Hard to believe ... I had root beer with dinner back then?  Will have to try that again soon. The place has gone through some more changes since. It was The Kitchen Sink at one point and now it's a Greek restaurant.

Moonstruck Diner

It's a cheap-dinner-out night; we head for the Moonstruck Diner on Second Avenue, changed names from Cooper Diner a while back. It's your standard New York coffee shop with a huge menu of dishes that only sound interesting though this particular one does some nice 3-egg omelets and french fries. Occasionally the burgers turn out super, but that's a bit erratic; avoid any trimmings, bacon is made from stale cardboard. I have my favorites lox and onion omelet with a root beer, Roomie does the Western one with a coke. Good. 

Years ago the Cooper Diner was located across the street and before that it was called BiniBon, same menu, where infamously in 1981 Jack Henry Abbott used a kitchen knife to kill a waiter, the promising young actor named Richard Adan. Just 6 weeks earlier with much help from the writer Norman Mailer, Abbott had been paroled from prison where had spent most of his life and where he had killed another inmate. He was the toast of the New York literary society during his short stint of freedom before returning to prison after the murder. On the witness stand, weeping, he admitted the deed but pleaded that it was a tragic misunderstanding born of his lifetime of exposure to prison violence. Mr. Abbott went on to author "In the Belly of the Beast" and other works and hanged himself in his cell four years ago this month.

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Ethiopian

We head deep into the Alphabets for dinner and order a bottle of Chateau Tellagh, Medea Rouge 2003, first Algerian wine I recall having. It goes well with our Ethiopian dinner at Meskel - "Ethiopian Home Cooking". Meskel Combination consists of heaped stews of spiced lamb, beef and various condiments: tibs wat, beg alicha, kik alicha, miser wat and gomen besega*, all served family-style on a platter of injera, perfectly spongy sourdough-like bread similar to crepes made from fermented tef, an Ethiopian grain. There's a separate plate of rolled injera. Who's going to eat all that? But by the time we're done the bread is done as well. It's all finger food, not a fork, knife or spoon in sight: tear off a piece of injera, collect some stew from the platter and try to to get it all neatly to your mouth. Our second entree, a whole deep-fried fish with a side of spicy tatar sauce gets demolished and picked clean by eager fingers as well. The injera from the bottom of the plate is the best part, soaked as it is with the combined flavors of all the dishes. We waddle home.

still need to deal with some Häagen-Dazs Belgian Chocolate Ice Cream waiting in the wings ...

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* Tibs wat is made with beef or lamb sautéed in butter with onions, garlic, and green peppers. Beg alicha is a mild lamb stew cooked with clarified butter and a variety of herbs. Kik alicha is a delicious yellow split pea stew that is mildly spiced and flavored with ginger and garlic. Misir wat is a thick stew made of whole green lentils with onion, garlic, and ginger. Gomen besiga is lamb and collard greens gently cooked with clarified butter with just a hint of Ethiopian cardamom.