Burgers & Writers
I just recently discovered that there's an F train stop right by my office. Apparently this was obvious to everyone else, for as my friend Peter pointed out, the F train is the 6th Avenue subway and I work on 7th Avenue. But I had always thought of the F train as the Lower East Side & Brooklyn subway, I never really knew - or had to know - where it went once it traveled further uptown. Now I know and on Monday, this knowledge helped tremendously.
Day 1 of the severe heat wave came on a Monday. Was it any surprise? Mondays are generally an uphill battle but when you throw global warming into it, boy, are they annoying. (Please note: I can figure out a way to blame just about anything on global warming. Case in point - on Saturday, I was walking home from the gym, sweaty and in my mesh shorts/sporty t-shirt/sneakers attire, when a Crazy Man walked by me, looked at me, and said to me, "Fucking Slut!" I think the heat got to him, because I looked down at myself - all sweaty and frankly, a mess, and thought - this is the least slutty moment of my entire life).
Anyways, this past Monday, it was HOT. And a bunch of people I work for are on a business trip so after my slow walk to work, I had settled in, but I was bored. And then I got the genius idea to go to the Burger Joint in the Parker Meridien hotel for lunch with my roommate who had never been there. And it was the F train that made such a plan possible - it dropped me door to door - and in a shocking turn of events, I didn't even have to wait very long on the platform!
I love the Burger Joint (not to be confused with the other 2 or so restaurants of the same name in Manhattan, I only love the special/secret one hidden behind the big, dark curtain at Le Parker Meridien). It wasn't love at first sight, however. At first sight, I went with my Mom, who I don't think properly warned me that we'd be going to this hectic dive where it's every man and burger for himself in terms of ordering and getting a table. I was overwhelmed and it took me some minutes to adjust, but I do have a learning curve it seems, and now I lurve it. It's simple and delicious and I love it when I get to order something with "the works." I heart the works. I properly warned my roommate (I'll call her Jess) about the nature of the Burger Joint - I believe my exact words were "you have to be very quick and stealth and keep your eyes out for a table. Pretend you are Jason Bourne!"
As soon as we got on line (I know it may not be "correct" but I say on line, not in line), I noticed that Tina Fey was sitting at a booth chomping on a burger. I have this weird celebrity radar so I noticed her immediately despite the fact that she wasn't wearing her Weekend Update signature glasses and Amy Poehler was nowhere in sight. Those of you who read this blog regularly probably are aware that I love Tina Fey. Plus I just recently watched the pilot for her new show "30 Rock" and thought it was hilarious. But I didn't say anything to her, even though I imagine that having burger hands is the great equalizer. What would I say? So I pretended not to notice her (as I commented on her every move to Jess) and we ordered and ate the lovely food and thanks to the F train, I was back at my office in 45 minutes roundtrip.
But as I rode up the elevator to my office, I had a thought. Something about this seems familiar. Burgers...Writers...Burgers & Writers. Ah! Yes! It hit me - about two months ago, I was at PJ Clarke's (another one of my favorite burger places in the city) for a very late night wrap-party dinner (circa 1am) for a work project. And who did I see there? JJ Abrams - perhaps best known as the co-creator of Lost and the writer/director of MI3, but to me, he is more importantly the awesome writer/creator of both Alias and Felicity. But unlike my shy and lame non-approach at the Burger Joint, at PJ Clarke's, I went right up to JJ Abrams and talked to him. Turns out, the real equalizer is alcohol. I'd had a couple drinks with my PJ's mini-burgers and that had knocked any reticence right outta me, for I not-so-subtly approached JJ Abrams and had a drunkenly awkward/awesome conversation with him about how much I love his work. And he was really nice and humble and thanked me (I know what you're thinking, he probably just wanted to escape). I realized later that there were so many things I should've said, a couple things I probably shouldn't of said (I think I told him I wanted to work with him on Felicity: The Grad School Years), but it was a fun night and a funny story. Plus, I ended up making out with some random PA who was conventionally good-looking (not usually my type) so it was truly an eventful evening.
I don't know if something that happens twice can be considered a pattern, but it does seem funny and strange that both times I've seen my TV-writer heroes, I was at burger places. I think it might be God trying to encourage me...to eat more burgers. All I know is that I pray to this encouraging God - that the next time I'm at JG Melon's - Aaron Sorkin will be there. Now that I've had two opportunities to learn from, I'm really ready to approach him respectfully and professionally and say, "excuse me, I love you, could you please pass the ketchup and hire me?" That should work.
Day 1 of the severe heat wave came on a Monday. Was it any surprise? Mondays are generally an uphill battle but when you throw global warming into it, boy, are they annoying. (Please note: I can figure out a way to blame just about anything on global warming. Case in point - on Saturday, I was walking home from the gym, sweaty and in my mesh shorts/sporty t-shirt/sneakers attire, when a Crazy Man walked by me, looked at me, and said to me, "Fucking Slut!" I think the heat got to him, because I looked down at myself - all sweaty and frankly, a mess, and thought - this is the least slutty moment of my entire life).
Anyways, this past Monday, it was HOT. And a bunch of people I work for are on a business trip so after my slow walk to work, I had settled in, but I was bored. And then I got the genius idea to go to the Burger Joint in the Parker Meridien hotel for lunch with my roommate who had never been there. And it was the F train that made such a plan possible - it dropped me door to door - and in a shocking turn of events, I didn't even have to wait very long on the platform!
I love the Burger Joint (not to be confused with the other 2 or so restaurants of the same name in Manhattan, I only love the special/secret one hidden behind the big, dark curtain at Le Parker Meridien). It wasn't love at first sight, however. At first sight, I went with my Mom, who I don't think properly warned me that we'd be going to this hectic dive where it's every man and burger for himself in terms of ordering and getting a table. I was overwhelmed and it took me some minutes to adjust, but I do have a learning curve it seems, and now I lurve it. It's simple and delicious and I love it when I get to order something with "the works." I heart the works. I properly warned my roommate (I'll call her Jess) about the nature of the Burger Joint - I believe my exact words were "you have to be very quick and stealth and keep your eyes out for a table. Pretend you are Jason Bourne!"
As soon as we got on line (I know it may not be "correct" but I say on line, not in line), I noticed that Tina Fey was sitting at a booth chomping on a burger. I have this weird celebrity radar so I noticed her immediately despite the fact that she wasn't wearing her Weekend Update signature glasses and Amy Poehler was nowhere in sight. Those of you who read this blog regularly probably are aware that I love Tina Fey. Plus I just recently watched the pilot for her new show "30 Rock" and thought it was hilarious. But I didn't say anything to her, even though I imagine that having burger hands is the great equalizer. What would I say? So I pretended not to notice her (as I commented on her every move to Jess) and we ordered and ate the lovely food and thanks to the F train, I was back at my office in 45 minutes roundtrip.
But as I rode up the elevator to my office, I had a thought. Something about this seems familiar. Burgers...Writers...Burgers & Writers. Ah! Yes! It hit me - about two months ago, I was at PJ Clarke's (another one of my favorite burger places in the city) for a very late night wrap-party dinner (circa 1am) for a work project. And who did I see there? JJ Abrams - perhaps best known as the co-creator of Lost and the writer/director of MI3, but to me, he is more importantly the awesome writer/creator of both Alias and Felicity. But unlike my shy and lame non-approach at the Burger Joint, at PJ Clarke's, I went right up to JJ Abrams and talked to him. Turns out, the real equalizer is alcohol. I'd had a couple drinks with my PJ's mini-burgers and that had knocked any reticence right outta me, for I not-so-subtly approached JJ Abrams and had a drunkenly awkward/awesome conversation with him about how much I love his work. And he was really nice and humble and thanked me (I know what you're thinking, he probably just wanted to escape). I realized later that there were so many things I should've said, a couple things I probably shouldn't of said (I think I told him I wanted to work with him on Felicity: The Grad School Years), but it was a fun night and a funny story. Plus, I ended up making out with some random PA who was conventionally good-looking (not usually my type) so it was truly an eventful evening.
I don't know if something that happens twice can be considered a pattern, but it does seem funny and strange that both times I've seen my TV-writer heroes, I was at burger places. I think it might be God trying to encourage me...to eat more burgers. All I know is that I pray to this encouraging God - that the next time I'm at JG Melon's - Aaron Sorkin will be there. Now that I've had two opportunities to learn from, I'm really ready to approach him respectfully and professionally and say, "excuse me, I love you, could you please pass the ketchup and hire me?" That should work.
posted by Susan Goldberg at 4:27 PM
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