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Way
Down West You Will Find The East
Written by Janine Trusello
Source: 2002 The Cyber Scene, http://www.TheCyberScene.com
If
you swing over to the Lower, Lower West Side (that
would be the southern-most slices of Tribeca or the
layer floating on top of the Downtown area, depending
on how you look at it) and travel west across Chambers
Street, over to Greenwich (with a pit stop at the
delicious Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory of course),
and then scoot north for a few steps, you will land
between Duane and Reade Streets. At this point you
will need to look on the eastern side of the street
for the number 317 and a very nice looking sign hanging
up outside that says "Salaam Bombay." Put
your hand on the door handle and go inside.
You will then follow these exact
same steps many, many times afterwards as long as
you continue to live in or visit this fine city.
This very relaxing restaurant was
the 4/4 location for a Dining
to Make a Difference gathering, a series
of food and drink focused events that have been held
since October to help revitalize the economy, build
community, and aid relief efforts. These supportive
and entertaining events, now sixteen-plus and counting,
are the creation of Vergant Media
founder and president, Wendy
Dubit, who states, "These events are designed
to get people to realize that they can make a difference
by dining out soon and often, bringing colleagues
and friends, booking parties, attending benefits,
volunteering, and contributing to their community
on a daily basis."
The evening started in the downstairs
party hall with tasty cocktails and complimentary
appetizers (also tasty) such as papadams, naans, vegetable
pakoras and chicken wing based kalmi kababs, all enhanced
by chutney-to-die-for. Who CARES if anything is deep
fried! Early birds, other than myself and Wendy, included
Knowledge for Professionals president, Paula Garzon,
who I had just seen the previous evening at the Canadian
Consulate for an event, and Personal Relationship
Management Services founder and CEO, Gary Welz, both
people being Dining to Make a Difference regulars.
Many others soon followed, and along with the sounds
of upbeat Indian music, a great evening was underway.
The second wave of Dining to Make
a Difference regulars (and volunteers) included The
Hamptons International Film Festival board member,
Kim Brizzolara, and tireless WTC site rescue worker
Scott Shields and his famous, tireless WTC site rescue
dog extrordinaire, Bear Shields. Also on hand to enjoy
the endless plates of delicious food was X-Change
Technologies V.P., Susan Lapczynski, attorney Rebecca
Garza, and Benchmark BeHome director, Emily Davidow.
After a few hours of knoshing and
cocktailing, guests could opt to stay for a full dinner
in the upstairs dining room. Before relocating the
party, I talked with express.com vice president, Alison
Johns, RandomPlace.com founder, Geo Geller (a long-time
Wendy Dubit fan), and cool accessory designer, Lisamarie
Dixon who was there with her mom, Necia Refes and
her Godfather, Richard Paley. Also in attendance was
Mila Gorokovich, a Ukrainian high school student who
had spoken at the World Economic Forum on behalf of
netaid.org.
Those who chose to continue inhaling
the amazing food headed upstairs to the dining room.
Amongst the diners were John Marlin, Peter Muller
& Associates attorney Peter Muller, Delta Markets
Group managing director Peter Burton, and New York
City Fire Department software developer, Kevin Jones,
another Dining to Make a Difference regular.
For those of you interested in attending
these wonderful events visit www.vergant.com
and get yourself on the mailing list. Once there,
you will also be able to get all the information you
need on the upcoming, very fantastic, not-to-be-missed,
month-long May - June Dining
to Make a Difference Fest, and the accompanying
scavenger hunt, which will encourage participants
to patronize as many venues as possible during that
period and beyond.
Plans are now being finalized for
this event, which will kick-off on Wednesday May 15th
and last through June 19. So hurry and get on the
list for info and updates!
You may freely distribute "The Cyber Scene"
material, as long as it bears the following attribution:
"Source: 2002 The Cyber Scene TM http://www.TheCyberScene.com"
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