Late July Cafe Drake Soundbites

In Which We Wax Prosaically on Every Little Thing:

Not certain she should have grabbed the cover of every NY daily paper, but still have loads of love for LiLo. While Lindsay continues to take things too far we admire her hellcat approach to Life as a Cabaret of sorts. And unlike her thespian peers in the same age range, LiLo actually has talent and looks, the two qualities which catapulted her into the dangerous life of the fast lane. Are we the only ones who think her addiction problems may stem from the fact they grab headlines consistently whilst her performances (great ones in Georgia Rule, Mean Girls, Diary of a Teenage Drama Queen) take backstage to the personal dramatics. Cafe Drake sends bouquets of white healing light to LiLo and will soon honor her on these pages with an homage dinner (heavy on cocktails, natch).

Don't forget to stop by Cafe Drake's MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/drakepub) with new pictures and blog entries posted, including two recipes for all those readers with a serious sweet tooth. Come back to us by clicking the banner on top featuring yours truly.

Everyone is writing asking us about the latest playlist here at Cafe Drake, and with dinners galore this summer we have of course a few favorites at the moment. The infatuation with Rufus Wainwright's Release the Stars continues unabated, especially the dining-friendly tracks "Release the Stars", "Tiergarten" and "Going to a Town". If you missed his blister-hot performance on David Letterman recently, YouTube it immediately. Fullscreen format. Others on heavy spin include: Nico Muhly's digestive aid and first full-length after behind-the-scenes with Bjork and Philip Glass, Speaking Volumes; The Field aka Axel Wilner's From Here We Go Sublime . . . and boy does he, with minimalist collage techno so smart it can score the chicest cocktail party of your fantasies, and finally, any mp3 we can get our sticky hands on from the likes of Lavendar Diamond. With such a name do we even need to praise the actual music?

Afro-French is the Brooklyn cuisine of choice at present - always cheap, always spicy, always perfectly seasoned to draw the most from its humble ingredients of construction. We happily drive (sometimes by ourselves even) to E & R (907 Church Avenue, 718/941-0349) in the obscure 'hood of Kensington for Haitian soups and stews, especially the pork variety which is steeped prior to slow-cooking in a vinegary marinade. Equally scrumptious is Flatbush's Rocher d'Horeb ( 2281 Nostrand Avenue, 718/692-3666), where a ten-note buys you two courses and if you choose wisely, a side of moist rice studded with tiny black mushrooms. This tiny bit of exotica is so good we almost guarantee a mind-altering experience.