Elaine's

Those who get their view of New York's social life mainly from television, gossip columns, glossy magazines and the like must have a very strange view in which everybody is out until at least 3:00 in the morning struggling to get in to the latest hotest bar or eating impossibly expensive, trendy, artfully arranged food. They are also garbed in fantasy and I do mean the clothes.

That is not my life. I have been known to go dancing. In a much previous life, I was a dancer. Now, my feet tend to object. I prefer the ballet, concerts, museum showsand friends. From the size of the culture-crowds all over the city, I am not alone. While I splurge on great restaurants and try to keep up with what the chefs are doing in new places, I more often eat at home--dare I say cook--or go to local places or tried and true friends. The place I do go fairly often that meets the gossip column criterion is Elaine's (1703 3rd Ave--88th and 89th Streets---212 534 8103). Quite reliably there will be celebrities there--not always instantly recognizeable. Many are writers, directors, publicists as well as the more visible actors, sports figures and famous money men. It is sort of a club. I have been going there for seemingly a thousand years. I was introduced by my dear departed great saxaphonist, Paul Desmond.

The food gets a bad rap. They make the best Caesar salad in the city as well as the best veal chop, a wonderful humongeous piece of meat. The wine list is excellent.

However, the alternate social life that seems the oddest is the dog-walking encounters. My dog, Woof (Virginia Woof if you are a snob) gets me up early and I have met a slew of people that I see regularly. Of many I do not know the name only the name of the dog. This can be embarassing at other encounters especially as I tend to look like an unmade bed when walking the dog. As one of my neighbors put it one evening when I was dressed to go out: "You clean up real good." To see me in that incarnation, go to my web page, Bkafka.com. See me on my home page or click photos. I would never post what I look like in the morning.