Hello, and welcome to the CulinaryWoman Newsletter! Warm greetings to our new subscribers. This is the weekly free edition of the newsletter. For more features, such as Red Beans and Advice on Monday, The Conversation on Wednesday, and to be eligible for our regular giveaways, upgrade to a paid subscription. Right now, we have a copy of Gateau up for grabs, and there is still time to nab it.
Just click this button, and thank you for supporting CulinaryWoman.
All I Need Is My Buddies
I got an unexpected surprise last week when my culinary fairy godmother, Dorie Greenspan, recommended the CulinaryWoman Newsletter on her Facebook page.
Immediately, my subscriber count went up, thanks to Dorie’s amazing fan base.
I’m also blessed that Christopher Elliott of Elliott Confidential has recommended me to his avid audience. Of course, I recommend that you subscribe Chris’s newsletter on the travel industry. and to XOXO Dorie when it goes live here on Substack this week.
In a time where there is so much competition for the audience’s attention, collaborations could not be more important. That’s definitely true in the culinary world, too. Here in New Orleans, chefs, restaurants and food places team up every week, sometimes every day. And the same is happening across the country.
From high end to pop up
These collaborations are taking place at all levels of the restaurant world. This summer, I attended a dinner at Commander’s Palsce in which its executive chef, Meg Bickford, joined forces with Michael Gulotta, who runs Maypop, MoPho and will open a new restaurant, Tana, in 2023.
The event was a benefit for Cafe Reconcile, a teaching kitchen for young people across the city that has delicious food. I had a wonderful lunch of gumbo and crab cakes there a week ago.
But the joint efforts here are at every day levels, too. The Port Orleans brew pub has given a corner of its vast space to Lucy Boone Ice Cream, while Lucy Boone builds its own shop. You can back its Kickstarter here.
Lucy Boone’s permanent digs will be next to Zee’s Pizza, a former pop up that got off to a phenomenal start a few months ago.
Zee’s teamed up on Mondays this summer with another brand-new business, Flour Moon Bagels, to offer different varieties of pizza bagels. Mondays were Flour Moon’s slowest days, and the collaboration gave its business a little bump heading into its days off on Tuesday and Wednesday. Plus, it introduced Flour Moon’s fans to Zee’s.
Restaurants have long hosted guest chefs for special programs, and these days, many chefs are building book tours that are hosted by restaurants as well as bookstores. Vishwesh Bhatt built his promotional tour for I Am From Here around events held everywhere from Zingerman’s Roadhouse in Ann Arbor to an upcoming supper in Atlanta.
Collaborations “are absolutely crucial” given to shaky state of the restaurant world, he says.
Rising star gets a collective boost
Over the past two years, I’ve watched as pop up chefs in Ann Arbor have supported each other. They’ve held multiple joint events, shown up to help when a chef is short handed, and been the biggest cheer leaders for each other. One group even has a name: the Misfit Biscuits, inspired by Jordan Balduf’s wings shop, Side Biscuit.
The camaraderie has led to opportunities for one chef in particular. Haluthai Inhmathong, nickname Thai, but even better known as Basil Babe, has doggedly become a social media star promoting her dumplings, crab Rangoon appetizers and sticky rice with mango, among other dishes.
Whenever she holds a pop up in Ann Arbor, she is likely to sell out. People line up half an hour before she starts sales, and she has teamed up numerous times with the Misfit Biscuits. That has caught the attention of established places, too.
Recently, she spent a week’s residence at Frame, a contemporary suburban Detroit restaurant that regularly features visiting talents. This weekend, she collaborated with Blank Slate Creamery in Ann Arbor to produce ice cream (be sure to let them know that you want it to stay on the menu).
To be sure, old-school competition still exists in many places. No doubt some owners don’t look warmly on boosting their rivals, given the difficulties posed by the economy.
But the team-ups allow customers to experience dishes they might not at a single place. They can be fun for chefs and restaurant staffs, who get to experience fresh ideas. And, they display generosity, which is often in short supply.
Enjoy collaborations when you see them. They are absolutely here to stay.
Restaurant hours are down from 2019
You might have noticed that your favorite place is not open as many hours or days as it was before the pandemic. I tried to eat at a local favorite called Secret Thai recently, only to find a sign on the door saying it was closed that lunch hour due to a staff shortage.
These cutbacks reflect a national trend. Restaurants have trimmed their weekly operating hours by 7.5%, or 6.4 hours, compared with pre-pandemic schedules, according to a new report from Datassential. Independent restaurants have cut back even more, some 7.5 hours.
That is about one shift of workers per week. It explains why places might have limited lunch service or are closing earlier in the day.
The survey found that 59% of the nation’s restaurants operated on shorter schedules in October, 2022 than they did in 2019. Every state except Alaska saw a decrease in restaurants’ average weekly operating hours.
Chain restaurants have held up best, cutting their schedules by about four hours a week. Coincidentally, many chains boosted wages to $15 an hour or more when they faced staff shortages during the pandemic.That made their jobs more attractive.
Mary Berry Will Be Back For Christmas
Beloved British chef and author Dame Mary Berry won an adoring international audience when she starred on the Great British Bake Off. Now, Mary will be back on American TV with a new holiday special.
Christmas with Mary Berry and Friends will air on PBS stations in December. In a press release, she said, “In this special I am going to bring together everything you need with tips to make it a festive day to remember fondly.”
Mary plans to provide “the only guide you’ll ever need for a fool-proof Christmas dinner.”
It isn’t clear who will appear with her, but I have my own suggestion: Stanley Tucci.
While Mary is not on Instagram, I recently discovered that her assistant Lucy Young is, and frequently posts updates on her. Follow @lucyyoungthecook for Mary news.
What I’m Writing
I have now been in New Orleans for six months, and I figured it was time to weigh in on our turbulent mayor, LaToya Cantrell. I have watched a lot of mayors in my day, and I know the challenges of trying to manage urban environments. It is an enormously difficult job and the scrutiny is non-stop.
But as I wrote for the Washington Post, the mayor seems to make things worse for herself and the city by her unpredictable behavior. There is now a recall effort, and while most people think the chances of its passing are small, it’s another distraction in a city that needs determined, focused leadership.
By the way, this is the welcome image of the mayor that is up at Louis Armstrong International Airport.
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
I’m healing up from my back injury - thank you to our paid subscribers for their remedies. However, I unfortunately won’t be flying to Indianapolis this week to talk about Satisfaction Guaranteed.
BUT I now will be doing two virtual presentations for the Jewish Community Center, on Tuesday, at 2 pm CT and 7 pm CT, and you are welcome to sign up for either one. I’d love to have you join us.
Feel free to send photos and selfies with my book! This copy was spotted by my brother in Horizon Books in beautiful Traverse City, Mich.
You can contact me at culinarywoman at gmail dot com. My Instagram accounts are @michelinemaynard for my writing and @micki_in_nola for my New Orleans adventures. I’m @culinarywoman on Twitter (although we’ll have to see how long I stay there) and there is a CulinaryWoman Facebook page.
Remember that you can still upgrade your subscription and become eligible to win a copy of Gateau, and receive all the other benefits.
The flu season has already kicked off and it’s supposed to be a brutal one. Get a flu shot and your Covid booster, too. I’ll see our paid subscribers tomorrow with Red Beans and Advice and all of you next week.