Mercy!
EDDIE JOYCE • novelist & small business investor
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
EDDIE JOYCE • novelist & small business investor
Neighborhood you work and live in: Brooklyn Heights
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
Once upon a time, I was a big Friday night guy: hit happy hour, grab dinner, stay out late, sleep in on Saturday. But with three teenage daughters and a wife who has a high stress, demanding job, Fridays have turned into a come home and crash night. In order to tamp down my end-of-the-week energy, I do a late afternoon workout at Form Fitness in Brooklyn Heights. My trainer, Francine, is fantastic and knows how to kick my ass so I’m exhausted but not sore all weekend. Afterwards, I go home and make dinner for the family, something simple, like roast chicken and potatoes, or turkey chili. Then, the five of us watch a TV show together. By 10, everybody’s in bed.
Where are you drinking or dining this weekend?
Saturday night is date night. Sometimes my wife and I go into the City. (I was born and raised on Staten Island so Manhattan was and will forever be “the City” to me.) More often than not, though, we end up at Ingas Bar, a short walk from our place. It’s just a lovely place to spend an evening. The food is amazing, and the menu changes often. I like to try whatever’s new, but the cheeseburger is pretty hard to resist.
Sunday meals are for the whole family. My father owned a bar in Bay Ridge for forty years and on Sundays, my mom made trays of food for the regulars to eat while watching the Jets and Giants. My daughters don’t like football but they love football food, so during the season, I’ll make one of the dishes my mom used to make — sausage, peppers, and potatoes, or roast pork with sauerkraut. If I don’t feel like cooking, we all go to Noodle Pudding, an institution here in Brooklyn Heights. I start with an ice cold martini; it feels like giving Monday morning the middle finger. Then either the tagliata or the cacio e pepe.
How about a little leisure or culture?
Having three kids with different interests means I spent a lot of the weekend driving them around to various activities, but we try to squeeze in a little culture when we can. I’m on the board of the Brooklyn Public Library, and there’s always something fun or interesting happening at one of the branches. Sometimes, we take a quick trip over to The Brooklyn Museum. Or even just swing by Books Are Magic on Montague Street. Once or twice a year, we actually plan ahead and get tickets to a Broadway show.
Any weekend getaways?
Not exactly a traditional getaway, but every six weeks or so, I feel compelled to drive across the Verrazano and get pizza at Denino’s. I love the pizza, of course, but just being there centers me. I’ve been eating there for over 40 years. My grandmother used to live in an apartment complex down the street. We went there after our high school basketball games. I’ve introduced college friends to it. I took my wife there on our third date. I was already falling for her, but if she didn’t appreciate Denino’s, it might not have worked out. Thankfully, she loved it.
What was your last great vacation?
One of my daughters plays soccer for Brooklyn City FC (BCFC). Last spring, they took a few teams, including hers, to Italy. I tagged along as a chaperone. It wasn’t quite relaxing enough to be a vacation, but it was still an amazing trip: a mix of soccer and cultural experiences. We went to Rome, Florence, and Perugia. I had been to the first two places before but didn’t know anything about Perugia, a hilltop city in Umbria. I was blown away. Beautiful city, excellent food, particularly the porchetta.
At this one restaurant, Altromondo da Claudia, after I ordered something, the waitress gave me the once over, shook her head, and told me to get the gnocchi in truffle sauce. I’m not a big gnocchi fan and don’t particularly like truffles, but when someone is that confident, you go with it. One of the best dishes I’ve ever had, though I did slip into a brief coma afterwards.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I’m not a particularly stylish person, but I do have a strong sweater game. I recently bought a turtleneck from Inis Meain Knitting Co., a clothing company based in the Aran Islands, a remote archipelago off the west coast of Ireland. They do modern riffs on traditional Irish sweaters and garb. Gorgeous.
What store or service do you always recommend?
I love, love, love Brooklyn Circus, a menswear company that fuses old school sensibilities with contemporary flair. I’m not cool enough to wear their clothes, but I do anyway. Their store on Nevins Street is an oasis of chill.