Time Traveling with Troy
Photo by Ryan Bird: http://www.redbubble.com/people/theblackazar
[The city] carries on its lapel the unexpungeable odor of the long past, so that no matter where you sit in New York you feel the vibrations of great times and tall deeds, of queer people and events and undertakings.
- E.B. White, “Here is New York“
Troy Johnson spent the 1960s at the helm of disco in Brooklyn. In the 1970s, he opened a boutique in the West Village and feasted on soul food at the Pink Teacup, where John Lennon also loved to eat.
He spent the 1980s as a man of leisure, traveling around Europe and falling in love in Brazil (After bringing his lover back to New York, they couldn’t make it work).
By 1995 his money ran out, and he started to drive a taxi. Even though he’s losing his hearing (I had to shout my questions at him through the partition – was it the years at the disco?), he’s still at it after fifteen years.
When my co-adventurers and I hopped into Troy’s back seat, he told us “you’re not gonna get rich driving a cab.” And that his girlfriend of 18 years had just left him “because I wouldn’t get married.”
“I said it from the beginning,” he said, “But she hung around. If a guy ain’t gonna marry you after three years, you better hit the road.”
He admitted he was having a hard time letting go of his ex. To ease the pain, he’d just picked up turkey wings, smothered pork and pig’s feet from RCL Enterprises, the soul food restaurant that’s going to be the subject of Part 2 of this adventure.
When we asked the cabbie – who grew up in Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn and now lives in Union Square – about his favorite food in Manhattan, he led us to El Quijote, the Spanish restaurant where he’s been eating paella valenciana since 1958.
“And the restaurant’s even older than that!” he said.
Judging from the polyester uniforms on the middle-aged waiters, the fading windmill mural on the wall, the music from “Cats” and “Evita” that piped through the speakers, and the gold balloons on the ceiling in the bar advertising the restaurant’s 80th anniversary, Troy was right.
We spread linen napkins across our laps, eyed the pink and blue neon, and squinted at the long, leather-bound menu, where I read that the Minister of Spain had declared El Quijote “the best Spanish restaurant of any country in the world outside of Spain” in 2002. The dining room was empty except for us.
We ordered a half pitcher of “secret sangria…from the same coveted recipes passed on for generations by [owner] Manny’s family.” It was as smooth and fruity and dangerous as any we’d tasted in Spain. Delicious – especially for $16.
While we waited for Troy’s paella valenciana ($19.95), we went crazy over the side salads that came with the pollo quijote lunch special ($12.95) we ordered. Rather, we went crazy over the dressings: blue cheese that was as thick and chunky as my grandma’s and a punchy vinaigrette loaded with onions and red peppers.
The seafood in Troy’s paella – jumbo shrimp, plump mussels, giant clams – was impressive, too. Apparently owner Manny Ramirez harbors a Spaniard’s obsession for fish. According to his menu, “he was the first to establish his own fishing boats along the coast of Maine so as to offer generous portions with the emphasis always on FRESH.” We could taste that freshness, even if the rice was overcooked and so much chorizo made the dish too salty.
The chef had also been heavy-handed with the salt in our pollo quijote. But we still appreciated the combination of onions, garlic, olive oil, tomato and red wine that had worked its way into chicken thighs that we cut with butter knives. We left a side of over-fried potatoes pretty much alone, overwhelmed by the portion sizes. The two dishes we’d ordered could have easily fed four people.
I lingered over a cup of “El Quijote’s famous Spanish coffee,” which turned out to be a justifiably famous cafe con leche that for some reason got me thinking about E.B. White, who believed that “no matter where you sit in New York, you feel the vibrations of great times and tall deeds.”
Nowhere was this more true than at El Quijote – and in the back seat of Troy’s cab.
El Quijote – Map it
226 West 23rd St. (between 7th and 8th Aves) – Chelsea
Tel. 212-929-1855
Open: Sun-Thu, noon-midnight; Fri-Sat, noon-1am
Credit cards accepted
www.elquijoterestaurant.com
So great to have a Manhattan recommendation. Made me want to run not walk there. Thanks!
Be sure to get the sangria if you go…The seafood, especially the shrimp, is pretty fresh.
Nice. What a lovely little place. I’m a sucker for Sangria and that is a great price. $16AUD in Melbourne will almost buy you one cocktail.
That was how we felt – even the prices seemed frozen in time.
Oh wow, that’s right down the road from me and I pass by it all the time! Now I have a reason to go in!
Let me know what you think.
[...] hungry adventurers and I follow taxi driver Troy’s trail to soul food in South Ozone Park to feast on some of New York’s finest fried chicken, [...]