Smitten with My Lunch Date

Plus: David Lebovitz at Gertrude's, Sugar Snaps and Asparagus in Hand-Pounded Pesto, and Strawberry Rhubarb-Infused Gin.

Hey everyone,

Back in ancient times, at the dawn of food blogging, three ambitious upstarts started posting pictures of their meals and writing about them. At the time, people thought they were nuts, but now they’re running empires! Well, at least two of them are. One of them is my friend Deb of Smitten Kitchen, who I joined for lunch on Friday at Raf’s in NoHo where we ate delicious things like these leeks vinaigrette…

And a radicchio salad and also this Salad Niçoise, which made me feel like I was in France.

Deb has been running her blog since 2006 and it’s still as good as ever. She may be the most consistent of all the original food bloggers, still churning out essential content on a weekly basis to her adoring fans. (If her recipe came late on Friday, it was my fault.) She also has a terrific new podcast with Kenji Lopez-Alt called The Recipe; if you’re not listening, you’re missing out!

The other food blog empire builder I was referring to at the top was David Lebovitz, who’s in town and asked me to pick a spot for Saturday night dinner, so I chose Gertrude’s in Prospect Heights because I thought he’d get a kick out of it.

David was quickly “made,” as we say in the biz: one of the owners, Nate, recognized David and soon we were gifted with pickles and crispy tongue, which was incredible.

My favorite dish remains the pickle-brined chicken, this time with French fries. It’s a perfect idea, brining chicken in pickle juice. Why didn’t I think of it?

And for dessert? We had to get the black-and-white cake. It’s one of my favorite restaurant desserts in the city.

I actually rode a CitiBike to and from dinner, my first time doing that. The electric bike is so incredible: it does all of the peddling for you! I liked it best on quiet streets; when I got to major intersections, it became rather scary.

You can see my doggie bag (stupidly blocking the light). We had so many leftovers from recent meals (including one at Gage and Tollner), that on Sunday night we ate leftovers for dinner and we were very happy.

Tonight (Monday night, though you’ll be getting this Tuesday morning) I yanked some basil off my basil bush and made a hand-pounded pesto (why does all of this sound sexual?) which I served with asparagus and sugar snap peas and seared salmon.

Want the recipe? I got you! I just blogged all about it.

Finally, my Deb world and David world collided again when I went to the farmer’s market and found gorgeous rhubarb.

I thought about preserving it (jam, etc.) or making a pie, but when I Googled a recipe, I came upon Deb’s take on David’s Rhubarb Cordial from Drinking French.

I basically chopped the rhubarb and threw it in some jars with lots of gin and sugar. I also threw in some strawberries for good measure.

Now I just have to wait a month or two to drink it. D’oh!

Hey, let’s look at some links!

• New York’s First (and Only) Crab Roe Restaurant is So Good (Grub Street);

• What a Wine Opener Tells Us About a Wine Drinker (Taste);

• What’s the Best Lasagna Hack According to the Garfield Cookbook? (Eater).

That’s all for today, folks!

See you back here on Thursday….

Your pal,
Adam