Men's Club Recent Events
North Shore Towers Goes to Dinner
The 2020 Super Bowl
On Sunday, February 2,
40 men, all members of
the North Shore Towers
Men’s Club, started to gather in
the Coleridge room in Building 3.
The purpose of this gathering was
to watch football and enjoy a meal
with one another. Yes folks, it was
Super Bowl Sunday! For the second
year in a row Ben’s Delicatessen
was the recipient of the Men’s
Club catering contract. It was the
desire of the club’s president, Steve
Auerbach, to keep costs at a min-imum.
Volunteers were requested
to pick up the sodas, juices, water
and numerous other items. The
lucky volunteers turned out to be
Bob Mark and myself. Steve gave
us explicit instructions regarding
the prices he thought we should
pay. We thriftily purchased soda
at Shop Rite (five two-liter bottles
for $5.00!) and decided to disregard
the other prices Steve had told us
to pay.
During the game I had the
opportunity to speak to some
club members about sports and
asked them if they might have
some recollections about their
own athletic glories. Not too many
did, yet Jerry Mantell’s stint in the
Brooklyn Dodgers farm system
and Rocco Iamanna’s table tennis
prowess were notable. Al Sprung
did recall getting a winning hit in
a Sunset Park playground softball
game. Can we believe him? All
that Ron Levin could remember
was dodging cars in stickball games
on Schenectady Avenue in Crown
Heights in Brooklyn. A few of the
men recalled a game called “Johnny
on the pony.” I’ll let you google that
one!
Approaching halftime, the men
seemed to be losing steam and get-ting
a bit tired. I figured that the
halftime show starring Jennifer
Lopez and Shakira might keep
them going, but by the third quarter
about half of them were back in
their apartments. Too many corned
beef and pastrami sandwiches can
certainly take its toll! The game,
however, turned out to be one of
the more exciting ones in the Super
Bowl’s 54 year history. The Kansas
City Chiefs managed to score 21
points in the fourth quarter setting
an all-time 4th quarter scoring high
and went on to defeat the San
Having lived at North Shore
Towers for the past two
years, I have discovered
that the main topic of conversation
is food, specifically restaurant food.
If Zagat were to resume publication
of their restaurant guide, I’m sure
that the residents of North Shore
Towers would be more than hap-py
to put their two cents in. With
Northern Boulevard to the north
and Union Turnpike and Hillside
Avenue to the south, we have access
to many of the finest restaurants as
well as some of the most reasonably
priced restaurants in Queens and
Long Island.
The North Shore Towers Men’s
Club entertainment committee, led
by Jerry Siegel, has chosen many
great eating establishments for our
club lunches and dinners. I would
say that my favorite restaurant has
been Mizumi which is an Asian
buffet in Little Neck. If you intend
to go there I recommend you eat
very little before you go so you
have room to take full advantage.
The prices are reasonable but the
trip may cost you 3,000 to 4,000
calories! Another neighborhood
favorite that cannot escape recog-nition
is the Jolly Fisherman in the
village of Roslyn. With a $30 lunch
special, the men’s club has found
its way there quite often. On many
occasions the North Shore Towers
presence is great enough to feel as
though you are in the VIP Room.
I have found that club members
often have differing opinions. A
few days ago I was enthusiastical-ly
telling Harold Hershman how
much I liked going to Bruce’s in
Great Neck and he whole heartedly
disagreed. C’est la vie. One of our
clubs star critics is Al Sprung. Al is
perhaps the only man who has sent
his spareribs back to the kitchen
at Pearl East not once, but twice,
during the same dinner. Al can be
tough! Last week I took an informal
poll among the members regarding
their restaurant preferences, both
expensive and inexpensive. Too
numerous to mention all of them,
but two that appeared most often
on people’s lists were Toscano in
Williston Park and Chef Wang in
New Hyde Park.
I have to admit that I do not
think I would make a very good
restaurant critic, illustrated by the
fact that I like almost every restau-rant
that I go to. I am surprised by
the look of astonishment on the
faces of some people when I tell
them that I frequent Burger King
(using coupons) and have even
been known to venture into White
Castle. The next time that I mention
either of these two establishments
to someone I’ll be sure to have some
Digitalis on hand.
Before moving to North Shore
Towers I lived close by in Hollis
Hills. Much of my eating out was
in diners, specifically the Blue Bay
Diner and the Bayside Diner. If
you’re in the market for diner food
these two are both worth the short
trip. The next two club dinners
are scheduled to be at Opa and
Jonathan’s. I hope to see you there.
MEN'S CLUB SCHEDULE OF EVENTS- MARCH 2020
Breakfast at Buffy’s every
Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday
at 9am
Thursday, March 5, 9pm, Buffy’s:
Events planning committee
meeting
Monday, March 9, 10:30am,
Coleridge Lounge: Current events
Thursday, March 12, 7:30pm,
Large Card Room: Keith Crocker
talks about Lucille Ball and “I Love
Lucy.” Guests welcome for $5.00
payable at the door
Monday March 23, 10.30am,
Coleridge Lounge: Current events
Sunday, March 29, 7:30pm,
Large Card Room: Bingo
Restaurants under consider-ation
for March are Matteo’s, Jolly
Fisherman, Sangria 71 and Baci We
will notify members when choices
are made.
Super Bowl LIV at NST
BY HOWARD ARKIN
Francisco 49ers with a final score
of 31-20.
The next Super Bowl will be
played on February 7, 2021, in
Tampa, Florida. The two big
questions that we won’t know the
answers to until then are, “What
teams will be competing?” and
“Can Iavaronne’s wrest the catering
contract from Ben’s Deli?”
30 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ March 2020