Finding My Dream Kitchen in Boerum Hill

Plus: Anya von Bremzen on Lunch Therapy.

Hey everyone,

Well people, it happened. We found an apartment in New York! Actually, it’s not even an apartment, it’s a carriage house in Boerum Hill, one of our favorite neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

Before I tell you about the process, take a look at the kitchen. It’s truly the kitchen of my dreams. Natural light pouring in through windows over the stove and sink and oven? My food pictures will never look better! And the counters are stainless steel, virtually indestructible (apparently David Lebovitz is into them too).

To say that finding this place took a lot of work would be a profound understatement. I started looking for an apartment in earnest when I first announced the move back to New York in February. It wasn’t that I was actually trying to find a place back then, it’s that I was trying to convince Craig that we could find a decent place within our price range. I’d text him place after place and he’d text back “too small,” “too far,” “not enough light” (why we were texting when we were in the same apartment is a question for Orna).

Anyway, fast forward to last week, we both arrived in New York (I was coming from Florida where I was visiting my family) and shacked up at the Nu Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn, which was perfectly located. We were working with Statia Grossman from Corcoran, who I found via StreetEasy (she’s great, highly recommend).

Our new bedroom.

The first places we went to see were exactly as Craig predicted: “too small,” “too far,” “too dark.” We looked at places in Williamsburg, we looked at places on the Upper West Side. We looked at a complex in Carroll Gardens that was almost like a hipster country club.

Finally, when things were looking bleak, I upped our price on a StreetEasy search (please don’t ask numbers, renting in New York is insane right now) and up popped this odd-looking place in Boerum Hill. It wasn’t an apartment; as mentioned, it’s a free-standing house behind a building with its own little courtyard and a basement that can become a den and plenty of room for a dining room table.

We went to see it and instantly fell in love (have I mentioned the kitchen?). We put in an offer, including a letter about how much we loved it, who we are, how I’m a food writer and Craig’s a filmmaker. Because so many people were bidding (the open house was packed), we figured there was no way we were going to get it. But we got the call the next day: even though other people offered more money, the owner really loved our letter and picked us over everyone else. Who says the humanities are a waste of time?

Celebratory drinks at Clover Club, right near our new place.

So we are outrageously excited to move into our new home on August 14th. It’s a dream beyond dreams to have such a delightful place to cook in the world’s greatest city, famous for its horrible kitchens (and I’ve seen them all). And did I mention the amazing grocery stores and butchers nearby? And a farmer’s market every Sunday? And our good friends Rob and Kath live right down the street? And there’s an incredible bookstore nearby too?

We did very well on this trip. Now we get to relax. Just kidding: now we have to clean out and pack up our LA apartment and deal with movers and transportation and selling a car and getting Winston into his carrier to go on the airplane.

Thank God for podcasts! (How’s that for a transition?) This week on Lunch Therapy I have the author of the brand new book National Dish, Anya von Bremzen.

It’s a great talk all about her childhood as an immigrant in the U.S., her first (molton) slice of pizza in America, her life living in both Jackson Heights, Queens and Istanbul. Also: find out if pizza really is Italian and ramen really is Japanese. (The answers are surprising.) Listen above on Spotify or click the picture below for Apple podcasts.

We ate lots of good food in New York this trip (Gage and Tollner, Lord’s, Estela… don’t you follow me on Instagram?), but my favorite meal was the one that we had at the recently three-starred restaurant Superiority Burger.

We went in not really sure what to expect. They don’t take reservations, so we showed up at the door and they said there’d be an hour wait. Just as we were turning around, the hostess said “actually, we have a no-show, you can have their table.” Shazam!

The food at Superiority Burger is exciting, innovative, nourishing, cosy, and wildly unpretentious. That sandwich you see above? It’s collard greens on housemade focaccia and it’s one of those things you taste and it feels like you’ve been eating it all your life. I could eat that for lunch every day and be happy.

The rest of the food was also amazing, but the dessert? It made me want to get up and dance a jig. It was grilled malt cake with vanilla gelato and crispy crunchy clusters and the most gorgeous fruit. If a team of scientists convened at a convention to design the dessert that would satisfy me the most, they could do no better than this.

Now for some links to tickle your fancy:

• After lawsuit, Jon & Vinny’s adds new language to the bill (LA Times);

• Recreating a Pompeii pizza (The Guardian);

• Roman pasta legends coming to NY (NYT).

That’s all for today, folks!

We’re on a plane back to LA to pack everything up. Movers come on the 28th, then we’re camping out at Craig’s aunt and uncle’s in Topanga for a week, then flying with Winston to Provincetown, and finally driving from Boston to NY to move in to the new place.

It’s an exciting time! Glad to share it all with you….

Your pal,

Adam