Snack Cart: Long reads on fast food, a walk through Chicago’s Chinatown, and a Syrian grandmother in Staten Island
Welcome to Snack Cart! I’ve loaded up the cart with the best food writing from across America. Hopefully, you’ll find something to enjoy heading into the weekend.
Sorry for missing last week. I was down in Florida for my grandmother’s memorial service. I wrote about Nana and food and cocktails a few months ago. I won’t say any more other than going from the memorial service straight to a bar playing the inauguration was a hell of a one-two punch. Apologies for all the tips sent my way that haven’t made it into the newsletter yet.
America is great again! Or at least, the American team won the prestigious Bocuse d’Or Competition in Lyon, France for the first time ever. This is a brutal competition, requiring years of planning. There was an excellent documentary a few years back about the American team’s attempt to get into the top three.
Here’s a story about making omelettes with Julia Child.
The AP jumps into something I’ve written about before: how the immigration debate could affect American dining. This week’s executive orders coulld entirely destroy the restaurant industry in ways we don’t yet understand.
Harper’s published a 5-point breakdown of how terrible the martini is at Trump Grill. If you are the kind of person who enjoys 600ish scathing words about a poorly made martini (and you read this newsletter, so probably) this is catnip.
Corinne Olympios, one of the stand-out personalities of this season’s The Bachelor, waxed poetic about ‘cheese pasta’ made by her Nanny. Later, the recipe was revealed to be pasta and shredded cheese. If you’ll allow me to basic for a moment: I can’t even.
Mike Powell published an excellent cultural history of McDonald’s. It’s a great look at how this restaurant matters to America and to the World. It’s also only the second best longread on Fast food this week.
The best is this definitive ranking of Chicken Nuggets Ryan Sutton. It sings from the lead, “No food is perfect, but the masterpiece of molecular gastronomy known as chicken nugget is aggressively imperfect. This is by design.” and only gets better. I am not the only fan.
Boston
Someone knew I was having a rough week, so the Globe Magazine published a history of how New England suburban Chinese restaurants became synonymous with Tiki. It has to do with the changing ethnic makeup of American and involves a guy named Thor Heyerdahl. The story features many quotes from Robert Wong, owner of the Kowloon. The Kowloon is the most magical place on earth and you should visit it immediately. The Globe also published a companion list of tiki temples in suburban Massachusetts, many of which I haven’t been to yet. This is also a great chance to revisit a Lucky Peach report on why Boston Chinese food is the way it is.
Because I’m in the middle of reading that book about 10 Restaurants That Changed America, news that the site of the final Howard Johnson’s is up for sale jumped out at me. This sale will mark the definitive end of a restaurant which, starting in New England, grew into a national phenomenon and invented the concept of the chain restaurant.
I missed it last week, but god damn Nester Ramos can write. His review of RFK Kitchen in Needham is once again insightful, funny, and critical while still being kind. Please make him the full-time critic.
Catherine Smart reviews K restaurant in Peabody, describing a Fermented Kimchi stew that I would like to bath in.
Both Boston Magazine and The Globe did big packages on the North End, leading me to believe that there is some kind of anniversary that I missed. Each one highlights lots of the classic spots. They also bring up the old feuds that are a tiresome as they are a blast to argue over. My hot take is that there is no difference between Mike’s and Modern and that Galleria Umberto’s might be the best restaurant anywhere. It would have been nice if they’d featured some of the non-Italian food popping up in the area.
Scott Kearnan at the Herald drops a story about Pedro Alarcon, an immigrant whose career has taken him from making french fries in the BU cafeteria to opening a 300 seat self-named place in the Seaport. It’s great to finally have an actual locally-owned place there, but the Seaport will stay boring until there are spaces for restaurants smaller than 300 seats.
Andrew Harper, which I am assured by a tipster is a real lifestyle magazine for the 1%, declared Menton the best formal dining restaurant in America. Ugh, now the crowds for Tuesday spaghetti night will be unbearable.
The Herald has a story about a craft beer tour of Saigon. I know! In the Herald!
New York
For Eater New York, Ryan Sutton pinpoints and critiques a trend I wasn’t even aware of: more and more restaurants closing off their storefronts to the rest of the world. He laments how this separates them from the neighborhoods they are in and furthers the divide between the haves and have-nots. My highlight was when he uses the phrase “jerkmobiles”.
Pete Wells gives two stars to Fowler & Wells, Tom Coliccio’s new restaurant across from City Hall. He praises the food, which is a riff on the early days of New York dining, but says the overall menu and space lack focus that would make the meal truly memorable. He also mentions Le Coucou again — he *really* likes that place.
Ligaya Mishan reviews Filipino restaurant F.O.B in Carroll Gardens and meditates on authenticity. She wishes the chef had left more of the more challenging flavors in the food, but can’t fault how great the menu has turned out. Her opening, where she talks about how 7up is a key ingredient in Filipino home cooking, reminded me of the Coca-Cola glazed ham and chicken wings I used to have at a friend from Atlanta’s Super Bowl parties.
Greg Morabito at Eater tracks everywhere Hillary Clinton has been spotted dining out since losing the election. It’s a mix of of-the-moment restaurants and traditional power spots. If you see her in public, for God’s sake leave her alone. This article also contains the greatest sentence committed to paper: “On December 13, Hillary attended a dinner at almost-impenetrable East Harlem Italian restaurant Rao’s with Harvey Weinstein (the rapper Fat Joe was also in the room that night, at a separate table).”
Jillian Jorgensen at AMNY spent the week on Staten Island. First, she turned in a roundup of the best pizza the borough has to offer.
Then, Jillian spent the day cooking with a Syrian grandmother. Zena Mofsessian came to New York 3 years ago, fleeing the civil war that has decimated her home country. After answering a Craigslist ad, she started working a Enoteca Maria. Enoteca Maria is famous for employing Italian grandmothers in the kitchen and they are expanding to offer classes from a rotating cast of international grandmothers. Though they didn’t share a common language, Jillian and Zena spent the day preparing a four-course menu of traditional Syrian dishes. This is an absolutely lovely story and it’s very dusty in my office all of a sudden.
Los Angeles
I can’t actually improve on this headline: With fresh pasta, truffles and actual Italian royalty, this could be the most impressive food truck in L.A.
J. Gold reviews Tsujita, the ramen chain which just opened its third outpost in L.A., and uses it to discuss the tonkotsu ramen, the pork-heavy variation which is becoming the dominant American style. This is something Gold does really well that a lot of other critics don’t: revisit an older place with a new insight. The last two sentences had me laughing out loud.
“Tiki was created in Southern California by a self-made man named Don who lied his way onto movie sets and made friends with famous people so that they’d come to his rum bar in the middle of Hollywood.” That wonderful thought starts Katherine Spier’s list of the 7 best tiki bars in Southern California. Who’s up for a road trip?
Besha Rodell at L.A. Weekly gives two stars to high end Vegan restaurant Erven. The review discusses this history of high-end vegan dining in California and insightfully calls out some of the pretensions around it. Ultimately, Rodell thinks the chef, Nick Erven, could have done better if he hadn’t artificially limited himself for reasons that don’t seem clear.
Chicago
IT’S RESTAURANT WEEK. And the Chicago Tribune has your twelve can’t-miss spots.
Phil Vattel reviews Beacon Tavern, a new restaurant in the shadow of Trump Tower. Elevated bar food is a cliche concept, but this excellent and inventive menu makes it worth visiting. They had me as soon as I saw the menu has a “Nibbles” section. Also, I need that crab dip and I need it YESTERDAY.
Chicago Magazine prints an interesting critique of Hopleaf, an excellent bar with a strict no kids policy. I’m not sure where I fall on this, but the idea that a restaurant is really saying, “we don’t trust you to parent effectively” sticks with me.
Michael Gerbert’s tale of a morning walk through Chinatown is beautiful, sparse, compelling, and meditative. It’s the perfect antidote to the Lovecraftian void that is my Twitter feed.
WBEZ’s Curious City dug into why there are so many “Old Style” signs in Chicago. The beer was first sold in 1930, but really took off in 1950 when it became the official beer of the Cubs. Marketing initiatives and strikes at Budweiser meant that Old Style’s peak aligned perfectly with the “install signs as marketing tools” peak.
Out of Context Nestor Ramos Arch yet Gentle Criticism of the Week
Besides, once we’re into spelt-two-ways territory — plus more spelt available as an a la carte side — I start wondering what kind of deal the restaurant is getting on spelt. Is Big Spelt underwriting this whole operation?
