More Food & Drink: Franco & Gino's - Marie's Cafe

Franco & Gino's Sandwich Bar

close to the Duchess Theater and Theatre Royal Drury Lane
5 Catherine St, London WC2B 5JZ

Covent Garden, Strand
Sadly they seem to have permanently closed... but if you find them in some other location please let me know!
Kitchen: simple sandwiches + hot food varying from Italian to Curry's
Price range: ££

an excellent tiny little sandwich shop, right around the corner from my favorite West End hotel... extremely convenient for a quick sandwich and a cup of tea, excellent chance of spotting an actor who is performing in one of the nearby theaters. there is practically no room inside, sandwiches are freshly made, simple but effective. I've never tried their hot food, but the regulars seem to enjoy it so I'm betting it's good, and cheap as chips!

excerpt from a fitting Yelp review:
"'Gino's', as it is affectionately known by its regulars, is a fantastic café. It may not win any culinary awards but you are always sure to be given enough food to feed an army for a very reasonable price.

The staff, lead by the charismatic Gino and the straight talking Leo, are always happy to accommodate any special menu requests and there is always an upbeat attitude regardless.

The fact that Gino's is such a great environment to have a cup of tea and a sandwich is highlighted by the fact that it has regulars that have been eating there for over a decade."

***

Marie's Cafe

close to The Old Vic Theater, reasonably close to the National Theater

90 Lower MarshWaterloo
London, SE1

OPENING HOURS:
Monday - Friday:7:00-22:30
Saturday:7:00-16:00, 17:00-22:30
Sunday:Closed

Kitchen: Brit greasy spoon by day - Thai by night
Price range: £

Found this on Yelp when visiting The Old Vic for the first time. Do not make the mistake I made in exiting Waterloo Station on the wrong side, it was a long walk before I discovered there was no way to get down to the street where I wanted to go and had to walk all the way back to get to the lower streets (you'll understand when you see it).

Marie's was an experience!... apparently it's an english caff by day, thai mom&pop place by night, I went there for dinner before my play at the Old Vic so got the thai menu... this is by no means a fancy place, a little dive of a place really, in all aspects, but packed with people, to me always a good sign. I managed to get a table, and gained a few table mates soon enough when the owner ran out of space and just plonked people at my table. I didn't mind, they obviously had been there before so I could learn from their choices.

the food was good, I've never been to Thailand, no idea if it was remotely authentic, but I liked it. the service was a little abrupt but it didn't bother me. Prices were excellent, will definitely come back when in the area.

***

from: wearewaterloo.co.uk

Marie’s is, quite simply, a Waterloo institution. But how best to describe it?

Is it a traditional English café with a Thai food sideline, or is it a Thai restaurant with a penchant for sausage sandwiches and fried eggs with brown sauce?

Whatever it is, we love it for its perfect hangover fry ups (probably among the cheapest in London), its sweet basil chilli chicken and for Sue – an ever-smiling host with an almost photographic memory for how her guests like their toast.

Other reasons to visit Marie’s include its money-saving bring-your-own-booze policy in the evenings, its bargain take away Spaghetti Bolognese (£3.10 – a steal!) and to catch up on the latest Lower Marsh gossip.

National Theater shop - my hopes for Steppenwolf's new space

One of the things I love about the National Theater in London is that it is a multifunctional building, it houses three theaters, multiple food places, exhibition space, an open podium and a wonderful bookshop.

It's the bookshop I want to single out in this post.

With the demise of many brick and mortar bookstores everywhere (yes I'm guilty too, browsing in the stores only to then order the books online because books add too much bulk and weight when traveling by plane) I am completely in love with the bookshop at the National Theater.

It has plays, plays and plays... and biographies, books about plays, playwrights... and then some video's and merchandise to sweeten the deal... it's the kind of shop I can spend hours and hours in, browsing the plays, contemplating spending the extra money on the special editions.

Those who know me know that I have developed the habit of buying the play-books of the plays that I have seen, as a memento more than anything else, but also to, at times, read the play again and wonder about certain interpretations. It's sometimes hard to find the play-books, there are the specialized webshops of course, but nothing beats thumbing through a book before buying it, looking to see if there is a special edition to be found, or choosing between versions... book people will recognize the feeling.

All this as an introduction to something that occurred to me when killing time between plays on my last trip to Chicago.

Until a few years ago, whenever I would see two plays on one day in Chicago, often one of them would be a Steppenwolf production, and I would kill the time between plays at the Borders bookstore on the corner of Halsted and North (love the American habit of including coffee shops in bookstores!). But alas that bookstore disappeared a few years ago, nothing similar has taken it's place.

When I went to see the matinee performance of The Pianist of Willesden Lane (see post here) at the Royal George (across the street from Steppenwolf) with plans to see an evening performance at Steppenwolf I was wandering the area. Not really enough time to go 'home' relax and come back, but too much time to just hang around. It was a weird time to eat something (plenty of good eating places in the area these days), one can only spend so much time browsing the Apple store and Pottery Barn. What the area really needs for theater nuts like me is a decent bookstore!

Steppenwolf at this time has a small (tiny really) bookshop, mostly selling plays and merchandise of present productions... in desperation I ended up at their front door, waiting for them to open the lobby 1,5 hrs before performance to browse that little shop, it killed about 10 minutes...

Now, Steppenwolf is expanding, they recently bought the building next door and were diligently remodeling the place this summer.

I don't know what they are planning with their new space but I sincerely hope that they have planned for a bigger shop, a place for theater nuts like me to hang, spend some time and extra $$ before or after plays, preferably including a simple coffee shop (another missing feature in the area since Borders closed). Imagine the possibilities... you could do book signings of visiting playwrights, have play discussions there workshop style, organize meet and greets or at the very least simply make a few more $$ to fund your excellent theatre.

Just a thought...

The world has lost a great actor in Richard Griffiths

I feel honored to have seen his work live on stage in "The Habit of Art", and later the man himself in a more private setting. Richard Griffiths was a talented, funny and truly generous soul. Rest In Peace or, as Richard E Grant has already said, Chin Chin dear sir.

United in creativity ... Alex Jennings and Richard Griffiths in The Habit of Art. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

here's what the Guardian had to say:

Richard Griffiths, uncle to Withnail and Harry Potter, dies aged 65

Daniel Radcliffe leads tributes to one of Britain's most celebrated character actors, who died following heart surgery

• Alexandra Topping
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 March 2013 12.10 GMT

Richard Griffiths died after complications following heart surgery. Photograph: Getty

Richard Griffiths, the award-winning actor famous for his roles in Withnail & I andHarry Potter, has died following complications after heart surgery. The celebrated stage and screen star, one of Britain's best-known character actors, was 65.

Tributes poured in for the actor, who died on Thursday at the University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire. Daniel Radcliffe, who starred alongside Griffiths in the Harry Potter films, said the actor made any room "twice as funny".

Radcliffe said Griffiths had supported him at two key points in his career, when he first played the young Harry Potter and later when he made his stage debut in Equus.

"In August 2000, before official production had even begun on Potter, we filmed a shot outside the Dursleys', which was my first ever shot as Harry. I was nervous and he made me feel at ease," he said.

"Seven years later we embarked on Equus together. It was my first time doing a play but, terrified as I was, his encouragement, tutelage and humour made it a joy. In fact, any room he walked into was made twice as funny and twice as clever just by his presence. I am proud to say I knew him."

Richard E Grant, who played the title role in Withnail & I, paid tribute to his late co-star on Twitter. He wrote: "My beloved 'Uncle Monty' Richard Griffiths died last night. Chin-Chin my dear friend."

Griffiths was feted for his roles as Withnail's eccentric Uncle Monty in the cult classic and Hector, the unconventional teacher in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys, for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for best actor, the Drama Desk Award for outstanding actor in a play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for best featured actor in a play, and a Tony Award for best performance by a leading actor in a play.

He gained widespread fame as grumpy Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter films and was much loved as disillusioned police officer and pie chef, Inspector Henry Crabbe, in the successful TV detective drama series Pie In The Sky.

Sir Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre, said Griffiths' "army of friends" would be devastated by his unexpected death. "Richard Griffiths wasn't only one of the most loved and recognisable British actors – he was also one of the very greatest," he said.

"His performance in The History Boys was quite overwhelming: a masterpiece of wit, delicacy, mischief and desolation, often simultaneously. But that was just one small part of a career that spanned Shakespeare, cutting-edge new plays and major work in film and television."

Hytner, who directed Griffiths in The History Boys and The Habit Of Art, added: "His currency as an actor was truth; as a colleague it was hilarity. His anecdotes were legendary. They were, literally, endless. They would go on for hours, apparently without destination, constantly side-splitting.

"The only way to stop them was to tell him you were walking away, though there were always others in the audience so, as far as I know, he never stopped. He was the life of every party."

Thea Sharrock, who directed Griffiths in Equus, Heroes and Sunshine Boys, said: "I worked with Richard more times than any other actor. Everybody knew he was my favourite. He was the most tender, gentle, kind, generous, loving man. His curiosity was unending, as was his striving for perfection. I cannot imagine a world without all those stories. I will miss him so very, very much."

The producers of Heroes and Equus, David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, said the actor was a "great man, a great character, a great talent greatly missed".

Griffiths, the son of a steelworker, was born in Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, in 1947 were he cared for his deaf parents. He left school at 15 but later studied drama, before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company. He married Heather Gibson in 1980 after they met during a production of Lady Windermere's Fan in 1973.

His portly stature, which made him instantly recognisable on screen, was thought to have been caused by medication he was given as a youngster. He was awarded an OBE for services to drama in 2007.

His agent, Simon Beresford, said his thoughts were with Griffiths' wife and family. "Richard brightened my days and enriched the life of anyone he came into contact with. On stage he allowed us to share in our own humanity and constantly question our differences," he said.

"Richard gave acting a good name. He was a remarkable man and one of our greatest and best-loved actors. He will be greatly missed."