FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 13, 2020 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 37
Victoria’s
DIARY
Victoria
SCHNEPSYUNIS
vschneps@gmail.com
tweet me @vschneps
From Harlem to the
Hamptons to home
Since I acquired amNewYork
Metro in January, I’ve
met some very special people.
One of them is Barabara
Askins, whom we named a
Power Woman of New York. She
very successfully runs the 125th
Street Business Improvement
District (BID) in the heart of
Harlem. It’s the home of the historic
Apollo Th eater that has
brought people from around the
world to her street.
Although Barbara is primarily
a businesswoman running
the BID, she is an artist
whose work has been recently
selected to appear in the
International Black Women’s
Art Show.
My wonderful friend Tanya
and I met with Barbara for dinner
at the unique outdoor dining
space of the Dinosaur Bar-
B-Que restaurant at the tip of
the West Side Highway and the
end of 125th Street. Th e manager
turned out to be an old friend
of Tanya’s and the staff made us
feel like family friends.
Th e restaurant has set up tables
along their perimeter. Th e view
from our table was Columbia
University’s new buildings that
are under construction and the
regal arches of the West Side
Highway. It felt far from the hustle
and bustle of Manhattan.
Barbara has found a way to
make 125th Street an art center,
having transformed boarded
up storefronts into blank
canvases for community members
to draw and express their
feelings.
But this night, we were celebrating
birthdays — hers, mine
and Tanya’s — and boy, was it a
delicious celebration!
Th e popular barbecue “joint”
cooks their meats throughout
the day using regional hickory
and oak to give special fl avors to
their classic barbecue chicken,
brisket and pork. Th eir barbecue
pork ribs are dry rubbed, slowly
smoked and lightly glazed with
their original barbecue sauce
and were the best ribs I have
tasted in my entire life!
We sampled appetizers: Creole
deviled eggs; fried green tomatoes
made with a Panko-crusted
topping that made them deliciously
crispy; and “drunken
shrimp” that is cooked in a
boil of beer, herbs and spices
and accompanied by a habanero
cocktail sauce, which is not
to be missed! Main courses off er
combo plates and we sampled all
their specialties!
What a delicious, unique and
remarkable meal on a warm
Manhattan summer night sensitively
six feet apart, but still
together.
Th en, I was off the Hamptons
for the weekend and enjoyed
dinner in Southampton at T
Bar, which also has an outlet
in Manhattan. Fortunately for
us, the outdoor dining garden
accommodated us under the
stars.
I was happy to see Jean
Shafi roff , who recently graced
the cover of our Long Island
Press, where she was recognized
for her important philanthropy
work, particularly Southampton
Hospital.
With my friend Joan
MacNaughton, we whiled away
the evening and were the last
ones out the door.
I fi nished the weekend by
swimming with my grandchildren.
What a treat to see
them swim like fi sh and laugh
and laugh and giggle their way
through the evening to cap off
a marvelous summer weekend!
Enjoying a night under the stars with
Jean Shafifi roffff and Joan MacNaughton.
With Barbara and Tanya at
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.
Having fun
with Hudson
and Sloane!
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
