Out & About
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The guests at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s 19th annual gala were gluttons, and why not? This “Celebration of Immigrants and Food” last week was full of temptations: Russ & Daughters herring, ceviche from the restaurant Lucy, and trays of pigs in blankets and Peking duck egg rolls from Abigail Kirsch caterers.
But the gluttony was not just literal. The museum’s supporters, especially its president, Ruth Abram, and its chairman, Bruce Menin, can’t seem to get enough of it.
That means expansion: This fall, the museum will open a new apartment at 97 Orchard St., its sixth, which will tell the story of an Irish family. It will also feature a working Irish and German pub. The museum has also recently purchased 103 Orchard St., where it will expand its exhibitions and programs.
Giving at the gala was gluttonous, too. With the support of the event’s honorees — a restaurateur, Phil Suarez; the president of Grubb & Ellis New York, David Arena, and a food and restaurant consultant, Clark Wolf — the event raised $750,000, 20% more than last year.
“I love all of it. I love the whole notion that they’ve researched these lives. There you are with this Italian family!” the editor of Gourmet magazine, Ruth Reichl, who gave the keynote speech, said.
The museum’s board also looks beyond the Lower East Side and the history it is charged with preserving: When board members learned of the Bronx fire two weeks ago that killed seven children, it struck them as the kind of unfortunate fate met by those who lived in tenements. In sympathy, the board donated $10,000 to the victims’ families.
