The Banquet Years: FOOD, A SoHo Restaurant

摘要

On Saturday, September 25, to mark the unofficial opening of Food, an artist-run restaurant at 127 Prince Street, free garlic soup, gumbo, chicken stew, wine, beer, and homemade breads were served to friends, gallery-goers, and passers-by until late in the evening. So begins the very first published announcement for FOOD, the "restaurant commune"—as it would be dubbed by reviewers for the New York Times and New York magazine—that in its heyday was a center of life for a diverse group of artists whocalled Manhattan's then-gritty SoHo their home.1 Dozens of local sculptors, filmmakers, photographers, musicians, and dancers worked there—variously as cooks, waitresses, or dishwashers—glad to have a paying job flexible enough to allow them time to prepare for an exhibit or skip town for a gig, and still have a job afterwards. Even more of them ate there, partaking not only in fresh, homemade, creative, and affordable dishes—raw mackerel with wasabi sauce, stuffed tongue Creole, and anchovy onion pie, among the more exotic offerings—but also in a community of like-minded familiars who often exhibited together and collaborated on one another's projects.