Jewtopia

I took my oldest daughter, who is 13, on a hot date last night.  We went to see the play Jewtopia.  I figured she’d get a kick out of it.  She just got bat mitzvahed last spring, goes to an all Jewish camp and is familiar with the stereo types.  Who knows, she might be one herself. 

The biggest problem with the theater district, is the lack of good food.  Unfortunately, I did not make reservations at Esca, which is not only right across the street from the play but the best food in the district.  We wandered in, but couldn’t hook us up for a seat.  We then wandered across the street to Le Madeline, sat down, and looked at the menu and decided yuck, yuck, yuck.   Retrieved our coats and left.  Ugh.  Walked up 9th avenue a bit and wandered into Marseille.  It wasn’t bad.  We split an mediterranean salad appetizer, steak frites and cinnamon beignets with a coffee milkshake.  If Marseille was located somewhere else in the city, it wouldn’t survive but there is something about the theater district’s restaurants that survive on mediocrity. 

My friend is going to be in that area on Friday night and she wanted to know where to eat.  There are 3 restaurants in the area that have good food.  Becco (at least it did when it opened years ago), Esca and Blue Fin.   Although, the place where they use an hourglass to mark your time is pretty cute with a kid but the name of the place slips my mind.  The good news is that Mario Batali is going to open up a new restaurant in the Theater district, so at least you can get a good meal. 

The play was a total goof on the Jews.  The entire audience was probably Jews.  My guess is that this play would only play in LA and NYC.  The two writers play the two main characters.  Basically, these 2 guys Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson, wrote a 15 minute scene for a one-act festival.  People loved it and they decided to expand it to a full on play.  The play was a huge hit in LA, actually became the longest running original comedy in LA theater.  Not bad.  So, they took it on the road. 

The premise is that 2 friends bump into each other at a Jewish social.  One guy is Jewish the other is not but loves Jewish girls.  They team up to meet Jewish girls.  The process of learning how to order food in a restaurant, how to use yiddish appropriately, how to get handle the mother-in-law, etc.  If you aren’ t Jewish, the humor won’t be there.  In general, it’s pretty stupid but a good chuckle.  My guess is, the show could last about a year in NYC.  Like Jackie Mason.  There is a big enough audience in NYC to keep them going for about that long.

Wouldn’t run out to see it but it was entertaining.