Details magazine is out with an interview with David Chang of Momofuku, a Supertastes favorite. Give it a read; it’s good Friday fare. Highlights include things he hates in his customers (man, are chefs charming!): misidentifying medium-rare; special requests; fake allergies; intoxication; saying they are bloggers. That all seems reasonable, though David Chang seems anything but. The man is clearly humming the mantra, “Don’t lose your temper. You don’t want to drop dead in your 30s,” and has been for years.
The Washington Post food section continues to be much better with its editor Joe Yonan out flogging his book. And I always thought deputy editor Bonnie Benwick was responsible for the general lack of pizazz, because her byline usually follows a dull, healthy recipe—boy, was I wrong! This week she and reporter Tim Carman pair up on a full-page chart unpacking—and actually mocking—a slew of cookbooks “written by” celebrities out right now. Most Irritating Author Photo; Most Ridiculous Recipe; Vanity Moment; Simplest Recipe (think toast, rice, etc.) Come on, that’s funny. Supertastes wholly approves!
The new Bon Appetit is many things. Here’s my round-up of everything you need to know about it (love it, hate it–that’s up to you!)
1. It’s written like this post’s opener: light, conversational, personal, and authoritative! (And with a lot of “!”s) Welcome to the new blog format! It’s printed on pages bound together.
I’ve mentioned here my aversion to the traditional lettuce-based salad format. But it’s really more of a phobia at this point; something I hope to avoid at all costs. Fancy salad mixes seem somehow more fit for the rabbit food section at the pet shop. I have nightmares about radicchio. That said, I love nearly all vegetables, including all the hearty greens. There are a million ways around the salad thing…okay, I eat a lot of crudite.
There is no jello hierarchy. When you’re working in the boozy shot genre, do not make the mistake of thinking there is a sophisticated version of the jello shot. Do not take the down and dirty fun out of it–leave that to guests who cannot resist expressing their disgust when a simple “no thanks” would suffice. Jello shots aren’t for everyone, and, hey, that’s okay. More for the rest of us.
Looking ahead to the rain in the forecast and maybe the final cool evenings, I suspect some people might like to settle in for some movies at home. (A recent Rasmussen poll found that 89% of people rarely, if ever, go out to the movies, while only 14% rarely watch a movie at home.) What do all these armchair film critics snack on these days?
There are a couple of food categories that I’m not interested in covering. They are primarily desserts, coffee, and (I know gasp!) breakfast. I’m a blt at brunch kind of a gal. So let’s just say that this is an outstanding early spring egg dish that can be made and enjoyed at any time of day.
Thursday Happy Hour (nearly passed!) must be why cocktails are on my mind. Things I’ve learned in the past week: A white dog, like the one I bought recently from High West, is excellent on ice with grapefruit bitters. I …
This week’s Washington Post food section beats out The New York Times’ dining section in a dramatic role reversal. The Post, for once, reads not like a quaint small-town pennysaver, but very much like a paper befitting a real city, and not just any city, but our city.
Someone once asked me if my opinions were really immutable. One the About Me page of this blog, I use the made-up term immuteable, which for me means can’t be muted, hence Supertastes. You’ll find, in fact, that many of my posts reflect a correction or update in my thinking. I was skeptical about minibar until I experienced it. I thought the new D.C. dinner clubs could be the next big thing, until I suffered one. I set out ready to be taken in by Gabrielle Hamilton’s new book, but I’ve quickly tired of listening to her mock just about everything–a future post.
