The 7 restaurants I have on repeat
Where I love to dine most in New York right now. Plus, are bran muffins back?
I’m in my nesting phase. After five months of living nomadically (with family), we finally moved into our new place in Brooklyn last week. I love our neighborhood so much, I never want to leave. At the same time, I’ve come down with a heavy case of restaurant fatigue… and finding that true neighborhood spots, untrendy and reliable, are really meeting the moment for me. All this is reflected below, in my second bimonthly edition of On Repeat: a rotating short list of where I love to dine most in New York right now. But first, a few things up top…
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 Alexander Chee, 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 Mary's Marvelous! to publish her bran-blueberry muffin recipe—to which she agreed, and yesterday, delivered. And this past weekend, Emily Sundberg 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.)
