Title: Arts & Culture Check In: Tuna Melts, NYC Designers on the Super Bowl Stage, and Curling Clubs in Prospect Park

Janae Pierre: All right. I'm going to try this tuna melt. Oh, it's warm.

Matthew Schnipper: Yes, tell us about what you're about to take, Janae

Janae Pierre: All right. I have a tuna melt here on rye with pepper jack cheese. I'm a spicy girl.

Matthew Schnipper: Is the tuna hot?

Janae Pierre: It's hot.

Matthew Schnipper: The tuna is hot. The cheese, as I've learned, is always melted, but the tuna can be hot or cold.

Janae Pierre: Tuna's cold. Confirmed. All right. I feel like I have tuna on the corner of my mouth here.

Matthew Schnipper: Are you going to eat that whole sandwich, you think?

Janae Pierre: I don't think so.

Matthew Schnipper: No?

Janae Pierre: I think I have lunch for tomorrow.

Matthew Schnipper: Okay. [music]

Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC Now. I'm Janae Pierre. Tuna melts, New York City culture at the super bowl, and how you can curl like an Olympian right here in Prospect Park. That and more on this edition of the Arts & Culture Check In. First, here's your news headlines. Mayor Zohran Mamdani says New York City will be reviewing regulations of the tow truck industry following an investigation by WNYC. The reporting found hundreds of unlicensed tow trucks have flooded city streets in the last five years as the NYPD has backed off of enforcement. Here's the mayor speaking at City hall this week.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: First and foremost, thank you for highlighting this issue. Clearly, it's not something that is working to the best of its ability. It's something that we will follow up on.

Janae Pierre: WNYC's analysis found there are nearly as many unlicensed tow trucks on the roads as licensed ones. Many of the unlicensed trucks race to crash scenes, which can put pedestrians and other drivers at risk. The NYPD says it was forced to pull back on seizing unlicensed tow trucks in response to City Council legislation passed in 2021. Want to hear more about our investigation into the City's tow truck industry? Check out the previous episode of NYC Now.

Mayor Mamdani still wants to raise income taxes on the city's wealthy residents, even though he says he's facing a smaller fiscal hold than expected. Mamdani appeared in Albany this week for the annual Tin Cup Day budget hearing. That's where local officials from across New York asked state legislators for various forms of fiscal relief. Mamdani said his team has updated its estimates and now projects a $7 billion deficit in the coming fiscal year. That's down from $12 billion he projected last month. The mayor said taxes on better than expected Wall street bonuses and a more concerted effort at savings helped trim the deficit.

With the large gap still looming, Mamdani said raising taxes would help address the imbalance. The mayor is continuing to push for higher taxes despite resistance from Gov. Kathy Hochul. A Pride flag is flying high once again at the Stonewall National Monument, despite its removal under the guidance of the Trump administration this week. Hundreds showed up to the monument after the National Park Service removed the flag and replaced it with a US flag. Mark Riccardi was among the people there. He's a drag queen who performs at multiple venues across the city as Zeta Jones.

Mark Riccardi: We're not a community that makes others ask who they are, what they are, why they are. We are a community that just says, "We're fierce and just let us be here, because you're here, too. We're all here together."

Janae Pierre: The Stonewall Monument is adjacent to the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar that was the scene of the uprising that birthed the modern queer liberation movement. The federal government says the National Park Service can now only fly the American flag, POW/MIA flag, and Department of Interior flags at sites that the agency maintains. Still ahead, what's new in New York City arts and culture? That's after the break.

[music]

Janae Pierre: Welcome to another edition of our Arts & Culture Check In. A look at what's been coming across the arts and culture desk here at WNYC and our news site, Gothamist. Here to walk us through it, my good colleague Matthew Schnipper. He's the newsroom's arts and culture editor. What's up, Matt?

Matthew Schnipper: I'm my new title tuna editor, I think basically.

Janae Pierre: [laughs] That's been a really big story that's been blowing up on the website and inside our building.

[laughter]

Janae Pierre: It's hot. Tell me about this story.

Matthew Schnipper: I think we are absolute tuna trendsetters. Now, the food writer, Joshua David Stein, got in touch with me and basically said, "Hey, I want to write about tuna melts." I said, "Well, what do you want to say about them?" He's like, "I love them. They're the greatest sandwich of all time." He thought he had seen from his eating around the city that different restaurants had been innovating on the form. This was in some ways an extraordinarily basic story. [chuckles]

Janae Pierre: That we all love--

Matthew Schnipper: Sandwiches. What's up with them? I think I don't want to be too meta. We get a lot of pitches about a lot of different types of things. Often they are about something extremely unique, something a little bit maybe wonky, something kind of convoluted, a little weird, something somebody is deeply passionate about that a lot of people don't know about. I would say it's possible in my brief tenure at Gothamist, the tuna melt is the most mundane and popular subject that we have run a story on.

Janae Pierre: People love that counter programming. There's a lot going on in the world.

Matthew Schnipper: That's what was funny is I feel like what we do is already counter programming. This was almost counter, counter programming. I think there was a nice mix of cheekiness and earnestness in his pitch, and I think it came out in the story. He does believe in this. I think sometimes it's nice just to hear somebody celebrate something that is easy to take for granted. I think if you want to be a little bit doe-eyed about it. What I liked about this story was it just was an appreciation for what's in front of you. I think that's what came through to people. You could be a glass half full about things if you want to be. I think that was nice.

Janae Pierre: Yes, certainly. Speaking of tuna melts, Matt, were tuna melts at your Super Bowl party this past Sunday?

Matthew Schnipper: I did have queso. My Texan next door neighbors brought out one of those old school dishes that has the flame underneath it.

Janae Pierre: No tuna melts?

Matthew Schnipper: No, I don't think I had tuna. Sorry. I'm just going to go on about the queso for a while. It was quite good. I was pussied up just e queso. I did have that. No, there was no tuna. There was pizza. Also a melted cheese. There was melted cheese, but there was no tuna fish.

Janae Pierre: Okay. At the end of the day, it was the Bad Bunny bowl. We had a couple--

Matthew Schnipper: It was not the tuna bowl.

Janae Pierre: We had a couple of New York City connections. Right?

Matthew Schnipper: Yes.

Janae Pierre: You want to talk about that?

Matthew Schnipper: I think the one that's been making the rounds is Toñita. At one point during his sort of extravagant, really just about a neighborhoody super bowl set, Bad Bunny goes and orders a drink. If you don't know anything about the woman he gets the drink from behind the bar, that's fine. New Yorkers know her as Toñita, who is the proprietor of Toñita's, a social club in Williamsburg. We've actually written about her on Gothamist. You can go and check out a story about the history of the social club. What was really nice about this is that he said, "I'm going to bring her specifically out." He could have had anyone serve him.

Janae Pierre: That's a place where he hangs out. When he's in the city, he's hanging out at Toñita's.

Matthew Schnipper: We have heard that he is hanging out there. I would say you should not probably rush there hoping to get a glimpse of Bad Bunny, but he name drops the bar, the club in his song NUEVAYoL. It was cool for him to bring that to life.

Janae Pierre: You have to say it like "NUEVAYoL."

Matthew Schnipper: [chuckles] I don't think anybody wants to hear me say it like that.

Janae Pierre: We heard you singing before. We know you have it in you.

Matthew Schnipper: Well, listen, when I learn Spanish, I'll come back and sing Bad Bunny. For now, I'm only singing Addison Rae. That's it.

Janae Pierre: [laughs] Okay. We had some other New York City connections during the Super Bowl.

Matthew Schnipper: We did. I love this one. Bad Bunny brought out Lady Gaga. You may have seen her wearing a sky blue, maybe baby blue dress and dancing with him. That dress was designed by Raul Lopez, whose line, Luar, is Raul backwards. He's a born and bred New Yorker. He grew up in Williamsburg. He's Dominican. He was a part early on of Hood By Air, which was a huge fashion label. Now he has his own thing, Luar, which has done incredibly well. It's really cool to see how far he has come. What was great about him designing this dress? He did not know what this dress was for. Lady Gaga's stylist wrote to him and said, "Hey we need a dress," he said. This was before the Grammys.

He says, "For the Grammys?" They're like, "No, no, for something bigger." He didn't know she was going to be there. He didn't know that she was going to be wearing his dress. He was at a Super Bowl party, maybe having a tuna melt.

[laughter]

Matthew Schnipper: No, I don't think so. He actually said there was caviar at his super bowl party.

Janae Pierre: I wasn't there.

Matthew Schnipper: No, this was a different kind of super bowl party. He said all of a sudden he's watching it and Lady Gaga comes out and she's wearing the dress he designed for her.

Janae Pierre: Oh my God. What a surprise.

Matthew Schnipper: He said he started screaming, so then everybody else who was at the party also started screaming, but they didn't know why he was screaming. Then he had to explain to them, "Oh my God, that's the dress I designed."

Janae Pierre: Señora Gaga in his dress. Wow. So cool.

Matthew Schnipper: [laughs] I thought it was such a nice moment.

Janae Pierre: So cool. So cool. Also, got to mention, Cardi B was at the Super Bowl as well.

Matthew Schnipper: She was there on stage, just-

Janae Pierre: Just chilling.

Matthew Schnipper: -being chilling, yes.

Janae Pierre: Just chilling.

Matthew Schnipper: I love that she was just there. It was nice. She didn't have to work. It was nice. She should get to enjoy herself.

[music]

Janae Pierre: Mayor Zohran Mamdani, every time we talk, we get an update on his cultural references. Have you added anything to your Excel sheet?

Matthew Schnipper: I did. I was watching an interview with Zohran on ABC. He talked to Jonathan Karl, and he was talking about the city has a rather large budget deficit. It seems that his predecessor, Mayor Adams, somehow has disappeared quite a bit of money and Zohran had no interest in taking ownership of this deficit issue. He said, "It's as easy as A-B-C as the Jackson 5 said. It's an Adams Budget Crisis."

Jonathan Karl: How are you going to deal with that?

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: Well, I think it's-- frankly, in the words of the Jackson 5, it's as easy as A-B-C. This is an Adams Budget Crisis.

Janae Pierre: [laughs] A-B-C.

Matthew Schnipper: A-B-C. I think setting aside the factuality of the budget crisis itself, I was very interested that he opted to reference the Jackson 5. Mamdani is a '90s baby. He didn't grow up with the thriller years or anything like that, but he's not naive to where Michael Jackson ended up, where his reputation ended up. I thought this was a dicey choice, honestly.

Janae Pierre: Okay. Matt, there's another story that has come off of your desk this week. Brooklyn Lakeside Curling Club. I what is curling?

[laughter]

Matthew Schnipper: For those who do not wait for the Winter Olympics every four years so that you can watch some dudes throw stones on the ice. Curling is a sport that I have said is almost like ice bocce. It's got a shuffleboard kind of vibe. There are large polished stones with handles, and you shoot them down the ice while other people on your team brush the ice quickly, and I would say fiendishly/feverishly, one of those with fire. I don't know. They brush the ice real hard so that your stone will go the furthest distance that it needs to go. We had one of our writers go try it.

Janae Pierre: Okay. You can try this at Prospect Park?

Matthew Schnipper: You can try this at Prospect Park, yes. There is the Brooklyn Lakeside Curling Club, which includes some real pro curlers.

Janae Pierre: Pro, like Olympians?

Matthew Schnipper: There is the coach for the Philippines team, does coach out of there. You can go and learn how to curl. You can try it yourself.

Janae Pierre: Is this something that you've tried before?

Matthew Schnipper: I have not curled. I'll be honest with you, I was jealous. The photos from this also-- first off, people were wearing some fantastic outfits. Seems like curlers bring out the real kind of Jimmy Buffett Parrothead kind of people. People into neon and gold and just going for it. It just looked delightful. One of the-- I feel like I'm going to say something's going to make somebody who's really into curling very mad by saying that it's a silly thing to take seriously.

Janae Pierre: I take.

Matthew Schnipper: Look, you've played shuffleboard, right, Janae?

Janae Pierre: Yes.

Matthew Schnipper: You played bocce before?

Janae Pierre: No.

Matthew Schnipper: Well, whatever. You throw a thing and you try to get a target-- you played Skee-Ball?

Janae Pierre: Yes. I can curl.

Matthew Schnipper: Yes, exactly. What if you did it, except you were on ice and then a bunch of your friends also had brooms.

Janae Pierre: Okay. Well, let's start a group, Hot Girls Curl.

Matthew Schnipper: Hot Girls Curl. When I'm saying that, it sounds like you're like, "I had the weirdest dream last night. I was throwing a stone on the ice, and all my friends were there with brooms."

Janae Pierre: Then I got a gold medal. [laughs]

Matthew Schnipper: Exactly. Imagine that. I think that, to me, there's something very lovable about this sport.

Janae Pierre: Speaking of love, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Last week, we spoke to one of your reporters, Hannah Frishberg, and we put out a call to listeners to tell us about their experience as far as finding love in New York City. We got this voice note from Bria Paley. I want to play it for you. Can I?

Matthew Schnipper: Oh, please.

Bria Paley: My dating experience in New York City has not been great. I'm Jewish, and I really prefer to date Jewish men. I go to events. I've been on the apps, and it has not been smooth sailing. I'm now in my early 40s, and I'm like, "What is going on here?" I thought it would be easier. Seems like people aren't looking for meaningful connections, or if you swipe right on them, they don't write you back. If they do write you back, they don't ask you out. It just feels like pulling teeth. It's not ideal. I decided to spend the winter in Australia to see if it would be better here, but it's not. I'm still hopeful because what else are you going to do? Bye.

Janae Pierre: I'm sorry, Bria. Man, that sucks.

Matthew Schnipper: It sucks.

Janae Pierre: Good luck finding community out in Australia.

Matthew Schnipper: I am a Jewish man in his 40s. I am not single. I've not been single. I've been married for quite a while. I do remember that experience of being single, of being Jewish. I did not say I am only dating Jewish women. I did actually get married to a purebred Italian. [crosstalk] Grew up going to church. My heart goes out to her. It is hard and there is that feeling sometimes in New York City of being alone in a crowd. I think phone apps can make you feel both connected directly to everybody, but also like an anonymous, and almost not like a person as well. It's hard. I think it sounds like Bria is putting herself out there, full respect to that.

Janae Pierre: Definitely.

Matthew Schnipper: I do believe it will happen for her and for the people who want it to.

Janae Pierre: That's right. That's right. Bria, and for everyone else who's single out there, there are places that you can go to celebrate yourself this Valentine's Day, so be sure to do that. Matt, I know that we have a list of things that people can get into on our new site, Gothamist.

Matthew Schnipper: We do, yes.

Janae Pierre: Tell us.

Matthew Schnipper: If I was single, what I would be going to is Questlove and the Roots have an event at Brooklyn Bowl, and it's a slow jams party. I think that's going to be really fun.

Janae Pierre: Oh, yes.

Matthew Schnipper: I think it'll be like-- there'll be people there both celebrating and looking for love, I would imagine.

Janae Pierre: You have any Valentine's Day plans for the special ladies in your life?

Matthew Schnipper: I have. There are a lot of special ladies in my life. My daughter, my wife, and my mother.

Janae Pierre: Cute.

Matthew Schnipper: I'll be hanging with all three generations.

Janae Pierre: Nice.

Matthew Schnipper: We'll have a nice Saturday. How about yourself?

Janae Pierre: I will actually be in New Orleans. I will be there. It's parade season. Mardi Gras's coming up, so no red, no hearts. In my relationship, Valentine's Day is every day.

Matthew Schnipper: Love takes all colors.

Janae Pierre: Love love, too. Love love. Matthew Schnipper is the editor on our Arts and Culture desk. Thanks again for joining us.

Matthew Schnipper: Thank you, Janae.

[music]

Janae Pierre: Thank you for listening to NYC Now. If you want your comment featured like Bria's, send us a voice note letting us know what's up in your New York at NYC Now @wnyc.org Happy Valentine's Day. I'm sending you so much love. I'm Janae Pierre. See you next time.

 

Copyright © 2026 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.