Suddenly, I'm in the mood for a sfogliatelle and a black-and-white cupcake chaser...or the other way around... Mmmm...arguing bakers....

(Trying not to mentally picture Natalie throwing Sarah down the stairs in a re-enactment of the Sesame Street baker)

Mike G wrote:Okay, if you really want teh fun, check out the 39 comments at Grub Street, where as one commenter observes:

Sarah Levy may have taken the high road by not commenting, but she has obviously done something much sneakier: convinced her patrons to inundate GrubStreet with creepy identical letters of support for her.

And no, I am NOT commenter "Mikey G."

I'm glad I'm not the only person this occurred to....

ronnie_suburban wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Not to split hairs, but we're discussing why we choose (or choose not) to procure food from a specific source. As I've mentioned in the pages of Local Beet, I'm intrigued by the narrative behind the food we eat, and this micro-feud is part of the story of Natalie's food.

I have to agree with David, mainly because Natalie's comments were specifically about her craft. If she were commenting on whether there should be lights at Wrigley Field, that wouldn't be relevant here (or of much interest to me).

If I criticized a competitor or business associate publicly, I could almost guarantee that it would have a measurable effect on my business (and I am in the food industry). Will the same be true here? Not sure, but it seems like a completely valid topic of conversation.

=R=

You guys have both mis-read my dissatisfaction. The story itself is not inherently uninteresting or irrelevant. What is uninteresting to me (as quoted above) is how people feel about them. "Grrrrr. Natalie is mean! I won't eat there EVER!" "Yeah! Natalie is great! I support her more!" represents the death of any real discussion here--culinary or otherwise.

The same goes for the Schwa thread. Their quirky and difficult customer service is not, in itself, uninteresting. But when every other poster started picking up a pitchfork or a torch, it stopped being a culinary discussion.

This thread hasn't sunk to those depths, yet. But maybe I'm overly-sensitive to the feelings of the obviously non-food-obsessed and how they have a tendency to drown out discussion.

I regret speaking up.

Signing off.

eatchicago wrote:I regret speaking up.

You shouldn't. I appreciate the clarification you provided about your perspective.

I do think it's a very fine line because, well, it's just human nature to pile on when someone else steps in it.

=R=

Hmmmmmmmm. . . wonder if this was actually a publicity stunt. If so, I hope it was a supr-sekrit joint venture, because if not, IMO it pretty much backfired. Example: I'd never heard of this Levy woman before, don't live downtown/Gold Coast, and don't particularly like cupcakes, and now I at least want to take a look at her cookbook, and see where she's coming from.

Those bakers are crafty!

dansch wrote:Even @kennyz has 12 followers and he's never sent a single tweet! Amazingly, a few of those 12 don't immediately look like twitterbots.

Ken Zintak (@kennyz) is probably wondering who these LTHers are who follow him on Twitter.

aschie30 wrote:

dansch wrote:Even @kennyz has 12 followers and he's never sent a single tweet! Amazingly, a few of those 12 don't immediately look like twitterbots.

Ken Zintak (@kennyz) is probably wondering who these LTHers are who follow him on Twitter.

That's hilarious. He's now up to 15, with three notable LTHers now following him.

-Dan

As I admitted to the one, true kennyz the other night, the only reason I knew @kennyz was taken was because I went to go register it for myself with the intention of camping on it until eventually Kenny decided to join Twitter... only to find his handle taken and with one message already tweeted about how wonderful the reservation process at Schwa is

dansch wrote:As I admitted to the one, true kennyz the other night, the only reason I knew @kennyz was taken was because I went to go register it for myself with the intention of camping on it until eventually Kenny decided to join Twitter... only to find his handle taken and with one message already tweeted about how wonderful the reservation process at Schwa is

Yes, but if you look a little harder, you'll find him:

@therealkennyz

Begun these pastry wars have.

From today's Twitter...

Yo, Sarah, put a leash on your friends and fans....

vandalism to my shop will not change my opinion of you as the posterchild for glorified mediocrity in our industry....

MEEEOW!

jesteinf wrote:Begun these pastry wars have.

From today's Twitter...

Yo, Sarah, put a leash on your friends and fans....

vandalism to my shop will not change my opinion of you as the posterchild for glorified mediocrity in our industry....

Josh, I'm now following you on Twitter.

I wonder why Natalie assumes the vandalism would come from Levy, or Levy's fans. She doesn't give any details. Something about that sounds wrong & she doesn't give any details over at Twitter.

They sould either hug and make up...Or have a bake off to see who really bakes the best...I would happily volunteer to be the judge

eatchicago wrote:But maybe I'm overly-sensitive to the feelings of the obviously non-food-obsessed and how they have a tendency to drown out discussion.

Exactly!

pairs4life wrote:She doesn't give any details. Something about that sounds wrong & she doesn't give any details over at Twitter.

Shocking! Twitter conversation with an absence of details that would make it coherent? Whoda thunk it?

Kennyz wrote: Shocking! Twitter conversation with an absence of details that would make it coherent? Whoda thunk it?

Busted! You didn't call it Tweeterer - you're cracking! Pastry is slowly drawing you ever nearer to 140-character -delimited conversations.....

Some of us do 1 of 2 things. Send a stream of tweets to complete the lack of details or link to something, like a pic that says Sarah Levy was here! spray painted on the walls of our little shop that was vandalized, or Sarah Levy's mug shot after she was booked for the vandalizing, etc.

Here's an example I found on Rick Bayless' page, someone you follow(assuming KennyZ is you ):

Cool, raw video of David Schneider making Pontian satz bread by Mike Sula. I really like David's resto Taxim http://j.mp/tldCK
about 4 hours ago from Twittelator

So it's been my experience on Twitter that you could include details that would make a Tweet coherent & I choose to follow folks that do so.

Peace, branch complete with oil-cured olives from Graziano's included,

Why do people follow Natalie on Twitter? It only encourages her . . . I'd like for this diva to go back to making pastries and to stop talking trash.

aschie30 wrote:Why do people follow Natalie on Twitter? It only encourages her . . . I'd like for this diva to go back to making pastries and to stop talking trash.

Ten bucks says the whole thing is a meta-joke on LTHForum. I blame Erik M.

Santander wrote:

aschie30 wrote:Why do people follow Natalie on Twitter? It only encourages her . . . I'd like for this diva to go back to making pastries and to stop talking trash.

Ten bucks says the whole thing is a meta-joke on LTHForum. I blame Erik M.

You know, it's really starting to feel like a meta-joke on LTH, especially considering that 90% of her followers are LTHers.

I should add that, I really hope Natalie can come up with some "real" vandalism to substantiate her claim on Twitter, otherwise, if I were Sarah, I'd be calling my lawyers to tell Natalie to knock it off. This whole thing is a shame. . . It's pastry people!

I admittedly have been following her on the Tweeterbox since she joined and am entertained by the whole ridiculous mess. I would like to see more pastry talk and less harping on other bakers and parents. Maybe she should use Twitter to assemble a group to protect the store and pay them in cannoli. I, for one, would be there in a heartbeat.

However, as long as the barca di crema are still perfect, I can deal with the pomposity of the tweets.

How much were the cannoli a year ago? I don't know if I just have a bad memory, but when I saw today's $7 price tag I nearly leapt in shock. $7 for one cannolo?!?! I know they're great, but wowsa. And that was the cheapest thing in the store. Everything else was between 8-10 bucks for tiny little things that look even prettier than ever. It's been a few months since I've been there and I know the prices have always been high, but is it just selective memory or has there been a recent, significant price increase? I think PN has priced itself out of my league.

We turned right around and walked to George's for an outstanding $2.50 sugar cone with vanilla ice cream from Madison's The Chocolate Shoppe.

George's Ice Cream and Sweets
5306 N Clark St
(773) 271-7600

wow...my memory of prices from the Natalina were in the $5-$6 range. Dear, but worth it for a special treat. I think $6 is the tipping point for me for one pastry, even if God made it.

Kennyz -- just had to chime in on George's. I had a crappy day and so I took myself off to Anteprima for a fabulous meal and then I hit up Georges for some delicious Black Cherry ice cream.

I love my neighborhood....

earthlydesire wrote:Kennyz -- just had to chime in on George's. I had a crappy day and so I took myself off to Anteprima for a fabulous meal and then I hit up Georges for some delicious Black Cherry ice cream.

Yes, George's had been completely off my radar before last night. It's a great ice cream parlor, and I expect to return quite a bit over the summer. The Anteprima/ George's combo was our exact itinerary last night too, with the brief sticker-shock-inducing turnaround at P.N. in between.

Kennyz wrote:How much were the cannoli a year ago? I don't know if I just have a bad memory, but when I saw today's $7 price tag I nearly leapt in shock. $7 for one cannolo?!?! I know they're great, but wowsa. And that was the cheapest thing in the store. Everything else was between 8-10 bucks for tiny little things that look even prettier than ever. It's been a few months since I've been there and I know the prices have always been high, but is it just selective memory or has there been a recent, significant price increase? I think PN has priced itself out of my league.

We turned right around and walked to George's for an outstanding $2.50 sugar cone with vanilla ice cream from Madison's The Chocolate Shoppe.

George's Ice Cream and Sweets
5306 N Clark St
(773) 271-7600

But Kenny, , "somebody needs to love you enough to tell you the truth: you're too easily impressed [about George's], and even easier to fool." You need to "eat less, but of more expensive . . . foods [like those at Pasticceria Natalina], be more satisfied, and have a better sex life, too!" Oh, and KFC causes you breast cancer.

aschie30 wrote:

Kennyz wrote:How much were the cannoli a year ago? I don't know if I just have a bad memory, but when I saw today's $7 price tag I nearly leapt in shock. $7 for one cannolo?!?! I know they're great, but wowsa. And that was the cheapest thing in the store. Everything else was between 8-10 bucks for tiny little things that look even prettier than ever. It's been a few months since I've been there and I know the prices have always been high, but is it just selective memory or has there been a recent, significant price increase? I think PN has priced itself out of my league.

We turned right around and walked to George's for an outstanding $2.50 sugar cone with vanilla ice cream from Madison's The Chocolate Shoppe.

George's Ice Cream and Sweets
5306 N Clark St
(773) 271-7600

But Kenny, , "somebody needs to love you enough to tell you the truth: you're too easily impressed [about George's], and even easier to fool." You need to "eat less, but of more expensive . . . foods [like those at Pasticceria Natalina], be more satisfied, and have a better sex life, too!" Oh, and KFC causes you breast cancer.

This is certainly not the first time a woman has suggested that I could get more sex if I paid her more money. In this case though, I was just looking for a cannolo.

After all, if eating's your hobby, u can no longer see your own toes, & can't even fuck well, ur not a foodie - just an insatiable glutton.

Wow, this douchette sounds like a real pleasure to be around.

wow...my memory of prices from the Natalina were in the $5-$6 range. Dear, but worth it for a special treat. I think $6 is the tipping point for me for one pastry, even if God made it

I went to PN a couple of times about a year ago and my recollection is everything then ran between $4 and about $5.50 or so, including the cannoli.

Was planning a return visit shortly, but not at these prices.

Hi,

I have seen her twitter's before. It would really be to her benefit to say nothing. There are thoughts professed her customers need never know, but they are out there now. I love her smile, I would have enjoyed not knowing her private thoughts of contempt behind it.

Regards,

Kennyz wrote:How much were the cannoli a year ago? I don't know if I just have a bad memory, but when I saw today's $7 price tag I nearly leapt in shock. $7 for one cannolo?!?! I know they're great, but wowsa.

Makes the garlic around the corner seem downright cheap.

-Dan

dansch wrote:

Kennyz wrote:How much were the cannoli a year ago? I don't know if I just have a bad memory, but when I saw today's $7 price tag I nearly leapt in shock. $7 for one cannolo?!?! I know they're great, but wowsa.

Makes the garlic around the corner seem downright cheap.

-Dan

True, though I'm willing to buy Natalie's argument that her cream-filled shell is good for sex. Lydia's garlic, not so much.