A Nice Piece of Fish in Florida
Plus: Key Lime Pie, Treats from Monsieur Marcel, & Ben Mims Hosts a Shrimp Boil.
Hey everyone,
I’m writing this from the guest bedroom of my parents’ house in Boca Raton, Florida, where I’ve been visiting since Thursday.
Tomorrow I head up north to see Craig on the set of The Parenting, but as a quick little side trip, it was great to see my family (here we are at their favorite Boca steakhouse, New York Prime):
And here are my adorable niece and nephew, Jordan and Ella, barring the door so I can’t leave, they just love me so much! (Ella’s playing with the scented slime I bought her.)
As for what we ate, we ate a lot. Highlights include the tartufo and cannoli at Trattoria Romana:
The petit filet with Brooklyn French sauce (basically housemade steakhouse) at New York Prime:
And my favorite meal was the one that we had tonight at Luff’s Fish House (my first time there): the coconut curry grouper that you saw as the lead pic, and then this Key Lime Pie for dessert.
The perfect last bite for my Florida getaway.
Before I left L.A., I made a quick trip to The Grove to get some new clothes (I’m still wearing shirts from five years ago) and with the shocking surprise that J. Crew is gone (!!!), and nothing great on the discount shelves at Nordstrom, I was going to come home empty handed… until I walked into my favorite gourmet shop in the farmer’s market section: Monsieur Marcel.
Let’s just say, I definitely didn’t leave there empty-handed.
Okay, let me walk you through my purchases: Soom tahini is my favorite tahini; Rancho Gordo is always the best and I liked the look of these Christmas Lima Beans (Carla Lalli Music makes something similar in her bean video); Ortiz anchovies are excellent; I’ve never eaten a gooseberry before and I was gooseberry-curious, so I bought Wilkin & Sons Green Gooseberry Conserve (I tried it when I got home: it was gooseberrytastic!); I saw Suze and remembered it from David Lebovitz’s Drinking French — when I brought it home, I tried some and I loved its herbal, citrusy taste; Zab’s hot honey sparked my curiosity because people are always talking about putting hot honey on pizza. I tried it on some goat cheese later that evening…
…and I loved the chili flavor but man was it spicy!
And finally I bought rose harissa because Ottolenghi mentions it in his latest book. Curious to give that a whirl.
Finally, right before I left, our friend Ben Mims’ hosted me and our visiting friends Harry and Chris for a shrimp boil.
(I told Ben to hold up the plate and he said “it’s burning my fingers!” — hasn’t he ever heard of suffering for art?)
His shrimp boil was wildly delicious: it had huge shrimp with antennae, two types of sausages, potatoes, artichokes, oranges, Zatarain’s, plus some Korean Chile flakes for extra heat.
He served it with paper towels and no silverware, which made eating it even more enjoyable.
And being a thoughtful host, he made a creamy dessert fit for a lactose intolerant guest: rice pudding made with coconut milk that was oh so good with some kind of orange thing on top.
Now for some LINKS that caught my eye this week:
Wild garlic Mac and Cheese? Color me interested (The Guardian);
An LA influencer demanded a free meal at a St. Louis restaurant and when he didn’t get it, he wrote a bad review… I swear it wasn’t me! (St. Louis Post Dispatch);
How they cut onions in a Michelin-starred restaurant:
Substacker Kim O’Donnel of Lulu Porkchop is headed to Poland to volunteer with World Central Kitchen; I just gave her a follow, so should you (Lulu Porkchop).
That’s all for this week folks!
In case you’re not a paid subscriber, here’s what you missed last week:
Ali Slagle (author of I Dream of Dinner) answered my TEN FEISTY FOOD QUESTIONS, including “what’s your favorite cocktail recipe?” (her answer involved root beer); PLUS, I shared the saga of the chocolate chip cookies that I sent for $132 via UPS to Craig in Concord only to have them go missing… and the story has an incredible TWIST ending.
Become a subscriber now and enjoy all of that + have access to my full archives!
See you back here on Wednesday.
Until then….
Your friend,
Adam
If you like Soom tahini, try their chocolate tahini. It’s sinfully good.
The best tahini is found at Arab speciality markets in unmarked plastic tubs. Here in Nashville, the Kurdish stores have them. It's also where you find the best dates and fresh khubz.