John Leguizamo
Most of us know him as an actor, stand-up comedian and playwright, but off-Broadway’s new “Othello: The Remix” at the Westside theatre boasts the talents of John Leguizamo, producer. Born in Colombia, raised in Queens and now living in the West Village, the 52-year-old father of two will be onstage this spring in “Latin History for Morons” at the Public. He tells BARBARA HOFFMAN where you’ll find him on the weekend.
I LOVE to train at Church Street Boxing Gym. The ambience! You gotta go subterranean — it’s like three levels below the surface of the Earth. It’s a real gritty place where Mike Tyson used to be at. They have a real ring, and these guys push you hard.
Then I go to O [Cafe] on Sixth Avenue. Man, they make the best cappuccino and the best avocado toast and the best pão de
queijo, which is like a Colombian/ Brazilian/Venezuelan thing, a kind of bread cheese, but hollow, like scooped bagels.
I walk and bike everywhere. I love this part of town, the low buildings. My wife, Justine, is part of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, and we just had a big win, preserving the southern half of Washington Square Park. I went to NYU, so that park reminds me of my youth. I love the cube on Astor Place. That’s the entrance to the East Village, where artists have been coming since the ’50s and even earlier. My friends live there — Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Ed Norton.
I always meet friends in restaurants. Sometimes I’ll do a movie night at my house, and we all meet at Knickerbocker [Bar & Grill] first. It’s an old-school, hip place: Everybody’s in jackets, and there’s steak, salads, shrimp cocktails. If they’re down for the best ramen or Chinese, we go to Momofuku. I get the vegetarian ramen noodles — just ginger, scallion, garlic, mushrooms. It kills me, it’s so good. Every other day, I try to go meatless. I fail, miserably.
I love Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant, a little hole in the wall on Macdougal. You don’t eat with utensils — you get this pancake thing you use as a tool, but I cheat sometimes and ask for a fork. It’s rude, I know, but that way I don’t eat carbs. Hey — actors! We gotta stay manorexic.