A Night to Remember

Our Cookbook Launch Party, Plus a Two-Family Dinner at Carbone.

Hey everyone,

Why write a cookbook? It’s definitely not to get rich. (Just listen to my interview with Andrea Nguyen who’s written plenty of cookbooks and says that it’s rarely, if ever, profitable). Is it for fame? Notoriety? A gig on Food Network?

I can’t answer for other cookbook authors, but for me — cue the cheesy soundtrack — it’s to connect with other people. Writing a cookbook is a chance to enter other people’s lives through their kitchens, the heart and soul of the house. When someone tells me that they make the lentil soup from Secrets of the Best Chefs or the “Best Broccoli of Your Life” from the ol’ blog, it’s as rewarding to me as if I became CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

But also? If you’re lucky? You get to have a cookbook party!

And with my latest Broadway cookbook with Gideon Glick — have I mentioned it yet? lol — we had a party for the ages at The Library at the Public Theater on Thursday night. In fact, I don’t think I’ll ever go to a better one.

Gideon and my mom at the book party.

You have to understand that my two favorite things in this world are cooking and Broadway shows. And this party was a celebration of both! Gideon invited all of his theater world friends and I was gobsmacked and starstruck at who arrived.

There on the left is Celia Keenan-Bolger, who won a Tony playing Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway (Gideon was nominated for playing Dill in that same production) and who I first saw in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (with a pre-Modern Family Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and on the right is the one and only Dennis O’Hare, who I loved in Take Me Out on Broadway years ago (for which he won his own Tony award in a part that Jesse Tyler Ferguson would win his own Tony award for years later).

And there in that quadrant you’ll such luminaries as Max Jenkins, Cristin Milioti, Michael Urie (standing with Gideon and Squigs, our illustrious illustrator), Zachary Quinto, Lindsay Mendez, and the star of my favorite show on TV right now (not to mention the amazing play The Humans), Sarah Steele from The Good Fight.

Also in attendance, our parents, our friends Mark and Diana, and my pal Zac Young from Food Network.

It was like a fever dream of everyone that I love in my life and everyone that I’ve ever loved on stage. Wish you could’ve been there!

By the way, these were the drinks that we came up with for the party (they were certainly effective! I’m still feeling them.)

The party came on the heels of a super fun Q&A and book signing at The Drama Book Shop, which still has autographed copies of the book if you want to call there and order one. Here’s the enthusiastic crowd, which included my friend Lisa and her family and my first book editor, Philip Rappaport.

That was all in one night!

And then we spent the rest of last week entertaining our parents in the big city. An epic two family dinner took place at Carbone, a reservation that I had to give my right arm for (not even sure how I got it, to be honest).

Carbone is like your favorite local red sauce joint taken up twelve notches (same for the prices). The Caesar salad is made table-side, a waiter comes around with a half wheel of Parmesan which he cuts into for everyone, the bread is a meal in and of itself, and then there’s the famous veal Parmesan, which my mom and dad shared.

I had the orecchiette with broccoli rabe and sausage — I liked how big the orecchiette was; transformed from “little ears” to big ones.

And before dessert, they served us rainbow cookies, my all-time favorite cookie… so you know I was in heaven.

So those were the highlights from last week! (There were also meals at The Gramercy Tavern and Le Bernardin, but I’ll save that for Thursday’s newsletter.)

Now for some links that tickled my fancy this week:

• Pete Wells reviews the new Martha Stewart restaurant in Vegas… doesn’t seem like a very good thing (NYT);

• Meera Sodha’s recipe for creamy baked orzo with cauliflower, onions, and mustard (The Guardian);

• Eater editors pick their favorite pumpkin recipes (Eater);

• Brown butter apple crumb cake… I want! (The Guardian).

That’s all for today, folks.

If you haven’t already, be sure to order your cookbook now! You’ll get it in no time. And if you have one already, please write a nice review on Amazon: it really helps.

Until next time….

Your friend,

Adam