Doug Quinn has had a reputation forever as the best bartender in New York. I used to read articles about him in the New York Times. He was the bartender at P J Clarke's since the 1990s. He was the bartender every other bartender admired. He could forever remember your name and your drink order after a first meeting. He worked at PJ Clarke's for twenty years until a night of infamy in maybe 2012. That night a drunk customer molested three woman at the bar. Mr. Quinn ordered him ejected from the premises. Some idiot manager intervened to escort the drunk to a table. Words were exchanged and Mr. Quinn was fired. The customers that night walked out in solidarity. The events were all widely covered in the NY press.
Mr. Quinn's friends were legion. He had no trouble finding backers for a new place in midtown he called Hudson Malone after his two sons. It was a very convivial eating and drinking spot that I've had on my list to visit for a while but don't get into the city as often as when I was young.
I was thinking of going in next month and looked up Hudson Malone. It's still closed from the Covid shutdown but to my amazement I found out he had opened a new Hudson Malone in Westport CT, about a 50 minute drive from us. I excitedly told Sarah about Mr. Quinn and his exit from PJ Clarke's. She became all excited and said 'We have to go' So I made a reservation for lunch for today and off we went.
When we got there I told the hostess we had a reservation. She checked and then led the two of us to a prime corner booth for six. I asked if Mr. Quinn was on premises and told her we'd been reading about him for years. She said no but he was expected soon.
We settled in when our waitress came and took our order. We had drinks and Sarah ordered a steak salad and I ordered a filet mignon steak sandwich. The prices weren't bad for Fairfield County. My sandwich and Sarah's salad were less than 20 bucks a piece. The food came and it was literally the best steak sandwich I have ever had. Filet mignon, cheese and onion on a ciabetta roll. I guess Sarah liked hers because half way through my sandwich I looked at her plate and it was empty.
We had almost finished and I was reconciled to not meeting Mr. Quinn but enjoying a super meal when suddenly a figure appeared at the table and said 'Tom, welcome to the restaurant'. It was Doug Quinn. The hostess must have told him we were asking. I said: Mr. Quinn, I've been reading about you for years. He said: It's Doug. Mr. Quinn is my father. He didn't stay long. We just chatted a bit and I made sure to introduce my wife and let him know she was a writer so he would remember her too. He moved on to other business.
We decided we'd have a rare indulgence and asked for a desert menu. A few minutes later, instead of bringing the menu, Angelica our waitress brought us creme brulee and a chocolate and ice cream concoction and said: Compliments of the owner!
Needless to say it all met our expectations. On the way out Doug greeted us again and asked us to come back. We assured him we would be customers for life. We had joined the cult of Doug Quinn.
What are his politics you may ask? I'm sure he never expresses a political opinion but I can describe the photos that decorated our booth: John Kennedy, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and Martin Luther King, plus a large painting of Westport's own Paul Newman.
Doug has a set of sayings he calls Quinn's Laws posted near the bar. Short things that cover a variety of subjects. One might appeal to DU: Stand Tall - Choose Sides.
Doug Quinn runs the best place in Connecticut.

Haven't been watching so can't do a link.

I know. Gotta change the title.

We had a couple of nights of frost this weekend but today it's hitting the mid 60s in Connecticut and I'm going back to wearing shorts on my sort of power walk. I guess that means it's Indian Summer.

03:19
(CNN)The Justice Department is asking for the so-called QAnon Shaman, who wore a headdress and posed shirtless on the Senate floor during the siege of the US Capitol, to be sentenced to a prison term of more than four years, the longest incarceration prosecutors have asked for any guilty January 6 defendant so far, according to a new court filing.

Prosecutors' request for the high-profile Capitol riot defendant Jacob Chansley is as a harsh assessment of his crime and calls him "quite literally, their flagbearer" among the mob on January 6.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/10/politics/qanon-shaman-jacob-chansley-doj-sentencing-recommendation/index.html

Sometimes it's bad to be the Shaman!

Jim Cramer says your play is Innovative Industrial Properties.
Hope you're money doesn't go up in smoke!

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/09/cramers-lightning-round-the-best-cannabis-play-is-innovative-industrial-properties.html

But I've been getting a 403 all day on the mail.

There's a review today in the NYT of the diaries of Patricia Highsmith who wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley. All about being young in NYC in the 40s. A few years ago I vowed to stop buying books because I had so many. This sounds so interesting I might buy it.

Patricia Highsmith Lived Extravagantly, and Took Copious Notes https://nyti.ms/3H1wL9Q

Branching out a little bit here.