This article appears in Spring 2021: Issue No. 65 of Edible Manhattan.
Hong Thaimee on the Power of Resilience
EARLY SPRING, 2021
It’s not an ugly space that Thaimee LOVE, Hong Thaimee’s new West Village pop-up, is camping out in on Hudson Street. With its dramatically lit exposed-brick walls and plank shelving, it could be any sleek, aspirational restaurant designed within the last few years. Thaimee has imposed herself on the space copious flowers, a long banquet table loaded with Thai spices, chilis, grains, and herbs but this is a temporary perch. It became available when the previous restaurant here shuttered and vanished with all of its personal effects. Thaimee is thrilled that her landlord extended her lease through November.
Wildair, one of those hip natural wine bars that make patrons feel as if they’re extras in a Sofia Coppola flick, has uploaded to Instagram what is surely the world’s most mesmerizing doughnut video. It is just 12 seconds long. A chef uses a spoon to tap the dorsal side of a doughnut 10 times, hitting it like a timpani drum. The result is pure ASMR, a phenomenon that one would more typically associate with the pop of a beer cracking open or the sizzle of lamb fat dripping onto a charcoal grill. But so it goes that this is not a normal pillowy doughnut. It is a crisp creme brulee doughnut.
of eulogizing the past 12 months. In 2020’s final days, Eater NY will be posting questions about New York City’s restaurant scene in the past year, with answers from food writers, photographers, chefs, restaurateurs, entrepreneurs, and even a few local legislators who helped to support the industry through this enormously difficult year. Now, we ask: What was 2020’s saddest restaurant closure?
Eric Adams, Brooklyn Borough President: There are too many to count.
Clay Williams, food photographer and co-founder of
Black Food Folks: Honestly, I’ve tried not to keep an eye on the ongoing list of closures, it’s all too terrible. But, hearing about The 21 Club, Blue Smoke, and Franklin Park, just this month has been pretty awful. They all have particular places in my personal history as a diner and in covering the industry. It’s hard to imagine this city if they hadn’t been there, or what could possibly take their places.
The 11 meals I ll remember the most from 2020
Kate Krader, Bloomberg News VIDEO SIGN OUT
âThe best dishes of 2020â reads like a headline from the satirical Onion website.
In a normal year, lists of this type are stocked with dishes from around the world. Theyâre an opportunity to celebrate (read: brag) in ways big and small about the places you went and the edible treasures you discovered. References to caviar and truffles abound.
But in 2020, the hospitality world has been fighting for its life. Chefs, restaurateurs, bartenders, and bakers have been simply trying to keep their places open and their staff employed.