The CulinaryWoman Newsletter for 8/7/22

An appreciation post

Aug 07, 2022

Welcome to this free edition of the CulinaryWoman Newsletter, and hello to our newest subscribers! We’re glad you’re here. To get even more interesting tips and features, please become a paid subscriber. You’ll get extra information through Red Beans and Advice, The Conversation, the Just For You heads up that arrives on Friday, and you’lll become eligible for giveaways.

Subscriptions start at $5 a month, and if you’d like to show even more support for our journalism, think about becoming a Founding Member. Just click the button, and thank you.

With Great Appreciation

Friday was my birthday, and actually, I celebrated all week. New Orleans is a festive place by nature, and the smiles get even bigger when people hear it is your birthday.

But rather than bask in all that warmth, figurative and literal, I’d like to shine a light on some of the people who have been important to me during this past year. We’ve all been through a lot: we’ve lost loved ones, some people have gotten sick, our routines remain disrupted, and we have no idea if life will ever go back to the way it was in the before times.

That’s why I’m taking this chance to say how much I appreciate some particularly special people.

My big brother Frank

Our family isn’t large, and in the past nine months, we have lost two members — Frank’s wife Lisa Barry and our godmother/aunt Maxine Clapper. My brother is taking charge of a mountain of paperwork, and he’s on the ground managing the sale of our mother’s condo, too.

Frank is a tremendous source of support to his sons Benjamin and Parker, and to me. One bond we share is dining and cooking. Every few days, we send each other photos of what we’ve been eating, exchanging recipes and links.

He found this treasure from his years here, and I’ve been seeing which places are still around. Frank has lots of memories of and guidance for life here. Generally, his tips end in, “That’s New Orleans,” which help to soothe my northern grumbling about the Crescent City’s charming inefficiency. (I was going to get a fleur de lis tattoo, but I might get that expression instead.)

Everyone involved in my book

It takes a village to publish a book. Sometimes I can’t believe that in the middle of everything, Satisfaction Guaranteed came out last February from Scribner’s. I was looking through pictures from last winter the other evening and realized just how much of an effort went into launching the book. I’m so grateful to the team who helped bring it into the world, from the cover art to the editing, the press release and the marketing.

I especially want to shout out everyone at Zingerman’s who spoke to me for the book. Special thanks to the staff at Zingerman’s Roadhouse, which has been my home away from home the past few years. I miss all those faces and the delicious food. I’ll be dropping in when I’m in Michigan next month.

My Fairy Godmothers

My segue into the culinary world came late. I spent most of my career writing about transportation - automobiles and airlines. It wasn’t until the 2000s that I realized that a food writer was buried inside me. I wish I had made the switch sooner, or at least had been more forceful about a two-track specialty. But to rise in big journalism at the time, you had to be expert in something and put all your focus on that.

Luckily, I’ve had several people who taught and encouraged me - my culinary fairy godmothers. The late Evelyn Hannon, the blogger who was known as JourneyWoman, christened me as CulinaryWoman. Patricia Wells told me, “You can cook,” which was like being awarded the Legion of Honor.

Dorie Greenspan and I became pals over email, when social media was in its infancy, and I’m so tickled to see her become an icon. Ina Pinkney has been a mentor to me as she has been to the entire Chicago culinary world. Virginia Willis is a constant inspiration - and as with Dorie, I love seeing her stretch her wings and fly.

I know how lucky I am to have their support and that of everyone who has answered my rookie questions and patiently explained things that have helped me grow.

The Mark/Marcs

I’m never happier than when I can introduce my friends to each other. I’m delighted that Mark Remillard (left) and Marc Stewart (right) have become pals in New York City.

Mark (with a k) was my student at the Cronkite School at Arizona State University, but he was already working in the news business, so there wasn’t that much I could teach him. He’s gone on to work at ABC Radio News, host award winning true crime podcasts, and he recently launched his own Substack newsletter, called MJR News. I definitely recommend that you subscribe.

Subscribe to MJR News

Marc (with a c) and I first met over Twitter when he was a news anchor in Denver. He’s from suburban Detroit and is an avgeek (what we aviation enthusiasts call ourselves) so it made perfect sense that we’ve become friends. Marc stepped aside from TV temporarily to get a degree at NYU, then went to London to host a podcast for the Wall Street Journal.

You are now seeing him regularly on CNN, and you’ve heard him on Here & Now on public radio. The Mark/Marcs are a source of encouragement and information and fun selfies, as well as imaginative presents. I hope you’ll follow their work.

The New Orleans Community

On one of my visits in the before times, I struck up a conversation with a lady dining next to me at Toup’s South. She was originally from Chicago, and told me that three years before, at age 70, she decided to sell her home and purchase a condo in New Orleans. She said she never ran out of things to do. “You’re never alone in New Orleans, unless you want to be,” she said.

It’s true! Of course, I had a head start, because I knew people in the food and news communities as well as sisters I met during Mardi Gras. But I can safely declare that I have never lived in a more hospitable place.

I’m so grateful to the countless people who have been so kind to me since I arrived in May. Given the isolation of the past few years, and the time I spent looking after Maxine, it’s a pleasure to get out and be greeted so warmly. It’s like Ella Fitzgerald sang:

When I walk down the street
Seems everyone I meet
Gives me a friendly hello
I guess I'm just a lucky so and so

Everyone I haven’t mentioned by name

Rod Allen, the former Detroit Tigers broadcaster, often paid tribute to a player’s performance by saying, “I see you.”

Even if I have not mentioned you by name, I see you. I’ve been helped in multiple ways, large and small, and I would not be where I am in life otherwise.

Thank you all, and now my next year begins, with jazz in the background and delicious adventures ahead. I appreciate you all.

German Friends Are The New Stars Of Korean TV

Speaking of delicious adventures, my favorite Korean television show has kicked off a new season. Welcome! First Time in Korea? returned with its previous host, Kim Jun-Hyun, and a fun trio of friends from Germany.

In case you aren’t familiar with it, Welcome! features someone from outside Korea who is based there, usually in Seoul. They invite three friends from home to visit. The friends establish an itinerary, and the show features their activities while in Korea. It’s ostensibly a pitch to visit Korea, but it also highlights the differences in global cultures.

A trio of Finnish friends - Vilppu, Ville and Sami - became so popular that they made repeated appearances on Welcome! and even opened a pop up restaurant in summer, 2021. This crop of German friends — Lucas, Wolfgang and Felix — enthusiastically embraced the outdoors, by hiking, zip-lining and participating in all kinds of water sports.

After burning all those calories, they got to eat, and the dishes are eye-catching. They’ve downed marinated crab, mustard leaf kimchi, gimbop, and ice cream, and spent much of an episode in a Korean supermarket. Their Seoul-based friend, Florian, beamed with pride as they tried out expressions in Korean, and I had tears watching them say goodbye. Given viewers’ warm response, I have a feeling the German friends will be returning.

While it’s available on streaming services, the best way to find Welcome! is on YouTube or on a Web service called Asiaembed.io. Be sure to check out the back catalog, too.

The Restaurant Recovery Act Didn’t Go As Planned

Remember the Restaurant Recovery Act, which was the third round of pandemic assistance for restaurants, bars and food places? Congress made $28.6 billion in aid available to the industry, which was much less than proponents wanted.

Now, a preliminary Government Accountability Office report says the program had some glitches. About $180 million of the money was never distributed, and has just been sitting with the Small Business Administration.

There were around 250,000 eligible recipients. Of that group, 60 percent received funding, while 40 percent did not. The median award was $126,000 and about half of those getting money had 2019 revenue of $500,000 or less.

Among those getting money, about 4,000 were flagged for possible fraud, including one entity that received $8 million. Even though the grantees were supposed to report how they spent the money, about one-third failed to do so.

The GAO says it will have more to report when the program officially wraps up next year.

Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman

Last week, I wrote for The Takeout about "The Test.” It’s a set of criteria that I use to assess a restaurant. When I’m faced with a lengthy set of choices, or I want to figure out the skills of those baking or cooking, I pick out something simple. For a bakery, it might be a butter croissant, or a black and white cookie. I have my personal preferences for gazpacho, pizza and coffee.

I’d love to hear which dishes you use for your own test. My friends weighed in with answers ranging from a Reuben at a deli, a tuna sandwich at a coffee shop, and brisket at a barbecue place.

CulinaryWoman