Pasta Night
I first met Renato Poliafito on April 22nd, 2009. I know that because I wrote a post about it when my friend Josh and I trekked out to Red Hook to visit the beloved bakery, Baked, that he ran with his pal Matt Lewis. We immediately hit it off: not just because we both love baked goods — specifically rainbow cookies! — but because our families both live in the same community in Boca Raton, Florida.
French Louie
It’s funny how your neighborhood becomes the lens through which you see the New York restaurant scene. When it’s twelve degrees outside and wind is slapping your face like Joan Crawford in “Mommy Dearest,” are you really going to trek to the Upper East Side from Brooklyn to check out a new two-star bistro? Or are you going to stay local and patronize a similar restaurant where everyone already knows you because you go so often?
Ruta Oaxaca Mexican Cuisine
I don’t root for sports teams, but I do root for restaurants. When Ruta Oaxaca Mexican Cuisine opened in our neighborhood (Boerum Hill) a few months ago, I was jazzed that we were getting not just a widely-praised Mexican restaurant, but one that specialized in Oaxacan cuisine. We were in Oaxaca last year and the food was unbelievable; I loved the idea that high-quality mole was just a stone’s throw away.
Bar BĂŞte
When I went on Watch What Happens Live to promote my novel Food Person, I was told that Andy would be asking me one and only one question: “What’s the book about?”
