Let’s play a game

Plus, my favorite meal in a minute, and the granola to end all granola

Today’s post is free, as it’s brought to you by Squarespace, which means I get to tell you about my wedding website one last time. :)

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, Joshua David Stein 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.