Good morning, it’s Thursday.
I am a big breakfast person, as has been discussed many times before in this space. Given my choice, I would opt for breakfast food for most meals over pretty much anything else. Eggs, oatmeal, toast – always toast – granola, fruit, yogurt, pastries, waffles, pancakes, etc. Clearly, breakfast food is the best food, and I am prepared to defend this opinion to the end.
I am not, however, a big fan of some of the more decadent options, which to me pretty much includes anything featuring Hollandaise sauce.
One of the French foundational and so-called “mother” sauces – the others are Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole, and Tomato – Hollandaise is a viscous, yellow-tinged emulsion of egg yolks, melted butter, and lemon juice (or vinegar), usually seasoned with salt and white pepper, so as not to mar its uniform pastel hue.
Perhaps I’ve simply never had good Hollandaise – it’s apparently tricky to get right because you have to make the emulsion over a low heat without scrambling the eggs – but my experience has always been disappointing. Lumpy, heavy, and sort of tasteless, are my takeaways.
Hence, to avoid disappointment, I generally never order anything that features Hollandaise, which unfortunately rules out Eggs Benedict. This is sad, because I like the other traditional components of this dish – poached eggs, English muffin, Canadian bacon – so much so that I have been known to order them sans sauce.
That sort of defeats the purpose of the thing, I know. But no less an expert than the late great food writer Anthony Bourdain agreed with me, memorably writing that Hollandaise sauce was little more than a breeding ground for bacteria because it needs to be held at room temperature to prevent breakage.
Eggs Benedict has a few origin stories, though it is believed to have originated in New York City.
Delmonico’s, which bills itself as the country’s first fine dining establishment and is still open and serving in the Financial District, claims to have created the iconic dish, an one of its former chefs, Charles Ranhofer, published the recipe for Eggs à la Benedick in 1894.
Another tale involves a retired Wall Street stockbroker named Lemuel Benedict, who said in a New Yorker magazine interview that he had dined at the Waldorf Hotel in 1894 and ordered poached eggs, buttered toast, bacon, and a “hooker of Hollandaise” in hopes that this combination would cure his morning hangover. The maitre d was impressed with the dish and put it on the menu, but subbed ham for the bacon and an English muffin for the toast.
The American Egg Board is a supporters of the Lemuel Benedict story, but it has been challenged. (More on that here).
There are a variety of Eggs Benedict variations that call for replacing the Canadian bacon and with ingredients like smoked salmon (Royale), spinach (Florentine), crab cakes (Chesapeake), or avocado. Some even ditch the Hollandaise altogether in favor of béchamel. Other versions might replace the English muffin with toast, a biscuit, or even hash browns.
Today is National Eggs Benedict Day, so if you’re feeling up to something a little extra this morning – even though it’s not a Sunday – perhaps it would be a good time to slow down and really savor your breakfast for a change.
Another unseasonably warm day is on tap with temperatures soaring into the low 80s. Skies will be cloudy with showers developing in the late afternoon/early evening.
In the headlines…
Stock markets continued to rise today as oil prices stabilized on optimism that diplomatic talks could yield a permanent peace deal in the Middle East. The S&P 500 hit a record high yesterday, and is now 2 percent higher than before the fighting began on Feb. 28.
President Trump said that Israeli and Lebanese leaders would speak again today, as he sought to build on lower-level talks this week aimed at ending Israel’s war against Iran-backed Hezbollah. There was, however, no confirmation from either side.
Senate Republicans for the fourth time have blocked a resolution to limit President Trump’s war authority in Iran for as the conflict inches closer to a 60-day limit.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz revealed that Trump has an unusual defense for his diet soda habit, joking that the president often says the beverage “kills cancer cells.”
Senior Trump administration officials escalated criticism of the Vatican this week, with Vice President Vance warning Pope Leo XIV to “be careful” when speaking about theology and White House Border Czar Tom Homan telling him to “leave politics alone.”
Trump yesterday again threatened to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and said the probe into the renovation of the central bank’s headquarters needs to continue.
Trump is distracting from his own agenda this week, winning headlines for a series of AI posts invoking Jesus Christ even as his administration seeks to drive home preferred messages on the Iran war and the economy.
Fresh off a two-week break, lawmakers returned to turmoil in the House, where legislation to reopen the Department of Homeland Security is stalled and the G.O.P. is struggling to keep its agenda on track.
Few Republican lawmakers said anything publicly about Trump’s startling social media post last week warning Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” but privately, in a large text chat, a group of them read his threat with alarm.
A sputtering economy, high gas prices, a fight with the pope and a pair of foreign policy setbacks — in Pakistan and Hungary — have left many White House allies newly exasperated as they try to navigate what was always going to be a difficult midterm year.
The House voted to advance a measure that would reinstate temporary protections for Haitians living in the U.S., with six Republicans siding with Democrats to oppose a key component of Trump’s immigration policy.
The bill, co-introduced by two New Yorkers – Democrat Rep. Laura Gillen and Republican Rep. Michael Lawler – would keep Haitians eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for three years.
Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an unusual apology for critical remarks she made about the upbringing of one of her conservative colleagues, Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The Commission of Fine Arts, which is filled with Trump’s appointees, is scheduled today to consider the president’s plan to build a 250-foot arch on the other side of the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial.
Democrats are adding a new target to their affordability agenda, joining groceries, utilities and landlords — FIFA, the soccer governing body responsible for staging the World Cup.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill bashed the “inherited” World Cup host agreement in which FIFA is absolved of paying for transportation to the matches at MetLife Stadium — and insisted she won’t stand for its planned price gouging.
New York state budget talks devolved into a public fight this week as Gov. Kathy Hochul and leading legislators accused each other of doing the bidding of deep-pocketed special interests.
The behind-the-scenes opposition to legislation that would ban 24-hour shifts for home health aides is apparently growing, with Hochul reportedly pushing to block the bill from even coming up for a vote.
Hochul and her husband made a combined income of over $1.86 million last year — nearly 25% more than the $1.5 million they reported in 2024, according to a review of their tax documents.
At a National ASL Day event in Rochester, Hochul’s office announced the inclusion of American Sign Language in the state’s language access law.
State budget talks appeared revived yesterday by Hochul’s surprise pied-à-terre tax proposal — but several sticking points remain, including her pitches to implement protest buffer zones around houses of worship and to reform auto insurance.
Similar ideas have been floated before, most recently in 2019, after Kenneth C. Griffin, a hedge fund billionaire, purchased a $238 million apartment on Central Park South. That effort was derailed by the real estate industry, which lobbied heavily against it.
Amid calls from the left to tax the rich, a tax proposal on multimillion-dollar second homes in New York City, backed by Hochul, seems to have better odds of passing than in years past.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani touted Hochul’s proposal on April 15 to tax expensive second homes as a sign of a progressive tide to tax the rich, but it will only apply to absentee owners.
Hochul’s proposed tax on pricey New York City real estate is offering yet another desperately needed financial boost to Mamdani, and in proposing it, the governor is again taking a political risk by going to bat for the freshman democratic socialist mayor.
“When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich. Well, today, we’re taxing the rich,” Mamdani said, adding that the tax is designed for for the “richest of the rich,” people who “store their wealth in (city) real estate but who don’t actually live here.”
“Kathy Hochul’s ‘No Tax Hike’ promise has expired faster than the families fleeing New York’s affordability crisis,” said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate facing off against Hochul as she seeks re-election this year.
The proposal aims to generate roughly $500 million annually, though industry groups argue the broader economic impact could extend beyond targeted homeowners, potentially affecting construction activity, property values and overall costs.
Hochul doubled down on her support for proposed legislation that would create a 25-foot buffer zone around houses of worship statewide, stepping into a growing debate over public safety and free speech in a move that puts her at odds with Mamdani.
Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, apologized in an interview published yesterday by the art site Hyperallergic for using the N-word as a 15-year-old in social media posts that a conservative news site recently unearthed.
The Hyperallergic interview with the publications editor, Hakim Bishara, is the first Duwaji has granted since her husband was sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1. Asked to explain which posts she was apologizing for, a Mamdani spokesperson declined to comment.
Mamdani and his wife reportedly have been invited to the Met Gala, but won’t be attending, breaking a tradition upheld intermittently by past mayors.
Mamdani made TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in 2026.
New York City doormen and other staff voted to authorize a strike, inching closer to a potential walkout as soon as April 21, a move that would disrupt operations at 3,500 co-ops, condos and apartment buildings.
The union announced the strike authorization in a social media post on X following a rally on Park Avenue in Manhattan where Mamdani gathered alongside local doormen and building staff.
Mamdani today will unveil a city-backed insurance program for subsidized and rent-stabilized buildings across the five boroughs.
Many of the specifics of the program are still unknown, including which landlords would be eligible, how much premiums would cost and how much the city might have to spend. The city plans to hire a consultant to help iron out the details.
Mamdani, turning to philanthropists for help with a key part of his agenda, will announce a campaign today to raise $20 million from private donors to support his universal free child care proposal. He has about $3.5 million in committed donations so far.
Mamdani used Tax Day to remind Americans that the nation’s tax code is “rigged” to protect the superrich while making the case for a more equitable system.
In a Guardian op-ed co-written with Nobel laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz and Paris School of Economics professor Gabriel Zucman, New York’s democratic socialist mayor lamented that the world is living with greater wealth inequality than ever before.
Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ Frankenstein-like Charter Revision Commission is set to hold its first public hearing next week, giving the legally dubious entity an official platform even as questions remain its powers.
New York City’s public pension funds are set to invest more than $4 billion in affordable developments over the next four years, the city comptroller, Mark Levine, will announce today.
Council Speaker Julie Menin and Mamdani, who have been feuding, reached a truce after a phone call this week and the speaker agreed not to block his appointment of Nadia Shihata, a former federal prosecutor to lead the city’s Department of Investigation.
In the New York City budget showdown between Mamdani and Menin, she has framed herself as the fiscally responsible adult, but council under her watch keeps advocating for big-ticket bills framed as moral imperative.
Menin is backing Shihata “based on her qualifications and her stated commitment to independent leadership,” a Council spokesperson said.
After an anti-bike lane lawsuit sent the Department of Transportation back to the drawing board on 31st Street in Astoria, the agency is responding with a plan for an even longer bike lane on the deadly corridor.
Two NYPD officers are on modified duty as the department’s Internal Affairs investigates a video that has been called disturbing and upsetting.
Mamdani called the videos extremely disturbing. The Police Department said officers incorrectly identified the man, who they were repeatedly punching, kicking and dragging while trying to arrest.
Two teenagers pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to support ISIS with a failed homemade-bomb attack outside the New York City mayor’s residence last month.
The lead organizer of SantaCon NYC, an annual Christmas-themed bar crawl that is both beloved and reviled, took more than half of the nearly $3 million the event raised for charity over five years, federal prosecutors said.
A former Albany man who spent nearly three decades in state prison for his 1998 conviction on charges of attempting to fatally shoot two city police officers was set free this week after a legal proceeding determined he was innocent.
A disagreement over money is what prompted a fight Tuesday that left a homeless man dead and another accused of his killing, Saratoga County District Attorney Brett Eby said.
Some Rotterdam residents and business owners were urged to boil water before consuming it while highway crews repair a water main break on Guilderland Avenue near the intersection of Lawndale Avenue.
Though Stewart’s Shops won approval to demolish a historic home in the City of Saratoga Springs’ architectural district, the decision came with a stipulation: Build something worthy of the city’s southern gateway.
Approximately $128 million in federal funds passed down to the state will aid the rehabilitation of 238 decades-old apartments in the Cohoes Housing Authority system in coordination with developer MDG Development Owners LLC.
Village officials in Menands have adopted a resolution to reduce village street speed limits from 30 mph to 25 mph. All speed signage is expected to be updated by May 1.
Albany Med workers are pushing back on a plan that would sharply cut beds at Columbia Memorial Hospital.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
