The best bars have bingo
Plus, is ice cream even good and more unpopular food opinions
Hi friends,
Welcome to This Needs Hot Sauce, a weekly newsletter about cooking, dining out, and making the most of it. We also host monthly events, like Duck Duck Swan, which was an epic success yesterday.
I’m headed to Paris on Wednesday night for a long weekend and am so excited! There won’t be a newsletter next week as I’m taking a break (I’m not bringing my computer which feels like such a luxury) but I promise a full recap afterwards.
Now let’s dive in.
Something to cook:
I wanted to make something for lunch last week but had no ideas. Julia mentioned she had made a peanut sauce to go with some roasted veggies and that really inspired me. I made a batch of this dressing, roasted some sweet potatoes and made four different lunches. I made big kale salads with thinly sliced jalapeño, scallion, and cucumber. I added avocado, I added a soft boiled egg. It was a fun week of lunches and that dressing really brought everything together.
On Saturday night, Julia and I had a rocking night in with my go-to salad and the iconic film, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again. Nicole has dubbed it the Abikale salad, which I love, and she just made a summer version with apples instead of squash. If you haven’t tried it, go roast some grapes! They’re so good in the salad or on crostini with goat cheese and honey.
I wanted to make cookies for Duck Duck Swan and decided to try Bon Appetit’s new chocolate chip cookie recipe (I even listened to a podcast about it). They were a hit and you don’t have to rest the dough overnight. The brown butter adds a toasty note and the chopped chocolate adds so many different textures. The dough spreads so we made the cookies smaller than suggested. They won’t replace my forever favorite cookies but it’s a great last minute option, and chopped chocolate may replace chocolate chips in all my future cookie batches.
Something to order:
Teal and I got dinner with her friend Jackie at the adorable Aria Wine Bar in the West Village. It’s such a sweet section of the neighborhood (I enjoyed the windy ten minute walk from the subway) and the atmosphere is lovely. We got oysters, wine, and a few salads and pastas and hung out. Sit at the tiled bar if you can.
Dale and I got dinner at Lighthouse, one of my favorite spots. He almost always gets the burger (and I steal some fries) and I always get some weird vegetable thing. A lot of their small plates are definitely main course size, like the farro salad and the flatbread I got, which was topped with a mountain of arugula, asparagus, and mushrooms with shaved cheese. Yum.
Lizzi turned 23 and we celebrated with a lovely group at Ops, a truly perfect restaurant. Being with a group allowed us to try more of their delicious wines, including a few magnums, which are super reasonably priced. I trust their staff when it comes with recommendations and always wind up with something special (and orange, they have a ton of skin contact wine). And we ordered almost all of the pizzas. I love the square, the pops, and the classic, and their salad is always worth a try (the current version has a fun sun dried tomato dressing).
Julianne and I were invited to the opening of the Rosé Terrace at the Park Avenue Mondrian and we had a lot of fun. They have a full bar including a very good spicy margarita and it was nice to end the week on a gorgeous rooftop. This spot is open all summer and definitely pricey. But if you have a corporate card or a birthday to plan, it’s fun.
Finally, a shoutout to my breakfast this morning at the West. This is one of my favorite coffeeshops to work or hang out in and their food is really good. The avocado toast has a little bit of goat cheese mixed in and it’s topped with cucumber, red pepper flakes, lemon and olive oil. Hits the spot.
Something to read:
1990s moments that changed the way we think about food.
A Bay Area restaurant is bringing back the region’s first cuisine, thanks Clare for sending.
How Nik Sharma uses his science background to develop recipes.
This is a cool trend! Some wine bars are starting to make their own.
Really excited for Ed Levine’s Serious Eats memoir and this forward sets the stage.
Samin Nosrat’s Persian recipe collection is delightful.
I was sorry to miss the third annual Altro Paradiso bakesale that benefits Planned Parenthood. They raised $80K which feels very good this week.
Inside Brooklyn’s bustling kosher takeout scene
The Via Carota restaurants are legendary and I definitely want to check out their newest spot.
This link was broken last week: The Old Brooklyn still drinks at Bamonte’s
Always a good laugh in the latest installment of Trader Joe’s reviews.
A correct hot take that spindrift is better than lacroix.
Going deep on smoothie bowls and avocado toasts. Yum.
I wrote about Abe’s Pagoda Bar, a new tiki-inspired spot in Bushwick.
I want to talk about Duck Duck Swan and say a lot of thank yous. This event was so much fun and my first cohosted with Julianne from @howtobebrokeinnewyork. She’s the best and it’s her birthday today, which I can’t wait to celebrate. It was amazing to have a copilot and she brought in so many great partners, like Slice who provided the pizza from Carmine’s and Routinely, who rented us very cute yoga outfits. Sean at Swan’s Nest taught a great class and in general, makes yoga so accessible and fun. They’re on classpass and you should definitely check him out. I feel very lucky to live so close by. And Duck Duck continues to be a perfect bar. Our bartender, Kasey, was so kind and she taught me the proper name for a gin and sonic is a gin press, so I am forever in her debt. Duck Duck Swan was my 13th event for this newsletter and I want to thank everyone who came, whether it was your first event (shoutout to Cambria who moved here literally a week ago) or your 12th (my number 1 supporter Julia). These events are gatherings of some of the best people in this city and it makes me so happy to see people meeting each other in some of my favorite places. Community makes the world go round and I’m so lucky to have you guys. Thank you, thank you, thank you. There’s a highlight on my Instagram if you want a recap (including the bingo surprise).
Now let’s share some unpopular food opinions. This was a fun one.
Nicole: I also hate cold brew, so I usually get an iced americano instead—but some places put four (4!!!) shots of espresso in if you’re not careful. I’m also weird about chocolate chips in cookies! Love the cookie part best so less is more for me.
Jessica: My unpopular food opinion: the fresh-cut fries Shake Shack had 5 or 6 years ago were way better than the frozen crinkle-cut fries.
Bethany: Totally with you on ramen. The whole world seems to be anti cherry pie for some reason, probably because there's a lot of syrup-y cherry goo out there ruining it for everyone! The sour cherry pie at Petee's is to die for, but almost no one I know is willing to even try it and it makes me sad. Pineapple makes a great addition to almost any pizza (my absolute favorite combo is mushroom, pineapple and jalapeño/any hot chile). Also almond croissants are the worst kind of croissants (way too sweet, always annoyingly covered in powdered sugar that gets everywhere). Also patiently waiting for the coconut water trend to end.
Hilary: Fruit is too fickle and not worth it 95% of the time. Cooking is largely about water management. The 'heat' in Salt Fat Acid Heat should be the spicy kind :-)
Carolyn: I think lemon should be reserved for savory foods. I love it with fish, vegetables, pasta, etc, but it has no place it dessert! Lemon pie, bars, etc, no way! And cilantro is highly overrated. I don't think it tastes like soap, I just don't care for it.
Lily: I know it sounds crazy, but I really don’t like ice cream! The texture and consistency is too rich and it always tastes like glop to me. I also don’t like peanut butter. I’ll eat Reese’s because that’s fake sugar delicious, but I find regular peanut butter kind of repulsive!
Isa: 1) Vanilla is the best ice cream flavor. Plain and simple, Delicious. Rich, melts in your mouth, not-too-sweet. Can be added to anything to make it taste better (like a cobbler or pie) or can be topped with anything to suit your mood (cajeta, the MVP topping of vanilla rice cream).
2) Domino's pizza is delicious - this is apparently a sacrilegious statement in the United States. I LOVE Domino's pizza. The bready dough, the tangy sauce, the guarantee that it always tastes almost the same. I'm not comparing it to a New York slice or a great pie - it lives in it's own little pizza world and I'm always happy to visit. Growing up in Mexico City, there weren't many pizza options so Friday nights and after-school meetings were all about Domino's pizza topped with the salsa picante packets that came in the box.
I’m so glad we all got those off our chests. I wish you all a good Memorial Day weekend and I’d love to hear about the best things you eat! Email me with your ice cream cones, your grilled items, and whatever else you dream up. Let’s kick off summer!
Happy eating and thanks for reading. I’ll talk to you after Paris (and follow along on Instagram to see what I’m eating).
xo, Abigail