Dear Readers,

You may have noticed I stopped posting since November of 2019. My dear sister, best friend and partner in snacking, Carol Eve Brandwein, suffered a massive brain bleed on November 11, and she died on December 16, 2019.

In all the time Carol was hospitalized, she could not eat except, when off life support, thin coatings of Haagen Daz ice cream on the back of a plastic spoon. It was hard to ever imagine writing about the pleasures of food and eating again with such grief over this unbearable loss. Then just when I felt able to talk about food again restaurants and food carts shuttered as New York City became the epicenter of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

I went from grief to grief—grief for my sister to grief for our now seemingly unthinkable way of life—hugging, eating in restaurants, sharing French fries in a bar (more on which in a future post). Now we are grieving as a nation for the deaths of yet more innocent black lives at the hands of the police who are supposed to value and protect our lives. It seems frivolous to write about food and the pleasures of eating at such a time, and yet, while I was reading about the beloved Louisville BBQ pitmaster, Dave McAtee, killed in a police shooting, I thought of food as more than just food (and as I say in this post, “Sometimes a snack isn’t just a snack. It’s a reason to live.” ) but as the glue that holds communities together.

Reading about Dave McAtee’s YaYa’s BBQ here, it seemed his simple BBQ stand was an oasis in the food desert of Louisville’s predominantly black West End. I liked reading about how, for McAtee, feeding his community was more important to him than profit—he fed police, he fed the homeless and the down on their luck. The New York Times article quoted David James, president of the Louisville Metro Council praising the BBQ owner’s generosity by saying, “Say a meal cost $10, and someone said, ‘Hey I lost my job. I only have $5.’ Instead of him saying, ‘Give me $5, he would say, ‘You’re going to need that $5,’ and he’d give them the meal,’” James was a 30-year veteran of the police force and a frequent YaYa’s BBQ customer.

So I start up again, to honor Dave McAtee and people like him, to honor all the generous restaurant owners who have been cooking up a storm and raising money from their communities to provide food for the frontline health workers, to honor the delivery people, bodega and grocery store workers who have been risking their lives to make sure we have the foods we need and crave. I honor, above all my sister, Carol Brandwein, who was an excellent, natural and joyful cook—and a passionate, adventuresome eater. Carol was someone who would ride her bike fifteen miles just to try a bowl of Burmese noodles. And I write simply because, when I find something so quintessentially savory as the $1.00 chive pancake at North Dumplings (it’s open!!) I must tell you about it.

The photos above are of standout meals and snacks I ate during the months before the COVID-19 quarantine. Information on venues/hours is provided below if they provide takeout and/or delivery. Stay safe and patronize your favorite restaurants and snack venues if you can!

xxoo

Nancy

Food Pic Details!

Colson Patisserie - 374 9th Street in Park Slope (718-965-6400), Brooklyn, 8-5. Known more for their amazing pastries—try the gosette with apples and pomegrante!—, Colson also has wonderful breakfast and lunch items, like the Wild Greens salad with lemony vinaigrette dressing that is truly the most refreshing, tasty salad ever in this world.
Cantine -126 Union Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn (718-852-6500) 7:30-3, but check. I already wrote about Carol’s favorite little stop for a breakfast treat. She loved anything eggy they make, like this egg and cheese on a house-made biscuit.
Schaller’s Stube - 1652 2nd Avenue in UES near 86th St. (646-726-43440, 11-9. Blink and you almost miss this true hole-in-the-wall wurst and beer stand. Top notch sausages with artisanal flare (try the Bahn mi version) in an old German Yorkville market. It’s been a very popular venue during lockdown.
Moonman - We ate these interesting steamed coconut pies at a stand in Essex Market, which is now closed due to COVID-19, but you can check them out on their site.
La Crosta - 436 E. 72nd St. in UES near York Ave (212-472-5004), Open 11-9:30. This nondescript pizza parlor was a port in the storm when Carol was at the nearby hospice. It offers incredibly good slices. No floppy crusts here. I never tried those delicious looking pinwheels, though, but I will.
Sant Ambroeus (Sothebys) - 1334 York Ave near 72nd (212-606-7070). Also near hospice, this is an outpost of the luxe Italian Madison Avenue flagpost I wrote about here. Frankly, a large part of the appeal is the tony UES atmosphere, the red banquettes, the swank patrons, the hype beasts in coral pants—I’d wait till they reopen.
Bohemian Spirit - 321 E. 73rd St. near Second Ave (212-861-1038), 4-8PM. Another find in Yorkville, this interesting, excellent and fairly priced restaurant is part of Bohemian Hall, a Czech cultural center that offers films and events. In the depths of winter I loved the large portions of delicate chicken schnitzel and the traditional cucumber/sour cream salad ($19!), like Grandma Rosie made. Steak tartar was ample and only $10.
Fong On Tofu - 81 Division Street near Eldridge (917-261-7222), 11-7. Salty dou hua is the creamiest of tofus, made on site, sprinkled with savory goodies including dried shrimp, pickles, fried shallots and chili sauce. An indescribable mouth explosion for $5.50! Tofu with sweet syrups and toppings are popular as are their rice cakes.
Factory Tamal - 34 Ludlow Street near Hester (917-691-5524), 9-8. Can’t beat the flavor of these $4.00 tamales for which they grind the corn on site! Traditional tamales like Mole poblano with chicken share a menu with Americanized tamales (bacon and cheese!).
Thai Farm Kitchen - 416 Church Avenue in Windsor Terrace (347-533-9368), 11:30-4, 5-9. A go-to restaurant for my brother’s family, this restaurant is homey and not your average Thai. The “comfort food” Pad Krapow comes with the most incredible fried egg I’ve ever tasted (as if the egg was dropped for one second in a vat of boiling oil!).
Mitch’s Seafood - 1403 Scott St. in San Diego (619-222-8787), 11-9PM. In late February I spent time with Carol’s dear “writing sisters” and scattered some of her ashes in the Pacific in a lovely ceremony. This was the last plane trip I took and will take for some time. If you’re out that way stop at Mitch’s on the Bayside Marina for just-right, fresh fish dishes like these fish tacos with wild shrimp and whatever was biting that day! ($4.75/ea).

***