Now we're cooking
Wild Cherry, King, best new cookbooks, bar dining, Doubles Social, truffle season, MORE
FOUND GIFT GUIDE • FOUND Object
All hail
The King Cookbook, out this month from the trio behind the beloved edge-of-Soho restaurant (Annie Shi, Jess Shadbolt, and Clare de Boer), contains very few pictures. It’s a rare quality, given the current state of cookbooks. Most try to include a photo for every recipe, while some have even manufactured ways to continue the experience off the page with QR codes and video content.
The King book is a simpler affair. It reminds me of the classic cookbooks my grandparents cooked from: text-heavy, full of recipes with multiple ingredient variations (there are four separate recipes for socca), and made for utility, not just bookshelf decor.
Like the restaurant, the book is allergic to flamboyance. With restrained, sweet pencil-line drawings throughout, the book’s tone runs earnest and sincere without being stern. Certain ingredients are given obsessive treatments; there’s an entire chapter dedicated to rabbit. Preparation of the 200-plus recipes may be intensive, but the ingredient list is mostly simple. You can choose to make the homemade stocks and foundational doughs, or skip right to the showstopping, photo-finish dishes like Pissaladière.
While you don’t need to know King to appreciate the book, fans of the restaurant will recognize a number of favorites, because, lucky for us, the King ladies don’t gatekeep. From carta di musica (the flat bread that starts every King meal) to tarte tatin, the book holds the key to all the dishes that’ve helped King coolly reign supreme, after all these years. –Sylvie Florman
→ Shop: The King Cookbook • $39.99.
FOUND GIFT GUIDE • The Nines
Cookbooks, new
The King Cookbook (Clare de Boer, Jess Shadbolt, and Annie Shi), Mediterranean-inspired dishes from the elegant, perennially hip Soho restaurant’s kitchen, see above, $39.99
Steak House: The People, The Places, The Recipes (Eric Wareheim & Gabe Ulla, above), stories and recipes from the country’s most iconic (and outrageous) steakhouses, $60
Mokonuts: The Cookbook (Moko Hirayama and Omar Koreitem), 100 dishes from one of Paris’s most beloved spots (and chef-couples), intel, $49.95
Something from Nothing (Alison Roman), collection of low-effort, maximum yield recipes, featuring lots of soup & stews, $37.99
Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing (Niki Russ Federman & Josh Russ Tupper), smoked fish, matzo ball soup, and babka from the NYC institution, $39.99
On Meat (Jeremy Fox), legendary Rustic Canyon chef’s low-waste, sustainable approach to cooking meat, w/ beautiful photography, $49.95
The Japanese Art of Pickling and Fermenting (Yoko Nakazawa), ancient fermenting and pickling techniques from a Japanese expert, patience required, $35
Nights & Weekends (Alexis deBoschneck), sub-40-minute recipes w/ short ingredient lists from an Upstate recipe developer, intel, $35
The Art of Gluten-Free Bread: Groundbreaking Recipes for Artisanal Breads and Pastries (Aran Goyoaga), from loaves to sweets, masterpiece that won’t have you missing the gluten, $40
ASK FOUND
A subscriber response to our query, Where do you go for furniture reupholstering?
H&A in Red Hook are the best!
And to What’s the best bar to dine alone at in NYC?
Binx
Buvette
Le French Diner
Via Carota
Keep ‘em coming. And while we’re at it, maybe you have an answer to this fresh prompt:
Be great if you could ask/find out who is actually serving the Feast of Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve or even Christmas week.
GOODS & SERVICES LINKS: Insanely anticipated food market/shoppy shop Meadow Lane opened Friday in Tribeca • Park Slope Barnes & Noble reopens after 4-month renovation • Saks Fifth Ave store on Upper East Side shuttering 12/31 • Where to find those Blackbird Spyplane shoes • What New York chefs are buying for the dream kitchens they sketched.
WORK • Tuesday Routine
Date nights
JOURDANN LUBLINER • founder & CEO • Doubles Social and Electrify PR
Neighborhood you work & live in: Upper West Side
It’s Tuesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I either work from home on the UWS or out of an office on the UES. Often, I’m having networking coffees in the morning with press (as a publicist) or with fellow founders (as Founder & CEO of Doubles Social).
Doubles Social is a digital members club and app that connects like-minded couples with each other, schedules double dates, and plans couples events to expand their social circles and have fun doing it. I’m also the founder and CEO of Electrify PR, an eight-year-old public relations firm representing both startups and large, corporate brands across industries including wellness, beauty, fashion, travel, creator economy, and home furnishings.
What’s on the agenda for today?
At Doubles Social, we’re in full event-planning mode, gearing up for our upcoming sommelier-guided wine & cheese tasting event at CARTA Wine Bar in the West Village tomorrow night. On the Electrify PR side, we’re pitching clients’ holiday gift guide offerings, Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, and more.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
Four restaurants I’ve recently enjoyed on the Upper West Side:
Twin Tails: Buzzy, sleek Southeast Asian restaurant in Shops at Columbus Circle for shaking beef, scallion glass noodles, and lychee martinis.
Sushi Lin: Omakase go-to with seafood sourced from Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market, plus caviar and truffle.
Canto: Delicious pastas and espresso martinis, perfect for a double date or girls’ night out.
Sushi Yasaka: Classic, no-frills, and consistently high quality. I love their mini omakase.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I tend to save my big-ticket purchases for trips and experiences, but when it comes to fashion and accessories, I am always wearing my Minor History True Crossbody, FRAME jeans, Rag & Bone Flats, and On Slip Ons. Since I grew up on the UES near Bloomingdale’s, I’m also a sucker for their cashmere selection.
What NYC store or service do you love to recommend?
I love Symbelle Beauty (formerly Nail Niobe) for manicures, pedicures, and waxing. I’ve been going there since I was a kid! The attention to detail and nail polish color selection is excellent. I’m also a regular at Eddie Arthur Salon for hair.
WORK LINKS: Why the Grand Central Subway Passageway smells woodsy • New NYC ferry routes make direct Staten Island-to-Brooklyn a reality starting next month • The U.S. Open is not pleased with Steve Cohen’s casino plan • Insiders promoted to CEO perform better than outside saviors • Electricians are very hot right now • The retirement number is just an illusion.
RESTAURANTS • Intel
TRUFFLE TIME: ’Tis the season: white truffles from Italy, the finest of them from Alba, are now in full swing. Typically offered as luxurious supplements, a few preparations across New York City rise above the rest.
At Per Se, known for their particularly heavy hand and generous shavings, the kitchen leans into classicism with hand-cut tagliatelle enriched with Parmigiano-Reggiano and finished (until made invisible) by shaved white truffles from Alba. At The Modern, prized Carnaroli Risotto Biologico arrives with a parmesan mousseline and a post-truffle-shower drizzle of brown butter. At SAGA, rather than being offered as a supplemental course, white truffles may be added to an existing one, like the current main of venison on chef Charlie Mitchell’s fall menu. Over at Jungsik, Korean tradition meets Italian decadence in a white truffle Kongguksu — normally chilled Korean noodles, but to embrace the flavors of Alba truffles, it’s being served warm with a white soybean sauce, topped with a lavish mound of shaved truffles.
One of the most unforgettable white truffle dishes in the city has returned exclusively for the season at Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare: Hokkaido uni perched atop crispy Belgian waffle with caramelized butternut squash, crowned with a heaping portion of particularly pristine and aromatic Alba truffles (above). There’s one other can’t-miss truffle course at CTBF, one of my all-time favorite desserts: Japanese laminated brioche (also known as Fujisan) glazed with a Yamazaki 18-year whisky caramel, dusted in cardamom sugar, and served with a sidecar of coconut sorbet topped with yet more shaved white truffles from Alba. In a field of truffle standouts, that one’s particularly hard to beat. –Lee Pitofsky
NYC RESTAURANT LINKS: Greenpoint’s Fulgurances Laundromat closing by year-end, opening rotisserie and wine bar next door • At Roberta’s, Grinchy’s is back for the holidays • There’s action at the old Tribeca Tavern • Where to nightcap (the most important drink of the night).
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Cherry on top
Restaurants used to be fun.