The Restaurant I Visited Twice Last Week
Plus, your picnic staples and ice cream price updates
Hi friends,
Welcome to This Needs Hot Sauce, a newsletter about cooking, dining out and making the most of it. We also host monthly events to build community. The next one is June 27th at the Tuffet Bar from 6:30 p.m - 8:30 p.m. There will be a cheese plate, a backyard, and so many friends. Come hang!
Now let’s dive in.
Something to cook:
My cooking game was weak last week, except for a wonderful lunch I had on Wednesday. I shared it on Instagram and the best part was the miso tahini dressing I topped it with. It’s a simpler version of this and you can adjust the thickness to taste (I like something looser for salads and thicker for just roasted veggies). I combine roughly equal parts tahini and miso and then add sesame oil, rice vinegar, and honey to taste. Mix it up and then thin it out with a little water until it’s the desired consistency.
It’s no secret that I love sweet potatoes. I’ve steamed them before on Carla Lalli Music’s recommendation and was inspired to try her tahini butter topping after Samin raved about it. This topping is so good! I had a little knob of butter in the freezer that I let defrost while the sweet potato cooked and the end result was so satisfying. I scaled the recipe down for one person, but it would be a fun thing to make for a group.
This week, I have events each night, but I went grocery shopping and am going to bite the bullet and make some hummus (it’s so easy, I just hate washing a blender) so I can make healthy snack lunches.
Emma had some v helpful composting tricks after last week’s newsletter: For composting, I’ve started saving fruits and veg that are left over from cooking in a bag in my freezer + when it’s full I’ll take it to my work to compost or the farmers market where they have bins. It’s all onion skins and veggie ends right now, and adds up surprisingly fast! (love the idea of bringing your compost to work or a local spot. I need to find one around here).
And it definitely doesn’t count as cooking, but I really enjoyed my cereal last week and thought of you guys as I poured it.
Something to order:
Sometimes, I am a parody of myself. Case in point, I went to Ops twice last week and would go back probably tomorrow if someone sent a strongly worded text. It’s a great restaurant for catching up outside with friends or for Father’s Day, because my dad loves both pizza and wine.
Ops is good year round but this is a really exciting time to be there because their salads are fire. Yesterday, the salad had horseradish ricotta and we held on to the empty plate to dip our pizza crusts in the dressing dregs. Earlier this week, the salad had cucumber lemons, which you guessed it, look like a lemon and taste like a cucumber. There have been special pies with pesto and asparagus and delicious pet nats and orange wines. Plus, the waits are shorter with the outdoor seating, so it’s the perfect time to go.
If you’re looking to grab a drink after Ops, my new go to is Left Hand Path. Sarah, Isa and I sat outside on the patio, and I snagged a table inside with my family. It’s just three blocks away and has a really cool wood paneled interior.
Apollonia opened in my neighborhood and Julia and I checked it out on Friday. The menu is pretty light but the food is delicious and the space is so lovely. Feels like you’re in LA with all the sunshine. They have $20 wine carafes, including a rose that tastes like salted watermelon and cucumber, and I would definitely order the fava fritters and the eggplant again.
Julia and I can often be found eating oysters and Saturday was no exception. We met at Pinkerton, the site of my April happy hour (check out the highlight here) to split a dozen with some wine. Yum, yum, yum.
Afterwards, we headed to Union Pool (yes, that Union Pool) for tacos and drinks outside (oysters are always part of a one two punch for me, they’re not filling enough to be a full meal).
An update to my ice cream truck price rant, two ice cream cones on the Upper West Side were only $7 total (not near Central Park, but still). In Queens, my sister typically pays $3 a cone. If you live somewhere with ice cream trucks, how much is it near you?
Dale and I got brunch yesterday at Reunion, an Israeli restaurant in Williamsburg. You can put your name down ahead of time to avoid a wait and you should definitely add feta to the shakshuka, which was very good and comes with a mini challah for sauce soaking. (Shakshuka is easy to make, my favorite recipe is here).
I had a really special night on Wednesday with Substack. Founder Hamish was in town with his fantastic wife, Steph, who is very cool and a This Needs Hot Sauce reader. They hosted drinks at the Library at the Public Theater, a very classy bar. Delia, Natalie, and I are huge newsletter fans (ed note: you gotta subscribe to their newsletters now) and it was so great to be in a room full of creative and encouraging people (and beautiful cheese plates featuring marcona almonds). I share so much of my life here and love getting to meet the people at the other end of these emails. As always, if you have friends who’d like to join the fam, forward this to them to help the community grow! It’s lots of fun.
Something to read:
A thoughtful explainer on natural wine
Alicia’s explanation of the connection between the diet industry and the personal finance community is infuriating and so smart. Also, no more latte based financial advice!
Tajin is a lifestyle, yup
Healthyish’s package on your thirties spoke to me a few years early. This conversation on dating and feeling settled was a treat. (And I highly recommend Glynnis McNichol’s book).
I read and enjoyed Save me the Plums and am looking forward to Ed Levine’s Serious Eats memoir. It was one of the first food sites I read, way back in high school and it’s still a favorite.
Happy to see my Win Son favorites in this piece on Taiwanese food in the US
Where Vietnamese tour groups stop for lunch in Philly
Dying to visit this Guatemalan restaurant in Brooklyn
A night at the Frying Pan, a boat bar off of Manhattan.
Younger is back! The cast reveals their favorite childhood snacks.
Why you should tip with cash whenever possible
How the founder and former CEO of Hot Bread Kitchen decided to join Union Square Hospitality Group
A night at the door with three New York bouncers
This burrata recipe looks incredible
For Eater, I wrote about Chicago chef Diana Davila’s favorite kitchen tool: coconut oil
Now, let’s talk about your go-to picnic foods.
Julianne will never not associate picnics and Italian sandwiches with one another. They complement one another perfectly! Fresh mozzarella on good bread and some sort of meat with roasted red peppers... Sign me up! I also think I want to try bringing a pizza to a picnic but that would mean not bringing a sandwich...
Julia has the right idea: The ultimate picnic spread: a well-assembled cheese plate, fresh fruit, and a S'Well bottle full of chilled wine.
Meghan shared her childhood tradition: I have to lend my contribution to favorite picnic foods: I grew up in Hawai‘i, so spam musubi and/or poke bowls (the ones I like are basically just fish and rice with few-none of the fixings that you get at mainland poke restaurants) are the perfect picnic foods! Especially if said picnic is at the beach.
Kaitlin and I are clearly related: Girl, I know you feel me on this - best picnic food is a makeshift cheese spread. Load up on the TJ's cheeses, crackers, jam and bread. That's all you need :)
Carolyn’s friday nights sound delicious: On Fridays in the summer, we attend concerts in the park and always pack a picnic. We usually take charcuterie, and some type of homemade salsa, depending on what I have on hand. A recent favorite is mango salsa. I sometimes make deviled eggs, figs stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in proscuitto, or a dip such as this pesto dip. And a bottle of Rosé!
You guys all have the right idea when it comes to picnics!! This week, I’d love to know your favorite pasta shape! Random, I know but I’m curious nonetheless. Reply to this email and let’s chat :)
Happy eating and thanks for reading! I hope to see you IRL at happy hour next week!
xo, Abigail