It was cold and I got to thinking about matzo ball soup. And then I got to looking for matzo ball soup. And then I got to comparing matzo ball soups -- with a surprising end result.

First, it needs to be said there are different schools of thought...

Interesting, Tom. You want your critics to kiss your ass. But let's take a look at that 10-6 record you're so proud of and which apparently got you to keep your job. Your team played 5 games against opponents with winning records for the 2010 season and you...

In a city where you can't avoid finding a hero sandwich within a few blocks of wherever you are -- from Italian specialty stores like Milano Gourmet implausibly situated in Yorkville to high-end food department stores like the new, cavernous, (am I ever going to actually eat what I...

The cliche is that it's impossible to get a bad meal in Paris. Well, you can get a meal that isn't bad, but isn't so great either, and you can overpay. What is impossible-- is to avoid people giving you advice on where to eat in Paris. So here's my...

Can there be such a thing as a Destination Omelete? I've got one for you, smoked salmon, onions, capers, served with a toasted bagel, delicious, worth a trip, no lines, no waiting.

The no lines, no waiting is a tip off that I'm not talking...

$100 to $175 for dinner for two? With entrees of simply prepared Greek-style grilled fish? I don't know about this.

I was first introduced to Greek food by a couple of Greek-American guys I worked with at the beginning of the sixties, Stanley Anton and Chris Gianakos. There may have...

The number of Russian agents who have infiltrated American life working in ordinary jobs and interacting with neighbors is vastly larger than has been reported, according to an F.B.I. operative speaking unofficially. The long-term program created by the S.V.R, the successor to the K.G.B., was not merely to gather information...

It was the kind of dinner, thirty-plus years later, I still remember. The writer, Susan Edmiston, and her husband, Peter Edmiston, a music business guy, were entertaining about eighteen people in their apartment. Right off the plane from Kansas City, Peter would be arriving with food from Arthur Bryant's famous...

When Nathan Detroit tries to snooker Sky Masterson into a bet on the number of pieces of cheesecake sold the previous day at "Mindy's" in the musical, Guys and Dolls, he says, "You will admit Mindy has the greatest cheesecake in the country?" Sky responds, "Yes, I'm quite partial to...

Periodically, somebody runs a who-has-the-best pizza in New York list. But it's pizza, pizza is ubiquitous, anyone can have a valid opinion on pizza. So here is simply my choice of the pizza I like best. It requires a context.

Where I'm coming from on...

Ben's Best in Rego Park, Queens is something that might be out of the Smithsonian, a time capsule deli. Hot dogs on a grill up front, a narrow corridor with a glass case to the side displaying knishes and other deli items, the space opening to a seating area with...

The hiatus from golf initiated by Tiger Woods has encouraged a team of Republican Party strategists to draw up a proposal for Woods to run for a House seat from his home district in Florida. "He'd fit right in to a culture where he'd be welcomed," said a GOP insider....

"They are talking about six years ago," Joe Torre was quoted as saying in The New York Times on the subject of Manny Ramirez appearing on the infamous 2003 steroid user list. "It's ancient history."

You've got to love Joe. Joe put up with The Boss when he was still...

Where is Casey Stengel when we need him? Wouldn't you have loved to have ol' Casey as governor instead of David A. Paterson? Wouldn't you have loved to have Casey in any state legislative capacity rather than these stumble bums who are the political equivalent of the 1962 Mets,...

The summer of 1962 and the Army was on maneuvers in North and South Carolina training for its McNamara-conceived Operation Swift Strike. The idea of the Defense Secretary was to modify military training to enable the U.S. to fight brushfire wars instantly anywhere around the world. Involving 70,000 troops, this...

Is the Republican Party changing its name? A high level secret meeting of inner circle party strategists was held in a motel outside Washington, it was reported by one of the participants.

"We know we're in deep trouble with most Americans in every measurable way and some of these people...

Having switched parties, Senator Arlen Specter is considering switching states. A Pennsylvania inside political operative revealed Specter's alternate plan should he run into early difficulty winning a Pennsylvania primary next year for the Senate seat on the Democratic side.

"The Senator loves New York," the...

A member of the producing team for the revival of Gypsy confirmed internal discussions for the replacement of Patti Lupone and Sarah Palin is a leading choice.

"Look, we're being realistic here. We know she has to first lose the election, but if she does you know she'll be back...

(I'm doing God's work)

It's all there, the kind of president Hillary would be, all foreshadowed by her campaign for the nomination. This was foreshadowed by the way she presided over health care reform, so this is really Hillary Redux.

What you...

(not on your candidacy, on your legacy)

As we used to write in our old souvenir books in school, "Yours 'til the kitchen sinks." Your kitchen sink sunk. It didn't work. Nothing you threw at your opponent did anything other than push up your negatives. And his,...