A Tomato Sandwich Salad

Plus: How to Pitch the NYT Food Section, Ben Mims Returns from France, and Friday Night at Horses.

Hey everyone,

Did you have a restful weekend? I was pretty busy! On Friday night I scored reservations at Horses (more on that in a bit), Saturday I went to Ben Mims’s house for a French feast (stay tuned), and on Sunday I made the tomato salad that you see above. So by “busy” I guess I mean that I ate a lot?! Isn’t that what you people want from me!? I live to serve!

So let’s start with the tomato salad: everyone has their signature summer tomato sandwich. Some toast the bread, some don’t. Some use mayonnaise, some use aioli. Some add onion, some don’t. But what if you get rid of the bread entirely and just turn the sandwich into a salad, keeping the mayo component but just spooning it as a base on to the plate. Behold my Tomato Sandwich Salad:

@amateurgourmetWant the thrill of a juicy tomato sandwich without the bread? Behold my Tomato Sandwich Salad with harissa mayo, colorful heirloom tomatoes, Aleppo pepper, and lots of basil. It’s summer on a plate. 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅 #tomato #heirloomtomatoes #salads #summersalads #cooking #farmersmarket #basil #mayo #harissa #foodtiktok #gayfood #prettyfood #fyp

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It was so good! I didn’t miss the bread, especially when I swiped a piece of tomato through the goopy, spicy “sauce” (that’s a nicer way of just saying enhanced mayo). Highly recommend.

Now let’s turn to the podcast…

If you’ve been listening to me a while, you’ll know that I’ve been trying to pitch articles to the New York Times food section for years and years and for years and years I’ve been summarily ignored! Well instead of grousing about it, I decided to invite the editor of that very section on to my podcast to read me to filth: Emily Weinstein is the head honcho at NYT Food and Cooking and she was so generous with her time, laying it all out for me, while gossiping about behind-the-scenes stuff like Pete Wells’ takedown of Eleven Madison Park. Listen to the whole thing here or Apple podcasts:

And if you’re more of a visual person, here’s a brief snippet:

@amateurgourmetMy pitches to the NYT Food section have been rejected for years! So this week on The Amateur Gourmet Podcast, I invite the NYT Food and Cooking editor Emily Weinstein on to explain what exactly she’s looking for when somebody (ahem!) tries to get her attention over email. Hear the rest on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 💫 #podcasts #nytcooking @NYT Cooking #newspapers #publishing #foodsection #nyt #editors #foodwriting

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On Saturday night, Ben Mims and his partner J invited me over along with our pals Ryan and Jonathan for dinner.

Ben and J just got back from an epic trip to France: they went to Paris, Marseilles, and then visited our friends Harry and Cris in Bordeaux (to say that I was jealous is putting it mildly!). But Ben mitigated my jealousy by cooking up a delicious vegetable tian:

It’s probably hard to tell from that picture, but the tian had layers of cherry tomatoes and zucchini and then lots of olive oil and a breadcrumb topping. It’s easier to see once it’s spooned on to a plate with a little salad:

For dessert, Ben made a gorgeous cherry tart:

Turns out, if you can’t go to France yourself the next best thing is to have your friends go to France, get inspired, and then cook for you. Much cheaper too!

On Friday night (we’re working backwards here), I scored a reservation at one of L.A.’s hardest to get into restaurants, Horses, and I invited along my friends Jimmy and Raef. (I got the reservation by setting an alert on Resy and then snagging it as soon as someone dropped their 8 PM!)

I’ve been to Horses twice before: once when it opened and then once again with Craig. This time, I really studied the menu before going, which inspired this tweet lol…

Adam Roberts @amateurgourmet

I study menus online before going out to dinner so I can be subtle in my methodology of getting everyone to order the things that I want to eat. 🤫

Sounds diabolical and, to be honest, it’s only slightly true. (Emphasis on the “slightly.”)

But I did steer us towards the melon and prosciutto, just because it was a seasonal addition:

Raef put a request in for the amazing Caesar salad with Mimolette cheese (it just so happens that’s one of the things I wanted to order so my plan was working).

For my entree, I had the steak but bemoaned the fact that it didn’t come with fries, so I suggested we all order fries for the table (wahahahaha):

The steak was probably the most disappointing dish, even though it was very good: the steak itself was kind of plain (maybe needed more seasoning?), but I liked the chard gratin that came with it, and those fries were dreamy and crispy and flecked with herbs.

For dessert, Raef ordered the cheesecake, but I just had to try the marzipan straciatella gelato with cherries because those are so many of my favorite things:

All-in-all, this was my favorite visit to Horses: our waiter was fun, it felt lively but not overwhelming, and the food was top notch. I’d even go as far to say that this is the best restaurant in L.A. right now.

Okay, time for some links!

• A deep-fried salad at Jitlada (LA Times, paywall);

• Nigel Slater’s tomato recipes (The Guardian);

• A new queer fine dining restaurant in NY called Hags (Bon Appetit);

• Helen Rosner on “The Bear” (I just finished watching it and it’s a truly great show, not to be missed) (The New Yorker)

That’s all for today, folks!

In case you missed Thursday’s paid-subscribers only newsletter, here’s what you missed: tahini banana bread, an eggplant and string-bean stir-fry, leftover rice salad, and dinner at Botanica with Mayukh Sen.

To get this Thursday’s newsletter in your inbox, and to have access to the whole archive, become a paid subscriber!

Until next time….

Your friend,

Adam