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Crash involving multiple vehicles affects traffic on West Main Street WWMT-TVUnfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
Eight Santa Barbara police officers responded to a brief melee on the 700 block of State Street Wednesday involving an elderly couple from Oxnard — both 71 — and their 13-year-old grandson with a romantic engaged couple of street people — both 23-year-old “travelers” — who’d been in town only a few days. The fight started when the Oxnard couple’s grandson discarded the remains of an ice cream cone purchased at Rite-Aid into a trash can at the same time a street person from Santa Barbara — known to police for more than 20 years — was trying to extract recyclable bottles and cans from it.
Taking offense, the Santa Barbara street person started lobbing F-bombs at the Oxnard couple and their grandson. The grandfather retaliated by launching a few F-bombs back. Among this fusillade of F-bombs, the warring parties moved up the street, maintaining all the while a safe distance from each other.
This was witnessed by the 23-year-old couple, prompting the young woman — five feet tall, 104 pounds, and reportedly acutely mentally ill — to launch herself onto the Oxnard grandfather’s back. According to city police, she believed an inequitable situation was playing out in front of her between the Oxnard visitors and the Santa Barbara street person and was seeking to redress that imbalance.
When the Oxnard grandmother intervened, trying to remove the young woman from her husband’s back, the 23-year-old smacked her across the face for her efforts, thus breaking the grandmother’s glasses and inflicting at least one laceration to her face.
At some point, the 23-year-old’s boyfriend jumped in. As this fracas evolved into a full-fledged melee, several bystanders sought to intervene, one a longtime city employee who works for the streets division.
By the time the eight officers arrived, the exchange had concluded. Officers found the attacking couple by State and De la Guerra streets and apprehended them without incident.
Why can’t have nice things? Drivers.
A short stretch of post-protected bike lane on 13th Street near Third Avenue in Manhattan was completely destroyed within 24 hours by drivers who can’t stomach the idea of abiding by a new traffic configuration installed to protect vulnerable road users who are not encased in 2,000 pounds of steel.
It all started on Feb. 26, when Streetsblog posted an image of heroic DOT workers installing the much-needed protections across from the Brazen Fox pub. The stiffer bollards can save the lives of bicyclists, but also deter drivers from entering the bike lane.
Well, we thought!. One day later, a Friend of Streetsblog who posts as Choresh2, revealed trouble in paradise:
24 hours later. @NYC_DOT please put concrete. Plastic is meaningless, waste of money pic.twitter.com/WVJArxb5Eu
— Choresh (@Choresh2) February 26, 2020
By Friday morning or afternoon (a smarter person could figure it out from the shadows), there was more pain. As Bob Manix-Cramer’s tweet shows (below Shmuli Evers’s earlier post from a neighboring block), two flexiposts had already been destroyed, with two more ailing:
Yea that didn't last long (13th and 3rd) pic.twitter.com/5Sdp4o70Lt
— Bob Manix-Cramer (@bobman32) February 28, 2020
By Friday at 6:50 p.m., another photo from Choresh2 revealed that the protection was now almost entirely gone.
What time did you take that?
— Streetsblog New York (@StreetsblogNYC) February 29, 2020
It’s difficult not to be discouraged, given how drivers are allowed to destroy public infrastructure with no punishment or even public stigma. Indeed, the entitlement of the driving class and the second-class status of cyclists and pedestrians is omnipresent: reckless drivers are encouraged by their neighbors in Staten Island; parking is free on virtually every side street in the city, causing double-parking and unsafe conditions for everyone else; garbage piles up on sidewalks every afternoon because the city will not reallocate curbside space for communal containers; the world-renowned Brooklyn Bridge is crowded and dangerous because drivers, who are the minority of bridge users, need six lanes so they can speed between Brooklyn and Manhattan; drivers kill pedestrians and cyclists with carelessness and recklessness yet are rarely charged; the city is now contemplating spending $11 billion to fix an aging highway rather than eliminating it or reducing its capacity to inhibit driving; the NYPD continues to crack down on cyclists more than on truck drivers; Mayor de Blasio is considering a less-safe design for cyclists on Queens Boulevard because he doesn’t want to inconvenience car owners; the list goes on and on.
Is the above an editorial? No. It is objective fact.
Meanwhile, drivers can’t so much as respect a short stretch of protection for cyclists. No, they have to destroy it in 24 hours.
Streetsblog reached out to DOT on Saturday, but does not expect a response on a weekend.
Meet the face of your money going down the drain.
Wall Street trader Peter Tuchman has been captured freaking out on camera more than a dozen times during some of the most catastrophic financial crashes of the past two decades — including the mortgage-lending stock dive of 2007 and the coronavirus-fueled plunge Thursday.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE NEW YORK POST
“I’m the guy — I’m the face,” Tuchman told The Post on Friday — after yet another devastating loss at the New York Stock Exchange. “What can I say, I have a boisterous character. Whether it’s up or down, I react.”
Trader Peter Tuchman works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. (AP)
CLICK HERE FOR FULL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
He added, “I love being photographed.”
The spirited stock man is shown in photos furrowing his brow, grabbing his head with a pained expression and hunched with his face in his hands. In others, he appears to be breathing a sigh of relief.
On Thursday, the Dow lost nearly 1,200 points — its worst single-day point drop in its 124-year history — as the worsening coronavirus outbreak fueled global financial fears.
HOW IS CORONAVIRUS TRANSMITTED?
The spirited stock man is shown in photos furrowing his brow, grabbing his head with a pained expression and hunched with his face in his hands. In others, he appears to be breathing a sigh of relief.<br data-cke-eol="1"> (AP)
Asked about the latest plunge, Tuchman said, “It’s clearly a big deal. Even if it’s contained, it will be significant to the global economy.”
But Tuchman, who has worked as a trader for 30 years, added, “It’s by no means the end of the world.”
SOME HUMAN CORONAVIRUSES CAN LIVE ON SURFACES FOR 9 DAYS, STUDY FINDS
Photos of Tuchman have been snapped including July 26, 2007, when stock investors fled amid uneasiness about the mortgage lending markets; Jan. 4, 2018, when the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 25,000 points for the first time, and Feb. 28, 2020, when markets were poised to end their worst week in more than a decade.
This story originally appeared in the New York Post. For more from the Post, click here.
A Colorado man who was suspected of street racing Monday nearly ran over a Phoenix police officer as he was fleeing police, according to court records.
Officers with the department's street-racing task force responded Feb. 24 to "a large group" of cars racing and doing burnouts in a Costco parking lot near Indian School Road and Grand Avenue, police said in a statement submitted to court.
An officer approached the group to chat with Wilbur A. Tochico, 24, who was in the driver's seat of a car with its window partially down, according to court records. The officer asked Tochico to turn off the car.
Instead, court records state, Tochico fled and then crashed into a parked vehicle. Several people exited the car driven by Tochico and ran.
Tochico then backed the car away from the crash area and drove toward the officer who "had to jump out of the way to avoid being ran over," court records say.
The car jumped a curb to get out of the parking lot but was followed by another police car with two officers. The officers tried to stop Tochico but he continued driving despite extensive damage to the car, including smoking, court records say.
He eventually stopped and was arrested. He told police "his brakes failed, so he was not able to stop immediately," according to court records.
Police said Tochico showed signs of impairment, and there were two empty bottles of tequila found in the car he was driving.
Tochico faces charges of aggravated assault, unlawful flight from law enforcement and aggravated driving under the influence, court records say. He was being held on a $3,500 bond.
Court records indicated Tochico lived in Denver.
Tochico's arrest followed the death of 18-year-old Felix Cardoza last week after an alleged street-racing accident on State Route 51 in Phoenix.
Law enforcement officials have reported an increase in street-racing activity since late last year, prompting the creation of the Phoenix police street-racing task force this year and the introduction of legislation that would penalize street racers.
The Senate Bill 1659, introduced by Sen. Paul Boyer, R-Phoenix, failed in the Senate rules committee on Monday.
Reach the reporter at chelsea.curtis@arizonarepublic.com or follow her on Twitter @curtis_chels.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral today.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Main Street Capital Corp (NYSE:MAIN)
Q4 2019 Earnings Call
Feb 28, 2020, 10:00 a.m. ET
Operator
Greetings. Welcome to the Main Street Capital Corporation Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call.
[Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Zach Vaughan with Dennard Lascar Investor Relations.
Thank you, Zach. You may now begin.
Zach Vaughan -- Assistant Vice President at Dennard Lascar Investor Relations
Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for Main Street Capital Corporation's Fourth Quarter 2019 Earnings Conference Call. Main Street issued a press release yesterday afternoon that details the Company's fourth quarter financial and operating results. This document is available on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at mainstcapital.com.
A replay of today's call will be available beginning an hour after the completion of the call and will remain available until March 6th. Information on how to access the replay was included in yesterday's release. We also advise you that this conference call is being broadcast live through the Internet and can be accessed on the Company's home page.
Please note that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, February 28th, 2020, and therefore, you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate at the time of any replay listening or transcript reading.
Today's call will contain forward-looking statements. Many of these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as anticipates, believes, expects, intends, will, should, may or similar expressions. These statements are based on management's estimates, assumptions and projections as of the date of this call, and there are no guarantees of future performance.
Actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied in these statements as a result of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, but not limited to, the factors set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be found on the company's website or at sec.gov. Main Street assumes no obligation to update any of these statements unless required by law.
During today's call, management will discuss non-GAAP financial measures, including distributable net investment income. Please refer to yesterday's press release for a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Certain information discussed on this call, including information related to portfolio companies, was derived from third-party sources and has not been independently verified.
And now I'll turn the call over to Main Street's CEO, Dwayne Hyzak.
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Zach, and thank you all for joining us today. Joining me for our call today with prepared comments are David Magdol, our President and Chief Investment Officer and Brent Smith, our CFO. Also joining us for the Q&A portion of our call are Vince Foster, our Executive Chairman and Nick Meserve, our Managing Director and Head of our Middle Market Investment Group.
On today's call, I will start by providing a recap of our overall performance in the fourth quarter, and I will also comment on some current activities in our asset management business, I'll discuss our recent dividend announcement and other recent developments, and I will conclude with some remarks on our investment activities and our current investment pipeline.
Following my comments, David and Brett will provide additional comments on our investment strategy, investment portfolio and financial results, after which we'll be happy to take your questions.
We are pleased that for the fourth quarter and full year, we again generated distributable net investment income or DNII per share in excess of our regular monthly dividends, exceeding the monthly dividends paid in the fourth quarter by approximately 7% and for the full year by approximately 10%.
During the quarter, we continued to focus our efforts on sourcing transactions in the lower middle market that are consistent with our historical investment profile and executing against our previously stated goal of growing our private loan investment portfolio, while being highly selective with new investments in our middle market portfolio.
Despite our successes in 2019, our actual results were below our stated long-term goals with an ROE, or return on equity, of 8.5%. And as a result, we executed on our core principle of maintaining alignment between our management team and our shareholders by reducing the amount of incentive cash compensation paid to our executive and senior management team when compared to prior years.
We continue to believe that the advantages of our differentiated investment strategy, diversified investment portfolio, efficient operating structure and the alignment of interest with our shareholders, combined with our conservative capital structure and strong liquidity position, have us very well-positioned for long-term growth and continued future success.
Over the past several months, we have taken significant steps in our ongoing efforts to organically grow our asset management business. And we expect to be in position to announce a new strategic initiative in this part of our strategy in the near future. We also continue to actively review viable acquisition opportunities as we evaluate multiple options to grow our asset management business.
Earlier this week, our Board declared our second quarter 2020 regular monthly dividends of $0.205 per share payable in each of April, May and June, an amount that is unchanged from our monthly dividends for the first quarter and representing a 2.5% increase from the second quarter of prior year.
Consistent with our prior practice, and as part of the execution of our plan to absorb our semi-annual supplemental dividends into our regular monthly dividends, we currently expect to recommend that our Board declare a supplemental dividend payable in June of $0.23 per share, representing a decrease of $0.01 from our December 2019 dividend.
We continue to expect that our dividend transition plan will take several years, with the ultimate timing and outcome of this transition impacted by the level of our investment originations and repayments, the performance of our investment portfolio, and changes in the overall interest rate environment and the overall economy.
Now turning to our investment activities in the quarter and our current investment pipeline, we completed lower middle market investments of over $36 million in the quarter. And as of today, I would characterize our lower middle market investment pipeline as significantly above average.
We continue to be focused on maintaining a disciplined and selective approach to new investment opportunities, and we remain confident in our future ability to continue to originate new investments, consistent with our historical investment profile.
In our comments over the last few quarters, we noted that we are experiencing increased third-party interest in a few of our existing lower middle market portfolio companies. These activities have continued, and these ongoing activities could result in additional attractive exits over the next few quarters.
We also continued the successful focus of our non-lower middle market investment growth on our private loan portfolio, resulting in this portfolio growing by over $71 million on a net basis in the quarter, while our middle market portfolio decreased by over $18 million.
As of today, I would characterize our private loan investment pipeline as average. And in closing, our Officer & Director group has continued to be regular purchasers of our shares, investing approximately $600,000 during the quarter and owning Main Street shares valued at over $143 million at quarter end.
With that, I will turn the call over to David.
David L. Magdol -- President and Chief Investment Officer
Thanks, Dwayne, and good morning, everyone. The year-end provides a good opportunity to look back at our history and recap the benefits of our unique investment strategy and efficient operating structure and discuss how those factors have enabled us to deliver attractive returns to our shareholders over an extended period of time.
Since our IPO over 12 years ago, we have increased our monthly dividends per share by 86%, and we have declared cumulative total dividends to our shareholders of over $28 per share or 189% of our IPO price of $15 per share.
As we have previously discussed, we believe that the primary drivers of our long-term success has been and continue to be our focus on investing in both debt and equity investments in the underserved lower middle market, our third-party asset management business and related economics, which directly benefit our shareholders, our industry-leading low-cost structure and the strong alignment of interest that exists between our management team and our shareholders through the meaningful stock ownership we have throughout our organization.
Most notably and uniquely, our lower middle market strategy provides attractive leverage points and yields on our first-lien debt investments also allowing us to be a true partner to the management teams of our portfolio companies through our equity ownership positions.
In short, we believe that we have significant downside protection through our first-lien debt investments, while still benefiting from significant upside potential with our equity investments. As a result of this strategy, in 2019, we were able to generate approximately $13 million of net realized gains and approximately $35 million of dividend income from this segment of our business.
Given our success in the lower middle market, we are pleased that we continue to find attractive new investment opportunities in the market. Our ability to provide customized capital solutions for the predominantly family owned businesses that exist in the lower middle market has been and continues to be a strong differentiator for us in the marketplace.
In 2019, Main Street invested in five new lower middle market portfolio companies. This pace was slower than what we expect to achieve in any given annual period of time. That said, our origination volume can be lumpy in the lower middle market. And to reiterate what Dwayne mentioned in his opening remarks, as of today, we would characterize our lower middle market pipeline at significantly above average. We look forward to making press announcements in the very near future about some exciting new investments that we currently have in the final stages of completing.
As a part of our constant effort to provide value to our lower middle market portfolio companies, we hosted our fourth Annual Main Street President's Day event last fall. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with President's Day, it's a Main Street hosted event, which we invite a majority of our lower middle market portfolio company leaders to share best practices, learn from each other and benefit from being part of the broader Main Street portfolio. The event continues to improve each year, and we received very positive feedback from our lower middle market portfolio company executives.
Topics covered in our most recent meeting included industry-oriented workgroups, sales generation techniques, cybersecurity briefings and other timely matters that are top of mind for our portfolio company executives. 12 years ago, we could not have imagined we would be able to build this type of collaborative community event and bring such robust benefits to our portfolio companies. As a result, our portfolio companies have done business together, referred business to each other and made friendships that are invaluable.
One other example of topics covered at Presidents Day is voluntary participation in a cost savings initiative that we undertook approximately two years ago. With our platform of 69 lower middle market companies, each can benefit from group savings in several expense categories that will be difficult for our companies to replicate on their own.
Some examples include savings for travel, shipping, small parcels, and insurance. As Main Street continues to grow, we are excited to provide our lower middle market portfolio companies the opportunity to participate in this highly effective annual event.
Now turning to our current investment portfolio. As of December 31st, we had investments in 185 portfolio companies spanning across more than 50 different industries. Our largest portfolio company represented 5.1% of our total investment income for the year and 2.8% of our total investment portfolio fair value at year-end. The majority of our portfolio companies' investments represent less than 1% of our income and/or assets.
Our lower middle market portfolio included investments in 69 companies, representing approximately $1.2 billion of fair value, which is approximately 20% above our cost basis. The contributions from our lower middle market portfolio continue to be well-diversified with 40 of the 69 lower middle market companies having unrealized appreciation at year-end and 35 of these companies contributed to our dividend income in 2019.
In the past 12 months, we successfully exited four lower middle market companies, which generated a net realized gain of approximately $13 million. At the lower middle market portfolio level, the portfolio's median net senior debt-to-EBITDA ratio was a conservative 2.8:1 and the total EBITDA to senior interest ratio was 2.9:1.
As a complement to our lower middle market portfolio, we had investments in 65 companies in our private loan portfolio, representing approximately $690 million of fair value and in our middle market portfolio, we had investments in 51 companies, representing approximately $520 million of fair value.
As we have discussed on previous conference calls, given our favorable view of the lower middle market and private loan opportunities that exist today, we have primarily focused our investment activities on these segments of the business with our middle market activities focused on highly selective investments instead of a growth-oriented strategy with the intent to shrink the middle market portfolio on a relative basis compared to our lower middle market and private loan portfolios.
As a result, during 2019, we increased our private loan portfolio by 33% and decreased our middle market portfolio by 6%. The total investment portfolio at fair value at year-end was approximately 107% of the related cost basis, and we had eight investments on nonaccrual status, which equaled 1.4% of the total investment portfolio at fair value and 4.8% of cost. Additional details on our investment portfolio at year-end are included in the press release we issued yesterday.
With that, I will turn the call over to Brent to cover our financial results, capital structure, and liquidity positions.
Brent D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Thanks, David. We are pleased to report that our total investment income increased over the same period in 2018 to a total of $60.6 million, primarily driven by an increase in dividend income. The change in total investment income is after a decrease of $0.4 million related to lower levels of accelerated income for certain debt investments when compared to the fourth quarter of last year. The overall increase in investment income is also after the negative impact to interest income from lower LIBOR rates when compared to the fourth quarter of last year.
Our operating expenses, excluding noncash share-based compensation expense, increased by $3.7 million over the same period of the prior year to a total of $18.6 million, primarily related to an increase in interest expense and an increase in compensation expense.
The increase in compensation expense is primarily due to an increase in the fair value of our deferred compensation plan assets, which is an expense that is solely based on the public stock market price movement of these assets. It has no impact on our net income due to the offsetting unrealized appreciation on those same deferred compensation plan assets and a net decrease in the nonrecurring expense reduction or benefit to income that was recorded relating to the conversion of a cash bonus into a noncash restricted stock grant.
The ratio of our total operating expenses, excluding interest expense as a percentage of our average total assets was 1.2% for the fourth quarter on an annualized basis and 1.4% for the full year. The combination of our unique investment strategy and leverage of our efficient operating structure resulted in distributable net investment income of $42.1 million or $0.66 per share, which exceeded our monthly dividends paid for the quarter by approximately 7%.
The activities of our external investment manager benefited our net investment income by approximately $2.8 million through the allocation of $1.7 million of operating expenses for services we provided to it and $1.1 million of dividend income.
We recorded a net realized loss of $0.9 million during the fourth quarter, primarily relating to the realized loss from the restructure of our middle market investment, partially offset by a realized gain related to the exit of a private loan investment. We recorded net unrealized depreciation on the investment portfolio of $23.5 million, primarily resulting from $10.8 million of net depreciation related to our middle market portfolio, $6.9 million of net depreciation on our lower middle market portfolio, $6.9 million of net depreciation on our private loan portfolio, and $3 million of net depreciation on our other portfolio, partially offset by $4.2 million of appreciation relating to our external investment manager.
Our operating results for the fourth quarter resulted in a net increase in net assets of $16 million or $0.25 per share. Our overall capitalization and liquidity remains strong, as our total liquidity was approaching $500 million at the end of the year. During the fourth quarter, we repaid our $175 million investment-grade notes that matured in December, and we were also very pleased to be able to increase our $250 million investment-grade debt issuance from this past April by $75 million.
The additional $75 million was issued at a yield to maturity of 3.95% and brought the total issuance to $325 million, representing our first index eligible investment-grade debt deal in what we view as an important capital markets milestone. We also raised approximately $35 million in net proceeds under our ATM equity issuance program during the fourth quarter, with an average sale price of nearly $43 per share.
As we look forward to our expected results for the first quarter of 2020 and taking into account the impact from the decline in LIBOR rates that occurred during 2019, which we estimate is a net -- has a negative net impact of approximately $0.04 per share in the upcoming first quarter.
When compared to the first quarter of last year and taking into account our expected origination and repayment activity, we expect that we will generate distributable net investment income of $0.62 to $0.63 per share during the first quarter of 2020. This estimate is $0.005 to $0.015 per share or approximately 1% to 2% above our previously announced monthly dividends for the first quarter of $0.615 per share.
With that, I will now turn the call back over to the operator so we can take any questions.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] And our first question is from the line of Robert Dodd with Raymond James. Please proceed with your questions.
Robert Dodd -- Raymond James -- Analyst
Hi guys. First -- well, both questions really relate to the same thing kind of COVID-19. Can you give us any color on any discussions you've had with your portfolio companies, primarily on the lower middle market side, I would say? About -- not their exposure because, obviously, they're domestic companies, but their supply chain exposure? And if there's any particular areas where they do have supply chain to China, particularly if it's Hubei province? And if there's any concentration in supply chain that touches on China in any of your businesses?
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. Thanks, Robert. What I would say is, as you touched on, our lower middle market portfolio is largely domestic U.S.-based companies and not only they're U.S.-based, most of their vendors and customers, as we talked about in the past, were also going to be predominantly U.S.-based.
We have had conversations with our portfolio companies on this topic. And I would say that the current expectation is the impact is not overly significant, definitely not as significant as you might see from the broader market or the broader economy.
We do expect that as the issue continues to play out and works its way through all the supply chain issues that we will have some impact. But again, I think we look at the impact and think it will be less significant on our side than it would be for the overall economy.
I think the areas where you would expect to see more impact would be areas where you've got heavy electronics. That's an area where I think we would expect to see some of the impact first. But again, I think we're in a more of a wait-and-see position until these supply chain issues really work their way through.
Robert Dodd -- Raymond James -- Analyst
Got it. I appreciate that. And then, I mean -- sort of tied to the same thing. You characterized your lower middle market pipeline as significantly above average. And I mean, you said today, but that may have been last week. Do you think -- is this kind of noise you think likely to have any impact on that either increasing it? Because again, family owned businesses maybe with time and planning or reducing it as people decide to sit on hands and kind of wait things out a little bit?
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. I would say it's -- again, I think it's going to be little bit of a wait-and-see. I would say our current pipeline, as I said in my earlier comments, is significantly above average.
The pipeline today is very robust. Obviously, the impact of coronavirus and the indirect impact to supply chain is something that we have to take into consideration as we work through our due diligence processes. But I would say that the characteristics of our current pipeline is consistent with the types of companies that we've executed historically in the lower middle market.
So going back to my earlier response, while it's something we have to watch, it's not something that has a significant an impact as you might see from a broader economy standpoint.
Robert Dodd -- Raymond James -- Analyst
Right, right. And then if I can, one follow-up to that since it's still related to the same topic. On the potential for exits. And again, it's very early days. But have you seen anything over the last week of any of the -- typically when there's an exit, it's either M&A, private equity, whatever somebody coming in to take, in many cases one of these businesses as an add-on or a whole variety of things? But has there been any movement on that, that you've seen so far, I mean, literally days into this but...
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. Today, we've not. So again, it will be interesting to see how things play out over the coming weeks. But as we sit here today, we have not seen a material impact on that front either.
Robert Dodd -- Raymond James -- Analyst
Okay, thank you. Thanks.
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
You're welcome. Thanks for the questions.
Operator
The next question is coming from the line of Bryce Rowe with National Securities. Please proceed with your questions.
Bryce Rowe -- National Securities -- Analyst
Thanks. Good morning.
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning.
Bryce Rowe -- National Securities -- Analyst
Dwayne, obviously, you highlighted the asset management initiative that you hope to talk about here in the near future. Obviously, you're probably a bit constrained in what you can say. But I am curious how comparable will that be to the HMS situation? Is it a deviation from that? And so any kind of color around that asset management initiative would be helpful?
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Sure. So as you expected, Bryce, we're going to be limited on what we can say. But as we've talked about for a number of years, we've been actively looking for ways to grow our asset management business. It's a core part of our overall strategy. So I'd say the most recent progress we've made is that we worked through the process of looking at what we could do on a new private fund.
So it would be different than what we would do with an HMS or if we were to do something from an M&A standpoint. From a -- from a BDC industry standpoint, it will be different from that. And I'd say we're kind of in the prelaunch stage of looking at what we can do on the private -- the new private fund that we would put in place.
In terms of the goals, obviously, it's -- the goal is to grow our asset management business and to continue to diversify the funds that we manage. And I would say that the size of the opportunity will largely be dictated by what happens after we get through this prelaunch phase that we're in today.
Bryce Rowe -- National Securities -- Analyst
Okay. That's helpful. And then a couple more questions. Number one, you obviously highlighted incentive comp being down here in the fourth quarter. Could you remind us when we think about incentive comp, is there a set ROE target that you have, that really doesn't change year in, year out or does that fluctuate on an annual basis?
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
I would say, it fluctuates on an annual basis based upon what's going on in the marketplace, the overall economy and specifically in our portfolio. So I would say that's kind of on an annual -- year-to-year basis. I would say, long term, the ROE targets or goals do not move as much.
So I'd say that our goals continue to be consistent with what we've given in the past. So I think long term, we expect to be in that same range from an ROE standpoint, which would be something in the 10-plus percent to mid-teens range.
So I think long term, we continue to believe that we can achieve those types of ROE goals or targets. But I do think, on a year-to-year basis, you do adjust that based upon what's going on in the current time period.
Bryce Rowe -- National Securities -- Analyst
Got it. Okay. And then lastly, this is kind of been an ongoing trend with the middle market portfolio shrinking in absolute dollars and in relative and private loan growing. Is there -- is there any way to think about the middle market portfolio, will it continue to shrink? You talked about it in terms of relative there in your prepared remarks, but just curious where you kind of see that going over the next couple of years in terms of maybe absolute and relative terms?
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. So what I would say is, you've heard us say this before. In general, when you compare the middle market opportunities to the private loan opportunities, we believe we're seeing more attractive opportunities in the private loan space.
That's largely dictated by what we believe are better terms, whether that's legal documentation or kind of legal protections or if it's the ability to be closer to the company, whether it's closer to the sponsor, closer to the management team or just closer overall to the business in terms of what you can do from an underwriting or a due diligence standpoint.
So I think our position today continues to be what it's been for the last couple of years. We -- all things being equal, we favor the private loan opportunities above the middle market. That being said, as you've also heard us say in the past, to the extent we see good opportunities in the middle market, and we feel like there's acceptable terms, whether it's legal docs or otherwise, you'll continue to see us take opportunities as they come up in the middle market. But in general, you'll continue to see us move more toward the private loan opportunities and away from the middle market opportunities.
Bryce Rowe -- National Securities -- Analyst
Okay, that's great. Thanks.
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question will be coming from the line of Kenneth Lee with RBC Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.
Kenneth Lee -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
Hi, thanks for taking my question. Just want to get your sense if you have any updated thoughts on expectations for leverage over the near-term under the current conditions? Thanks.
Brent D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Yes, this is Brent. I'll take that question. We ended the year on a total debt-to-equity at 0.73 times and on a regulatory basis, just over 0.5 times. So consistent with our historical track record, we're maintaining a conservative leverage profile.
I believe that our intent is certainly to maintain that going forward. We don't have any initiative to significantly increase leverage as we move forward. And I think it's prudent to do so given the uncertain economic environment.
Kenneth Lee -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
Okay, very helpful. And just one follow-up, if I may. Just on the funding costs, and I saw that you recently issued some notes, and just given the current interest rate levels, do you expect any further changes in terms of your funding mix going forward? Thanks.
Brent D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
I would say, generally, not. I think one thing we'll probably do is utilize revolver a little bit more in 2020. If you recall, when we did the investment-grade notes offering in -- the first one in April of last year, we used those proceeds to repay the revolver. So on the whole or on the balance of 2019, we had a lower revolver balance than we typically do.
So I'd expect to have a higher revolver balance, which I think will be good to have some more variable rate -- a floating rate debt obligations out there. But generally speaking, we expect to maintain conservative -- the leverage profile and a mix of the debt and equity going forward.
Kenneth Lee -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
Got you, very helpful. Thank you very much.
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Operator
Our next question is a follow-up from the line of Robert Dodd with Raymond James. Please go ahead with your questions.
Robert Dodd -- Raymond James -- Analyst
Hi, guys. Yes, just a follow-up. On the asset management business, I mean, just -- and again, you can't say much, but would you expect the accounting treatment to be the same? Hypothetically, if you're getting fees from that, would it show up as dividend and then a cost offset kind of akin to HMS or would there be some -- is there something about the contemplated structure that would -- that differ from that kind of treatment?
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, Robert, I already expected that the benefit to Main Street and the goal we have is really to grow that asset management business, and it would come in the form to us from a benefit standpoint, largely through the asset management fees similar or consistent to what we receive on the HMS front.
Robert Dodd -- Raymond James -- Analyst
Got it. Thank you.
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Robert.
Operator
Thank you. At this time -- this will conclude our question-and-answer session and I'll turn the call back to management for closing comments.
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
We thank everyone for joining us again this morning, and we'll look forward to talking after our first quarter results are issued. Thank you.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]
Duration: 31 minutes
Zach Vaughan -- Assistant Vice President at Dennard Lascar Investor Relations
Dwayne L. Hyzak -- Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
David L. Magdol -- President and Chief Investment Officer
Brent D. Smith -- Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Robert Dodd -- Raymond James -- Analyst
Bryce Rowe -- National Securities -- Analyst
Kenneth Lee -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
With most of Market Street closed downtown to private auto traffic and the initial effects on the area appearing positive, it doesn’t take long for eyes to wander to other popular but persistently gridlocked streets and wonder if it’s time to do the same there.
At least a few decision-makers at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFTMA) recently pondered a car-free Valencia Street, hoping to revitalize the Mission District’s critical yet sometimes struggling retail and cultural corridor.
But Valencia is an entirely different species of street than Market: narrower, more human-scale, and dominated mostly by small businesses. And unlike Market Street, Valencia isn’t a critical lifeline for Muni, which runs almost all of its north-south Mission District traffic on Mission Street itself.
To get an idea of what a hypothetical car-free Valencia Street might look like, Curbed SF asked Geeti Silwa, one of the principals at Perkins and Will, an urban design firm that worked with the city on the Market Street closure, and Luca Giaramidaro, a Perkins and Will designer who is also a Valencia Street resident.
Curbed SF: If the city were to close Valencia Street, say from 15th to 26th, how long would that take?
Luca Giaramidaro: Hard to say. Support from local businesses and local residents is fundamental, [and] that will take time and a lot of political effort. Market Street took nearly a decade. That said, examples such as Broadway Boulevard in New York City have shown that you can go a long way with a bucket of paint.
What would be the biggest obstacles?
Geeti Silwa: These projects require input and guidance from several city agencies. On Market we worked with San Francisco Public Works, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, San Francisco Planning Department, San Francisco County Transportation Authority, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development.
Finding consensus is a challenge, but now that it has been done at least there is a road map—so to speak. In a tight neighborhood with small businesses like Valencia, the public involvement would likely be more intensive than we encountered with Market Street.
Also, there will be a cultural shift. Streets need to be primarily conceived as public realm. This concept has a long history in Europe, and it is time for the US to shift gears on this (no pun intended).
How would a closure like this affect the neighborhood and/or retail—which is already struggling?
[Valencia Street] would become a place that people come to as a destination to socialize, linger, enjoy street life and interact with public art, nature, and each other. Streets were never meant to be just streams of vehicles but somewhere down the line, unfortunately, streets became synonymous with cars.
Market Street’s new image will be instrumental in inspiring other cities and streets globally to do the right thing [and prioritize] low-carbon modes of mobility: walking, biking, skating. It is not just the right thing to do to combat climate change, but it is also the right thing to do to address social equity. Access to employment, education, social well-being opportunities for community members of all age and income groups is possible when we make space for an efficient, dignified transit system.
One of the common obstacles of such changes is the local business opposition. Quite honestly, research has shown that local businesses thrive from improved pedestrian and bicycle access. Retail not associated with customer experience is dying in the U.S. (i.e., the Amazon effect.) Ground floor retail, food and beverage will benefit from the improvement of pedestrian and bicycle experience, especially on Valencia, which is already a destination for many weekend strollers.
Would you personally like to see Valencia Street (or any other SF street) closed to private vehicle traffic?
Yes, just like the Market Street project. Prioritizing and structuring streets for people and public life over movement of private vehicles is a fundamental goal that the entire team got behind.
[It’s] an intriguing idea, maybe 16th to 18th, where it is the busiest? Valencia Street has been already going through positive changes with improved/protected bicycle lanes and controlled TNC pickup and drop off zones (Lyft pilot project). Streets are not the same as they used to be, and we need to carefully craft a tailored strategy that responds to unique conditions. It would be very interesting to see this improvement advance towards a complete street environment. I’m thrilled to see this happening. One step closer to healthy and equitable mobility solutions for all.
There are a lot of factors that need to be considered before vacating a street. A healthy street grid provides good connectivity and democratizes a place by giving people options to navigate a city, irrespective of the mode. It is important not to impede the connectivity of a healthy city grid.
However, fewer and narrower travel lanes slow vehicles down, which in turn calms the experience of the street and makes it much more pleasant, safe and inviting for pedestrians and bicyclists. Prioritizing and structuring the street for people and public life over movement of private vehicles should be a fundamental principle for all streets. Streets need to be primarily conceived as livable public spaces.
Which means the hierarchy of mobility modes needs to put “people first.” Pedestrians and public life on streets come first, bikes next, transit third, and ultimately private vehicles.
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Opelika Main Street hosting Downtown 5th Saturday Sale WTVMThe stock market cratered again on Friday, marking the seventh day of a massive sell-off sparked by rising fears about the coronavirus epidemic.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged by 800 points at the opening bell, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each falling by 3 percent.
The meltdown comes as traders appear to lose any hope that the spread of the highly infectious disease has been staunched, with the number of cases continuing to spiral globally.
Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.
A dozen countries have reported their first virus cases over the past 24 hours, including Nigeria, the biggest economy in Africa.
Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak
The epidemic has wiped $6 trillion off global stocks in just six days, with multinational companies abandoning or downgrading their forecasts for 2020 due to near-paralysis in their supply chains, production lines and cargo shipping.
Talk has turned to whether or not the Federal Reserve will implement a rate cut at its meeting on March 17-18 in order to steer the U.S. economy through the epidemic.
The economy is currently in a "good position," said St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard in a statement on Friday, noting that current central bank policy has "cushioned the economy against adverse shocks."
“Further policy rate cuts are a possibility if a global pandemic actually develops with health effects approaching the scale of ordinary influenza, but this is not the baseline case at this time,” he said.
Download the NBC News app for full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak
All three major averages have fallen into correction this week, with the S&P 500 down almost 11 percent and the Dow down by more than 3,500 points, marking the worst performance for Wall Street since the financial crisis.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders may be surging in the polls ahead of Super Tuesday, but some on Wall Street have made their own conclusions on what November will bring: four more years of President Donald Trump.
FILE PHOTO: A Wall Street sign is seen outside of the New York Stock Exchange September 19, 2008. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
Ninety-five percent of participants in a Deutsche Bank survey of investors, economists and other market participants released earlier this month said Trump, a Republican, was either “extremely likely” or “slightly likely” to win the general election.
Those results contrast with wider polls, which show any Democrat beating Trump in a presidential contest. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted Feb. 19-25, showed Sanders with a seven percentage-point lead over Trump in a hypothetical general election matchup.
The sharp mismatch in expectations could stoke market volatility if Wall Streeters are wrong and a Democrat emerges victorious—especially if that winner is Sanders, whose promises to break up big banks, take on drug companies and essentially abolish private insurance in favor of a single government-run plan have unnerved some investors. Many on Wall Street were unprepared for Trump’s win in 2016, which was followed by sharp swings in asset prices.
“As an investor, I look at this and say the market’s nightmare scenario is that Bernie or Elizabeth Warren wins the election,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist, at Federated Investors, in New York. “That’s not our base case ... but it’s a concern,” he said.
Warren’s policy proposals, like Sanders’s, have also jangled nerves on Wall Street.
Investors will be looking ahead to next Tuesday, when 14 states will cast ballots and Sanders could build an overwhelming advantage if he captures the lion’s share of the available delegates.
Those primaries come as the markets are gripped by concerns over the economic fallout from the spreading coronavirus outbreak, with the number of cases beyond China accelerating rapidly. U.S. stocks plunged for a sixth day on Thursday and the S&P 500 .SPX confirmed its fastest correction in history.
Orlando said Sanders’ rise in the polls also contributed to the recent sell-off. Some investors also said continued volatility in markets or an economic downturn could wear away at Trump’s support.
While the market gyrations are likely to drown out some of the potential impact from next week’s results, some corners are already feeling the effects of Sanders’ recent success.
After Sanders’ commanding victory in the Nevada caucuses in February, shares of insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH.N) and Centene Corp (CNC.N) sold off on what some analysts said were concerns over the potential nomination of a Sanders nomination.
“If Bernie runs the table and suddenly he becomes unstoppable, I think we’re going to see the jitters again,” said Teresa McRoberts, a portfolio manager focused on healthcare at Fred Alger Management in New York.
(Graphic: Sanders nomination odds vs health insurer shares- here)
The effects on the broader market of a big Sanders win on Tuesday are less clear. Only 13% of participants in Deutsche Bank’s poll believed Sanders could beat Trump in the general election, compared to 22% for former Vice President Joe Biden and 45% for former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Gary Bradshaw, portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management in Dallas, Texas, has kept most of his attention on the coronavirus outbreak in recent days and isn’t eager to make any election-related portfolio moves yet.
“I think most of my clients pretty much are like me, thinking Trump is going win,” he said.
Still, some investors believe the election can fuel market swings this year.
Volume on the October futures contract VXc8 for the Cboe Volatility Index hit 16,247 between Jan. 2 and Feb. 21, according to Cboe Global Markets (CBOE.Z). That dwarfs the 471 contracts that traded in 2016 from Jan. 4 to Feb. 19. VIX futures reflect expectations for volatility in the month following their expiration.
On Thursday, October VIX futures traded at 22.5, versus 19.57 for September futures VXc7 and 20.22 for November futures VXc9, indicating heightened expectations for volatility near election day.
Cboe Global Markets listed October VIX futures a month earlier than usual in response to customers eager to place bets on election-induced volatility, said Kevin Davitt, senior instructor at the exchange’s options institute. The exchange also listed September and November futures ahead of their usual schedule.
Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said the election will become a greater concern for investors once the Democratic party selects its nominee.
“There are a number of places where the policy divides are incredibly wide,” he said.
(Graphic: Positioning for U.S. election volatility - here)
Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch, April Joyner and Lewis Krauskopf; Additional reporting by Chris Kahn; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Christopher Cushing
The city is bracing for changes that will result when Mayor Kenney expands a street cleaning program that will require people in some neighborhoods to move their cars to allow the sweepers to do their job.
The city used to have an extensive street sweeping program, but it became victim of budget cuts in 2009. As a result, we’ve enjoyed the dubious distinction of being the only big city without street sweeping — and the biggest city that seems not to mind wallowing in filth, debris, and trash.
The tough-love language that the mayor has used in alerting people they’ll have to change their behavior suggests that he expects the wailing to be loud. (No surprise, given his experience the last time he wanted people to change their soda-buying behavior.) But really: Isn’t moving a car off the street a few times a month to enable sweeping the equivalent of lifting your legs off the floor so someone can vacuum?
Yes it’s a pain, and inconvenient. But Philadelphians face a gamut of annoyances and disturbances on a daily basis. For example, we can’t know when the next SEPTA train is going to arrive, as we would in most other major cities that have announcement boards for that purpose. Speaking of SEPTA, look how many years we’ve put up with paper transfers…and tokens.
Then there’s the fact that we don’t know if the schools we’re sending our kids to will be closed because of damaged asbestos. Or the fact that we pay an extra 1.5 cents per ounce in sugary beverage tax…for drinks that don’t actually have sugar in them.
Of course, the soul-killing presence of trash and litter and even worse that clog the gutters and decorate the sidewalks of streets all throughout the city is the ultimate inconvenience. It’s inconvenience that has real impact in property values, on crime, and on the health of the city as a whole.
Cleaner streets are an important goal. But the street sweeping plan could also be a useful Trojan horse for a mayor who is confronting the environmental, safety, and health demands imposed by increasing congestion in our streets. We like to rail about the role of delivery trucks in street congestion. But car ownership in the city is certainly a factor. The city has issued roughly 50,000 residential car permits. But that’s only a fraction of the number of cars that actually live here. According to American community survey reports from the Census and reported by Governing magazine, Philly’s rate of car ownership is 1.05 per household. Which means at least 600,000 live here. According to Penn Dot figures on car registration data, that number is closer to 700,000.
One of the values of city living — especially in this city — is walkability and a decent transit system to mitigate reliance on cars. So why aren’t we getting that message? Why is car ownership increasing rather than declining? (Car ownership grew in the city by 80,000 from 2010 to 2016.) Maybe it’s time not only to talk about cleaner streets, but emptier ones.
“Opening Ceremony is, at the end of day, kind of a sidekick to our personal wishes and desires,” says Humberto Leon, who co-founded the company in 2002 with Carol Lim. “Food,” he adds, “has always been almost more important.” After helping turn Opening Ceremony into — as our friends at the Cut put it — “a haven for stylish weirdos,” Leon will try on another look: restaurateur. He, his mom Wendy, and their family will next open a Los Angeles restaurant, Chifa, where they’ll serve both Chinese and Peruvian dishes. “It’s a reflection of what we grew up with at home,” Leon explains. Over the last week, he spent a few days in the Cayman Islands before returning to New York, where he made Japanese curry and Chinese borscht soup, fed his rice roll obsession, and visited a couple Park Slope favorites. Read all about it in this week’s Grub Street Diet.
Friday, February 21
I was in the Cayman Islands. We went because it was winter break for the kids and I’d heard about our friend Gerardo Gonzalez cooking at this hotel, the Palm Heights Hotel. I thought it was super cute. It was also Carol’s birthday, and the night before Gerardo went off course from the menu and cooked this really special meal.
I started my day with a Now Foods Fiber with orange juice. Breakfast was at Tillie’s in the hotel. I had steak and eggs, local sweet potato, fried plantains, a kale salad, and coffee with soy milk. It was super cool to be able to go to the Cayman Islands and be able to experience top notch New York food in a hotel. I love the local cuisine, there were lots of amazing spots that we found, but normally hotel food is, you know, hotel food. Where I want to travel, and where Carol and I have set a lot of travel places and wish lists and where we’ve discovered young people, a lot of it starts from where there’s a food scene, where there’s a restaurant scene that’s opening that we’re super excited about.
Lunch was also at Tillie’s. I had the sprats escovitch and a romaine salad with an ice coffee with soy milk. Gerardo’s food there is super local, when it comes to the fish and produce, but with his touch. The flavoring is really him.
We were heading back home to New York, and at the airport I bought a Subway sandwich — tuna, mayo, jalapeños, and mustard — and Cool Ranch Doritos. I had those on the plane.
I’m normally more of a Nacho Cheese person. Cool Ranch is one of those things where it’s a special occasion for me. But I’m a big ranch fan, maybe because I’m from California. I’m definitely more for the ranch dressing with chicken nuggets than anything else. Except if I’m at McDonald’s, I’ll eat the sweet and sour sauce. Otherwise, I’m a ranch type of guy.
I hope this thing doesn’t make it seem like I’m a Subway eating guy. I’ll also go to a nice restaurant and eat a somewhat fancy-ish meal. But I think it’s all about balance, and I could’ve easily faked this out and wrote every top notch restaurant known to man, but that’s so not like us.
Back at home in New York, I made Japanese curry chicken with carrots, potatoes, onion, sweet potato, and rice. I discovered this amazing curry mix in Japan that I’ve been using. There’s obviously Chinese curry, which is a lot more watery and I would say more of an Indian curry. The cool thing about Japanese curry is it has that really thick texture. I feel like growing up my mom always skimped a little bit on how much of the Japanese curry she put in, because she wanted it to be more Chinese. And I’ve decided to really make it more Japanese in my home.
Breaking down the meat is one of the first things I try to do. Chicken is a bit quicker, but I’ll do it with beef, too, where I’ll almost kind of simmer the meat for a much longer time. Then I like to throw in the sweet potato, because I think it adds that nice sweetness to it that’s different then what you normally get out. Sometimes, because I’m a huge fan of peas, I like throwing in peas, too. I love pasta and peas — I also do really random dish that my mom taught me as an eight year old cooking for himself. We’d take a can of creamed corn, and have some minced beef and throw in peas and throw it over rice. It’d be a really kind of easy, quick cream of corn over rice dish.
I did cook for myself a lot as a kid. My sisters were teenagers by the time I was eight, and my mom always left out all the ingredients for me to cook. She was working at a cafeteria, she would call me and say “do this, do this, do this now.” Probably by eight, I was cooking by myself.
In the beginning, it wasn’t novel, like how kids are like, “oh I want to cook.” It was more like cook for the family, cook for your sisters when they get home. It felt more like a chore. But I grew to really enjoy it because I learned to do it my own way. I oddly still use these recipes. I have kids now, so I use the recipes for them. In a more natural way.
Saturday, February 22
I drank Peruvian coffee at home with oat milk.
For brunch, we went out to Bricolage. It’s really close to my place. For my Park Slope neighborhood, you get good experimental food.
Bricolage’s brunch, I will say, there’s something kind of magical about it. I had the pho bo, with beef brisket; the croissant French toast with condensed milk; and a Vietnamese iced coffee. Taking a Croissant and French Toasting it? And putting condensed milk on top? It’s kind of a next level move for French toast.
Also, they don’t do pho in the evenings. Brunch is the only time they make it. I’m obsessed with noodle soups for breakfast. I think it’s kind of, number one if you’re in an immigrant Chinese family — maybe this is just my experience — what you eat for breakfast is basically what you had for dinner.
My mom would do this thing where she’d make soup, then bring it to a boil at night and leave it on the stove top with a lid on top. It’ll sit for at least a day. In China, they didn’t have fridges and that’s how you naturally kept the soup from going bad. You can have it the next morning. It’s kind of like a soup stock that just continues. I’ve definitely followed this tradition. My kids love soup in the morning, and I found a place recently that serves pho at 7 in the morning in Sunset Park. Which, of course, for me and my nerdy Asian friends — I had to give them this juicy gossip, they were like, “give me the place now.”
For dinner, we got Wang’s Chicken. Which I think is the most hidden secret known to man, because it should be like Kentucky Fried Chicken’s rival. It’s so good. It’s kind of no-nonsense, it’s kind of for everybody. We got the Asian fried chicken with sweet sauce, the mac and cheese, cole slaw, and kim chee. The chicken is kind of Southern-style but with an Asian flair.It’s not trying to be like what the Korean versions are. It’s really just a KFC type of menu but with Asian flavors.
Sunday, February 23
I met friends at Ping’s in Chinatown for dim sum. It’s one of my local spots around there, where our offices are. I feel like with dim sum, you’ll go to a place down here in Chinatown and it’s a lot of staples. What you try to look for are places that’ll do something a little bit more special. Like Jing Fong will have their station for the turnip stew and all that stuff on the side, which is nice. It’s a bit chaotic in there so I don’t really love to go in there.
At Ping’s, I think the staples are good. The har gow, the shui mai, the rice rolls. Then you can also get fresh fish congee that comes out in a sharing portion, that’s amazing, and soy sauce noodle on the side.
We got a lot. The har gow, siu mai, steamed rice roll with cruller (my favorite kind of rice roll), pineapple bun with BBQ pork filling, sticky rice in lotus leaf, turnip cake, fried taro dumpling, shrimp and chives dumpling, peanut mochi filled with black sesame, mango pudding, and fresh tofu with ginger molasses soup. I think they’re willing to go the extra mile, and they have some special dim sum. Like the pineapple bun with barbecue pork on the inside isn’t typical. Places normally either have a pineapple bun or a barbecue pork bun, this is a fusion of the two.
Back at home, I made Korean galbi ribs with rice, cucumber, sweet potato, and Chinese borscht soup. The soup comes from this Hong Kong cafè type of cuisine. In that you can get a baked pork chop over fried rice and over the pork is cheese and there’s the tomato sauce which is really rare — I kind of call it Chinese lasagna even though there’s no pasta — and on the side you get the Chinese borscht. Which is not made out of beet. We make it with oxtail at home, then you have celery, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic. You boil it all down and it becomes what Hong Kong people call a Chinese borscht soup. It’s definitely not classic Chinese. It’s its own thing.
For the galbi, I called up my two Korean friends. Carol being one of them. She gave me her suggestion for what I should do, and then I asked my other friend’s husband, Dan, and he gave me his recipe. ‘Cause I do know that Koreans like to say there’s always a secret ingredient you put in your kalbi marinade. Carol’s was Asian pear, which isn’t that secret, it’s kind of a known item. She told me that I could do my marinade in an hour, and Dan told me that my marinade needed to be overnight. So I was like I have to do something in between.
I think maybe the pear has some type of agent that makes it cure quicker or makes it soft quicker. So I kind of got recipes from them, and they’re like, you can put Coke in it, to really break down the meat. That’s one secret ingredient. Pineapple juice could be another secret ingredient because it has a lot of acidity, but almost too much so it’s good for a fast cure. I had eight or nine hours, so I had time. I skipped the Coke, I just went kind of classic, and I used honey instead of sugar.
At night, I went to Tang Hotpot with family and friends. I make hot pot at home, so if I’m going to have normcore hotpot that’s where I’m going to eat it. If I’m going to go out and eat it, I want something I can’t make at home. I’ll go to a couple of hot pot places in Flushing, sometimes I like the New World Mall weirdo hot pot where they kind of pre-mix it for you. It depends on my mood. There’s hot pot in every Asian culture.
At Tang, they do cuts of meat that are super special, they do multiple stocks that you can get, I like that they do the one pot for two people shared, which is not that common. Normally you have a big pot for everybody to share. But I feel like when you’re eating out, especially in New York, you have friends who all have their own dietary restrictions. If you’re with a group of people, it’s a good place to go. If you’re a vegetarian or only eat seafood, you can do your own thing and not feel like you aren’t welcome.
Monday, February 24
I’m up at 7 a.m., so I’ll do a coffee in the morning at my home. By the time I’m at work I’m on my second already, so I’ll switch it up and have tea. For breakfast, I went to New Cameron Bakery. It’s right up the street. That’s kind of a classic breakfast for me.
They have egg tarts, they have the classic buns that every bakery has but they also have this warm section with this little grandma. They have these rice rolls that are pre-rolled, almost like grab and go, that are amazing, amazing. Nothing like the ones with crullers, at dim sum, or roast pork. It’s its own flavor, it’s super salty, it has minced meat and scallions. You can buy as many as you want. I will get two of those rolls, one if I want to eat lighter, then a milk tea with no sugar.
For lunch, I had more rice rolls. I’m obviously a steamed rice roll fanatic. I went to Yin Ji Chang Fen. I was really curious about this place, because it had lines out the door. For a while, it was insane.
The rice rolls are a lot hardier than Joe’s Steam Rice Roll. The place is from Guangzhou, so it’s from a different region, and it has a lot more stuff in it so it’s like a proper meal. It’s a perfect way of eating rice because you’re not indulging in that much, they’re just mashing it up into powder form.
I also ordered congee. It’s good here. Congee to me is the perfect late night, after you’ve gone out and partied, I love going to Great New York Noodle Town and having it there, too. Their’s is no fuss, just really good, hardy congee. At Yin Ji Chang Fen, there was a lady next to me eating toast with condensed milk — you’ll realize I’m obsessed with condensed milk. I think it’s because when you’re given it as a kid you become addicted to it. What’s not to love about condensed milk?
Berwisata ke luar negeri tak lengkap rasanya jika tidak mencoba berbagai hal yang khas dari negara tersebut. Mulai dari tempat wisata , b...
