Support Neighborhood Restaurants

Hi friends,

Welcome 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. 

This time of year has been full of latkes and holiday parties and it's been really lovely. Let's dive in:

Something to make:

My family had an epic latkes and vodkas party last night and we cooked SO much: zucchini latkes, potato latkes, bar nuts, kale apple pomegranate salad, hummus. We had fun with the toppings including horseradish yogurt (greek yogurt with horseradish, a little rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper), caramelized onions (a game changer), homemade applesauce (apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon) and all the vodka drinks, from Moscow mules to White Russians. Making dozens of latkes is definitely a messy labor of love but it's worth it. My favorite part was lighting the menorahs with so many people I love in one room. Candles really bring the feels. 


In between all the holiday parties, I've been trying to cook at home and I am obsessed with this salad right now, adapted from the Smitten Kitchen, obviously.

Date, Feta, Red Cabbage Salad

Fun Fact: When I studied abroad in Buenos Aires, my host mom (not the best cook), used to buy red cabbage for my salads instead of lettuce. It was a crisp contrast to the overcooked, oversalted vegetables she often served me and I've been buying it regularly since then. Bonus: cabbage keeps forever in the fridge and is cheap af. 

1 small red cabbage
1/2 a block of feta
Lime juice (2 tablespoons or more to taste)
Olive oil (about 2 tablespoons)
Dates (1/2 cup chopped, 6-8 depending on their size, no need to be precise)
Salt 
Pepper
Toasted sesame seeds or pepitas

Optional:
Harissa or hot sauce of your choice
Sliced Avocado

Chop the cabbage very finely and put in your serving bowl. Add the lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and let it hang out while you prepare the other ingredients. Crumble the feta, slice your avocado, chop your dates and remove the pits if needed. Toss everything together and add a dab of harissa (I just bought some from Trader Joe's on Hillary/Zoe's suggestion and the smokey spice goes well with this). Top with the crunch ingredient of your choice, I used pumpkin seeds. 

This keeps really well for packing lunches. Add the avocado last so it doesn't get brown. It's also beautiful and totally appropriate to serve at a potluck or dinner party. 
Enjoy!


Have you been cooking a lot this holiday? Baking? I'd love to hear! 

Something to order:

Picture a place where every day becomes a good day. It's not disneyland or anything like that, it's a local restaurant where, by some miracle, the food and people are supremely good. For me, that place is Win Son, which I've written about before, and I want to show them some love this time of year. My roommate Julia and I got dinner there on Saturday and spent most it gushing about how much we like this restaurant. Our waitress confessed that she often comes on her days off, just to eat and runs into other staff doing the same thing. The second cheapest wine right now is a delicious crisp and rare orange wine from Italy which is so not typical. The manager was so excited that they had gotten enough to serve it at all because it sells out really fast. The housemade hot sauce is excellent.

My order there is pretty consistent but certain dishes keep getting better. The clams, which I first tried during #bivalvesummer, have a slightly different sauce now, with more squash and a richer flavor. They still come with a scallion pancake to soak it all up. The pea shoots are perfect and way better than you expect a random vegetable side to be and the sesame noodles always disappear too quickly. On our way out, the manager said bye and told us they were closing for a few days to give the employees a break, which is a great practice. We must have looked sad because he started suggesting a bunch of other Chinese restaurants that would be open on Christmas. Now that's service.

Want to try Win Son? They're closed Mondays but otherwise, shoot me a text and I'll probably meet you there. 

Don't live here? What's your Win Son? I think we all need one. 
Another genre we need more of: coffeeshops with great food and lots of seating. Gotan is one shining example with locations in Williamsburg, Tribeca and even Midtown(!). They have wifi and Israeli inspired food that's brought to your table. The salads are great, especially the sabich with eggplant, za'atar pita and a hard-boiled egg, and I've always enjoyed their oatmeal which comes with all kinds of berries and nuts you wouldn't buy at home. This weekend it had dried mulberries, goji berries, and mango. Great coffee too.


Finally, this newsletter (since issue #1) strongly supports diners. Viand Coffeeshop is a shockingly good one on Madison Avenue by the Barneys. It's a cash only 70s holdout from a very different era of the Upper East Side. Tabasco + diner omelettes + diner coffee = a good day. Ask for well-done homefries. 

Next week, I'm going to recap some of my favorite meals of 2017. Do you have one that stands out? Let me know and I'll include it!

Something to read:

The appeal of butter cookies and those blue tins

2017's biggest piece of technology was the instant pot. 

Is your office empty this week? Read some stuff from this list. 

I look forward to the Grub Street Diet every Friday and last week's was great. Jenna Wortham is brilliant and I can't wait for Still Processing season 3. 

This shop is inspired by New York's rich pie making tradition, who knew? 

Are spiritual-wellness shabbat dinners going to solve our problems?

I can't even pick a favorite line: this is so funny.

I hope the last 13 days of 2017 are really excellent or at least low on the disasters. Stay cozy and watch at least one cheesy holiday movie; you deserve it. I watched The Holiday and the Big Sick and Wonder Woman on my London planes and have no regrets.

Tell me about your favorite meals of the year! I appreciate you all a lot.

Happy eating and thanks for reading.
xo,
Abigail