Champagne is for Flight Delays

Hi friends,

Welcome back to This Needs Hot Sauce (And Other Food Thoughts), a newsletter sharing something to cook, somewhere to eat out, and something to read. I'm a native New Yorker who spends far too much time thinking and reading about food. I love helping people find better things to eat and solving problems, so let me know how I can help. Let's dive in.
I'm back in town after a great trip to Nashville (more on that below) and ready for February (which is somehow half over).

Something to make:
Bar Nuts
After repeated linking and recommending, I'm going to put my favorite bar nut recipe directly in the newsletter. If you haven't made them yet, the time is now. Your next party will be all the better and they'd also be the best mid-afternoon work snack.
Union Square Cafe Bar Nuts via Smitten Kitchen

Mixed Nuts: I never measure these but here's the sitch: you need to fill up a cookie sheet with nuts. I always buy 1 bag/canister of mixed nuts and then 1 of peanuts to keep costs down. Shop the bulk bins if you can. If you have any random nuts leftover in your cabinet, throw them in. Use unsalted nuts, preferably raw. If they're already toasted, you'll still be good, but watch carefully to make sure they don't burn. If you have fewer nuts, they'll just get a higher seasoning ratio, so it's hard to go wrong.
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped rosemary (use the leftover in a gin and tonic or with some roasted potatoes)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon salt 
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon of coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 350. Spread nuts on a cookie sheet and toast until golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Set a timer because burning nuts is the saddest cooking mistake. While they're toasting, melt the coconut oil in a saucepan and stir in the sugar, salt, cayenne, and rosemary. Heat until smooth. When the nuts are toasted, transfer them into a bowl (carefully!). Add the oil blend and stir to coat. Some clusters will form. Return the nuts to the cookie sheet and return to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes until they're a little more golden and your kitchen smells amazing (for me it was about 7). Sample liberally for quality control before the guests arrive. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

The Koffler family has been making these slow roasted sweet potatoes from Michael Solmonov for years and they're so good. It's amazing what 2 1/2 hours does to a lil potato.
I had this spicy cocktail at Soho House with Teal and now need to recreate it. 
Also on the drink train, we made a party drink with vodka, grapefruit juice, club soda and lime juice and it felt like the perfect February drink: no holiday flavors and lots of vitamin c for flu season. Nicole dubbed it the "vodka sunshine" which I love.
This is one of my favorite kale salads (the pecorino is so good but you could substitute parmesan) and it makes a ton. 
Need something different for lunch this week? Julia made this a few weeks ago and loved it. I need to give it a try because kale, peanut butter, and sweet potatoes are three of my favorite foods. 

Something to order:
I spent last weekend in Nashville visiting my sister, Leah. She's a fabulous tour guide and snuck us snacks from the dining mart. In a long weekend, we got to try so many fun places. Nashville is a super livable city; everything is close by, there's live music everywhere and the uber drivers are the chattiest I've ever encountered (luckily the rides are short). We had a five-hour delay coming home but thankfully Nashville's airport is nothing like LaGuardia. We did a sparkling wine flight at Vino Volo and listened to Dixie Chicks covers. Side note: attitude is everything when it comes to travel stuff and deciding to enjoy our day and not stress about getting home to be productive even while stuck in an airport made a huge difference. Portable chargers help too. Cheers to that. 
If you need more recommendations for activities and lodging, reply to this!
Eat and Caffeinate at:
Biscuit Love: There are a few locations and you've got to go. The lines get bad so go early or on a weekday. This was our first stop and I had this amazing grits dish with poached eggs and a kale salad on top, with a biscuit on the side. It was a dream meal and I appreciated the staff's t-shirts that say resting brunch face. If you eat meat, order the off-menu Nasty Princess which has hot chicken and sausage gravy on a biscuit. Julia was a fan.
Mas Tacos is in East Nashville, an area full of art galleries, vintage stores, and hipsters. It's cash only and guacamole free. Lines get long son again, go early (they close at 9). I loved their black bean soup (a special), the elote and the mezcal margarita. Would be a great place to bring a few friends or a low-key date (do those exist?).Frothy Monkey has really good coffee and lunch options. They had an incredible local hot sauce from Chatanooga that I would have bought if I had checked a bag. It's called Hoff Sauce and we could not stop eating it with tortilla chips.
Fetch! is the to go branch of Fido's, a super popular cafe with huge lines. The coffee is great, you can get the whole food menu sans line and they make a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin I can get behind.
Barista Parlor is a gorgeous space with serious ($) coffee. Their bourbon vanilla latte isn't too sweet and the little plants are adorable. Tons of seating if you need to do work.
Tootsie's in the airport is the place to kill time. Get a spicy bloody mary (which is not that spicy), listen to music and have some BBQ (or a surprisingly good veggie burger).
I didn't get a chance to take a chocolate tour, complete with samples, at Olive + Sinclair (thanks for the suggestion, Sophia) and I need to go back to Pinewood Social, so a return trip is in order. 

Saving my favorite for last, if you're going to Nashville, you have to eat at Little Octopus. The food is vegetable-focused and Latin and Caribbean inspired, and the space is beautiful. Take a selfie with the mirrored sign on your way in, get a tropical cocktail (I had a gin pineapple one) while you wait for your table and then order everything. We loved the cornbread with plantains baked into the top, the snap peas with seaweed, the sweet potato tamale with cotija cheese, and the mussels with curry and fresno chilis. They're open for brunch and lunch as well and it's really a fun place to hang out. A husband and wife started it as a popup in 2014 and they recently moved into this bigger location and are clearly having a great time. You will too. 

Nightlife:
Listening Room Cafe: There are different performances every night and tickets are cheap with a small drink minimum. We saw four buddies sing country songs. Sample title, "Jesus, Jack Daniels, and Me."

LA Jackson: A fancy rooftop bar with really good (expensive) cocktails and views of the whole city.

Broadway Bars: Crazytown, FGL House (yes this is a bar owned by the band Florida Georgia Line). The top floor is fun and hey, it's a cultural experience where everyone knows the words to the country song except you.

Now, back to regularly scheduled New York programming. 
Teal came to visit and we went to High Street on Hudson with my parents. Their dinner menu has improved since my last visit and I loved the crispy broccoli, oysters (duh) and delicata squash toast. If you're ever passing by during the day, I recommend buying a loaf of bread from the front counter. It's so good to have in the freezer. Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop has been raising New York's cholesterol since 1929 (slogan: you either get it or you don't). It was the perfect place to catch up with Isa. The best part about diners is getting whatever the hell you want, which in her case was matza ball soup at 8 am. They make a great egg sandwich and the pickles are perfect.
Pizza beat: 

Archie's in Bushwick is really underrated. The crust is kind of thick and they cut pies into little squares, not slices so you can easily share with a group or have "just a little". I love their mushroom pie and they're open very late and even sell drinks. Emma got it for a lovely galentine's day celebration. Pizza + A Cinderella Story make for a great evening. Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.

Best Pizza is also a great option for groups as their standard pie is 20 inches. I love their classic salad too, with romaine and pickled vegetables. 

Win Son Update: The incredible clam-scallion pancake dish has transitioned from a kabocha squash to Jerusalem artichoke vegetable accent. It remains very good. We are still drinking the orange wine from Georgia and branched out to try the smashed cucumbers, which are oh so refreshing. 

I love cinnamon (and this cinnamon toast french toast). Nicole and I were intrigued to see it on Allswell's brunch menu (try the greens and grains bowl with roasted carrots). Holy crap, it was so good. It tasted a bit bruleed or maybe they ran it under the broiler. We asked the waiter for the secrets and he said they made some sort of cinnamon butter in the style of apple butter (how?) and also recommended using good bread (it was a nice white bread with a good crust). We were so inspired that we made cinnamon toasts at 3 am with coconut oil and cinnamon on challah. Big fan.
After a sweaty afternoon at Cycle for Survival, all I wanted was shakshuka. I had a very good one at 12 Chairs. Their Brooklyn location is spacious and full of plants and Hebrew street signs, and I will be dreaming about their smooth and light hummus as I fall asleep tonight. 

Something to read:
For most of human history, nobody ate a vegetable for pleasure. We are living in a golden age of crudite. 

How the mainstream ignores vegans of color. 

A recap of Ina Garten's best moments. Highly recommend this podcast with her as well.

Is the early bird special dying out? 

Anatomy of a wild Saturday night

There's a sexual harassment pandemic among female farmworkers. 

More Israeli food in Chelsea Market, hell yes: My friend Sophia tried all the forms of cauliflower (pita and whole) and loved it. Apparently, the lines are already very long. 

I am not usually a donut person but these look incredible (and Hearth is one of the city's best restaurants): 

Are you watching the Olympics? This cake looks insane.

Google is probably buying Chelsea Market which bums me out

Caity Weaver went to the superbowl, ate hot dogs and cast spells and it's everything I could have hoped for and more. Go Eagles!

All bars should have purse hooks. Yes. 

Last time I asked you where to go to get shit done. Thanks for sharing your favorite coffee shops:

"When I was on my "sabbatical" I loved going to Coffee Bar to study for the GRE I never took... It's in the middle of sunny Potrero Hill and has huge windows that let in tons of light, great coffee, delicious pastries (Nutella brioche bun, anyone?) and super solid lunch options as well. There's tons of tables, plenty of outlets, and solid wifi. Highly recommend it to anyone who happens to be in SF." -Isa

"Groundwork in Venice (they have several locations) got me through LSAT prep. Food, coffee, tea and lots of sunshine make for a perfect study spot. Forever craving their Vietnamese iced coffee!

Coffee Commissary in Burbank is another favorite. No A/C which can be tough, but the brisket breakfast tacos are stellar.

Addicted to the honey vanilla (dirty) chai at Good Karma in Philadelphia. Good tables for getting work done (even with massive law school casebooks!)" - Nicole

In Nashville, Leah recommends JJ's, which has a punch card and is open till 11 pm. There's tons of seating so you don't feel bad parking all day to do work. She also likes Atmalogy especially their muddy monkey smoothie with has a crucial shot of espresso. The wifi password is always something hippie like greenhug. (lol)

This week, my coworker told me she and her roommate are embarking on a challenge called Fun Food February. They're trying to eat eggs for dinner less often and try new things. I think it's a great idea and am going to try and use my cookbooks more this month, among other things. Reply to this email with something fun and food-related you've done in February. Or if you have a good falafel recipe. This is very open to interpretation.

Happy eating and thanks for reading.
xo,

Abigail