A New Home for This Needs Hot Sauce
This Needs Hot Sauce...now on Substack
Hi friends,
We’ve moved! This Needs Hot Sauce is now on Substack (and also on Instagram). This new platform is not being shut down any time soon and it’s got a cleaner look and lots of other behind the scenes advantages. I hope you like it and please let me know if you have any issues receiving this. All of the archives have migrated too so you can find old newsletters at this page.
Business aside, welcome! I spent the weekend at lots of family events – a 100th Birthday party, a 60th Wedding Anniversary, and a High School Graduation. New rule: If you’re invited to a 100th Birthday, go! It was super inspiring and a great chance to reconnect with relatives.
One quick note, I’m going on vacation next week (wine tasting in Sonoma!) and leaving This Needs Hot Sauce in very good hands. More on that below…
Something to Cook:
Roasted broccoli with lemon. I’m using regular broccoli instead of broccolini but this recipe from Alison Roman has you roast whole pieces of lemon and it looks amazing. I recently got her cookbook Dining In so if you have any must try’s from there, let me know!
Julia made her famous chocolate chip cookies for father’s day and I have a lot of FOMO about not getting to have one. This recipe is incredible, a house favorite.
If you have a busy week, make some miso tahini dressing tonight when you get home and put it on any roasted veggies you have. Total win.
Strawberries are excellent right now so buy a box and eat them plain, in oatmeal, on toast with peanut butter, or with vanilla ice cream and a little balsamic vinegar.
Something to order:
I went to Cafe Gitane last Monday with Frida, Sandra, and Julia and it felt like an escape from New York. We sat outside on a quiet section of Mott street, watching Citi bikers dock and dogs walk by. I love their endive - orange - avocado - hearts of palm salad and we shared a grated carrot salad (v. french) and spice encrusted goat cheese balls. The Cafe was the first in New York to serve avocado toast, so it can be a zoo on the weekends for brunch, but is super chill at night.
This Needs Hot Sauce at Happy Hour at the Tuffet. It’s a spacious spot with a gorgeous backyard and a little private room called the study. Their cheese plate had so many varieties (the brie was the first to go) and they gave us lots of toast refills. While they’re known as a wine and cheese spot, the cocktails were really excellent. They have frozen drinks that aren’t too sweet (hallelujah!) and the spa one has delicious infused tequila and cucumber.
Coffeeshop Updates:
Mountain Province Espresso Bar opened four years ago on a random block in East Williamsburg and I somehow just discovered it. There’s lots of room, wifi, and the chai latte came in a bowl. I went there to celebrate my Forbes piece coming out and it felt like a perfect little indulgence.
Think Coffee on Mercer is an institution. Foursquare was built and conceptualized at one of the back tables. NYU is out for the summer so it’s a bit easier to get a table now. Note: They do serve wine and beer if you’re working late.
The weekend’s festivities took me back to my favorite spot, Philly:
My cousin Margie is a woman after my own heart. She brought backup food to a catered event: mushroom quiche and key lime pie from the Pie Lady of Moorestown. If you’re ever in the area, I cannot recommend them highly enough – the pie was zippy and tart with a crumbly cookie crust and the quiche had a perfect crust that I could not stop sneaking bites of. Margie and her family also love the Pie Lady’s scones if you’re at the shop.
I went back to Goldie for tahini milkshakes. Read more about them here, but wow, I wish I could have these all the time.
Celebrated a big anniversary at Talula’s Garden, which is such a pretty space. High points included the farmers salad with rhubarb and asparagus, a summer squash risotto and fresh mint chip ice cream with waffle cone pieces. Plus lots of funny anniversary cards for my grandparents.
How times have changed: There’s a Bluestone Lane in the hotel where my grandparents got married so we had a very trendy breakfast on Sunday. I got the mint pea smash toast and a flat white and it was both cute and delicious.
Something to read:
What do dinner parties mean in the age of social media?
There are two new Williamsburg spots I’m looking forward to visiting: An outpost of Di Fara pizza in a food hall (usually not into food halls but the pizza looks so good) and a Danny Meyer taco place at Domino Park.
There’s been a lot of awful news in the past two weeks so a reminder, don’t drink wine when you’re sad.
Do you tip at counter service places? I often do because it used to make my day when I worked at a bakery, but these workers do make the non tipped minimum so it’s optional but a nice gesture.
On cookbooks and grief and Anthony Bourdain
Drumroll please…my first piece for Forbes went up last week. It’s all about Jerrelle Guy, author of the fabulous cookbook Black Girl Baking (and a great instagram follow). Read it here!
I also wrote a guide for Father’s Day restaurants in Bushwick. This list, organized by subway stop, works for birthdays, promotions, or any other time your parents are in town. My parents particularly like Le Garage and Guadalupe Inn.
On the entry form to last week’s happy hour, I asked for your favorite hot sauces. Here’s where your loyalties lie:
Frank's Red Hot (this is embarrassing, I am an uncultured swine sorry) —> we are anti hot sauce shaming at This Needs Hot Sauce
Cholula or if harissa from Tjs counts (totally counts)
Frank's
Valentina (this is one of my favorite’s too)
Melinda’s Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce
Valentina (normal) or Reaper Sling Blade (disgustingly spicy), or all of them TBH
Frank’s // sriracha // any kind of sambal!
Cholula, I guess
Carrot habanero (wow, this looks good)
Don’t see your favorite? Reply to this email and stick up for it.
Happy Hour was a lot of fun, thanks to everyone who came, and to Tarn for bringing me a literal bouquet of hot sauce. Save July 26th for the next happy hour, more details coming soon. It’s such a treat to hang out with you all at some of my favorite local spots and I can’t wait to do it again soon.
Finally, while I’m on vacation next week, my dear friend Emma will be taking over This Needs Hot Sauce. She’s an incredible writer and so excited to give you the lowdown on a topics I can’t cover, like meat, slow cookers, and being in a CSA.
Does anyone have CSA questions? Do you want know more about fun veggies they could be trying? She wants to hear from you, so reply to this email by Wednesday with anything you’d like to know.
Happy Eating and Thanks for Reading.
xo,
Abigail