Today’s “Fab 5”+1 / Selected NYCity Events – THURSDAY, APR. 03, 2014.

5th Annual Meatball Slapdown 2014
“This comfort-food cook-off is back for its fifth year. A dozen contenders vie for your votes for the top ball, including Saltie, BrisketTown and Mile End, using Meat Hook cuts. The all-you-can-eat tasting also includes She Wolf bread, desserts from Liddabit Sweets and Brooklyn Brewery beer. Dance off the calories to music by DJ Aperitif.” (TONY)

Proceeds from this tasty affair go towards two youth-driven education programs: Brooklyn Kitchen’s Classrooms in the Kitchen and City Growers.
Brooklyn Brewery, 79 North 11th St., between Berry St and Wythe Ave
at 7:00pm $60
718-486-7422 / brooklynbrewery.com
Event phone: 718-389-2982 / Event website: thebrooklynkitchen.com/learn/classes/meatball-slapdown-14040322801
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Not Manhattan’s WestSide, but it is Brooklyn’s westside, and this is for Meatballs.
Easy to get to. subway: 1-2-3 to 14 th St.; transfer to L to Bedford Ave.; 1^st stop in Bklyn.

Things a Little Bird Told Me: Confessions of the Creative Mind
“From GQ’s “Nerd of the Year” to one of Time’s most influential people in the world, Biz Stone represents different things to different people. But he is known to all as the creative, effervescent, funny, charmingly positive and remarkably savvy co-founder of Twitter-the social media platform that singlehandedly changed the way the world works. Now, Biz tells fascinating, pivotal, and personal stories from his early life and his careers at Google and Twitter, sharing his knowledge about the nature and importance of ingenuity today. In Biz’s world:

-Opportunity can be manufactured
-Great work comes from abandoning a linear way of thinking
-Creativity never runs out
-Asking questions is free
-Empathy is core to personal and global success

In this book, Biz also addresses failure, the value of vulnerability, ambition, and corporate culture. Whether seeking behind-the-scenes stories, advice, or wisdom and principles from one of the most successful businessmen of the new century, Biz Stone’s Things a Little Bird Told Me: Confessions of the Creative Mind,will satisfy every reader.”
(Flavorpill’s Danielle Magee – she’s good, worth following)
Barnes & Noble – Union Square, 33 East 17th St.
at 7pm / FREE
212-253-0810

LOSER’S LOUNGE: LINDA RONSTADT VS. CARLY SIMON
“One of the great things about the Loser’s Lounge is that it allows us to experience glorious live versions of songs that would otherwise disappear into the digital mists. Last year, Linda Ronstadt announced that she would no longer be performing, a result of acquiring Parkinson’s disease. And Carly Simon is famously audience-averse. But the Loser’s leader, Joe McGinty, is calling on his talented stable of singers and musicians to stage a battle between their wonderful catalogues, and asking the audience to pick a “winner.” So what’ll it be: “You’re No Good” or “You’re So Vain”? (NewYorker)

Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St.
At 7pm / $25
(212) 539-8778

News That Stays New: The Future Life of W.B. Yeats
Towards the end of his life, Yeats asked to be buried in Sligo, “when the newspapers have forgotten me.” In fact, few poets have enjoyed such a long afterlife in the news media as W.B. Yeats.

Yeats has become the poet of choice for politicians and presidents on platforms across the globe. From “A terrible beauty is born,” to “Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold,” Yeats’s lines are deeply embedded in our culture. His words continue to question and harangue us, to urge us to greater things and to berate us when we get things wrong.

Geraldine Higgins traces the phenomenon of the quotable Yeats in our multi-media lives and asks what Yeats’s words are being used to tell us or sell us in our contemporary world. Prof. Geraldine Higgins is the Director of Emory University’s Irish Studies Program, having joined the Emory faculty in 1996 after completing a D.Phil. at Trinity College, Oxford and a B.A. in English and History at Trinity College, Dublin.
Glucksman Ireland House NYU, 1 Washington Mews
Free admission to Members of Glucksman Ireland House and to all students/faculty with a valid NYU I.D. card. For non-members: $10 donation at the door for the general event series. In order to ensure a seat at events, please RSVP
at 7PM / 212-998-3950 / ireland.house@nyu.edu

Great Battles of the Civil War: Shiloh
The Bernard and Irene Schwartz Distinguished Speakers Series
FEATURING:
John F. Marszalek, James M. McPherson, Harold Holzer (moderator)
The first momentous battle of the West launched Ulysses S. Grant as a new Union hero—but came perilously close to ending with a Confederate victory. Shiloh also raised the bar on battlefield bloodshed: at the time, April 1862, it was the deadliest encounter of the entire Civil War. Leading Civil War historians discuss every aspect of the two-day battle—from strategies to casualties, miracles to miscalculations.
The Robert H. Smith Auditorium at the New-York Historical Society,
170 Central Park West, at 77TH St.
at 6:30 pm / $34 (members $20)
(212) 873-3400

Uhadi: All-Stars of Johannesburg Jazz (through April 6)
“This group of jazz emissaries from South Africa — including the celebrated singer Sibongile Khumalo, the accomplished trumpeter Feya Faku and the saxophonist McCoy Mrubata, who’ll serve as musical director — comes to commemorate Nelson Mandela and 20 years of democracy in their homeland. “ (Chinen-NYT)
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway,
212-258-9595, jalc.org
At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. / $35 to $45 cover, with a $10 minimum

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Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
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A PremierPub + 3 Good Eating places 

Jimmy’s Corner  /  140 W 44th St (btw B’way & 7th ave)

Jimmy’s Corner is right in the heart of Times Square, but you won’t find it on the corner, it’s mid-block. Enter this long narrow bar and you are struck by the walls covered with mostly black-and-white boxing photographs, and memorabilia. Soon enough you learn that “Corner” refers to proprietor Jimmy Glenn’s long career as a corner man for some of boxing greats – Liston, Tyson, even “the greatest”, Ali.

Jimmy’s is a sort of time machine, taking you back to a time and place that no longer exists. All around you Times Square has cleaned up, grown up, assumed a new identity. Jimmy’s probably hasn’t changed a bit since it first opened in 1971. Certainly the bar itself looks original and the prices haven’t changed much either. When I brought a friend, who owns her own bar, she was surprised when she got the small tab for a round of drinks. Figured there must be a mistake, that maybe they forgot to charge for all the drinks.

Times Square today is filled with neon glitz and wandering tourists from Dubuque, but not Jimmy’s. You’ll likely find some old timer’s at the bar nursing their drinks, some younger locals at tables in the back, and maybe a few adventuresome tourists clutching their trusty guidebooks. There’s no food served here because this is just a bar, and sometimes that’s all you need.

On nights when no local team is playing, it’s a fine place to sip some drafts and listen to a great old time jukebox (40s, 50s, R&B, and soul). On sports nights this very narrow bar can get a bit claustrophobic, filled with excited fans watching their team on the TVs. Either way, Jimmy’s is the place to be if you are looking for an old time bar in the new Times Square.
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Website: are you kidding !
(although there is a facebook page with lots of photos –
facebook.com/jimmyscornernyc)
Phone #: 212-221-9510
Hours: 11am – 4 am, except Sunday they open 12 noon
Happy Hour: not necessary, low prices all day, every day
Subway: #1,2,3 to TimesSquare 42nd st
walk 2 blks N on 7th ave to 44th st; ½ blk E to Jimmy’s

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“Pub” is used in it’s broadest sense – bars, bar/restaurants, jazz clubs, wine bars, tapas bars, craft beer bars, dive bars, cocktail lounges, and of course, pubs  – just about anyplace you can get a drink without a cover charge (except for certain jazz clubs).

If you have a fave premier pub or good eating place on Manhattan’s WestSide let us all know about it – leave a comment.
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3 Good Eating places 

It’s not difficult finding a place to eat in Manhattan.
Finding a good, inexpensive place to eat is a bit harder.
Here are a few of my faves in this neighborhood:

Patzeria Perfect Pizza – 231 W46 st (Betw 7th/8th ave)
Perfect name for a pizza joint. On a street filled with Broadway theaters, this is a real hole in the wall, but don’t let the dive look scare you away. You can never go wrong with a slice of NYC pizza, and this one is a classic thin crust. Only a few seats here, but pizza was made to eat standing up.

Shake Shack – 691 8th ave (Betw 43rd/44th st)
Danny Meyer has revolutionized the high quality burger in this town. Now he has a branch on the West Side that was desperately needed, with none of the insane lines that you find at the Madison Sq. Park location. Plus, it may be the cleanest joint to eat in all of Hell’s Kitchen.

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“3 Good Eating places” focuses on a quick bite, what I call “Fine Fast Food – NYCity Style”

That covers a wide range of food – pizza,  burgers,  food trucks/carts,  vegetarian/falafel,  ramen,  chopped salad & salad bars,  hot dogs,  bbq,  soup & sandwiches,  picnic fixins’,  raw bars & lobster rolls. No reservations needed. ================================================================================

◊ For all my picks of 54 Good Eating places and descriptions of my favorite 18 PremierPubs in 9 Neighborhoods (plus 27 casual dining places with free Wi-Fi) order a copy of my e-book: “Eating and Drinking on NYCity’s WestSide” ($3.99).
(available Fall 2014)