This French frozen food company is selling Ghostbusters marshmallows
Welcome to Snack Cart! We’re back on a more regular schedule. While feedback was mixed and clearly logistics are tough, I’m going to keep the newsletter a Friday affair for now. Since I’m mostly scanning local news sites, reviews become almost impossible to find by the next week. I’ll do a better job posting links on social during the rest of the week.
Eater dominated restaurant coverage of this week’s “A day without women”. I missed a lot of this coverage, but this is a good top level story on what the protests meant for the industry.
NPR’s Science Friday posted a meme-tastic list of seven cheese facts. It’s fun, but it’s mostly good to drive you to their Spotlight section on the science of cheese. There’s too much good stuff in here for me to link to individually. Prepare to lose your afternoon.
I’ve traveled a lot over the past few years, and one thing that surprises me over and over is how people immigrate and bring their food cultures with them to places other than America. Yes, this is an inane and super First-World observation, but sometimes it’s worth saying those things out loud. This random thought is prelude to a lovely profile of a long-time Shanghai Soup Dumpling place in Mumbai.
This article is fun but it needs to be about 1000 words longer and a movie ASAP.
Alyssa Bereznak does a deep dive on the future of vending machines. It’s silly, but this is a serious issue. Imagine what happens to America if we don’t need fast food workers anymore?
I hate the concept of Cheap Eats lists or columns. I felt it creates an artificial connection between cost and “importance.” Diep Tran, a Los Angeles chef, highlights another problem with the idea. By calling something Cheap Eats, we are reinforcing that certain kinds of food can only be inexpensive, leading to grinding poverty for the people making and serving it. I remember hearing a similar complaint from one of the owners of Boston’s Myers + Chang years ago.
Tipping is bad here, but apparently it’s even worse in Israel. Tipping should be banned by the Geneva Convention.
Here’s a fun Lucky Peach story that starts out making fun of kitchen unitaskers and then recommends several that actually seem essential.
France
I asked my sister, an expat living in Bordeaux, to explain all the Instagram Stories and texts she sent me about some weird American frozen food line.
As Josh can attest from my page-by-page reading over the phone of their catalog and a string of late-night photos, I’ve become mildly obsessed with a new promotion from Picard, a French frozen foods company. The “Hello America” line is a fascinating look at what the French think about American food, which they alternately love (les burgers) and hate (PB&J). Freezer cases across the country are stocked with fried mac & cheese bites, cookie dough, crab cakes, and chicken fingers. [Editor’s note: America as brought to you by TGI Friday’s] Those are balanced by imported enchilada bowls, pulled pork, pastrami sandwiches, and weird non-dairy ice creams. While I appreciate there was some attempt to go beyond the basics of cliché of “See how GROSS American cuisine is?”, I remain baffled by Ghostbusters marshmallows. [Editor’s note that Hope actually pointed out: The bag says “Who you gonna roast!” on it.]
For the record, I bought crab cakes (bland) and the enchilada bowl (very satisfying). I resisted the fried mac and cheese.
Boston
Scott Kearnan visits Ermont, one of Massachusetts’ new medical marijuana dispensaries. The Quincy spot is investing heavily in its kitchen, hoping to become known for its edibles. Scott goes deep into the science and regulation behind what they cook up. Plus: “currently working on recipes for THC-topped twists to classic South Shore bar pizzas.”
A truly bananas fact that I absolutely love: The Thai consulate in Boston is Joe Milano, owner of the Union Oyster House. The consulate office is upstairs from the dining room. Head to WGBH to find out how a lifelong Bostonian found himself in this role.
MC Slim JB reviews Ruka, a hip, fish-forward Downtown Crossing spot. His run through the menu is comprehensive, but at no point did it get me excited to visit this Nikkei restaurant from the Yvonne’s team. Also, not helping Boston’s growing restaurant word salad issue.
I made my feelings on Cheap Eats clear above, so The Boston Globe needs to cancel this series title sooner rather than later. Especially when you are profiling T’ahpas 529, a spot in Melrose with $10 Tapas and $20-$30 entrees. It’s just a nice restaurant! Review it!
I avoid recipes in my newsletter, but not when they are from Gordon Hamersley. This seems like a great (maybe the only?) way to use the celery root I saw at the farmer’s market last night.
Gary Dzen visits Lamplighter Brewing Co, where I’ve been a few times and can’t recommend highly enough. This Central Square brewery serves cold brew coffee all morning and funky beers all night. Also, they print the names and numbers of local restaurants that deliver on the back of the beer menu.
Ted Weesner steps up to the plate for the Globe and reviews Brassica Kitchen + Cafe in JP (which sounds good, and downright great for Forest Hills). I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I find Ted’s reviews borderline unreadable. I like that he tries to talk about bigger issues, but it takes him three paragraphs to describe the chef’s tattoo.
An inflatable Irish Pub is an intriguing and terrifying idea.
New York
Pete Wells skips a review, but drops a Critic’s Notebook column about the rise of interesting hotel restaurants in New York. Wells goes into the various factors (rent, mostly) that cause big name chefs to partner with hotels rather than go it alone. He also talks about how this is going back to the future. Restaurants as we know them were born of hotels. This is a great read for anyone interested in how cities are changing.
In Wells’ place, Ligaya Mishan takes center stage with a slightly more upscale place than she usually profiles. She reviews Windsor Terrace’s Butterfunk Kitchen, where she finds Southern food so good it makes her nostalgic for a childhood she never had. I can’t wait for Mishan to take the top spot at the Times some day.
Eric Asimov drops a long manifesto on the need for people to treat wine as food. I lost the thread after a while but if you don’t know much about wine this has some good ideas on to approach it.
Grub Street Diet is probably the single best food feature in the world (except when it is terrible), and I can’t believe I haven’t been including it here more. This week’s, by Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver, is maybe the best one ever. If he is taking Best Friend applications please sign me up.
Robert Sietsema visits Japanese steakhouse Ikinari, where he finds perfect steaks cooked quickly without any of the usual steakhouse pomp and circumstance. It’s the first time I’ve been excited reading about a steakhouse.
Jillian Jorgensen is leaving her role as Dining editor at AM New York, but not before she gets to do every food writer’s dream: a feature on the best pizza in Brooklyn. She genuflects at the required altars (include Di Fara, the right answer), and still manages to cram in a lot of local knowledge. I didn’t know about the special off-menu Roberta’s pie or the history of the Juliana’s/Grimaldi’s feud.
Los Angeles
Kate Baker at The Ringer profiles the family behind Guelaguetza. If you haven’t heard of it, this modern institution brought Oaxacan cooking to Los Angeles’ Koreatown. It’s famous for unlocking regional Mexican cuisine in LA as well as serving fried grasshoppers. What you probably don’t know is that this family also pretty much single-handedly brought Mezcal to America. Build them a fucking statue.
I am very very torn at the idea of Clam Chowder Fries.
Eater LA profiles Amy Scattergood, the current food editor at the Los Angeles Times. Scattergood has bounced between the Times and LA Weekly for the past few decades. It seems fair to consider her one of the most powerful food figures in LA, even though she keeps such a low profile. With LA driving 80% of the national trends right now, it’s also not crazy to think she might be one of the most powerful people in food media.
I’m mostly caught up, but I missed last week’s J Gold review of Kismet in Los Feliz. This means both major Los Angeles restaurant critics hit my old neighborhood last week. Le sigh.
This week, Gold is at Maestro, a regional Mexican place in Old Pasadena. Gold talks a lot about chef Danny Godinez’s other locations, making me think that he didn’t really love this one that much. That being said, it reminds me a lot of the fancier places I visited in Mexico City.
Chicago
Atomic Cake is apparently a South Side food tradition. The improbably high triple decker cake dates back to the opening of the Atomic age. Louisa Chu dives deep into the cake’s history and the video about how the cake is made is amazing.
Playing off the protests, Eater Chicago did a great story on the challenges of being a female restaurateur in Chicago. Sadly, they don’t seem particularly unique to Chicago, .
Phil Vattel visits two places in the Western suburbs, La Notte Ristorante Italiano in Oak Park and La Buona Vita in La Grange. Neither one is exactly new, but both have gone through recent ambitious transformations. He gives them each one star, saying both have some work to do but feature ambitious kitchens and a few standout dishes.
Michael Gebert at Fooditor also heads to the suburbs (where even is Des Plaines?) and drops a long piece about how immigrant restaurants thrive in far-off locals. See also: all of Los Angeles and the rapidly growing Houston food scene. I shouldn’t be snarky, as this is the story of the exact kind of immigrant that makes America wonderful. I need the lamb soup pumped directly into my veins.
Washington D.C.
Cork Wine bar is suing President Trump, saying that his hotel unfairly competes with their business because he’s the President. On it’s face, this may provoke an eye roll, but it’s actually the best chance at doing something about the unprecedented conflicts of interest and corruption Trump brought with him to the White House. Previous lawsuits from good government groups were thrown out because they couldn’t prove that this corruption actually hurts anyone. Now we’ve got someone with a real grievance (however thin) being supported by an all star team of good government lawyers. We’ll see.
Caribbean food is among the least appreciated in almost every city in America. The fact we are picking apart regional Chinese and still referring to “Caribbean food” kind of says it all. Steve Kiviat highlights a bunch of great places in DC to learn more about this underappreciated part of the world. Someone please invent Uber but for Roti.
Everything bagel pizza is such a good idea I’m mad I didn’t think of it.
Tim Carman at the Post lists the best dim sum dumplings in Washington. For a town obsessed with brunch, I’m curious how big the dim sum scene is. Related: Who wants to get dim sum with me this weekend?
Tom Sietsema drops a full review of Cuban Colada Shop. I’ve officially been writing about D.C. long enough that a restaurant has gone from preview story to full review. Yay for milestones! Affordable but elegant version of Cuban mainstays can be paired with coffee or sub $10 cocktails. Once the weather warms up enough for the patio to take some pressure off the tiny space, this will be among the best places in the District to go on a weekday night.
Out of Context Ligaya Mishan Quote of the Week
Time stuttered. In such heat, universes are born.
