Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – TUESDAY, APR. 15, 2014.

Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Style
The Museum’s newly installed galleries of Dutch paintings (galleries 631 through 638) place twenty works by Rembrandt and five by Vermeer within the broadest survey of Netherlandish, Dutch, and Flemish art outside of Europe. Rembrandt and Vermeer represent the Age of Observation and, at the same time, anticipate Realist trends of the nineteenth century. Met curator Walter Liedtke explores the curious similarities and interplay between style in these two leading seventeenth-century painters, and inherited or shared schemes of “picture-making” in their work.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave., New York
at 11:00 am / $30
212-535-7710

Sibling Revelry: Starring Ann Hampton Callaway & Liz Callaway (ends April 19)
The dynamic sisters Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway are teaming up together again to bring Sibling Revelry back to 54 Below by popular demand. The award-winning show made its way back to New York for the first time in over 15 years for a sold out engagement last summer-and received rave reviews! Separately, these Tony-nominated sisters have enjoyed their own stellar careers, but when these singular talents blend their voices, Stephen Holden of The New York Times cheers, “their strikingly different but equally splendid voices harmonize, Sibling Revelry becomes a thrilling display of vocal prowess.” Be there! It’s a happening!
54 Below, 254 W. 54th St.,
at 6:30pm / $55
646-476-3551, 54below.com

Sheila Bair on ‘Bull by the Horns:
Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself’
Sheila C. Bair served as chairperson of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from June 2006 – June 2011, presiding over one of the most trying periods of the nation’s banking system. She has been a leading advocate and innovator of policies to end the doctrine of too-big-to-fail and taxpayer bailouts.

Named by Harvard University and the Washington Post Magazine as one of America’s Top Leaders, Bair was described by Time magazine as “the little guy’s protector in chief.”
Join Bair at this lecture as she discusses her career and New York Times bestselling book Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street, and Wall Street from Itself.

Bair’s presentation will be followed by a Q-and-A session, book signing and reception.
Museum of American Finance, 48 Wall St.,
212-908-4110
at 5:30pm / $15; free for members

Rufus Wainwright
“What do you after establishing your bona fides as a singer-songwriter, re-creating a famed Judy Garland concert and penning an opera? Release a best-of compilation (Vibrate), and then tour behind it, of course. Lucy Wainwright Roche, Rufus’ sister, joins the acclaimed vocal stylist to make the show a family affair. For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.” (nycgo.com)
Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, Manhattan,
800-982-2787, the-townhall-nyc.org;
At 8 p.m., / $35 to $85.

B.B. King Blues Club All Stars, Featuring the Harlem Blues Project
Harlem Blues Project specializes in soulful New York blues with a twist! The band features blues masters Jerry Dugger, Junior Mack, and Barry Harrison plus a revolving cast of NYC’s finest blues musicians including Bill Sims Jr., Michael Hill, Irving Louis Lattin and Solomon Hicks.
B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 W. 42nd St., (btw 7th /8th ave)
8pm & 10pm. / $15
212-997-4144, bbkingblues.com

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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.

♦ NYCity is a big town with many visitors where quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.

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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)