Circa 1981 – Ruelle’s and Café Central

Her Imperial Majesty is a bit eccentric in a charming sort of British way, and no, it’s not for the obvious reason that she married me. No, she’s a bit eccentric in a charming sort of British way because collects matchbooks from restaurants that are long dead.

The downside: I have lots of packs of matches that I can’t use because they’re “special”.

The upside: As far as collections go, it’s inexpensive and it doesn’t take up much space, unlike collections of shoes, horses or BMWs.

One of her favorite stories is about a long dead restaurant that was once the talk of the Upper West side: Ruelle’s. At 75th and Columbus, it was the place to be single and be seen. A New York magazine piece (starts on page 42) at the time goes to great lengths to talk up how it re-vitalized a neighborhood and went to greater lengths to talk up the singles scene and celebrity sightings.

Bobby DeNiro. Warren Beatty. Calvin Klein. They all popped by at one time or another.

But despite all the attention given to "The Scene" and to the celebrity sightings, there is nary a word about the food. Oh, they do mention that it is a restaurant and not a disco and there is a passing reference to its "nouvelle cuisine", but that’s where it stops.

You see, that was back in the early 1980s. All food was comfort food and, thanks to the absence of The Food Network, not every restaurant was trying to be high-end gourmet. You can call it the “bad old days” if you want. I call it Paleo-food. Paleo-food is simple, honest preparations devoid of pretense and attitude. It was food as "food" and not as "food-based entertainment."

So Her Imperial Majesty and her two mates – Susan and Linda – would hit Ruelle’s for a quick bite before running off to that other west side hot spot (read "meet market"), Café Central. There, they would hustle single men to buy them drinks. And there, Bruno the surly bartender, would sling liquor and abuse the customer base as if he were a future movie star. Heck, every waiter or bartender in New York thinks they’re a future movie star. However, in this case, the surly bartender – Bruno Willis – did turn out to be a future movie star: Bruce Willis.

The ladies all tell me he was a jerk. I wasn’t there and don’t know if it’s true, but that’s what they told me.

Anyway, since they were young and struggling to live in The City, the girls had to eat the cheapest thing on the menu. At Ruelle’s that was the vegetable plate. It’s simple and direct.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup broccoli, steamed
• ½  cup cauliflower, steamed
• ¼ cup diced carrots, steamed
• ½ cup snow peas, steamed
• ¼ cup walnuts 
•  ½ cup each Cheddar and Gruyere cheeses
•  ¼ cup white wine (the cheap stuff will work)
• Juice of one lemon
• Pinch of salt.

 Directions:

• Fire up your broiler
• Take your steamed veggies and walnuts and arrange in some artful way in a broiler proof pan
• Combine the wine, with the lemon juice and salt. Whisk.
• Pour the wine/lemon mixture over the veggies
• Top the veggies with your cheeses
• Broil until the cheese brown and happy
• Serve

Can’t get much easier than that. It’s works as both a side dish and as a main dish, if combined with brown rice. Pair this with a fruity white wine and it should make a easy mid-week meal.