What We're Reading
Rafa Marquez enjoys the Big Apple
- New York Times, Tuesday, May 17, 2011 2:09 PM
The New York Red Bulls defender Rafael Marquez, a Mexican soccer hero, enjoys the ability to walk freely down New York streets. "In the street or walking in the city, I don’t
have any problem," Marquez said. "I like that because never in my career I have something like this. In Mexico, to go out like this, I would need five bodyguards. More now."
But, as
Jack Bell reports, things change when Marquez enters a New York restaurant. “In the restaurants, the kitchen staff is all Mexican and they want to meet me,"
he said.
It happened again last week when Marquez was having lunch at a bistro in Chelsea. First, a waitress asked gently for an autograph. Then the chef went to his table asking Marquez to
please step into the kitchen because “all my staff are going crazy about you being here.”
Marquez, a beloved symbol of Mexican soccer, obliged politely, walking into the
kitchen, where he was greeted by nearly a dozen of his compatriots. He dutifully stood for some group photographs.
