26 April 2020. An Open Patch.
Looks a bit like Hansel and Gretel, except that we're sandwiched in between the Thairapeutics Hair Salon and a CVS. One of those older neighborhood houses, set well back on its lot, with a luxurious garden--especially the tall ferns (what variety?) growing out from under the eaves. I have no idea what the place is used for--there's a walkway with a wooden gazebo, but it's easily outdone by the white wall and aqua blue awning of the beauty parlor alongside. A wooden bench in front softens the effect a little--and there's a bench in front of the CVS, too. Some of the street denizens make use of it. I was walking by late one evening last week, and I didn't even pick out the seated figure--completely still, head turned sharply to side, almost to the wall--as if he were contemplating something stark and crucial--or maybe it's that those were his own qualities--a lost viking, thin, somewhat ragged, without ship or sword or shield...
Across the way, the diminutive Egyptian man who runs the wine cafe--Enoteca Medterraneo--also a reflection of a distinct personality. Everything about the place unique and personal, as if he'd opened up his living room to guests from the street. He bowed once when I walked past, nodding his head. A proprietor in the old fashioned sense--Fustat, or the Trastevere--as if he'd been here forever...
Maybe a drawing--he's making go of it during this endless Open for Take Out time. But you wonder just what someone might order--there seem to be ordoeuvres served on small plates--I imagine olives, and smoky varieties of spiced eggplant--but such things are best enjoyed in situ at one of the tiny tables, with monsieur in attendance, white apron around his waist...
___
Wrong again--Egypt was my projection. Maybe it was the name of the neighborhood, Fustat--or the fact that Jashmied Basseri so much resembles my Uncle Howard, whose Russian Jewish face could look like anywhere in the world. In any case, Jashmied was born in Iran--to a Persian Jewish family, where he enjoyed cooking even as a boyy. I read that his first employment here in the States was at a Howard Johnson's in New York. Adding certainly another layer to the mysteries of his establishment...
