The hottest party in New York this weekend...
... was a Democratic Socialist fundraiser.
Good morning everyone. Last night, I went to Queens Assembly member Zohran Mamdani’s Oscar-night fundraiser in Alphabet City with Feed Me’s Anonymous Transit Expert. Feed Me’s semi-anonymous restaurant critic
was also in attendance. And where was ? Moderating Feed Me’s chat, of course.The rest of my weekend was spent on Long Island, saying hello to horses at Caumsett and enjoying the sun. Today’s newsletter includes our new limited column about the mayoral race, a glimmer of hope (and five new restaurants) in New York’s department store landscape, and what
’s move to Substack says about the greater creator landscape.
With the primaries coming up in June, Feed Me will be covering the mayoral race, plus the news, parties, and fundraisers surrounding it. Below is a dispatch from last night’s party written by Feed Me’s Anonymous Transit Expert.
While the first false spring of the year pump-faked back into a few more days of vengeful winter, the only thing heating up in New York is the City’s 2025 Democratic mayoral primary. Many of my fair state’s cities and towns, among them New York and the town I grew up in that’s been run by the same guy since the turn of the century, hold local elections in odd years unaligned with Federal 2/4/6 calendars because.. nothing says you can’t! And so, like clockwork, whenever there’s a Presidential election, New York gets to choose a mayor the following November. Perennial candidate Curtis Sliwa, the GOP’s man who lost 2-1 to Eric Adams four years ago and who has already received endorsements from all five borough Republican parties, is not expected to face a primary challenger. One independent candidate, Jim Walden, has declared his intent to seek a term in Gracie Mansion, but I’m not sure how that’s going to work without a party or one billion of his own dollars behind him.
This leaves a crowded Democrat field as the only what-if. As a now-registered Democrat thanks to New York’s system of closed primaries (Kathy Hochul: your fate will be decided based on whether or not congestion pricing cameras are functional at the end of 2025), I’m making it my mission to figure out what the hell is going on in the race to replace the defendant in the indefinitely-delayed, but still not dismissed, United States v. Adams.
Kicking off the season in earnest was yesterday night’s “Party For Zohran”, hosted by a syndicate of small businesses, artists, media figures and publications for the benefit of Zohran Mamdani, current State Assemblyman and matching funds scheme chart topper. Below is my read of the evening using Feed Me’s patented VP2 campaign event recap system:
“The space reopened in 2025, the address formerly housing Pyramid Club, a pioneering establishment with deep roots in the City’s 1980s drag scene and a victim of COVID closure. This was my first time here under either name. Very long bar! Powerful! Estrella on tap!”