A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION The Westfield Leader and THE TIMES of Scotch Plains – Fanwood Thursday, July 15, 1999 Page 19 ArtsArts andand EntertainmentEntertainment

nnnnnnnnnn SSTATE OF THE AART

The Dining Table

nnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnn Music Fantasy Discussion Group will con- vene on Thursday, July 22, at 7:30 LA GRIGLIA RESTAURANT Shirley Alston Reeves, original p.m. to discus fantasy novel, “Ship 740 Boulevard, Kenilworth, (908) 241-0031 lead singer of The Shirelles, will of Magic,” by Robin Hobb. perform with Who’s Johnny on Barnes & Noble in Clark will Wednesday, July 21, at 7:30 p.m. at host a Cooking Demonstration and By DR. JOSEPH P. DE ALESSANDRO chicken and veal, headed up with Echo Lake Park. The Vivian Panham Tasting with cookbook authors Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times Chicken Arrabiata (which means an- Quintet will hold a classical concert Marvin and Walter Rosen of “Wel- If it swims, you’ll find it at LaGriglia! gry chicken), boneless breast of chicken on Wednesday, July 21, at 7:30 p.m. come to Juniors” on Thursday, July A great seafood gem in the middle of sauteed with garlic, fresh oregano and at Memorial Park in Berkeley 15, at 7:30 p.m. Teresa of Spiritual Heights. Big Band Music will be COME TO THE CABARET... Jody Karin Applebaum and Marc-André Hamelin Union County, the menu boasts of more balsamic vinegar with a touch of demi- Communications will host a work- will present an evening of cabaret music on Friday, July 16, at 8 p.m. in the than 12 seafood entrees. The restau- glace; Chicken Giambotta, breast of featured on Tuesday, July 20, at 7:15 shop on Angels, Dreams and Intu- Nicholas Music Center, George Street, Douglass Campus in New Brunswick. rant is owned by brothers Chris and chicken with sausage, onions, vinegar, p.m. at the Gazebo in Cranford on ition on Tuesday, July 20, at 7:30 Tickets are $24. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call the John Tocci, aged 31 peppers, mush- Springfield and North Union Avenues. p.m. The Westfield Summer Work- Rutgers Art Center ticket office at (732) 932-7511. and 34 respectively. rooms, artichoke Andy the Clown will offer a children’s shop will perform “Rock the Juke- John is the executive RATING: hearts and pota- show and reggae band, Verdict, will box” on Thursday, July 22, at 10:30 chef. toes. Just think- perform on Thursday, July 15. Satur- a.m. ‘Singular Sensation’ Slated The partners ing of these day Night Fever, a band, will started LaGriglia two dishes makes one hold a concert on Thursday, July 22. Art and a half years ago long to return to Both events will be held at 7:30 p.m. At Paper Mill Playhouse and have made it a this fine restau- on the Municipal Grounds in Scotch Children’s Mini Art Camp- roaring success. They Highest Possible Rating: 4 chef hats rant. Plains. The Music Studio Wind En- Cycle 2 will be held on Tuesdays, MILLBURN – Single theatergoers seph and four members of the Osmonds- previously owned The prices are semble & Jazz Band of The New Wednesdays and Thursdays, July are invited to attend a presentation of 2nd Generation. Toscana Restaurant moderate, far be- Jersey Workshop for the Arts will 20, 21, 22, 27, 28 and 29 from 10 Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Joseph and The Amazing in Upper Montclair, which was also a low the quality and care that these perform on Thursday, July 22, at 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at The Watchung musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will run great success. dishes would call for. The seafood en- Arts Center. Drawing, painting, p.m. in Mindowaskin Park. ceramics, sculpture, watercolor, Technicolor Dreamcoat on Thursday, through Sunday, July 25, at Paper LaGriglia is a very quaint establish- trees range from $15 to $16.50; steaks The Crossroads in Garwood will July 22, at 8 p.m. Mill. For ticket information, please ment with three dining rooms, a main and chops are up to $21; appetizers pastels, multi-media art, indoor welcome Mordechai Dov Adaptor, and outdoor activities will all be A specially-priced ticket will include call (973) 376-4343. dining room on the right, a bar dining from $6 to $7.50 and soups at $3. Spastic Colon, 8 Ohm Driver on Thurs- the performance as well as a post-show area on the left and a large room in the Extremely moderate prices for the great featured. day, July 15; The Voodudes on Friday, American Folk Craft Day will reception. Special A&E Notice: rear. White tablecloths are in place with feast available. July 16; The Rocking Horse on Satur- The reception will be held in the Renee fine stemware and a bottle of Colavita There is a shortage in this country of be held at Waterloo Village in day, July 17 and Cup of Joe and One Stanhope on Sunday, July 18, from Foosaner Art Gallery at Paper Mill imme- If you are especially tal- Olive Oil ready for the excellent bread extremely fine seafood restaurants and, Eyed Jack on Thursday, July 22. diately following the performance. that arrives shortly. I repeat, LaGriglia is probably the best 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event is free. ented in art, music, dance, Literature Folk craft demonstrations, puppet A complimentary two-week pass to theater or any other form of As a departure from my normal re- kept secret. On an off-night at 7:30 Bally Sports Club in Short Hills will be shows, magic, mountains music art and entertainment, we view, I would like to first announce a p.m., the restaurant was filled to capac- Barnes & Noble in Springfield will given to all singles night theatergoers in most extraordinary dessert – ity with a waiting line outside. hold a Discussion/Signing by co-au- and Early American games will be addition to a sampling of various food would like to feature your tal- Marsciponi Cheesecake. I have to men- The wait staff were courteous and featured. For more information, ent in our section. You must thor of “Thunderhead,” Lincoln Child and drink. tion it first because if you are dining at knowledgeable of the menu and the on Thursday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. The please call (973) 347-0900. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor be a resident of Westfield, LaGriglia, reserve your piece of cheese- various dishes. Service was prompt and book was also written by Douglas Dreamcoat is a musical that retells the Scotch Plains, Fanwood or cake in advance. This cheesecake is I am proud to say that there were no Preston. Poetry Out Loud, a forum for Biblical story of Joseph and the coat Mountainside. For more in- without a doubt the most delicious I errors. I truly recommend that you visit up and coming poets, will be held on that his father, Jacob, presents to his formation, please call have ever tasted. It is firm, yet velvety this restaurant and I guarantee you will Sunday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. A Sci-Fi favorite son, inspiring the wrath of his Michelle H. LePoidevin at smooth and flavored to perfection – be a regular. jealous brothers. (908) 232-4407. something that one should not miss at The production stars Deborah Gibson this restaurant. as The Narrator, Patrick Cassidy as Jo- Onto the regular menu. The restau- Sarah Mugavero ™ rant offers several choices at their raw POPCORN bar, including Oysters on the Half Shell, Marinated Seafood Salad, Named Recipient Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce, Little Neck Clams and an in- triguing Raw Bar Sampler for two. Of Theatre Award Spike’s Mean Streets The clams and oysters are chilled, By Michael S. Goldberger fresh and of top grade quality. You SCOTCH PLAINS – One Popcorn, Poor • Two Popcorns, Fair • Three Popcorns, Good • Four Popcorns, Excellent don’t see this too often in New Jersey. Sarah Mugavero, a student at Union 3 popcorns mer Of Sam’s sexually inarticulate crowd is The appetizer list offers Crab Cake, which I think is the premier dish. This Catholic High School (UCHS) in Overwhelmed by their passions and ruled Adrien Brody as Ritchie, a thoughtful, spike- Scotch Plains, was recently rec- by their prejudices, the bulk of director haired musician. The film’s oddly salient very ample portion features the best ’s characters in Summer Of Sam choice for a moral center, he is Lee’s most crab meat, marinated with butter and ognized at the 1999 Paper Mill are humorously clueless, sadly thickheaded sympathetic and least Neanderthal-like male. just enough bread crumbs on the out- Playhouse Rising Star Awards and dangerously provincial. They have Dabbling in what will come to be known side to make it a cake. It was a great with the best Outstanding Perfor- hardly a complete brain among them. as punk rock, he also leads a secret life, a tempting dish that could be an entree. mance by an Actress in a Sup- Yet they are oddly entrancing, an enter- notion which the director upgrades to a One of the signature dishes of La YOUNG THESPIANS…For three months this spring, 32 seventh graders from porting Role. taining source of both amazement and curios- universal theorem and then applies to sev- Griglia is the Cajun Calamari – the Park Middle School in Scotch Plains wrote and rehearsed original plays during, Sarah appeared in the UCHS ity. And how no great harm has befallen them eral members of the cast. Ritchie, whose famous fried calamari with balsamic before and after school hours to perform for elementary school audiences in the annual spring musical, How To to this point is an enigma? But the question is, homo-erotic alter ego supports his music vinegar, garlic, shallots and Cajun district. Pictured above are the students from the theater group, known as the Succeed In Business Without Re- will they survive the summer of 1977? career by secretly performing at a gay strip spices topped with diced tomatoes. “Park Players.” They are the dis’n dat, dems-and-dees- joint, tries to explain this duality to Vinny ally Trying, as Smitty. The show This dish is known widely through- was also nominated for Outstand- enunciating denizens of that when the apparently insecure beauty op- out New Jersey. director John Badham first popularized in erator confides in his lifelong friend. But La Griglia offers Grilled Portabella Park Middle School Pupils ing Overall Production of A Musi- Saturday Night Fever (1977), but viewed Vinny will have none of it. So there’s no Mushrooms with virgin olive oil, fresh cal. She was also featured in here with a caustic edge and a jaundiced eye. sense even going into the tramp/goddess herbs, garlic and parmesan cheese. Coffeebreak, which was performed Rampant with gossipy opinion and syndrome that dominates his sex life with- Excellent! Grilled Jumbo Shrimp, Write and Rehearse Plays on the awards night at Paper Mill steeped in superstition, the Italian-American out him knowing it. Playhouse. enclave in that these troubled Suffering as a result of this stupid ma- which is served over Red and White Tuscan Bean Salad with roasted pep- SCOTCH PLAINS — For three iams, Peggy Brown and Lauren Sarah appeared in last year’s souls occupy is already a powder keg this hot chismo is a very pretty Mira Sorvino as his months this spring, 32 seventh graders Rogalin, they hope to involve even summer; throw in the factor of a crazed wife, Dionna, the dutiful waitress who works pers, extra virgin olive oil, lemon and UCHS musical, Bye Bye Birdie fresh thyme, is truly a salivating dish. from Park Middle School in Scotch more seventh graders next year and to and with the Westfield Young killer on the loose and who knows what in dad’s Italian restaurant. A sweetheart Plains were busy before and after school present the student plays in every dis- shocking psychoses (individually and en plopped down in the midst of some very The appetizer menu also includes Artists’ Cooperative Theatre Garlic Shrimp and Hot Antipasto. hours writing and rehearsing original trict elementary school. masse) will be unleashed. explicit scenes peppered with a steady on- plays for elementary school audiences (WYACT) productions of Mer- Bold, brash and unapologetic, Mr. Lee’s slaught of vulgarity, this splendidly acted Under the salad menu, they serve a This year’s student actors included rily We Roll Along and A Christ- steamrollering diatribe enjoys the chutzpah angel gets a tad tarnished and thickens the plot Caesar Salad, which is ample enough in the district. Lauren McVey, Jessie Montllor, Jaci The plays were produced by the Park Protopapas, Mariella Lemus, Charles mas Carol, which was per- of (1989) and the when she and Vinny accidentally land, as a for two or three people and done in formed at the Cranford Dra- historical savvy of Malcolm X (1992). sordid sign of the times, at Plato’s Retreat. the classic style with excellent thespians, who are known as the “Park Bachi, Meaghan Roberts, Jennifer Players”, for several hundred children Marionni, Vicki Shelus, Eileen Cole, matic Club. She was also fea- But while the director’s latest foray into Ignorance rules. Even though Ritchie has parmesan cheese and toasted garlic tured in Carousel at the New the valley of politically incorrect been one of the guys since childhood, his croutons. They also serve a House at School One Elementary, Brunner Judy Brown, Aleza Zimmerman, moviemaking ventures is an artistically valid Bohemian leanings frighten the old crowd; Salad and Mesculin Salad. All salads Elementary and Evergreen Elementary Victoria Sale, Robert Kuchinski, Nick Jersey Performing Arts Center recounting of ’s reign of failure to stay within the prescribed lines of are beautifully presented and are ex- Schools. Bruno, Christina Rosa, Jeannie Jacob, last summer. terror, studying the real-life serial killer of parochial behavior makes him a suspect. tra large. The project has now become a tra- Monique Franklin, Calvarina Okarter, She has studied voice for five the title is not the film auteur’s primary goal. You see, the young toughs are keeping a The premier soup, and again a sig- dition in which students of all aca- Roseann Ghabour, Kendra Evans-Wil- years and has been acting for two Rather, Spike introduces the Son of Sam list of Son of Sam possibles. And so is Luigi nature dish of this restaurant, is Pasta demic levels practice their coopera- liams, Katie Bantz, Jamie Kaye, Ashley years with Cynthia Meryl, the di- to his racially seething neighborhood as a (), the comically deluded Mafia Fagioli. It is served in a large, impres- tive skills along with creative writing Brownstein, Nicole D’Auria, Jack rector and founder of WYACT. massive jolt of electroshock therapy, using don unofficially enlisted by the police to help and dramatics. Frequent video taping Meade, Lauren Fox, Allison DiFiore, She also takes dance lessons in all the frightening wraith to dramatically un- hunt the killer. sive dish with hearty tomato broth, red and white beans and pasta. The and memorization of lines is also in- Nicky Barratucci, Chris Denker, disciplines with the Westfield ravel several of the fictional stereotypes he Building on his fascination with per- cluded. created with co-authors Victor Colicchio sonal dualism, director Lee also continues beans are tender and not mushy. The Kerolos Bernaba, Josh Miller and School of Dance. and . his affinity for larger dichotomies like the pasta is firm and in tact. The broth is According to teachers, Gail Will- Christina Benito. Heading the stellar cast is John Yin and Yang differences between what Mama used to make. I like mine Leguizamo as Vinny, the self-styled disco Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. he with a couple of slices of raw onion. big shot who agonizes over his infidelity to was so fond of proffering in most of his Yum! Yum! his wife of but two years. Too sexually earlier works. But while Mr. Lee’s black The entrees outdo each other. I en- TUESDAY, JULY 20 naïve to fathom his seemingly unappeasable and white simplicity this far along in his joyed the Zuppa Di Pesce which in- libido, the narcissistic hairdresser interprets career has us clamoring for him to spend cluded lobster, shrimp, filet, mussels, 7 TO 9 PM the Son of Sam hysteria as an evil portent more time exploring the gray, the good vs. clams and calamari in a light seafood specifically intended to punish him. evil style still works well enough to ferry broth with fresh tomato sauce, garlic, Several of Vinny’s street-corner cronies the plot’s multifarious angles. olive oil and fresh herbs. The dish is also subscribe to the theory of a personally Other familiar style mechanisms held extremely ample and was really involved demon; of course, that most of over from his previous filmic outings in- enough for me to eat for dinner. It was these egocentric fools imbibe a steady diet clude grainy footage to suggest a personal exquisite and I highly recommend it. of discotheque era drugs helps explain their acquaintance with the subject and a zoom- The Grilled Swordfish, a beautiful paranoid view of the homicidal maniac. in, zoom-out for exclamatory purposes that The social delirium is skillfully punctu- has now outworn its welcome. fresh filet, is served over roasted pep- ated with scenes of the tortured lunatic Interestingly, while Lee chooses Italian- per salad with calamata olives, raisins () cursing at the dog that Americans for his update on group dynam- and balsamic vinegar. An excellent torments him, looking at news clippings of ics, the ruminations are not too unlike the dish. his past accomplishments and venturing out mass hysteria director Arthur Penn depicts Some of the other entrees offered are into the night for new conquests. In cars in The Chase (1966) when the local bad Grilled Red Snapper with grilled zuc- JAZZ PERFORMANCES IN parked on dark streets or in lovers’ lanes, boy (Robert Redford) escapes from jail and chini, eggplant and portabella mush- blood spurts onto the windshield of ill-fated his imminent return stirs all manner of rooms topped with a tomato basil spoonies and a chubby monster waddles latent fears among the assortment of small- vinaigrette. A Grilled Salmon, which DOWNTOWN WESTFIELD away. We are painfully reminded of this town Babbitts. is served with red and white Tuscan terrible episode in our collective past. In that example, the social delineation is beans and roasted peppers, virgin ol- Wily wonder that he is, Mr. Lee satirizes between rich and poor. In Spike Lee’s ive oil, lemon and fresh thyme, is also the public reaction to this horror, really mean streets, an intolerant ethos dictates notable. stepping up the lampoon when depicting the division. The meat menu offers a Grilled Veal how the media handles the ensuing panic. What’s difficult to discern, though, in Chop, New York Strip Steak, Grilled Filet And in a witty ploy but with a questionable this, his most controversial and artistically Mignon and Pork Chops. A medley of casting choice, he plays John Jeffries, a satisfying film to date, is when Mr. Lee the vegetables are available – broccoli, wild black news announcer amalgam who can’t social critic is speaking and when Spike the mushrooms, escarole and fagioli, broc- pass up the opportunity to ask several Afri- provocative instigator and scrappy talk show can-Americans their reaction to news that guest is having his say. coli rabe and roasted tomatoes. An ambi- the killer is white. Evidenced in Summer Of Sam, it is appar- tious menu and the chef fulfills the prom- Spike now joins fellow Knickerbockers ent that Spike Lee the philosophical film- ise. and Woody Allen to form maker has his own intriguing dualism to La Griglia offers 10 various pasta a triptych of New York’s most celebrated reconcile. It’ll be fun to watch him sort it out. dishes including Fussili Puttanesca, chroniclers. * * * * * Capellini Toscana, Rigatoni Filleto If racial enmity is the director’s primary Summer Of Sam, rated R, is a Buena Pomodoro and Linguini with Clam concern in this kaleidoscopic giambotta of Vista Pictures release directed by Spike Sauce. Truly, the quality of the size of hot topics, sexual confusion is a very close Lee and stars , Mira the pasta portions are not to be out- second. And key to exploring the recurring Sorvino and Adrien Brody. Running time: done. theme of homophobic panic among Sum- 146 minutes. The balance of the menu includes CYAN YELLOW MAGENTA BLACK