When measuring success, baseball players have homeruns, scholars have their grade point averages and New York City chefs have Gael Greene.
Greene took to the Quick Center stage Monday night for the eighth Open VISIONS Forum of the semester wearing a signature hat, one that she wears to obscure her appearance from anxious restaurateurs when eating in their establishments.
For 40 years, Greene’s food column in New York Magazine has guided the taste buds of New York’s elites through the numerous restaurants in the city.
Philip Eliasoph, director of the forum, said that “Greene adds depth to an Open VISIONS menu,” a program that has attracted many prominent political and cultural leaders, including New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and NBC Anchor Brian Williams.
“With a long winter filled with grim economic news and political bickering, Gael Greene will refresh our minds and even our pallets,” Eliasoph said, when introducing Greene to a crowd comprised of mostly older women from the Fairfield community.
Greene talked about getting involved in food critiques and idolizing New York Times food critic Craig Claiborne.
But Greene captured the audience attention when she talked about her one-night stand with Elvis Presley.
“When I was 20 a couple of decades ago, Elvis came to Olympic stadium [in Montréal], and I flirted with the security guard,” said Greene.
The guard then took Greene to hotel where Elvis was staying.
“When I realized I was the only woman in his hotel room and he asked me to go to his bedroom I said, ‘I am not going to be coy with it,'” said Greene.
Greene said on her way out in the morning Elvis told her to order him a fried egg sandwich.
“People ask me how was ‘it’ with Elvis, and I tell them the thing that I remember most is the fried egg sandwich,” she said.
During the question and answer session, Eliasoph asked the self-proclaimed “foodie” where the best places to eat in the city for specific occasions. She provided the following:
Reunion of 20 or so people: Spice Market
Celebrating an accomplishment: Gotham Bar and Grill
On a tight budget: Lupa
Steak: Striphouse
Midtown fish: Bluefin
“I would like to think that I help people think about food in a different way,” she said.
Those interested in Greene’s latest culinary ventures can visit her Web site.
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