television, but there was much more mid or meh television and far fewer moments when a critical mass of viewers seemed equally excited about the same series.
THE BEST COMEDY SPECIALS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - COMEDY SPECIALS
THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR
PEOPLE LOVED Megalopolis, hated it, puzzled over it, clipped it into memes, and tried to astroturf it into a camp classic, but, most important, they cared about it even though it featured none of the qualities you'd expect of a breakthrough work in these noisy times.
A Truly Great Time
This was the year our city's new restaurants loosened up.
The Art of the Well-Stuffed Stocking
THE CHRISTMAS ENTHUSIASTS on the Strategist team gathered to discuss the oversize socks they drape on their couches and what they put inside them.
