White Street Sandwich Shop (Key West): A Cuban Coffee Must

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Cheryl

First night in Key West and the locals are determined to school this food writer. The most important advice?

“The best places to get Cuban coffee are attached to laundromats.”

Sure, there’s Sandy’s — a place so well-known it’s got sleek rides pulling up all day to pick up trays of coffees to go along with giant bags of sandwiches and a fleet of delivery cars whizzing in and out as you wait 20 minutes for your order. But the one that people keep saying is the must is a little less celebrated.

Beloved as this place is, its name escapes them. “Just go to the corner of Union and White,” I am told.

And so on a sunny Saturday morning, taking a little break from my writing desk, I do …

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River South (Hoe Nam) Prawn Noodles: Rainy Day Fukienese

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Cheryl

Snow, biting winds, ice chips pelting my windows — last weekend’s storm in New York City has had me wondering why I don’t just throw in the towel each winter and decamp to tropical Singapore.

What has gotten me through these past few freezing, sloshy days however, is my intense memory of and cravings for Singapore noodle soups.

These are harder to find in cosmopolitan New York than you’d think. Sure, Cantonese wonton soups and Vietnamese phos are everywhere. But beefy Teochew broths spiked with star anise or rich Hainanese curried noodle soups? I actually have never seen those on menus around here.

So when the weather starts turning in New York, the cravings begin. Which is how I haven’t been able to get Hoe Nam prawn noodles out of my head …

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Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee: Singapore’s Best

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Cheryl

For years, I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen that the absolute best char kway teow in Singapore is over at Hill Street Fried Kway Teow

It appears, however, that I have been speaking out of turn. On a recent trip to Singapore, chef Willin Low (of the always impressive Wild Rocket restaurant) decided to correct me, putting me in his car and taking me to Hong Lim Market & Food Centre, a busy hawker center near the heart of Chinatown. Once there, we wended our way among the little stalls until we found one that had a line with more than a dozen people in it.

“Quick,” he said, shooing me to hurry over to Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee. “Get in line!”

This, apparently, was the best char kway teow in Singapore.

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Chana Masala: Art You Can Eat

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Cheryl

It is inevitable that any time at an artists colony will be plump with the exchange of ideas.

When you toss artists from disparate backgrounds into a small cauldron and essentially seal it for a month, art, words, music and and more will certainly be shared. And so it was for me at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, Calif., earlier this year, where I spent a month isolated on a mountain ranch with a tiny crew of colony mates that included talented artists from Mongolia, India and Austria, a wonderful choreographer and composer and writers who inspired me every day.

In addition to art, however, we ended up having some rich exchanges over something surprising: Cooking.

As you may have read before on this blog, colony chef Dan Tosh fed us tremendously well on weekdays. But on weekends, left to our own devices, we ended up taking to the stove to teach one other a little about the dishes that fueled us in our own homes. Which is how I came to learn to make out-of-this-world chana masala …

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Minh Hoa Restaurant & Cajun Seafood: Vietnam in the Heartland

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Cheryl

It’s always a treat to find good Asian food where you don’t quite expect it.

Recently, that unexpected place for me was Wichita, Kansas, where yes, I’d thought I’d find terrific steaks but Vietnamese? Never crossed my mind.

Now, no matter where I’ve been, be it little Strasburg, Virginia, or Boring, Oregon (yes, there is such a town and yes, I have been there), I expect to find decent Chinese food. (I’ve learned that any place in the U.S. tends to have a Chinese family hard at work somewhere churning out OK versions of General Tso’s chicken and kung pao beef.)

Any other kinds of Asian food, however, is a different matter. So I was pleasantly surprised to come across a restaurant in Wichita that served up not just Vietnamese — but good and less usual Vietnamese dishes.

You can read my full report on Minh Hoa Restaurant & Cajun Seafood in this weekend’s New York Times Travel section. But if you want to see more visuals, carry on reading here…

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The Lobster Roll (Amagansett): A Hamptons Classic

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Cheryl

It’s hard to mention visiting the Hamptons to anyone in New York City without them assuming you’ve been to the Lobster Roll.

This festive roadside shack in Amagansett has been serving up lobster rolls to year-rounders and the well-heeled beach set since 1965 — clearly, the folks there are doing something right.

After years of visiting the Hamptons, I was starting to feel it was a little remiss to not to at least try the place once. So on a recent summer weekend at the beach, chef Simpson and I decided to take a break from cooking and headed over to Amagansett …

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Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms: Pretty Tasty

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Cheryl

One of the perks of having a terrific chef for a dear friend is the kitchen lessons you’ll inevitably get.

On a recent weekend, I noticed a lovely bouquet of yellow and orange flowers in chef Simpson‘s kitchen.

“How pretty,” I said.

“Dinner!” was his reply.

Turns out the blooms were zucchini flowers — how was he planning to cook them? I didn’t have to wait long to find out …

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Djerassi Resident Artists Program: A Man Named Dan

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Cheryl

It’s not often that I am so taken with a person that I find myself immediately professing my adoration at every turn.

Recently, however, I met one such someone — a man named Dan, a chef who fed me well for a month in the mountains of California and who wowed me each day with the meals he set on the table.

For those who don’t follow me on Twitter, I just spent a month in Northern California at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, an artists colony that offers the gift of time and space to create. The program invites artists from various disciplines (musical composition, fiction, poetry, choreography, visual arts) to spend a month on the property — close to 600 acres of some of the most beautiful hills and forests I’ve seen — with nothing to do except wake up every morning, have a cup of coffee and start working.

Such colonies have been a lifesaver for me — I wrote the bulk of “A Tiger in the Kitchen” over seven weeks at Yaddo in 2010. (My book never would have made it out on time had it not been for my time there.) As many artists will testify, you can often accomplish in weeks at a colony what would likely take you months or more at home.

And this certainly was true for me at Djerassi …

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Traditional Cafe at Lonpo House (India): Coffee in the Himalayas

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Cheryl

There’s only one thing better than having a well-traveled friend with a good appetite — one who also takes phenomenal photos wherever he lands.

By now, you’re probably familiar with the work of my dear friend Jesse, who shared some lovely pictures from a little coffee shop in Shimla, India, earlier on this blog.

As with any good thing, I always want more. And Jesse, knowing me all too well, quickly obliged.

So soon enough, a next despatch arrived from India — this one from a little cafe nestled in the Himalayas …

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Wordless Wednesday: Singaporean Chicken Satay

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Cheryl

Singaporean home cooking at Djerassi, June 2012.