West Side Canvas: Dining on the Upper West Side

Essay and painting by Robert Beck

When my wife saw this painting, she said, “That LOOKS like the Upper West Side.” She’s right. It has that French feel, too. The roof and towers on the distant building, the round-topped windows, and the bright Follies atmosphere inside the restaurant. That’s where it is.

When I paint, I’m responding to what draws my attention. There is a lot of detail that I don’t include. That applies to all of us. There is too much out there to take it all in, and when we walk up the street, we are only sampling. You need only watch somebody having a phone conversation to see how much attention isn’t being paid.

Watching where you are walking, checking traffic at cross streets, delivery bikes, commuter bikes, strollers, tourists, dogs — you’ve got to have your head on a swivel, and you rarely get to look above eye level. It takes a large portion of mindful bandwidth just to survive the journey. Throw in a call to Cherise to make a dog grooming appointment, and you’re at capacity.

At this time of evening, the contrast is ramping up, and the lights begin to shine brightly. Objects recede into the shadows. Distances contract. If you are on the street, you are aware of the fifty or hundred feet in front of you and not much more. I used that period of dim light to limit focus to the Beaux Arts details, accentuating that part of the UWS identity. The avenue is wide (it looks like Broadway), and the restaurant is very familiar. But sure, it could be Paris.

The sign reads Restaurant, although it’s also known as the West Side Diner. Technically, they are all restaurants, but to be classified as a “diner,” you need the large, multi-page menu describing the Great American Foodbook. Nearly all the classic diner dishes have to be there, or it’s just a place to eat. The melts. The BLTs. But there is more to it than that. Diners have easy-to-clean tables and booths, with points for Formica and vinyl. And on my scorecard, it must have big windows or it’s in danger of being a cafeteria. There is a hereditary association with movement and travel, a manifest culinary destiny, and you need to see and feel the journey.

The windows in the West Side Diner are big. You see people and chairs and tables right up against them, as if they are packed in a clear plastic to-go container. Walk past and you can watch people enjoying banana pancakes, eggs Benedict, and open-face turkey sandwiches. Sounds pretty good to me.

I’m not a restaurant snob. If somebody takes me to a stupidly expensive place, I know how to behave, but there’s plenty of good food to be had on the UWS. My go-to list includes Gray’s Papaya. You might see me walking home with take-out BBQ ribs and wonton soup from Legend 72, or maybe dining in at Pappardella and enjoying that extraordinary lasagna. Perhaps you’ll spot my face through one of those big windows at a diner. Sometimes I just need gravy.

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See more of Robert Beck’s work and visit his UWS studio at www.robertbeck.net. Let him know if you have a connection to an archetypical UWS place or event that would make a good West Side Canvas subject. Thank you!

Note: Before Robert Beck started West Side Canvas, his essays and paintings were featured in Weekend Column. See Robert Beck’s earlier columns here and here.

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