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Plugs is The Angel’s recs column. On most Saturdays, you’ll get six picks—a restaurant, a bar, a shop, an ingredient, a person, and a treat—from someone in New York who knows what they’re talking about, plus a selection of Angel-curated links. Plugs are for paid subscribers of The Angel only; upgrade your subscription to receive all six!

#11 is Arden Shore, the EIC of The Infatuation and one of the most well-dined, well-opined bicoastal eaters I know. Arden is from Los Angeles and has lived between here and there throughout her adult life, regularly ping-ponging between the two cities. She's officially based in New York, where her job is running food media's most SEO-successful business—and having lots and lots of takes on restaurants and cuisines. I first met Arden over breakfast at Sqirl while I was in the middle of reporting Salad Forever, and she proved to be an essential source (putting me onto Fresh Corn Grill). When I was in search of actually good Westside restaurants a few months ago, she sent me upwards of a dozen recs, including specific vibes and notable dishes, which is much more than most people residing on the Westside (even those who care about food) can do. As for her taste in and knowledge of New York restaurants? Excellent, too. It’s only fitting that she kick off the first-ever bicoastal edition of Plugs. Here's Arden.

Restaurant — CheLi (New York)

When I think about my favorite restaurants in NYC, my mind always wanders back to the hookah-hazy stretch of St. Marks between 2nd and 3rd, up a set of stairs, and left into CheLi. When people care about food but don’t want anything too fussy or trendy, this is my rec. It’s Shanghainese, with each table protected by its own thatched roof, like a forcefield protecting you from the vape stores and pajama-bottomed NYU kids outside. You’ll eat a tingly and sour fish soup alongside a chicken ceremoniously wrapped in lotus leaves that steams like a fog machine. A water feature gurgles in the background. Butterflied prawns lay in vulnerable repose on top of the garlickiest glass noodles ever. It’s bonkers good, the whole experience. A reason to love New York. And somehow, you can always get a last-minute res or not wait too long for a table.

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Here’s something fun for warmer nights: Bar Oliver is kicking off a Pintxo Series on the first Monday of every month, featuring guest chefs collaborating on five small dishes available for one night only. The first is next week, 5/4, with Elijah Tarlow, a sous-chef at Borgo. Here’s a tiny scoop: is slated for June.

I’m calling it: it’s going to be the summer of the marg. The Mexican wave is not slowing down, with recent arrivals including Bar Chucho from the Corima/Vato crew (where the focus is more on micheladas, but I’d bet they mix an excellent margarita) and a rehabbed Bar Bruno promising “better margs.” The ever-popular Santo Taco, ripe for swift expansion, specializes in tacos and margaritas. And the first cocktail on the drinks menu at Dean’s, arguably the buzziest new opening in town, is a luminous—and from what I hear, very good—marg, laced with chili and carrot. Martinis are forever, but the trend is worn out, and after the worst winter in recent memory, New York is ready for something with a skip in its step. Plus, in a world where we’re drinking less—in part because hangovers have become too much to bear—it’s well-known that agave spirits offer a cleaner buzz. My preference? Spicy mezcal.

Is it just me, or is BoCoCa the “region” of the moment? Sure, I live here, and yes, I’ve been a bit of a homebody lately, and yet… Sam’s Restaurant is being revived, the Ferdinando’s Foccaceria revamp is here, the new owners of the aforementioned Bar Bruno (also of Greenpoint Fish and Lobster) have brought it new life and a predilection for quality fish and seafood, the Ingas Bar sequel is on its way, and Taqueria Ramirez is arriving late summer. Meanwhile, Brooklyn Granary & Mill just celebrated its one-year anniversary, cementing Carroll Gardens—also home to the phenomenon that is ACQ Bread Co.—as the preeminent destination for Very Good Bread. Tragically, however, as reported by , Caputo Bakery, makers of my favorite rainbow cookie in the neighborhood, suddenly closed this week after 124 years in business.

Which leads me into our profile today, featuring a man too few New Yorkers know, who quietly makes the city’s very best rugelach—a cookie too few New Yorkers are familiar with—from a commercial kitchen in, where else? Carroll Gardens.

It’s 6:30 p.m. on a Tuesday in Carroll Gardens, and Larry Finkelstein, clad in a white apron over a navy blue t-shirt, his stark white hair freshly cut, is rolling out a sheet of cream cheese-enriched dough on a stainless steel counter. He’s surrounded by tubs of coleslaw, tuna salad, and pickled jalapeños, which makes sense, given that he’s working out of the commissary kitchen of Court Street Grocers, the cult-favorite sandwich shop co-owned by his son, Eric Finkelstein. The task at hand? Making raspberry-raisin rugelach, his signature flavor of the flaky, filled, and rolled Ashkenazi cookie—once easy to find in New York’s myriad Jewish bakeries, and now something of an endangered species.

Next, he slathers Polaner raspberry preserves on top of his thin rectangular canvas, using an offset spatula to paint the jam to the edges, then sprinkles raisins all over, before rolling the dough into a neat spiral. “I use Polaner because my grandmother always had it,” Larry, who is 74 and a native New York Jew, says. Larry brushes his log with heavy cream, coats it completely in cinnamon-sugar, and cuts it into 30 pieces. He barely counts, relying instead on muscle memory: “What’s amazing, after cutting I don’t know how many thousands of these things, is that it just happens,” he says.

Larry’s recipe produces what, to me, are perfect rugelach: flaky and rich, with a crisp crust and caramelized bottom—the result of the preserves seeping through the cookies’ seams and coalescing into a glassy sheet of sugar—and juicy raisins in each bite. The flavor is pleasingly tart, a tad salty, and appropriately sweet. They’re available for $2.50 a pop (or $8.00 for 4) at S&P Lunch, the lunch (and now dinner) counter in Flatiron owned by Eric and his partner, Matt Ross—and you can also find them at the original Carroll Gardens location of Court Street Grocers, where, on some days, they also sell Larry’s chocolate variety, replete with silky ganache and miniature chocolate chips.

Yet Larry’s rugelach have remained something of an if-you-know-you-know phenomenon. This is partly because people have, largely, forgotten about rugelach. Back when Larry was growing up in Borough Park, Brooklyn, in the ‘50s and ‘60s, every neighborhood where Jews were living had a Jewish bakery, usually several. Now, shops that sell challah and hamantaschen are few and far between, even compared to when I was a kid in downtown Manhattan in the ‘90s, chomping on rugelach at family gatherings. You can still find particularly good rugelach at Zabar’s, naturally, and at Zoë Kanan’s New York Jewish-inspired bakery, Elbow Bread, where they’re filled with crunchy cocoa nibs and sprinkled with demerara sugar. But for me, Larry’s are the best rugelach left in New York.

“He’s the master of rugelach in my eye, and he’s a rugelach baker, that’s his title,” says Kanan, who met Larry when she was opening Elbow Bread in partnership with the Court Street Grocers duo. The first time she tried his raspberry-raisin cookie, she was in awe. “It was the perfect [homemade] specimen,” she recalls. “The raisins absorb the jam and cling to it, creating these little gaps, and the cinnamon-sugar on top adds a crispy texture, which is key with the flakiness of the pastry and the chewiness of the raisins,” she says.

Kanan and Larry once taught a rugelach class together for the nonprofit organization Hot Bread Kitchen, demonstrating his old-school style versus her more new-school approach. “The attendees had no idea what they were in for,” she says. “Half of them had never heard of rugelach before, and they came away as experts.”

Before he turned to baking, Larry was a career lawyer raising Eric in Hollis Hills, Queens, alongside his ex-wife. Then, in the 1990s, after divorcing Eric’s mother, he moved to Long Island City, came out of the closet, and taught himself to cook by watching the Food Network. Along the way, he developed a knack for baking and invested in his first appliance, a KitchenAid. His sweets know-how would become one of the defining pleasures of his new life. At first, he specialized in cakes, his favorite being Ina Garten’s buttery coconut cake. But his rugelach journey began in 2003. “My aunt Esther died, and at her shiva, my cousin got rugelach from Costco. It was disgusting. I thought, ‘You know, I could do better than this.’”

Larry went online, found a few recipes, and got to work, eventually developing a bulk rugelach dough that calls for one-and-a-half pounds of flour, one pound of butter, and one pound of cream cheese, contrary to the typical 1:1:1 ratio—which, he thinks, works better for the crescent shape associated with Israeli-style rugelach (his produces the more rustic rolled spiral). Once, he won a rugelach bake-off against a woman in his bridge class at the Upper West Side Jewish Community Center. “She never came back,” Larry says, laughing. “Hers were soft and gushy; it was just not this.”

Today, he makes 360 cookies a week—270 raspberry-raisin for S&P, and another 90 for the sandwich shop—arriving at the Court Street commissary in the evenings, after the prep cooks have wrapped up for the day. As he bakes, he often listens to podcasts (only those made by Carroll Gardens residents, he jokes: Ilana Levine’s Little Known Facts, Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out, and Francis Lam’s The Splendid Table).

Larry has been selling his rugelach since Court Street Grocers opened in 2010. “Eric came to me and said, ‘Dad, would you make rugelach for the opening?’’’ He recalls. “I said, ‘Sure, but people in the neighborhood aren’t going to know what it is. And he said, ‘Dad, just make it.’ People loved it, and 15 years later, I’m still doing it.”

Larry was kind enough to share his recipe with The Angel. I tested them at home last week. They’re irresistibly delicious.

Makes 30 cookies

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#4 is Robert Sietsema, a veteran New York City restaurant critic who has written for Lucky Peach, (old) Gourmet, the New York Times, and dozens of other outlets. Robert launched his food writing career in 1989, with a newsletter called Down the Hatch, focusing on affordable, under-the-radar restaurants serving international cuisines. In the 90s and aughts, he was a staff critic for the Village Voice, and then went on to work at Eater for another decade plus. He’s lived in the West Village for 35 years, as long as he’s been a critic, and, as you can imagine—given his rigorous approach to chronicling the city’s inexpensive eats across the five boroughs and New Jersey—his neighborhood go-tos are not the same as the West Village Girls. I’ve been a reader of Robert’s since I was a teen growing up in the Village, obsessed with restaurants and voraciously reading local food writers. It’s an honor to have him on today. Here he is with his five go-to West Village spots.

Panino Giusto

With its tidal wave of tourists and regular visitors, little in the West Village can remain secret for long, but this shoebox-sized coffee shop remains the closest thing we have. A wooden communal table hosts authors, small tables are favorites of dating couples and married old-timers, and outdoor seating is for transients and sun worshippers. Panini that utilize the usual Italian ingredients are pressed and delicious, while the coffee is just so-so – but nobody cares.

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And not new, but still notable, and as a reminder, if you haven’t been in a while: Mariscos Jalisco? Still unequivocally got it. I stopped by for a pre-trip fix, figuring I wouldn’t have much Mexican food in Taiwan (accurate), and even after all these years, the golden-fried, salsa-topped taco dorado de camarón is still one of God/Raoul Ortega’s most perfect creations. Never forget.

[Editor’s note: I’m feeling generous, so today’s on-point issue from Jamie is free :)]

If the first wave of beautifully merchandised, artisan-leaning, local producer-championing food retailers like Cookbook Market, Gjusta Grocer, and L.A. Homefarm (aka Shoppy Shops v 1.0) offered breadth (a little bit of olive oil here, a pile of extremely photogenic local produce there), the new wave of specialty markets in L.A. is going for depth (i.e., twelve kinds of pork sausage).

That’s because some of Southern California’s best farmers, fishers, and growers are taking retail into their own hands by opening their own dedicated storefronts. Think luxury farmstand, in the heart of the city. And considering this city basically pioneered the form—Cookbook opened its first location, in Echo Park, in 2010—the fact that the Shoppy Shop 2.0 is happening right here, right now, makes all the sense in the world.

Chief among them is Peads & Barnetts, Mariposa-based purveyors of incredibly delicious, pasture-raised, richly marbled Berkshire pork and beef from mature cattle, along with gorgeous, weird (I say this with deep affection) flowers like proteas and banksias. They’ve been selling at local farmers’ markets for years, and are a favorite of virtually every A-list chef in town. But despite being stocked at a handful of other specialty grocers, they’ve never had their own dedicated brick-and-mortar presence, until now. Third-generation owner Oliver Woolley, along with his wife Daniela and partner (slash produce liaison and queen of the farmers’ market) Sam Rogers, decided to transform their current storage facility in West LA into a beautifully-stocked, public-facing market and community space, appropriately dubbed Good Things.

When the market soft opens on May 7th (just in time for Mother’s Day), it will be fully stocked with a wide selection of pork, beef, and flowers, along with oils, vinegars, salts and spices, a gardening section (natch), new and used cookbooks, and well-sourced housewares, including, per Woolley, “dreamy” French glassware and handmade knives from Catalan bladesmiths Pallarès. “We don’t want to have a massive variety of anything—just simple, good things that have been around for forever and deserve a place on your table,” says Woolley. They’ll also, thanks to linen partitions which divide the space into flexible quadrants, play host to a variety of events and workshops (they recently hosted a cookbook talk with Masienda, former tenants of the space, and Now Serving; and Rogers says upcoming programming will range from floral arrangement classes to incense making to after-school programming for kids).

Peads & Barnetts is not the only producer going the retail route. Last year, fellow farmers’ market favorite Weiser Family Farms opened what I can only describe as an urban farmstand in the Row DTLA, selling farm boxes, baked goods from Tehachapi Grain Project, and their cult-favorite Bonny Melon tees (plus the actual melons, when in season). And Liwei Liao, aka “The Dry-Aged Fish Guy,” just expanded his Sherman Oaks-based operation, The Joint, to a 4,000-square foot flagship speciality fish market/handroll bar/cafe/wholesale dry-aging facility, also in DTLA, that he’s calling “the world’s largest dry-aging hub.” (I stopped by the opening a few weeks ago; it’s cool to see the dry-aging cases filled with whole fish in various states of age, and then be able to buy the finished product by the pound, all while snacking on a handroll and sipping a matcha.)

Going brick-and-mortar makes sense on multiple levels: financially, it provides some cushion for producers, since retail customers purchase and pay full price on the spot (unlike wholesale accounts), and farmers’ markets take a cut of sales. Supply chain-wise, farmers have control of their own products. And from a community perspective, customers get a chance to get up close and personal with the people who grew their food, as well as their friends and neighbors. “There’s something really beautiful about being able to feel that connection to the land without having to drive three hours to go visit these places,” says Rogers. “Instead, we have all of that come to you.”

Peads & Barnetts Good Things
11515 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064
Thurs-Sun, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.

Weiser Family Farmstand
1320 E 7th St, Bldg M2, Suite 140, Los Angeles, CA 90021
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

The Joint Seafood & Uoichiba
600 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Tues-Sun, 9 a.m.–9 p.m.

I recently stopped by ’ first in-person event, a conversation between chefs/cookbook authors Ifrah Ahmed and Angel Dimayuga about Ahmed’s stunning new cookbook, Soomaliya (the first Somali cookbook to be published in 20 years!). The event was hosted at Flavors From Afar, the mission-based East Hollywood restaurant owned by Ethiopian chef Meymuna Hussein-Cattan, who has turned her kitchen into a place for fellow refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants to cook the foods of their native countries. Although I only sampled a few snacks from the cookbook (shoutout to the bajiye, little black-eyed pea fritters), I can’t wait to get back for a proper meal: the scene was popping on a Friday night, and the Egyptian koshari is calling my name.

There’s a new print food publication in town: To-Go Zine, an L.A.-focused magazine, with stories, quizzes, crafts, and more. The first issue is themed “Care Package,” with a cover story on Altadena food business, and now through 5/31, all proceeds are going to CHIRLA.

Sometimes we can have nice things: Chao Krung, one of L.A.’s oldest Thai restaurants, bought their building. [LA Mag]

on the celebrities and associated hotties taking advantage of the freakishly good lighting at Lazy Acres Natural Market. We need more of this hyper-local reporting (and, as Vanessa Anderson points out, a co-op on the East side, please!) []

Rachel Kushner’s list of where to eat now that Taix is closed is perfect. [Instagram]

Two contentious L.A. institutions under one roof: Erewhon smoothies x the new LACMA. [LACMA UnFramed]

#10 is Trinity Mouzon Wofford, the founder of superfood brand Golde and the author of Eating at Home, a beautiful debut cookbook released this past week (think The Gjelina Cookbook meets The Moosewood Cookbook). While Golde is known for its ceremonial-grade matcha and turmeric latte blends, Trinity’s cooking style is centered around care, presence, and ritual. When I received the galley for her book (written alongside Rebecca Firkser), I was immediately taken by its elegantly crunchy aesthetic and enticingly wholesome dishes like steaming miso nabe and puffy sourdough pancakes, but most of all, how it puts forward a philosophy around cooking as a simple, enriching creative practice. Trinity lived in Brooklyn for many years, but now lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and two daughters. Here she is with the first-ever (but certainly not the last) upstate edition of Plugs.

Restaurant — Lucoli Pizza

Lucoli Pizza in Red Hook is not much of a “dining in” kind of place — but they make some of the best pizza I’ve had, ever. The owner is an Italian man who is consistently waxing on about the importance of how to make a good pizza every single time my husband goes in there to pick up our pies. Bring a few back to the house where you’re staying and pair with a bottle of wine.

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Coffee scene update: Back in early January, I predicted a shift in New York’s specialty coffee scene—away from quality-meets-convenience and toward higher quality, plus community and nice pastries. Canyon’s opening in Prospect Heights proved me right. Lines have been constant, pastries often sell out by 10 a.m., and the crowd skews heavily work-from-home. Come warm weather and Prospect Park foot traffic, demand is only going to climb.

Interestingly, food is a much bigger draw at the Prospect Heights location than at the Echo Park original, according to Canyon co-owner Ally Walsh. New Yorkers are food-driven; Angelenos are often just looking for somewhere vibey to be. “It’s like people have never had toast before,” she said. (I told her they should offer takeaway toast platters for people picnicking in the park.) For whatever reason, I never tried the toasts in L.A., but I’ve been loving them here, particularly the smoked salmon with capers and dill and labneh with honey and buckwheat.

Meanwhile, I met at East Village mainstay Abraço last Wednesday, before heading to the Greenmarket, and it was booming. Jazzy music permeated the space, and almost every table was occupied. I can’t wait until the fig tree blooms on the patio. The vibes are high.

Aaand, more evidence for the bran muffin renaissance: Genevieve Ko has a new recipe in the New York Times for honey date bran muffins (yum), paired with a little lesson on bran, and the best practices for baking with it.

For this season's market report, I asked a handful of chefs and pastry chefs for their favorite springtime ingredient—down to the farmer who grows it—and what they're planning to make with it, at home or in their chef whites. Worth noting: if you're after something specific from a particular farm, check their website or Instagram to see which markets they're at on which days. Lani's Farm, for instance, is at Union Square on Mondays, Columbia on Thursdays, Union Square and Tribeca on Saturdays, and Carroll Gardens and Jackson Heights on Sundays. As for precisely when each ingredient will be available: talk to your farmers!

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#9 is Emilia Petrarca, a fashion writer with bylines in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and more—and the brains behind on Substack. Emilia has been covering fashion and culture for over a decade. She’s profiled Charli XCX, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Chloë Sevigny; written about the golden age of the name Emily (hi); and analyzed Anna Wintour’s go-to lunch. She also took this iconic video of Larry David at Fashion Week. Before going freelance, she was a senior fashion writer at The Cut. I’ve known Emilia since we were teenagers in the downtown scene, and it’s been fun to watch her career flourish. I look forward to her Repair Month package every year, and trust her taste implicitly. I’m thrilled to have her on Plugs today. Here’s Emilia.

Restaurant — Zimmi’s

It’s such a pleasure seeing your friends cook, and I mean that in every sense of the word. My very talented ami, Maxime Pradié, whom I’ve known since high school, opened Zimmi’s in December 2024 with Jenni Guizio, and he really put his whole heart into it. My favorite dish on the menu right now is the soupe aux artichauts, with a dollop of foie gras in the middle. I could eat it for every meal, in every season.

LOCAL BONUS — Gigino’s

Gigino’s (of Dinner Rush fame) is one of the few remaining restaurants in Tribeca that was there when I was a kid, and it still hits. I like to order the spaghetti del padrino, a bright purple beet pasta that was my dad’s favorite.

TAKEOUT BONUS — Silver Rice

Sorry, but I also have to shout out my go-to takeout spot since ~2016: Silver Rice. If you live in Crown Heights/Prospect Heights/PLG, you know what I’m talking about. I seriously think I’ve ordered from here once a week for the last decade. And I always get the same thing: the spicy salmon bowl with flaxseed rice and tempura crunch, plus a shrimp dumping soup (2x dumplings). It’s affordable, fast, healthy, and very satisfying to eat because the bowl comes in a coffee cup. I’m about to move to Carroll Gardens, and if it’s beyond my delivery radius, I think I might die.

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#3 is Eli Zabar, a grocer, baker, and the proprietor of the Upper East Side gourmet food empire that includes Eli’s Market (grocery store), E.A.T (deli and café), Eli’s Essentials (grab-and-go), Eli’s List (wine and spirits), and Eli’s Table (neighborhood restaurant and wine bar). He also runs Eli’s Bread, an artisanal wholesale bakery producing naturally leavened, slowly fermented loaves found across the city, including at FreshDirect, and Zabar’s, of course. Eli is the youngest son of Louis and Lillian Zabar, the founders of the Upper West Side appetizing institution; while his older brothers carried on the family business, he struck out on the East Side and built a world of his own. He’s currently excited about what’s seasonal at the market: jumbo white asparagus from Holland, fava beans, purple artichokes, purple asparagus, first-of-season California asparagus, white baby turnips, soft shell crabs, and prime ribeye steaks from Maryland, dry-aged 40 days. Here’s Eli with his five essential UES spots.

S. Feldman Housewares

Feldman’s solves almost any problem. Not every problem, but almost every one. It’s a hardware store and an appliance store and a gift store in one. It’s a family-run operation that’s almost a century old.

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Citrus, grapes, nuts: these are the crops synonymous with California agriculture. Avocados, dairy, and lettuces, too. But amber waves of grain? That is, traditionally speaking, a Midwestern thing.

But California has never been bound by tradition, which is why, about 12 years ago, a group of Kern County farmers decided to experiment with growing more whole grains. And not just any whole grains—ancient, heritage breed varieties like Red Fife and Sonora wheat that flourish in Tehachapi, a low mountain valley halfway between Bakersfield and L.A.—that would eventually become the cause célèbre of dozens of L.A.’s best bakers, pastry chefs, brewers, and distillers.

The undertaking, appropriately dubbed the Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project, is a joint effort between Alex Weiser of Weiser Family Farms, and biologist-turned-grower Sherry Mandell, an incredibly well-connected ball of energy who is largely responsible for getting the grains to said chefs and bakers. With encouragement from L.A.’s own Japanese food luminary Sonoko Sakai, and seeds donated by heirloom grain evangelist Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills, what started as a two-acre experiment has expanded to nearly 400, and resulted in Tehachapi-grown grains getting name-checked on menus from Providence to Petitgrain.

Growing landrace heritage grains is good for the planet: they’re drought-tolerant, with unique root systems that spread deep into the earth, functioning as a carbon sink and conditioning the soil between plantings of other crops. It’s also good for the diner: “We grow it because it’s delicious, and it’s delicious because of the way we grow it,” says Mandell. “Even if you only add 15-30% of a heritage grain or flour to your product, it makes a huge difference,” she says. “You can tell just from looking at it. And once you taste it, it’s life-changing, because that grain becomes a part of the flavor profile itself,” she says, describing items made with whole grains as “deeper” and “more luxurious.”

2,500 miles northeast in America’s other cultural capital, a similarly spirited local whole grain renaissance is underway, led by Brooklyn Granary & Mill, a bakery and mill opened last year by Patrick Shaw-Kitch, a grain whiz and the former head baker at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, alongside his wife, Laura Huss. From their facility on Huntington Street, just off the Gowanus Canal, they stone-mill whole grains such as spelt, buckwheat, rye, einkorn, and various strains of wheat—grown on regenerative farms across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic—for use in pastries and bread at their on-site bakery, and for an impressive roster of wholesale clients, including the restaurants Gramercy Tavern and Borgo and bakeries like Elbow Bread and Diljān.

Part of the impetus for Brooklyn Granary & Mill was the 2021 closure of Union Square Greenmarket’s GrowNYC Grainstand, which served as the hub for local, whole grains in New York City; professional and home bakers could purchase regionally grown grains and flour and learn how each variety performs. Furthermore, New York City lacked a milling operation that could supply bakers and chefs with flour milled to order, and just-milled flour means more nutrients, more texture, and more flavor.

Whole grains are perishable in a way many people don’t realize. Once a grain’s seed is cracked, its natural oils are exposed to air and begin to oxidize, eventually going rancid. This means grains are at peak aroma and flavor right after milling, when those oils are still intact. Processed white flour, by contrast, has the bran and germ removed entirely—and it’s precisely those elements that give a grain its color, character, and fat, and with it, most of its flavor.

Accordingly, working with local, freshly milled whole-grain flours requires a certain level of skill and patience. “You usually have to adjust your hydration with whole wheat flours…they’re typically thirstier,” says Navil Rivera, worker-owner at Proof Bakery in Los Angeles, who also notes that gluten levels can vary, so using a mix of whole wheat with AP or a high-gluten flour can help create a more balanced product. But the extra effort is very much worth it: “You’re replacing an ingredient that adds nothing other than structure to the mix with something that adds everything,” says Karen DeMasco, the longtime pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern in New York.

Shaw-Kitch’s lineup of baked goods pushes the boundaries of what the average consumer expects from a croissant or a loaf of bread (ancient grain bread comprised of emmer, einkorn, and spelt; Bolles hard red spring and Red Fife wheat-based kouign-amann; biscuit-scone hybrids made with spelt and a soft white winter wheat called Frederick, stuffed with ham or jam). “People don’t necessarily associate whole grain flour with tender, flaky, soft, sweet, juicy, luscious. It’s more like: dry, brittle…” says Shaw-Kitch. “We try to show that you can make dynamic, interesting things based on what is being produced in our region, and that you can have a diversity of offerings without having to buy ingredients that you don’t know the provenance of.” At the bakery, bags of freshly milled flour are available alongside local eggs, cultured butter, and maple syrup, for those who want to try their hand at whole-grain baking.

The response thus far has been extremely positive, and the wholesale business has been steadily growing. When the author Mark Bittman tried Shaw-Kitch’s 100% whole-grain bread at a conference last summer, he called it among the best he’d ever had.

Bittman isn’t alone in his reverence for the flavor, nutritional value, and environmental benefits of whole grains. As more chefs, bakers, and even brewers and distillers on both coasts experiment with locally farmed wheat, spelt, rye, and beyond, it’s become easier for diners to taste the difference themselves. To guide your journey, here’s our list of where to find a dozen of the most delicious whole-grain dishes in both New York and L.A.—from an Afghan flatbread to a nori-crusted everything bagel.

This is the Angel’s first-ever bicoastal collaboration, and we invite you to tear into it with abandon, like a warm, flaky croissant studded with—you guessed it—whole grains.

1. Morning Bun with Cultured Butter and Cheddar at Brooklyn Granary
   There are two types of morning buns: sweet, laminated rolls with a citrusy, cinnamon and/or cardamom filling and caramelized edges, popularized by the OG Tartine Bakery in San Francisco; and Danish morning buns, which are really more like breakfast rolls, comprised of a chewy, fluffy, generally sourdough mound of bread, sliced in half, smeared with butter, and stuffed with a hard, nutty cheese, like Comté or Gruyère. The savory latter version is one of Patrick Shaw-Kitch’s specialties at his mill’s bakery, made with his whole wheat bread flour blend that combines red winter wheats, hard red spring wheats, and spelt. It’s on par with the best morning buns you’d find in Copenhagen, but flatter in volume, with a crunchier crust and a richer, more wholesome flavor. Plus, the cheese inside is not from France, but instead, a sharp American cheddar (Cabot Clothbound from Vermont).

   
   

2. Olive & Polenta Sourdough at Radio Bakery
   Radio Bakery is best known for their seasonal croissants and focaccia sandwiches, but research for this story led me to their stellar olive-and-polenta sourdough. The loaf is extraordinarily hydrated—even a non-baker will understand what that means the moment they tear into the dark crust and find an ultra-plush crumb studded with black and green olives, citrus zest, and rosemary. The effect is that of a porridge loaf, achieved by folding a glossy, starchy cooked grain—here, Brooklyn Granary polenta—into the dough, creating a soft, bouncy, almost-wet texture. It’s a perfect dinner party gift and a brilliant base for a tuna sandwich, available Sunday through Thursday at both Radio Bakery locations, in Greenpoint and Prospect Heights.
   
   

3. Seasonal Upside Down Cake at Gramercy Tavern
   At Gramercy Tavern, Karen DeMasco takes the task of milling into her own hands, sourcing whole spelt, renan, whole wheat, buckwheat, corn, rye, and einkorn from Brooklyn Granary and using her own mill to make flour daily for desserts on both menus—the prix-fixe dining room and the more casual front-room tavern. Currently in the former, she’s serving an apple tart with puff pastry made from spelt, rye, and whole wheat, paired with goat’s milk, dates, and pecans. Her puddingy fruit-filled upside down cake (featuring pears when I had it in February, now Meyer lemon) is a crowd favorite that puts einkorn front and center. The cake is vegan, made with olive oil in place of butter and eggs, “so the flour really comes through,” DeMasco explains. It has a robust honey-nut flavor and a feathery, textural crumb; I could not stop eating it.

   
   

   

4. Potato-Sauerkraut Knish at Elbow Bread
   Zoë Kanan’s knish is a work of contemporary New York art rooted in Lower East Side Jewish history. To make it, she rolls a sheet of pastry dough paper-thin—on a tablecloth, to prevent sticking—and drizzles it with clarified butter before folding it over dill-flecked pillowy mashed potatoes, caramelized onions, and sauerkraut. A big bite off the top is at once shattery and cushiony. Because the dough-stretching is such a delicate process, it requires a smooth sifted flour; Kanan uses an all-purpose blend by Brooklyn Granary, a mix of three wheats that Shaw-Kitch rotates according to what’s seasonally available. Elbow Bread also makes use of BGM’s cornmeal, adding it to their chocolate chip cookie for nuttiness and crunch, and as the star of their rightfully popular salty honey butter-glazed buttermilk cornbread donuts, which reliably appear in the pastry case come summertime, and reliably sell out.
   
   

5. Naan Roghani at Diljān Bakery
   It’s fitting for Diljān Bakery to have found a home in Brooklyn Heights, a hub for Middle Eastern and Central Asian baking for nearly a century (Damascus Bakery opened in 1930, followed by Oriental Pastry & Grocery in 1967). Diljān, from restaurateurs Ali Zaman and Mohamed Ghiasi and baker Bryan Ford, focuses on gorgeously crafted Afghan baked goods: laminated pastries like the Saffron Shah, a crescent-shaped pastry stuffed with saffron cream; and a dense, almondy halwa sticky bun. They also serve naan roghani, hand-stretched into an oblong shape with three scored parallel slashes. The dough is made with 25% BGM whole wheat and 75% stone-milled flour from Cairnspring Mills, enriched with high-quality olive oil for a distinct grassy flavor. Cream cheese dips are available (halal beef bacon-and-scallion or sour cherry), though it’s best in its purest form.
   
   

6. Any of the pies at Ops
   Mike Fadem, chef-owner of Ops, was hesitant to mess with his pizza dough recipe, which had been consistently great for a while. But when he tried using Brooklyn Granary’s flours, he was blown away by the difference. “There’s this freshness and aroma that is unlike anything I’d experienced with flour,” he says. “There’s definitely a flavor difference, too, but so much of eating a freshly baked bread product is the smell.” He makes his sourdough pizzas with a bread-flour mix and spelt—in Neapolitan-ish style at the original Ops in Bushwick and, at the newer East Village location, also in thin-crust tavern form. Both crusts have a grounded, wheaty flavor, not in-your-face, but also far from boring, with some sweetness and a dose of tang. Recently, a marinara pie studded with anchovies, sliced garlic, and black olives delivered in airy pockets of crispy-crusted dough, an easy chew, and a heavy dose of funk and salt, cut by an acidic tomato sauce; while a classic, cheesy tavernetta pizza was cracker-y and pliant, with a just-right amount of oregano.
   
   

   

7. Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookie at Rigor Hill Market

   “I truly believe in the benefits of more whole grains in our diet, and that is reflected across our bakery program,” says Jonathan Sze, head baker at Rigor Hill Market. He incorporates a number of BGM flours into his pastries and breads, including a 7-grain loaf featuring renan and tom wheats, rye, oats, and emmer—which serves as the base for a roast turkey sandwich with Swiss cheese, thinly sliced kohlrabi, and pickled shallots—pain de mie and croissants made with sifted spelt, and a streusel of cornmeal and einkorn that tops muffins and oat bars. The standout is Sze’s buckwheat chocolate chip cookie: the earthy, nutty flavor of buckwheat pairs beautifully with chocolate, and the cookie’s ripple-textured top yields a crispy exterior that gives way to a gooey centermost layer. Simple and sophisticated, my ideal style of baked good.
   
   

8. Cardamom Bun at Gem Home
   Gem Home’s sourdough batard, also served in thick slabs with softened butter at chef Flynn McGarry’s fine dining counterpart, Cove, is a beautiful shade of beige, with a remarkably crackling crust, tangy undertone, satisfying chew, and satiny crumb. The bakers use a mix of Brooklyn Granary flours to achieve that texture and flavor: spelt for softness, whole wheat for rootedness, and bread flour for bounciness. On the sweeter side is Gem Home’s now-signature Scandinavian-style cardamom bun, twisted into sugary, spicy coils. The brioche dough, which incorporates some of BGM’s whole wheat, is so fluffy it’s cozy, and the tingle of cardamom lingers on your tongue after each bite.
   
   

9. Maple Oat Sourdough at She Wolf
   At this point, She Wolf is famous for so many loaves that favorites differ by New Yorker: miche, toasted sesame wheat, polenta pullman, sprouted rye. Mine is the maple oat sourdough, which recalls, nostalgically, a crusty, elevated version of store-bought Health Nut bread—warming and sweet from a dose of pure maple syrup. The cracked oats, sourced from Brooklyn Granary, yield a pleasingly gritty crust and a nutty, substantial crumb; the deep honey-colored interior is a bonus. I like it straight-up, toasted with butter, but it would be equally great in a PB&J or alongside a caramelly cheese like aged Gouda. Also worth ordering: the cracked oat cookie, with lacy edges, brown sugary depth, and no sign of raisins.
   
   

   

10. Rhubarb Tart at Borgo
    Everyone I know loves Borgo, in part because it’s a gleaming example of a mature restaurant run by bona fide pros. Also, the food is very good. During a recent solo lunch (my favorite time to dine at Andrew Tarlow’s Manhattan outpost), I finished with a rustic slice of rhubarb tart: silky, bright-pink strips of Yorkshire rhubarb paired with almond cream and encased in pastry chef Adam Marca’s tender crunch dough, made with Brooklyn Granary spelt flour, and plated with a dollop of softly whipped cream. The buttery, flaky crust, punctuated by crispy bits of caramelized sugar, combined with the puckery tang of rhubarb, conjures England while radiating intense spring energy. When there’s no tart on the menu, there’s often a strudel, also made with Brooklyn Granary spelt. Borgo serves BGM polenta as well, as a side on the dinner menu.
    
    

11. Seasonal Olive Oil and Cornmeal Tea Cake at Hani’s
    Across from the register at Hani’s, pastry chef Miro Uskokovic’s cheerful Astor Place bakery, coconut-cacao nib-and-sour cherry granola is sold alongside bags of freshly milled Wapsie Valley cornmeal, whole wheat bread flour, and rolled oats from Aurora Farm, each stamped with Brooklyn Granary & Mill’s intricate logo. These are the BGM products at work in Hani’s pastry case, including a lush olive oil cake made with cornmeal and almond flour and fashioned like a cupcake for a queen, currently crowned with a generous heap of fig leaf-infused mascarpone in the softest shade of green and a pool of jammy, sweet-tart rhubarb. Textural pops of grain run through the rich olive oil crumb, making this cupcake far more complex than anything you’d find at, say, Magnolia.
    
    

12. Bread & Butter at Confidant
    After an unsuccessful stint as the first full-service restaurant inside Industry City, chef-owners Brendan Kelley and Daniel Grossman have reopened their seasonal New American restaurant in the former home of Colonie in Brooklyn Heights. The menu kicks off with a bread and butter course that goes beyond the typical affair: a miniature boule made from a mix of Brooklyn Granary grains—subtly sweet spelt, earthy rye, and whole wheat—whose combined character comes through clearly in the finished loaf. It’s served with a squiggly mound of salted butter that borders on funky. There’s an option to add briny, extra-juicy pickles (recently long hot peppers, Jimmy Nardellos, and watermelon radish) and meaty, zesty boquerones. Order both.

1. Classic Croissant at Petitgrain Boulangerie
   Petitgrain owner Clémence de Lutz is encyclopedic in her baking knowledge, and readily expounds upon both the art and science of whole grains (“There’s this stretchy, extensible quality, and something really sensual, about spelt”). The appropriately petite bakery is fanatical about sourcing and technique; their viennoiserie is some of the most skillful in the city. The best introduction to Petitgrain’s capabilities is their classic plain croissant, made from a dough that combines Central Milling bread flour with rye, hard red wheat (Red Fife or Joaquin, depending on what’s available), and spelt flours from Tehachapi; plus “a pretty high ratio” of grass-fed cultured French butter. The result is a pastry with a deeply burnished crust, a perfectly honeycombed interior, and visible specks of nutty whole grains suspended in fine, buttery layers.

   
   

2. Rouge de Bordeaux Pain de Campagne at Two Rose Bakery
   I’ve written about pop-up baker Dave Wilcox’s fantastic breads before, and I’m writing about them again, because as his newly MEHKO-certified home bakery has settled in, they’ve only gotten better. The lineup rotates, but Wilcox can be counted on to offer 5-7 different breads weekly, made from a variety of flours. While his Tehachapi rye-enhanced baguette is a staple (and perfect for breaking off into hunks with your morning coffee at his backyard pickup), I’m partial to the hefty pain de campagne made with Rouge de Bordeaux flour. It’s not always available, but when it is, jump—each loaf has a tangy, robust flavor and an almost imperceptibly custardy crumb. Eat it with the best butter you can find, and a thick swab of Wilcox’s passionfruit curd, if he has any left.
   
   

3. Polenta with Chanterelles, Sunchokes, and Fried Herbs at Bar Etoile
   Most of the items on this list are breads or pastries made with one of Tehachapi’s whole wheat flours, but Mandell and Weiser also grow Otto File corn, a heirloom Italian varietal with a beautiful gold-orange hue (the result of extra carotenoids, the same pigments in carrots) and a deep, “corny” flavor. Polenta made from Otto File is creamy and buttery on its own, but at Bar Etoile, chef Travis Hayden ups the ante by cooking it in the surplus whey he has kicking around after making ricotta for another dish. The result is extra rich and creamy, and while I’d happily eat a bowl of it plain, it’s made all the more luxurious with the addition of seared chanterelles, thinly sliced sunchokes, and a dusting of crispy fried herbs.
   
   
   

   

4. Nori Everything Bagel at Mustard’s Bagels
   While brothers Kyle and Brent Glanville finish renovations on their Culver City storefront, they’re still offering their blistered, crackly, airy new-school bagels on weekends, loose or in sandwich form. After trying several hard red wheats, they settled on Tehachapi’s Joaquin variety, which has “a really nutty flavor that shows through in the bagels, but also a very tender crumb,” and “an aroma that hits you right away,” says Brent. They’re fermented for 72 hours to break down the heartier wheat flour, then boiled in malt syrup and served warm. Salted plain and roasted sesame flavors are available, but I’m partial to the Nori Everything, with roasted seaweed, sesame oil, black and white sesame seeds, Maldon salt, and a bit of MSG, for good measure.
   
   

5. Chocolate Chip Cookie from Sasha Pilligan
   Obviously, chocolate chip cookie preferences are deeply personal. I, personally, prefer a variety that falls more on the soft, chewy side of the spectrum than the thin and crispy. Baker-about-town Sasha Pilligan, though perhaps better known for her showstopping cakes, makes a CCC that hits all of my pleasure receptors. Available at Botanica, Chamberlain, L.A. Home Farm, Granada, Kaleido, and Canyon Coffee, these puppies are thinnish, chewy, and soft, with big pools of TCHO 62% dark chocolate and a pleasantly salty edge. In my tasting notes, I wrote that “there’s almost more chocolate than cookie,” and while the overall profile is obviously sweet, there’s a hint of a savory undercurrent to the cookie itself, with a nutty, toasty depth of flavor that can be attributed to a blend of Tehachapi rye and Sonora wheat flours.
   
   

6. Blue corn flour thumbprint cookie with strawberry jam at Proof Bakery
   On the other end of the cookie spectrum, I also love the petite, shortbread-leaning thumbprint cookies at Atwater Village staple Proof. They rotate between two Tehachapi-sourced flours for the dough: the hearty, red-tinged Rouge de Bordeaux, and the softer blue dent corn, then top it with a rotating cast of seasonal jams. I’m a sucker for the blue corn-and-strawberry jam variation, which has a lovely heft, crumbly texture, and just the right amount of crunch from a dusting of cane sugar on top. It’s not too sweet, not too big, and not too much—so you might as well get two.
   
   

   

7. Buttermilk Pancakes at Clark Street Diner
   I rarely order pancakes at a restaurant; they’re almost always flabby carbo-bombs that contribute nothing to the table. Clark Street Diner’s are one of the few exceptions. These are purist pancakes of the buttermilk variety, made with AP from ABC Milling and Sonora flour from Tehachapi, griddled on the well-worn flattop, and served crisp-edged and fluffy-centered in a stack dripping with butter and real maple syrup. They’re big and beautiful, best enjoyed in combo form alongside eggs and bacon. When I reached out to owner Zack Hall about his decision to incorporate Sonora flour, this is all he had to say: “The Sonora MAKES the pancakes. We thank Alex [and Sherry] for deciding to grow this really wonderful grain.” What more do you need to know?
   
   

8. Focaccine with Potatoes, Leeks, Tomatoes & Miso at Fuyuko’s Kitchen
   We are lucky to have Fuyuko Kondo (fun fact: Sonoko Sakai’s sister), a classically French-trained pastry chef and former owner of a baking school in Tokyo, offer lessons in her home kitchen in Pasadena. She also pops up at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market with pastries both sweet and savory, which is where you’ll find her focaccine (a round, individually-sized focaccia), made with a mix of AP and Tehachapi spelt flours, lending a rich, smooth flavor to the olive oil-enriched dough. Toppings rotate seasonally, but the gentle fusion of Japanese and European flavors is especially apparent—and delicious—in this springy variation. Pick up a mini pear tartlet (made with Tehachapi’s Sonora flour) for dessert while you’re at it.
   
   

9. Chilaquiles Burrito at Cafe Tropical
   The crew at Silver Lake’s favorite neighborhood cafe doubles down on Tehachapi products for this surprisingly well-balanced breakfast burrito, scrambling together house-fried TGP corn tortilla chips, eggs, tomatillo salsa, bacon, cheese, and stinger peppers and wrapping the whole unholy mess in a warm, stretchy Tehachapi Sonora flour tortilla. (The cafe picks them up weekly from Mandell, who works with a tortilleria in Boyle Heights to manufacture them.) “The grain blend has a flavor profile that isn’t single note,” says co-owner Ed Cornell. “I don’t want to sound too snobby, but it’s nutty, and tastes like the high desert”—a bit poetic, perhaps, but he’s not wrong.
   
   

10. Any of the pies at Wallflour Pizza
    The husband-and-wife pandemic pop-up formerly known as Quarantine Pizza Co. has gone legit with a charming counter-order storefront in Eagle Rock, perfect for family dinners or group outings. The 14-inch pizzas, from Ronan and Quarter Sheets vet Brandon Conaway, fall somewhere between New York and Neapolitan, and feature toppings both traditional (pepperoni) and not—the Broccaway Beach, with broccoli purée, mozz, big splotches of Calabrian chili paste, broccolini, and Meyer lemon, is the rare non-red sauce pie I actually crave. All of them are based on a naturally-leavened sourdough made with Tehachapi’s hearty Red Fife wheat, which bakes into a bubbly, blistered pie with enough structural integrity to stand up to whatever toppings you may choose.
    
    

11. Green Bowl at Fountain Grains & Greens
    Part of what makes this low-key but next-level grain bowl and salad shop stand out is Blue Hill alum Aric Attebury’s careful approach with ingredients. The base of the Green Bowl is a mix of TGP rye, Sonora, Rouge de Bordeaux, and Red Fife wheatberries (for now—Attebury will take pretty much anything Mandell and Weiser grow, which might include barley in the future), topped with a mix of seasonally-rotating local vegetables and a zippy zhug. The grains are soaked and sprouted—which plumps them up, lends a slightly sweeter flavor, and makes their nutrients more bioavailable—before being cooked, resulting in a bowl that looks, for lack of a better term, alive—no sad desk lunches here.
    
    

12. Focaccia Sandwich at Sqirl
    On its surface, Sqirl’s focaccia looks a little plain-Jane—there are no oversized salt granules dotting its surface, nor herbs to make it look pretty. But the color alone—a deep mahogany brown, with a shiny, dark, crispy crust—is a tip-off for the immensely satisfying experience of biting into it. Naturally leavened (with a sourdough starter that apparently came from Walton Goggins), dotted with air bubbles and visible flecks of TGP Joaquin wheat, and rich with olive oil, this focaccia performs best in sandwich form. I’m partial to the shaved turkey with kale pesto, little gems, and Comté, but there are also pastrami and prosciutto-based variations; all available pressed, an option you should avail yourself of to experience the full spectrum of flavor and texture the focaccia contains.

But first, I have the answers to Wednesday’s game of Name the Restaurants. Only two readers (Sam Freeman and Alexis Coutu-Marion) got 11 out of 12. Congrats to them, I’m impressed! The one that tripped everyone up was #4, the brand-new Baohaus on St. Marks Place.

1. Blue Ribbon Brasserie, SoHo

2. Le Zie, Chelsea

3. Sushi Yasuda, Midtown East

4. Baohaus, East Village

5. NY Pizza Suprema, Midtown East

6. River Deli, Brooklyn Heights

7. Randazzo’s Clam Bar, Sheepshead Bay

8. Union Square Cafe, Union Square

9. Sa Rit Gol, Fort Lee, NJ

10. Babbo, Greenwich Village

11. Pastis, Meatpacking District

12. B&H Dairy, East Village

This is a perfect segue into #8: Phoebe Ng, a bicoastal hospitality marketing and communications strategist who looks after Stars, Penny, Claud, Lei, Smithereens, Baby Bistro, and Santo Taco. Her roster speaks for itself; Phoebe is the downtown restaurant publicist to know right now, and she also happens to have taken my B&H virginity (embarrassing that I’d never been before last fall, but we all have gaps in our resumes). She’s worked on many notable openings, with previous clients including Maru’s first New York shop, Rory’s Place in Ojai, and the Parcelle group (including Mitsuru and Sunn’s). Before going out on her own, Phoebe spent 6 years at Becca and rose through the ranks to VP. She was born and raised in Los Angeles and she knows where’s delicious and who’s worth knowing on both coasts. Here she is with her Plugs.

Restaurant — Maxi’s Noodles 3

I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Every couple of months, my parents would load my siblings and me into the minivan for the 45-minute drive down the 101 to the closest 99 Ranch Market. We’d stockpile ingredients we couldn’t get locally: greens like morning glory and yuk choy, fresh fish (tilapia from the tanks), condiments, Yakult, sweet rice, dried egg noodles. But the first task upon arrival was always to eat lunch at Sam Woo BBQ, the Cantonese eatery next door, complete with gruff waiters and drippy roast meats displayed in a window. This is where I was introduced to Hong Kong-style wonton noodle soup—with her delicate broth, springy noodles, and wontons with wispy thin wrappers. When I moved to New York, the access to specialists of this dish was intoxicating. I swore by Great New York Noodletown before locking in with Noodle Village. Then, Maxi’s Noodle opened its Manhattan location. It’s now my reigning champ. I love the chaotic signs posted throughout the narrow space that warn of severe dining time limits and the potential of needing to share a table with strangers. I get the beef tendon add-on. It adds a glistening slickness to the already rich soup. The wontons are exquisite; plump, bouncy, and freakishly full of shrimp.

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I was in Philly last weekend for The Chef Assembly and had one of the best meals I’ve had in recent memory at Meetinghouse. The cozy, contemporary pub is as dialed in on the details—custom blue tiles, exposed brick and glass blocks, a lit candle as the logo—as it is on the plate, with food rooted in regional tavern specialties: shrimp cocktail served alongside a pile of cornichons and cocktail onions, hot roast beef sandwiches with horseradish and jus, creamy Baltimore-style crab dip, a gorgeous eat-with-your-hands green salad, top round roast with peas and mashed potatoes on Sunday special, and vanilla ice cream drizzled with crème de menthe (like a chipless mint chip) for dessert. It didn’t hurt that the company—Luke, Bill, and Elazar—was excellent.

I also loved Dayna Evans’ Downtime Bakery, specifically her sourdough sesame bagel with tangy banana pepper-laced cream cheese and thinly sliced cucumbers, and an iced slab of whole orange-anise cake, Claudia Roden’s famous version of which I’ve been meaning to make (perhaps next week, for Passover).

During a critics panel discussion, made a point about the resurgence of taverns across the country—serving as community gathering places with simple, hearty cooking—nodding to New Jersey and Wisconsin. Taverns are one of my all-time favorite restaurant formats: the closest thing America has to a pub or a cantina, so I’m here for this. New York has some pretty great classic ones; more on this topic soon. (Tavern-style pizza, however? Miss me with that. New York-style, forever.)

Rhubarb is starting to appear everywhere, and it’s making me very happy: in a tart at Borgo; sorbet at King; folded inside Sasha Piligian’s strawberry-rhubarb coconut streusel muffins; and at cafés, bakeries, and canteens all over London in my feed. I’ll be highlighting a few rhubarb-centric dishes in a major bicoastal story Jamie and I are publishing next week, which, hint, has to do with carbs and local agriculture—two of my favorite beats. Stay tuned.

I've been a fan of Tyler Lee Steinbrenner's sourdough boules and milk sandwich bread at ACQ Bread Co. in Carroll Gardens since the pandemic, and now I live close enough to be a frequent customer. I’m especially fond of the Mountain Rye, laced with tamari, molasses, and maple syrup: earthy with a jolt of umami and a subtle, rounded sweetness. On my last visit, I also bought a bag of granola, which is, without a doubt, the finest version of the form I’ve ever had—and I’ve had plenty of great granola; RIP ‘wichcraft. The bag brims with big, shatteringly crisp toasted clusters of oats, pecans, pepitas, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, goji berries, dried cherries, golden raisins, and what I believe is the key ingredient: millet. It’s just salty enough and not too sweet, held together by maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, and extra-virgin olive oil. That the ingredient list is written in ACQ’s signature calligraphy seals it as the perfect gift—including for yourself.

We’re playing a game today. These are all pictures I took walking into various dining rooms around the city. Some are more obvious than others. Anyone who can guess at least 11/12 gets their Angel subscription comped for a year.

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We’ve got rhubarb, warm weather on the way, and wedding season about to commence, including yours truly’s. If you’ve been dutifully reading The Angel since January, you know that we used Squarespace to host our wedding website, which is simple and sleek—just how we like things. As we enter the home stretch, I’ve been appreciating how easy it is to keep everything in one place: the essential details on one page, our registry (really just a Japan fund) on another—the whole thing dressed up with animated yellow tulips drifting down the page. Angel readers who want to try Squarespace, whether for a professional website or a personal occasion, like me, can click here to start a free trial. Use the code THEANGEL when you’re ready to launch to save 10% on your first website or domain.

#7 (we’re tracking in East Coast Plugs, now) is Mike Traud, the founder and executive director of The Chef Assembly, formerly known as The Chef Conference. Mike has a JD, Ed.D, and an MBA, and has worked as a chef (Osteria, Vetri, and Zeppoli), as an attorney, and as an educator. His passion for the restaurant industry led him to create the conference that restaurateurs, food journalists, critics, and chefs actually want to attend. The Chef Assembly has taken place in both Los Angeles and New York (and will return here on May 4th), but Philadelphia is its home base, where Mike has resided for nearly two decades. I’m headed to Philly later today to eat and talk shop with some of my favorite people in hospitality, and to listen in on panels about food criticism, emerging restaurant technologies, and the modern-day bakery. In honor of the occasion, Mike is here with the first-ever Philly-centric Plugs.

Restaurant — Palizzi Social Club

My first kitchen job in Philly was as part of the opening staff at Osteria where Joey Baldino was my sous chef. 19 years later, Joey is the chef/owner of Palizzi Social Club, my favorite place to dine. Old-school Italian cuisine done perfectly with one of the best vibes in the city. From Al greeting us at the door, to Gabrielle making drinks at the bar, to Dolores serving us, the team helps make the overall experience welcoming and unique in a Philly way.

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Everything old is new again, L.A. restaurant edition: I had an excellent, refreshingly grown-up meal at Broken Spanish Comedor in Culver City, the resurrection of Alta California master chef Ray Garcia’s Downtown institution, a pandemic casualty in 2020. (Shoutout to the refried lentils, an unsexy-sounding but in fact very delicious starter!) Garcia isn’t the only trailblazing L.A. chef to breathe new life into their old favorite as of late: Fellow DTLA pioneer Josef Centeno has revived his dearly departed Bäco Mercat, Bar Amá, and Takoria menus (plus some new ideas) at his new restaurant, Le DräQ, in the former Bar Amá space. The long-awaited addition of dinner at Sqirl isn’t quite the same, given that the original never went away, but it exists on a similarly nostalgia-tinged spectrum, as influential L.A. chefs continue to nurture and expand their original concepts—which, given the challenges of modern-day restaurant ownership—seems quite smart.

The new it vegetable: Cauliflower steaks are played out—the vegetable of the moment is cabbage, per Vogue and seemingly every chef in town (in fairness, the NYT called it two years ago, but who’s counting). My favorite dish at the new Sqirl after dark was an elaborately constructed chunk of green cabbage, layers separated and stuffed with mushroom duxelles, charred on the edges and topped with black garlic toum and a yuzu butter sauce—heady stuff for a humble crucifer. Against all odds, Little Fish in Melrose Hill’s most photogenic (and delicious) dish is arguably its stuffed cabbage, two perfect green cylinders containing abalone rice and plated over a rich tomato beurre blanc. Anajak Thai has been smothering hefty grilled wedges of the stuff with garlic chutney and chili crisp for a few years now. And Emily just told me about a grilled conehead cabbage dish, torn into pieces and drizzled with curry leaf aioli and yuzu shichimi at RVR, though I’m still mentally replaying the silky sheafs of Hispi cabbage they were steaming in a citrusy dashi a few months ago. I get the appeal: cabbage is visually arresting, vaguely healthy, and adapts well to virtually any cooking technique. And while some may complain about paying upwards of $20 for a brassica, free your mind—a well-considered vegetable dish is always worth it, IMO.

SushiSamba just opened in a massive rooftop space in West Hollywood, and while global fusion-cuisine juggernauts are not our usual beat, both Emily and I must admit to a certain degree of nostalgia for the Seventh Avenue South location circa 2005, at its Sex & The City-fueled peak. SushiSamba was one of the first chains to take Nikkei cuisine mainstream, and it will be interesting to see how the Japanese-Peruvian-Brazilian dinner and show concept is received here, in a neighborhood with plenty of competing clubstraunts, particularly among diners who may not be old enough to remember the chain in its heyday. It could succeed if it leans into its inherent flamboyance, and positions itself as an alternative to the in-house restaurants at the more exclusive members-only clubs like the nearby San Vicente Bungalows and Soho House. Long live the yellowtail taquitos!

I avoid making New Year’s resolutions, but the one goal I set for myself each year is to become a regular, somewhere, anywhere. I proceed to fail every year, because the nature of my job is such that I am constantly chasing after bright shiny new objects, and also because when I have a night off, I usually like to stay in and eat my lentil mush. That said, there are a few places I return to time and again, usually for specific dishes or an atmosphere I crave but will never be able to recreate at home. There are a few more that filter in and out of this list on a regular basis, but here’s the current lineup:

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#101/#6 is Tanya Bush, a writer, baker, and the author of Will This Make You Happy, a wonderful narrative cookbook released last week. When she sent me a copy last December, I devoured it over the course of four hours, then made her brown butter chocolate chip hazelnut cookies the next day. Tanya is the co-founder of and the pastry chef for Little Egg in Prospect Heights, where she makes simply phenomenal apple fritters. She also oversees pastry for Tables of Contents, an organization at the intersection of food and literature. She’s a contributor for T Magazine and has bylines in The Paris Review, New York Magazine, i-D, and Guernica. Here’s Tanya with her Plugs.

Restaurant — Smithereens

I’ve been to Smithereens many times since it opened (always at the bar) and it’s just undeniably cool. The atmosphere is very basement-glam, the wine list includes handwritten tasting notes that read like prose poems and the food is spectacular and smart – pairings like snapper and smoked beet, a tempura fried fish with the best tartar sauce of your life, a killer apple cider doughnut with citric acid in the coating. Perfect.

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New York City has a grocery store problem—and it’s worst downtown and in Brooklyn. Where does one get farmers’ market produce on the days Union Square Greenmarket is closed? Citarella has fallen off. Balducci’s and Dean & DeLuca are gone. Union Market is overpriced and dated. Eataly is touristy but good. Zabar’s is overstocked and uptown. And obviously, Happier Grocer and Meadow Lane are not the right solution. What I want is quality and warmth in a one-stop shop, butcher, fishmonger, and cheesemonger included. Am I missing anywhere good? Shoppy shops don’t count. Watch this space.

On Saturday, Julia Moskin published a watershed report in the Times detailing celebrity chef René Redzepi’s disturbing history of physical and psychological abuse of employees—and Noma’s Los Angeles pop-up is now beginning to unravel. Yesterday, American Express and Blackbird essentially pulled their sponsorships. Last Friday, a story I’ve been working on for the past month for Bon Appétit—on how the local restaurant industry has responded to Noma’s arrival in Los Angeles—went live, adding further context to the famed Copenhagen restaurant’s impact, both despite and in light of everything now coming to a head. I was looking forward to seeing how the sharp, creative staff I met over the course of my reporting would work their magic on Southern California’s impeccable ingredients, and I’m bummed for them, as well as for the farmers and purveyors who were thrilled at the opportunity to partner with Noma. And yet, it’s simply not right that the show goes on as planned.

I’ve been trying to bring muffins back for years. And I think we’re finally there—specifically, it’s time for the return of the bran muffin. (Call me crazy.) The spark: this conversation started by writer , which I devoured on vacation in Hawaii the week before last, after breakfast at Mozza at the Lanai Four Seasons, where Nancy Silverton has an excellent bran-raisin muffin on her breakfast menu (alongside the Max & Helen’s sourdough waffle). From there, I begged Mary Schoenlein of the now-closed Amagansett institution to publish her bran-blueberry muffin recipe—to which she agreed, and yesterday, delivered. And this past weekend, inspired me to purchase Kira’s Gluten Free’s “The Bobbi Muffin” (a bran-packed collab with makeup artist Bobbi Brown), stating they could single-handedly bring back the muffin industry. (For what it’s worth, the honey raisin bran muffins at OG LifeThyme Natural Market slap.)

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I’ve written all sorts of guides to L.A., to salads and cinnamon rolls and, most notably, many iterations of My L.A. Right Now, a series I concluded when I moved to New York. Now, I’ve put together a proper, semi-permanent list of my favorite restaurants, cafés, groceries, and bars in the city I now consider my second home.

These are the spots I prioritize visiting when I’m in town, broken down into easy categories like smoothies, Mexican, and the San Gabriel Valley (plus, since I know you want it, a dedicated section for Hot & New). Because I’ve already written in depth about 90% of the places below, I’m keeping this straightforward—just names, neighborhoods, and recommended orders. You trust me now, don’t you? If you’re still on the fence with that, allow me this: I stand behind this thoroughly researched, impassioned guide more fiercely than any other set of recs I’ve shared before.

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#2 is Annie Shi, the restaurateur behind the delightful Chinatown wine bar Lei, in addition to SoHo’s beloved King, Rock Center’s Jupiter, and the soon-to-open seafood-focused pub, Dean’s. Annie is also an award-winning beverage director, having recently been named the Michelin Guide’s Northeast Cities Sommelier of the Year. Lei, which opened last summer, is her most personal project yet; it’s where her Chinese background and her deep knowledge of European wine are on full display, in brilliant harmony. A native New Yorker from Queens who grew up eating and shopping in Flushing and Chinatown, she was already well-positioned when she became a business owner on historic Doyers Street—and now she’s more tapped in than ever. Here’s Annie with her five go-to Chinatown restaurants, food shops, and more.

Mee Sum Cafe

Mee Sum is one of the last old-school coffee shops in Chinatown serving breakfast and lunch. The Moy family has owned it for five decades and is worthy of regular patronage. When we were still in construction at Lei, we bought family meal from Mee Sum at least once a week. My favorites are the zhong zi (sticky rice studded with salted duck egg yolk and pork belly, wrapped and steamed in bamboo leaves), and salted chicken over rice. Cash only!

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I don’t care for chicken parmesan, no matter how good the rendition. But the bad ones are so bad: rubbery meat coated in mushy clumps of breadcrumbs, blanketed in cheese that tastes like plastic. “All pizza is good pizza,” people like to say, a statement I disagree with. This assertion applies to pretty much no food (sorry), and is particularly untrue about chicken parmesan. Fried calamari is fine, generally conducive to a stomachache, and pales in comparison to a well-executed grilled calamari dish. Veal cacciatore, chicken piccata, manicotti… it’s all whatever. The only red sauce dish I love is spaghetti and meatballs, which is best made at home.

I’m not trying to shit on Italian-American cuisine en masse; much of it can be made lovingly and enjoyed with great comfort in the intimacy of Italian-American homes. I am, however, saying that red sauce dining doesn’t do it for me. “Have you been to Michael’s of Brooklyn, though?” One might argue. Yes, I have, and while it’s less mid than Bamonte’s (don’t even get me started on Dan Tana’s), it’s still whatever. Don Peppe is my favorite of the bunch, and it’s fun! But am I ever really excited to eat there? Nope.

“It’s not about the food,” they say. And sure, it’s about the vibes—the white tablecloths, the gruff servers who’ve been clocking in for decades. In these instances, I prefer to pretend like I’m at the country club, where even if the food’s not great, you can at least get what you want. I’m not strictly talking about red sauce joints here, but any old-school American or Italian restaurant where the menu runs the full gamut: shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, classic pastas, a range of entrees within each protein category, tiramisu and cheesecake for dessert—or, better yet, a piece of grilled fish and steamed vegetables.

In the charmingly subterranean dining room at Gene’s, there’s plain broiled filet mignon, lamb chops, and salmon, all perfectly passable alongside a mountain of blanched broccoli rabe. Your martini with a twist will taste like lukewarm rubbing alcohol, but the sleeper-hit shrimp a la Gene’s (think scampi, but better) and the people-watching, mostly Greenwich Village regulars in their 70s, will make up for it.

At Vito in Santa Monica, an old fart clientele is complemented by Caesars prepared tableside, a dessert cart that roams the room, and a wholly adaptable menu (ask for chicken without the lemon-butter sauce or your veal sans breading).

The menu at Michael’s in Midtown (New York, not of Brooklyn) is a tad cheffier—there’s Parmesan in the Niçoise and jalapeno-cilantro-lime salsa with the chicken—after all, chef-owner Michael McCarty was at the forefront of California cuisine in the 80s, at the original in L.A. But it’s still pleasingly generic, and I would imagine, given their moneyed business-of-creative-types clientele, very welcoming of modifications. Plus, the room, when filled with light at lunchtime, especially, is a stunner; its walls lined with vibrant paintings by blue-chip artists and its carpeted floor a suave shade of brown.

Will any of this basic fare be better than what you’d make for yourself at home? Absolutely not, but at least you’re not having to force down bites of dry, tasteless meatballs in watery tomato sauce, barely clinging to strands of spaghetti. At least you can get your protein in, eat your vegetables, forfeit any notion of culinary excellence in favor of bland simplicity, and not let the bad food ruin the good vibes.

Chicken scarpariello at F&F Restaurant and Bar
Carroll Gardens
This is the soul-warming dish I needed during the dark depths of winter earlier this month. Brined and roasted chicken in a lush, richly savory sauce with crispy crumbles of fennel sausage, sliced onions, vinegared peppers, and soft hunks of Yukon potato. Chicken scarpariello is not not a red sauce dish, but here, it’s executed with the warmth and finesse of a restaurant that knows exactly what its regulars need.

Stracciatella alla Romana on special at Via Carota
West Village
As, finally, temps were rising the weekend before last, I had coffee plans with Ally at Pisellino when she texted me 10 minutes before we were supposed to meet. “Would you want to sit outside at Via Carota? They have a table.” We caught up under a heat lamp, and I ordered a small bowl of stracciatella alla Romana, which was on special. The soup made my afternoon: silken with yellow fat; laced with delicate ribbons of egg, satiny strands of spinach, and a few threads of poached chicken; and topped with a showering of shaved parm.

Frites at Balthazar
SoHo
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: the absolute best fries in New York can be found at every restaurant opened by Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson. In chronological order: Balthazar, Minetta Tavern, Frenchette, Le Rock, Le Veau d’Or, Wild Cherry. The frites at each of these restaurants vary in size and (I believe) fats used for frying, but if it’s gold-standard fries that you’re after, you can’t go wrong at any spot. Over Valentine’s Day weekend, my friends got married at Balthazar, and every guest who knew what to do ordered steak-frites as their main. Every time I’m back in that room, I succumb to the pure pleasure of scarfing down a cone of resplendent frites: thin-cut and necessarily blanched, twice-fried in peanut oil, and thoroughly salted, with creamy insides, golden-brown outsides, and an ever-so-slightly soggy frame. Ketchup and aioli to dip.

F&F Restaurant and Bar doesn’t just make a mean chicken scarpariello, but also, bracingly balanced Negronis, the only classic martini riff I’ll ever order (the Olio Martini, infused with Frankies’ olive oil and garnished with a glistening grassy yellow droplet), and sit-down versions of their phenomenal sourdough pies in flavors like clam and guanciale-and-leek. All in the coziest, most handsome room—one piece of the three-establishment campus architected by industry vets Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli, otherwise known as The Franks. The Frankies campus, as regulars like to call it, includes the 22-year-old bona fide neighborhood restaurant, Frankies Spuntino, and my favorite slice shop in town, F&F Pizzeria. It’s where David and I are celebrating our marriage this spring.

We used Squarespace for our wedding website, which we recently updated with more pertinent information as we’re now only a few months away. It was easy to do because Squarespace is simple to use, enabling us to edit and move around text blocks, feature a honeymoon fund by integrating with Zola, and keep the website password-protected, so it’s only accessible to our guests. If anything comes up that I need to adjust or add, I can make updates on the go with the Squarespace app and even upload photos from my camera roll.

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#100/#5 is Emma Orlow, a founding journalist at Caper, the new food media venture that soft-launched earlier this month with a mission to cover “the people, money, ambition, power and chaos that fuels the food world.” Caper will soon be a full-fledged website filled with stories, but in the meantime, Emma and her colleagues are sharing what they’re learning via newsletter—from scoops on new openings to insidery industry intel. This past week, Emma reported on the cheesemonger Caroline Hesse, who supplies restaurants like Bridges and Le Veau d’Or and opens her warehouse to the public for tastings once a month. You can sign up for her future dispatches here. Before Caper, Emma was an editor at Eater and has spent over a decade covering New York’s food world (and other cultural beats) for The New York Times, New York Magazine, T Mag, Vogue, and more. She’s a native New Yorker with a talent for finding the delightfully weird, from dollhouse conventions to urban apple picking and Stew Leonard’s uncanny animatronics. Here she is with her Plugs.

Restaurant — Pupusas Ridgewood

I ride for this takeout place. It opened during the pandemic and is family-run. So many different types of pupusas to choose from, but I always find myself ordering the pumpkin flower one.

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