FOOD TIP

Steak Tip Nachos

Penny Lane Pub

Old Saybrook

For such a fantastic idea, nachos can be cruelly abused by half-ass restaurateurs happy to make a big profit with underperforming versions of this classic appetizer. Au contraire at the Penny Lane. With a foundation as thick corn tortilla chips, the sculptors layer of sneaky good black bean/tomato relish that simultaneously provides a sweet burst and a quick jolt of tang. There’s a solid blanket of melted cheddar cheese and, then, atop it all, a tender beef-scape of marinated sirloin tips. At $16, this sizable portion is more than enough for your whole meal — unless you decide to go ahead and just order round two of the same thing.

— Rick Koster

MOVIE TIP

Wicked Little Letters

It’s been too long since we’ve had a period English comedy become a sleeper success in the U.S. But here is “Wicked Little Letters” to right that wrong. It’s a (yes) wicked bit of Brit fun. It’s set in small-town England in the 1920s and focuses on the profanity-laced, insult-strewn letters that prim, religious Edith Swan (a superb Olivia Colman) receives in the mail. Immediate suspicion falls on her Irish ex-pat neighbor, Rose Gooding (a warm and wild Jessie Buckley), who spouts creative profanities, drinks in bars, and lives with — but isn’t wed to — a Black man. Edith and Rose had a short friendship that went bad. “Wicked Little Letters” is based on a real story, and it reflects the fraught feminism of the era, as women who gained significant freedoms during WWI had to deal with a lot of that independence being taken away. What makes the movie really tick, though, are the performances. Colman is an acting wonder; her face reveals every bit of shock and secret pleasure that Edith experiences.

— Kristina Dorsey

ARTICLE TIP

Donald Trump Has Never Sounded Like This

Charles Homans

New York Times Magazine, April 28

Painfully, it hasn’t escaped me that folks on both sides of the political divide pretty much don’t seek information from which they can make educated decisions. Rather, they seek gratification from sources providing only viewpoints that reinforce what they want to hear — regardless of the accuracy of that material. While I then believe this tip will appeal to the “preaching to the choir” contingency, I’m BEGGING anyone worried that Biden is too old to serve efficiently to read this. There’s old and feeble, and then there’s dangerous. Homans explains what that means in a calm but chilling fashion.

— Rick Koster