Restaurants as popular and as hard to get into as Lucali are always all over social media, but Internet users may have noticed a recent surge in Yelp reviews and comments surrounding the Brooklyn pizza joint. You can thank celebrity rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar for that.
Let’s back it up: this past April, Drake released his track “Taylor Made Freestyle,” in which he mentions (read: disses) Lamar’s New York apartment—a duplex penthouse near the water at 90 Furman in Brooklyn Heights—about 15 minutes from Lucali via car.
Lamar’s response, which is part of a larger feud between the superstar artists, is included in his new song, “6:16 in LA.”
Lamar raps: “My visa, passport tatted, I show up in Ibiza/Lucali’s dwellings in Brooklyn just to book me some pizza.”
As the Internet is wont to do, fans of the artists and mere spectators of the pretty amusing battle quickly headed to Yelp to post reviews of the 18-year-old New York business that, let’s be honest, is already pretty freaking popular.
“Woke up at 6:16 craving a Lucali Plain Pie. Had to Fly From LA to Grab a slice. Worth it!” one commenter wrote.
“Kendrick sent me here, hoping this place gets the ’New Ho King’ attention it deserves,” reads another review.
Do the reviews actually tell us something about Lamar’s and Drake’s beef? Not really. Do they help one rapper gain points over the other? We can’t see how. Are the comments entertaining? Absolutely.
For what it’s worth, Lucali’s owner Mark Iacono told Eater that it’s been “business as usual” since the new songs were released. That comes as no surprise whatsoever. We’re here for the laughs and the good raps, though.
Rachel McAdams giggles after flubbing a request to say her name into the camera and identify herself as a Tony Award nominee. “I’m not used to saying it yet!” she explains, directing a gleaming smile at playwright Amy Herzog, her boothmate at a Meet the Nominees event at the Sofitel Hotel.
McAdams is currently making her Broadway debut in Herzog’s Mary Jane. She plays the title character: a single mother caring for her chronically ill young son, with support from a variety of other women. (“The play does not dwell in helplessness,” wrote Time Out’s Adam Feldman in his five-star review. “It’s more interested in how people try to help.”)
“I am honored to play this part every day,” says McAdams, who moved with her husband and two young children to New York City for the opportunity. “I’m so happy this beautiful play has been received positively by so many people. It fills me up.”
The subject of the play is a personal one for Herzog, who is a double Tony nominee this year for Mary Jane and her adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People: When she wrote it, she was tending to a daughter who was born with the muscular disease nemaline myopathy. Carrie Coon starred in the play’s 2017 runs at Yale Repertory Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop. In casting the role for Broadway, director Anne Kauffman was looking for a very particular quality. “Mary Jane is an unusual character: She is sunny in a way that’s actually sincere,” Kauffman says. “I don’t think you get that kind of sincerity in people a lot. And Rachel McAdams exudes that.”
Photograph: Courtesy Matthew Murphy | Mary Jane
“Annie and I were gasping hearing her voice,” Herzog recalls of the first reading with McAdams. “We got to perform together,” McAdams chimes in, grabbing Herzog’s hand. “Oh, that’s right!” Herzog exclaims as they continue to hold hands. “And Amy has incredible comedic timing,” McAdams makes sure to point out.
“It was like a childhood dream that I got to act with her,” Herzog says before choking up a bit—leading McAdams to get emotional too. “There’s so much in her that is Mary Jane.”
Although she played a stage actress in cult TV series Slings & Arrows, it’s been 25 years since the last time McAdams did live theater. Broadway, she says, has been “otherworldly.” She’s been relearning the closeness that comes from being part of a small cast, and part of the Broadway world at large. “I didn’t know about that lovely tradition where every cast signs a little good-luck wish—break a leg—for every other cast on opening night, and then they hang it up backstage before you go on,” she says. “It’s like high school when everybody signs your yearbook. It’s really sweet.”
That sense of community extends to awards season, which feels different from her experience as a 2016 Oscar nominee for Spotlight. “With the Oscars, you don’t really see each other,” she says. “There’s a few luncheons and that sort of thing, but it’s not like this.” She would love to catch up with her fellow Best Actress nominee, Mother Play’s Jessica Lange, who played her mother in the 2012 film The Vow: “I did tell her how much I loved the show, but I’d love to pick her brain!”
Meanwhile, McAdams is just “going with the flow” in navigating her still unfamiliar role as a Tony nominee, and enjoying the company she’s keeping. “Everybody knows each other. Everybody’s so happy for each other,” she says. “It feels like a family.”
Mary Jane is playing at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre through June 16. You can buy tickets here.
This is a fifth birthday party you’ll want to come to!
Time Out Market New York is celebrating its fifth anniversary on Saturday, May 18, with an all-day party full of good food, drinks, live music and activities for everyone.
The festival kicks off at noon with live beats from the Silver Arrow Band and DJ Price is Right followed by performances from the Brooklyn Irish Dance Company and Mapy the Violin Queen:
noon-2pm: Silver Arrow Band
2-3pm: Brooklyn Irish Dance Company
3:15-3:45: Mapy
4-6pm: Silver Arrow Band
Meanwhile, you can enjoy good food from the Market’s vendors, including snacks from Jacob’s Pickles, egg rolls from Rogue Panda, sandos from Pastrami Queen, bites from The Maiz Project, and sweets from Sugar Hill Creamery and Baklava.
Of course, you’ll need something to wash it all down with. Estrella Galicia, Coney Island Brewery, Truly, Sam Adams and Brooklyn Brewery will be on-site with their respective cold beverages. If you’re more of a red or white fan, you’ll have your pick with BY.OTT, La Gioiosa Prosecco, Villa Sparina, Silk & Spice and Velenosi Vini.
Time Out Market New York opened back on May 31, 2019, within the Empire Stores at 55 Water Street with vendors Juliana’s, Reserve Cut, Bessou, Clinton St. Baking Company & Restaurant, Miss Ada, Mermaid Oyster Bar, Alta Calidad, Jacob’s Pickles, Felice, DŌ, Cookie Dough Confections and Avocaderia.
Photograph: Ali Garber for Time Out Market New York
Five years later, Clinton St. Baking, Jacob’s Pickles, Felice still remain but have been joined by NYC faves Wayla, Pastrami Queen, Bark Barbecue, Ess-A-Bagel, Ivy Stark Mexology and Pat LaFrieda. And even cooler, visitors can now order from their tables to have their food delivered right to them.
If you want to keep the party going after the outdoor shindig wraps, you can! The market hosts daily events, including Latin Mix Saturdays, featuring Ronnie Roc & DJ Torres from 7 to 10pm.
A year after Brendon Beck and Derek Orrell debuted their daytime concept Oh Boy in Williamsburg, the pair have expanded the project with Oh Boy Supply & Record Cafe, a new addition that opened inside the FREEHOLD Brooklyn complex on Friday, May 3. A collaboration with FREEHOLD Hospitality, the Domino Park day-to-night newcomer will blend an a.m. cafe with an evening natural wine program, overseen by SAUCED, as well as a hearty vinyl music selection.
The 1,000-square-foot restaurant and retail space—in great news, the team has been experimenting with product testing and packaging favorites such as their popular Oh Boy sauce—will offer a pastry program, grab-and-go bites and coffee roasted by local partner Sweetleaf during the daytime. In the evening, the outfit will serve a light bites menu with a natural wine program curated by SAUCED’s new Wine Hustler Club. Along with selling a selection of vinyl records, the new cafe will also host live music performances from artists from around the world.
The collaboration with FREEHOLD also includes a new food menu from Oh Boy’s chef Merrill Whiston III, who you might remember as the former chef de cuisine at Llama Inn. Of course, the menu will include that viral Oh Boy burger and Dirty Birdy chicken sandwich, as well as Peruvian-inspired plates like fresh ceviche and an aji panca-spiced mushroom sandwich, and cocktails from beverage director Rikki Nobre. The food lineup from Oh Boy will complement a robust calendar of seasonal programming, including live music events, a summer barbecue and a rotating guest chef dinner series.
Check out some food-and-drink options from Oh Boy Supply & Record Cafe below:
Photograph: courtesy of Oh Boy Supply & Record Cafe | Ceviche at Oh Boy Supply & Record CafePhotograph: courtesy of Oh Boy Supply & Record Cafe | Cheeseburger at Oh Boy Supply & Record CafePhotograph: courtesy of Oh Boy Supply & Record Cafe | Oysters and martini at Oh Boy Supply & Record CafePhotograph: courtesy of Oh Boy Supply & Record Cafe | Courtyard at Oh Boy Supply & Record Cafe
Already a beautiful street in its natural form, Fifth Avenue is now home to several whimsical flower displays that make the area even more stunning, courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels.
For the third year in a row, the jewelry company has set up multiple sketch-like installations by French artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet, on view now through May 31 between 50th and 59th Streets.
The activation, dubbed “Fifth Avenue Blooms” and set up in partnership with the Fifth Avenue Association, also features sounds and smells. Talk about immersing yourself in the environment around you.
“I am very excited to see my designs at this scale and the unfolding gardens displayed in such a vibrant and inspiring place,” stated artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet in a statement. “This season’s dialogue with the Maison is inspired by a walk in a beautiful garden when Spring is blooming. Violets, peonies, clematis, delphinium but also architectural garden details such as fences, carved stone planters from the 19th century and beautiful alleys.”
Photograph: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels
In addition to the floral art pieces, the program includes many activities that will cater to all types of guests throughout the next few weekends, from live painting sessions to poetry readings, dance performances and children’s book readings. All of them will take place at the 550 Garden Park at 550 Madison Avenue by 56th Street.
Below find the full schedule of events:
Saturday, May 11:
12-12:30pm: Dance performance by Trisha Brown 2-2:30pm: Dance performance by Trisha Brown
Photograph: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels
Sunday, May 12:
11-11:30am: Story telling with Amélie Gaulier 12-12:30pm: Dance performance by Trisha Brown 1-1:30pm: Story telling with Amélie Gaulier 2-2:30pm: Dance performance by Trisha Brown 2:30-3pm: Story telling with Amélie Gaulier
Saturday, May 18:
11am–3pm: Live painting with NYAA 12-12:30pm: Dance performance by Trisha Brown 2-2:30pm: Dance performance by Trisha Brown
Sunday, May 19:
11am: Story telling with Amélie Gaulier 11:30am-2:30pm: Poetry reading 12pm: Story telling with Amélie Gaulier 12:30-12:50pm: Poetry reading 1-1:30pm: Story telling with Amélie Gaulier 1:30-1:50pm: Poetry reading 2:30-2:50: Poetry reading
