Latest news with #Sal's
New York Times
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
A Scrappy Pop-Up Restaurant Shuttles From Coast to Coast
Sal's Place is easy to miss. Almost obscured by bougainvillea. it sits on a corner of North Robertson Boulevard in West Hollywood, Calif., a jumble of a building anchored by a tent draped over a frame of wood and windows. There is no valet parking — even here in Los Angeles — and no sign. To get to a bathroom, diners walk out the front door and turn left on the sidewalk. And it's open only about six months a year. The story of Sal's Place is a story of rough East Coast winters, of the continuing mystique of the pop-up restaurant and of a spirited proprietor, Siobhan Carew, who three years ago led a band of waiters and cooks across the country to create a winter outpost for her restaurant of the same name in Provincetown, Mass. On the Atlantic Coast, Sal's Place sits on a beach at the tip of Cape Cod. Housed in a former boatbuilding wharf that hangs over the water on stilts, it is not made for winter. And Ms. Carew, 60, who had moved full-time to Provincetown after closing her restaurants in Boston during the pandemic, decided that she wasn't, either. The West Coast location of Sal's may have been founded in the adventurous spirit of the pop-up, but she hopes it will be around for a long time. And why not? The 60-seat restaurant is drawing good crowds — and, it is worth noting, very different crowds (younger, gayer, hipper) than Il Piccolino, the local institution that filled the same space before closing in 2022, in the shadow of the pandemic. Il Piccolino, which opened in 2005, was revered by a certain niche of Los Angeles, with its high prices ($60 for a veal chop) and moneyed clientele, including more than a few celebrities in the twilight of their careers: Joan Collins, Liza Minnelli and Irwin Winkler, who produced the 'Rocky' movies. Its ethos was captured by its menu, which included lobster with white truffle sauce, alongside a spaghetti-with-clams dish named for a Hollywood producer and regular patron: Jerry Weintraub's Spaghetti Clam Show, 'with spaghetti just the way Jerry liked it,' the menu explains. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Axios
05-03-2025
- Climate
- Axios
New Orleans snoball stands open and more signs of spring
Mardi Gras is over, and we're now in New Orleans' best season: spring. Why it matters: Crawfish are on the menu, snoball stands are open and the weather is still mild enough to sit on patios. We're seeing these signs of spring ... 🍧 Snoball stands: Hansen's and Sal's open for the season Wednesday. Chance in Hell made us laugh during the historic snowstorm. They'll be opening in their new location on Louisa Street soon. Go deeper for more snoball stand suggestions. 🦞 Crawfish: We're seeing boils everywhere. Get your fix now, and don't forget your Abita Strawberry to wash it down. 🎡 Carousel Gardens: The amusement park in City Park opens Saturday for the season. Ticket details. 🗺️ Hummingbirds: Ruby-throated hummingbirds are migrating through south Louisiana. The peak period ends later this month. Details. 🤧 Seasonal allergies: Pollen counts are high. Plan accordingly with your meds. 🎉 Spring festivals: St. Paddy's, St. Joseph's Day and French Quarter Fest are right around the corner.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Yahoo
Long Island cop allegedly on mob payroll staged fake raid that didn't fool illicit gamblers: ‘These are not real police'
This is what happens when you hire bargain-basement wiseguys. The Nassau County cop who allegedly worked for the Bonanno crime family bungled a raid on a rival family's gambling den so badly that it totally failed to fool the victimized gangsters — including a gambler named 'Mario the Landscaper,' who quickly said, 'These are not real police,' a court heard Wednesday. 'It wasn't professionally done — you could see it was fake,' mobster Sal Russo testified Wednesday at ex-officer Hector Rosario's trial for obstruction and serving as a soldier for the Bonannos in their struggles against the rival Genovese crime family. 'I just heard yelling and screaming, 'This is the police! This is the police!'' Russo testified about the shocking raid. 'They broke the screens on one of the machines, and they kept screaming, 'This police! This police!' before they left the store.' But the fake sortie — which targeted Salvatore 'Sal the Shoemaker' Rubino's illegal casino inside his Merrick store, Sal's Shoe Repair — was so shoddily done that none of the illicit gamblers thought Rosario and his small crew actually cops. 'These are not real police,' Mario the Landscaper, who Russo described as a 'steady player at Sal's,' allegedly told the others after the initial shock wore off. 'They don't just come in breaking [things],' Russo said, quoting Mario. Russo testified that the low budget raid by Rosario — who was only being paid $1,500-a-month by the Mafia — looked so fake he feared he might get clipped by the Genovese bosses in retaliation. When asked what he thought might happen to him, Russo answered, 'Hospital, cemetery … anything.' The b-grade raid on the gambling den wasn't the only bungling by the alleged dumb-fella. At a later point, Rosario tried to play like a movie Mafioso and talk to Russo about a pot growing operation in a code that involved a movie he saw in Netflix. 'When I get the name of the movie, try to watch it. It's good,' Rosario said in a recording of the phone call played in court. Russo, however, said he had no idea what the cop was talking about and thought he was really just calling to talk about film. 'I thought he was talking about a movie,' he said. Rosario, a 51-year-old former detective, conspired to target rival Genovese mafiosos in a feud that erupted after the Cosa Nostra families struck a rare agreement to split the profits of a gelato shop's backroom gambling den, federal prosecutors said. But the shaky peace deal didn't last — and Rosario 'sold himself' to the Bonnanos before staging the faux raid, Brooklyn prosecutors have said. Rosario, who was first busted in 2022 and released on a $500,000 bond, was allegedly put on the payroll by two Bonanno family members and told to target Rubino's betting parlor in 2013 or 2014. Rosario has been charged with obstructing a grand jury probe into racketeering and lying to the FBI. On the trial's opening day, prosecutors introduced the jurors to a laundry list of alleged mobsters and mapped out a constellation of illegal gambling operations — which led to a sweeping 2022 bust that rounded up eight alleged mobsters and Rosario. 'He chose the crime family over the public he swore to protect,' Anna Karamigios, assistant US attorney for the Eastern District, told jurors in Brooklyn federal court. Yet despite his criminal allegiance, Rosario doesn't appear to have been a cunning ally. Still, Rosario took home $2,500 after the second-rate raid, and launched three others aimed at different backroom casinos run by Genovese and Gambinos gangsters — including one at the Gran Caffe Gelateria in Lynbrook, Russo said. But they didn't work out. Rosario would flash his badge at the camera, the mobster said from the stand. But they would never buzz him in to let him raid the joints. Still, the Bonannos paid him about $8,000 in total for his escapades, which Russo hoped would prompt the closure of Gran Caffe and push the Bonannos to set up a gambling spot at his Soccer Club in Valley Stream. 'If Gran Caffe closed, I would put [Rosario] on the payroll at soccer club,' Russo said, adding Russo would have made about $1,500 weekly. The plan never came to fruition, however. The jury also heard a series of seven wiretapped conversations between Russo and Rosario — including one in which Russo told the crooked cop he wanted him to stage another fake raid to 'rob Mexicans' who were dealing heroin. Rosario agreed — and would have taken home $50,000 in payment. But the raid never happened. In another recording, Russo tried to get Rosario to move his weed stash to a buyer. Rosario pushed back, however, and claimed the feds were watching him. 'They got you by the balls, bro,' Rosario said. 'They're watching you, they're watching you. They're just waiting for you to f–k up again.' 'You scratch your ass? They're watching you,' he said. 'They're waiting for you to s–t.' The two never ended up selling the marijuana.
