1. Looking for something to do on Black Friday (besides shop and eat leftovers)? Check out one of our totally free exhibitions, like the acclaimed Lunch Hour NYC exhibit highlighting the storied history of the midday meal (pictured). That’s at our landmark 42nd Street building (check out our Library Shop while you’re there for gift ideas). Or, head uptown to our Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center for an amazing (and also acclaimed) exhibit on the fashion of Katharine Hepburn, which includes outfits she wore in some of her most famous productions. Or keep going uptown to our Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture for yet another acclaimed exhibit, Visualizing Emancipation, which displays 171 pre- and post- Civil War photographs of both enslaved and free black men, women and children to mark the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Did we mention these exhibitions are all free and easily accessible by subway? Check them out!

    Looking for something to do on Black Friday (besides shop and eat leftovers)? Check out one of our totally free exhibitions, like the acclaimed Lunch Hour NYC exhibit highlighting the storied history of the midday meal (pictured). That’s at our landmark 42nd Street building (check out our Library Shop while you’re there for gift ideas). Or, head uptown to our Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center for an amazing (and also acclaimed) exhibit on the fashion of Katharine Hepburn, which includes outfits she wore in some of her most famous productions. Or keep going uptown to our Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture for yet another acclaimed exhibit, Visualizing Emancipation, which displays 171 pre- and post- Civil War photographs of both enslaved and free black men, women and children to mark the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Did we mention these exhibitions are all free and easily accessible by subway? Check them out!

  2. We love sharing such delicious, fantastic news!

    lunchhournyc:

    Good news. We couldn’t say goodbye to the food trucks just yet, and they will be sticking around the Library through November! So if you couldn’t enough of literature and lunches this summer, come by 40th and 5th Ave. for more irresistible dishes and drinks this fall. A portion of the sales will continue to go to Bryant Park and The New York Public Library. Thank you for the support, and keep on eating! Remember, if you have time after your meal, the Lunch Hour NYC exhibition will be open until February 17, 2013.

    (The above photos are from a team trip to Eddie’s Pizza. Did you know that the margherita pizza is named after Queen Margherita of Italy who was served a pizza in the colors of the Italian flag?)

  3. Dessert Trucks at the Library

    You only have a few more weeks to take advantage of the food trucks parked on Fifth and 40th outside of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. We’re happy to share that dessert trucks are joining in the fun - here’s the full schedule for the rest of August. (Though the lunch trucks will soon be gone, don’t worry, you have plenty of time to see Lunch Hour NYC - the show is on ‘til February.)

    Lunch Trucks (11am - 3pm):

    Monday: Mexicue
    Tuesday: Milk Truck
    Wednesday: Red Hook Lobster Pound
    Thursday: Rickshaw Dumplings
    Friday: Eddie’s Pizza

    Dessert Trucks (4-7pm):

    Week of August 20
    Tuesday: The Treats Truck
    Wednesday: Kelvin Slush

    Week of August 27
    Tuesday: The Treats Truck
    Wednesday: Kelvin Slush
    Thursday: Coolhaus

  4. In honor of Lunch Hour NYC, we’ve partnered with Momofuku to bring you a series of lunches inspired by the Algonquin Round Table. $35 = Ma Peche lunch + fabulous conversation. Join us! momofuku: summer in the city series: the new york public library & momofuku presents…56th street round table: the art of curation. more details + reservations here.

    In honor of Lunch Hour NYC, we’ve partnered with Momofuku to bring you a series of lunches inspired by the Algonquin Round Table. $35 = Ma Peche lunch + fabulous conversation. Join us!

    momofuku:

    summer in the city series: the new york public library & momofuku presents…
    56th street round table: the art of curation. more details + reservations here.

  5. Made in N.Y.: How the power lunch was spawned -- via Marketplace →

  6. …when at eve returning with thy car,
    Awaiting heard the jingling bells from far;
    Straight on the fire the sooty pot I plac’d,
    To warm thy broth I burnt my hands in haste.
    When hungry thou stood’st staring, like an oaf,
    I slic’d the luncheon from the barley loaf;
    With crumbled bread I thicken’d well the mess.
    Ah! Love me more, or love thy pottage less!

    — 

    Part of the poem “The Shepard’s Week” by John Gay (1685-1732). This use of the word “luncheon” is cited in dictionary definitions of the word “lunch,” including those by Webster and Johnson. A “lunch” or “luncheon” used to mean a chunk, a piece - something you could hold in your hand - and which was eaten any time of day as a snack.

    Click the link to read the rest of the long poem, which is quite funny in parts, in a digitized version of the book published in 1871 and donated to the Harvard University Library by Gay’s nephew.

    For more lunch tidbits, come see Lunch NYC, our new exhibition!

  7. Transcription: Oysters in the Shells.
    I need not here to tell you that Oysters in the Shells are very good when they are fresh, because every body knows it, but it may be some does not know that when an Oyster is opened, some will put in Butter and Pepper to the Oyster, and set him upon the Coals to broil, and so eat them.

    A Perfect School of Instructions for the Officers of the Mouth: Shewing the Whole Art of A Master of the Household, A Master Carver, A Master Butler, A Master Confectioner, A Master Cook, A Master Pastryman… Adorned with Pictures Curiously Ingraven, Displaying the Whole Arts

    With such a grand title and even grander subtitle, this 1681 translation of a French work - which you can view online thanks to the Rare Books Division! -  seems the perfect fit for a foodie Flashback Friday to celebrate NYPL’s new exhibition Lunch Hour NYC, which features an oyster cart (image courtesy of the NY Times). Anyone up for a lunch of oysters?

  8. Food Trucks at the Library!

    Starting RIGHT NOW, you can head over to the Bryant Park Plaza at 40th Street and Fifth Avenue and grab lunch at one of five rotating food trucks that will be parked there during the summer. 

    The NYPL has partnered with the New York City Food Truck Association and Bryant Park to bring lunch to the library, in conjunction with our new exhibition Lunch Hour NYC, of course.

    Every day from about 11am - 3pm, a different truck will be serving up delicious meals. Today, grab a lobster roll from the Red Hook Lobster Pound truck. Here’s the regular weekly schedule:

    Monday: Mexicue
    Tuesday: Schnitzel & Things
    Wednesday: Red Hook Lobster Pound 
    Thursday: Rickshaw Dumplings
    Friday: Eddie’s Pizza

    We’re excited to try them all!

  9. This week’s Caturday is an 1870’s print from our Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection depicting Robinson Crusoe eating with the dog and two cats he rescued from a shipwreck. It’s a little random, but it’s cute, neat and, because it shows food, it’s also appropriate - we have a brand new, free exhibition (that just opened yesterday at our 42nd Street building) called Lunch Hour NYC. It uses our collections to tell amazing stories about the history of the midday meal in New York. The Times dug it. You will, too. So go check it out. While you’re at it, if you’re a foodie, check out the blog (well, blogs) of exhibition co-curator (and NYPL culinary collections librarian) Rebecca Federman. Here’s a little tidbit - she has a cat. Happy Caturday! PS - Yes, we know Robinson Crusoe is eating dinner in this image. Whatever.

    This week’s Caturday is an 1870’s print from our Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection depicting Robinson Crusoe eating with the dog and two cats he rescued from a shipwreck. It’s a little random, but it’s cute, neat and, because it shows food, it’s also appropriate - we have a brand new, free exhibition (that just opened yesterday at our 42nd Street building) called Lunch Hour NYC. It uses our collections to tell amazing stories about the history of the midday meal in New York. The Times dug it. You will, too. So go check it out. While you’re at it, if you’re a foodie, check out the blog (well, blogs) of exhibition co-curator (and NYPL culinary collections librarian) Rebecca Federman. Here’s a little tidbit - she has a cat. Happy Caturday! PS - Yes, we know Robinson Crusoe is eating dinner in this image. Whatever.

  10. One of the fun parts of the Library’s new exhibition, Lunch Hour NYC, which opens tomorrow, is the Automat machine, which has been restored in all its Art-Deco splendor. Visitors are allowed to open up the doors just like the old days, but instead of putting in a nickle and taking out a piece of pie, you open the door and take out a recipe card. The recipes are scaled-down versions of the actual recipes used by the Horn and Hardart company. One of us made the Automat’s Baked Macaroni and Cheese the other day. Our husband accidentally bought corkscrew noodles instead of elbow, but otherwise we did just as instructed, and it turned out great. Try it for yourself: Baked Macaroni and Cheese from Horn & Hardart’s Automat 1/4 lb elbow macaroni1 1/2 tbsp butter1 1/2 tbsp flour1/2 tsp saltdash white pepperdash red pepper1 1/2 cups milk2 tbsp light cream1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded1/2 cup canned tomatoes, diced1/2 tsp sugar Cook macaroni according to directions on the package. Preheat oven to 400 deg. Melt butter in the top of a double boiler. Blend flour, salt, and white and red pepper in gradually. When smooth, add milk and cream, stirring constantly. Cook for a few minutes until it thickens. Add cheese and continue to heat until it melts and the sauce looks smooth. Remove from heat. Add cooked macaroni to the sauce. Add sugar to tomatoes and add to the sauce. Pour mixture into a buttered baking dish and bake until the surface browns. Serves 4. (We must add: serves 4 as a side dish, 2 as a main.)

    One of the fun parts of the Library’s new exhibition, Lunch Hour NYC, which opens tomorrow, is the Automat machine, which has been restored in all its Art-Deco splendor. Visitors are allowed to open up the doors just like the old days, but instead of putting in a nickle and taking out a piece of pie, you open the door and take out a recipe card. The recipes are scaled-down versions of the actual recipes used by the Horn and Hardart company.

    One of us made the Automat’s Baked Macaroni and Cheese the other day. Our husband accidentally bought corkscrew noodles instead of elbow, but otherwise we did just as instructed, and it turned out great. Try it for yourself:

    Baked Macaroni and Cheese from Horn & Hardart’s Automat

    1/4 lb elbow macaroni
    1 1/2 tbsp butter
    1 1/2 tbsp flour
    1/2 tsp salt
    dash white pepper
    dash red pepper
    1 1/2 cups milk
    2 tbsp light cream
    1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
    1/2 cup canned tomatoes, diced
    1/2 tsp sugar

    Cook macaroni according to directions on the package. Preheat oven to 400 deg.

    Melt butter in the top of a double boiler. Blend flour, salt, and white and red pepper in gradually. When smooth, add milk and cream, stirring constantly. Cook for a few minutes until it thickens.

    Add cheese and continue to heat until it melts and the sauce looks smooth. Remove from heat. Add cooked macaroni to the sauce. Add sugar to tomatoes and add to the sauce.

    Pour mixture into a buttered baking dish and bake until the surface browns. Serves 4. (We must add: serves 4 as a side dish, 2 as a main.)