Kernels: Dec 14-18, 2023
Kernels: Dec 14-18, 2023
Poutine, Godot, Frenchette.
Kernels is a somewhat weekly column of what I’ve been up to lately — plus a list of events and links that may be worth your time. I’ll experiment with the format for the first few columns; any feedback or suggestions are appreciated! And feel free to scroll past any section that doesn’t interest you.
This edition is a lot more dining focused than the last two columns, so if you’re tired of reading my movie takes, here ya go! It ended up being a rather Francophile weekend, with a poutine party, seeing a production of Waiting for Godot (it was originally written in French), and dinner at one of New York’s landmark bistros.
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It’s noggin’ time
A big batch of eggnog can last the rest of the winter, or you can bring it all to a Christmas party. I love Jeffrey Morganthaler’s gonzo Tequila-Sherry Eggnog, which has a brighter taste than the classic formula. If you want to stick to the standard, Alton Brown’s eggnog recipe is the one to follow. Because of the high alcohol content, the eggnog will last indefinitely in the fridge, and it’s fun to taste how the flavor evolves over time. I personally prefer it when it’s been aged for two to four weeks, but I had a half bottle of ‘nog stored for over a year and it didn’t kill me.
Poutine In the Work
The fellas at Little Poutine are the most hardcore dinner party hosts I know. Spearheaded by Sebastian Elie-York and Eron Lutterman, two Canadians who met at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, they partner with chefs to cook massive meals that can feel more like big events. Enlisting the help of their roommates and friends, Sebastian and Eron take advantage of their massive ground floor apartment in Williamsburg. They have the ideal space to host at least thirty of their closest friends and strangers. I attended one of their earlier dinners, and even then, it felt like witnessing a well-oiled machine at work, stretching the capabilities of an apartment kitchen. Occasionally they’ve hosted private parties away from their home, which is how I found myself inside a ludicrously large townhouse in Chinatown one Friday evening. Eron had reached out to buy enough of my sourdough bread to feed forty people, which was easy for me to handle. When I dropped off the bread, the team was hard at work shucking oysters and setting the tables, but I snuck a peek at the menu and I could tell it was going to be a very good meal.
But the best don’t rest. A week after that endeavor, they opened up their apartment doors for a big poutine party. It was Little Poutine’s ninth event, but ironically this was the first time they served their namesake food. Over sixty attendees shuffled between the living room and the backyard, where a couple of the hosts were shucking oysters. As guests drank Labatts and martinis1, Sebastian dropped French fries into a dutch oven filled with bubbling oil. The fries were made from scratch, a painstaking undertaking. Earlier, the crew had chopped all the potatoes, par-boiled them, froze them, fried them, then fried them again during service. A massive wad of cheese curds, picked up from Murray’s Cheese earlier in the day, sat on the counter as the poutine was assembled: fries in a paper tray, tossed with the curds, then piping hot gravy poured over the whole mess.
Arguably, the most important element of poutine is that gravy, and it was no disappointment. It began life as a brown beef & chicken stock, the meat and bones simmered for eight hours with thyme and bay leaves. The liquid was then added to a roux of beer, Amish butter, and flour; then, once thickened, finished off with salt and sherry vinegar. Sounds amazing, and it tasted even better than that: rich and zingy, it more than made up for the undersalted fries.
Dessert was unimpeachable: a delicious Canadian butter tart, baked by Eron, which is exactly what it sounds like. I’m not sure what’s next for the Little Poutine gang, but follow them on Instagram to be in the know.
The Bitch of Living
On Sunday I caught Theater for a New Audience’s Off-Broadway production of Waiting for Godot, starring Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks. All I had really known about Samuel Beckett’s surrealist-existentialist classic was that a) it was gonna be surreal/existential and b) Godot never comes. Within the first few minutes, I thought that I’d come out of this show knowing less about it than I did going in. Famously known for being a play where nothing happens — twice — it’s hard to get a grip on what’s going on. But I fought/thought my way through the material: my not at all hot take that this play is Very Good, if a bit like eating your vegetables. It’s livened up by Shannon and Sparks, who play Estragon and Vladimir as if they were hapless pals in a buddy comedy.
There are literal books about this play written by people much smarter than me, but if there’s anything to take away from Godot, it’s that life is a bleak, desolate existence.You wait for some kind of salvation that never comes, but at least, hopefully, you’re wasting away your days with someone you love. I certainly suggest checking it out before it closes on December 23, especially if you’re under the age of 30: tickets can be had for about twenty bucks! This is something I am desperately trying to take advantage of while I’m in my last year of my twenties.
On the subject of discounted theater, New York City Center has a program for $28 tickets for those aged 35 & under, which makes their star-studded Encores productions even more exciting. Ringing in the new year are two limited-run musical revivals: Jelly’s Last Jam (starring Billy Porter) and Once Upon a Mattress (starring Sutton Foster and Michael Urie). Use promo code ACC2324 to unlock the cheap tickets. Getting great buzz is Branden Jacob-Jenkins’ new play, Appropriate, which just opened on Broadway. Sarah Paulson headlines, with Elle Fanning and Corey Stoll also among the cast. I’ll be seeing it early next month! (Tickets for Second Stage productions are roughly $30 if you’re under 30.)
And I’ve recently discovered Not Broadway, an opinionated list of current productions that are, well, not Broadway. It’s been bookmarked.
The Taste of Frenchette
Just before the massive rainstorm that hit late Sunday night, I ventured to Tribeca to bustling neo-bistro Frenchette. I had to have their special prix fixe linked to French food film The Taste of Things2, which is sure to be the next big food movie once it gets a proper release in February. Although the kitchen wasn’t recreating everything we see in that movie — that would have been actually insane — the three-course menu did consist of dishes that were important to the plot. And it was a good value: the prix fixe was $30 less than ordering the same things à la carte. Fortunately, it wasn’t one of those things where the entire table had to commit to the same prix fixe, so we got to sample a good chunk of the rest of the menu.
French restaurants are not usually something I seek out – it’s one of the few cuisines for which I don’t have many restaurant recommendations. But at Frenchette I was reminded of why the bistro had been so influential in defining dining. It’s luxe comfort food: hearty dishes that are simple to eat, but complicated to make. The more you know about how to cook this kind of French cuisine, the more you revere it. And the lighting inside the restaurant was perfectly calibrated: warm and dim in person, but somehow all our cell phone pictures came out very well.
The lineup
Here’s everything we ordered, with some notes. Not pictured is the excellent pain maison (house baguette with butter)
The Taste of Things prix fixe
Dodine de canard (deboned, stuffed duck with truffles, foie gras, and pistachios)
Didn’t fully appreciate until seeing how much goes into making this. Has an interesting texture, not as fatty as pâté. But still has substance, and the sharp mustard brought the best out of the other flavors.
Pot-au-feu (Boiled beef short rib, tongue, bone marrow, and vegetables)
A very simple peasant stew, made fancier. The international title for The Taste of Things was originally The Pot-au-Feu, so obviously, it’s very important in the film.
The tongue was the highlight, it had a soft texture and had absorbed all the flavors of the soup. Sadly, the short rib was really tough to chew on.
Omelette norvégienne (AKA Baked Alaska)
Not as good as Gage & Tollner’s, but still very very good.
Wine pairings
Dard & Ribo Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2021
Light, mineral, it cuts into the fattiness of the dodine
Les Justices La Bamboche 2022 (poured from a magnum)
From the Loire Valley, in between medium and full-bodied, exemplary table wine which fits the ethos of the pot-au-feu.
Vergano Mauro/Chinato Moscato “Luli” NV
The server described this as a cross between an amaro and a vermouth, which is an apt description. Has a sour finish.
Entrées à la carte
Couteaux casino (razor clams casino)
Very good but also very expensive ($28 for two clams)
Veal tongue & mackerel
Massive flavor bomb, my favorite of the entrées. Strong fishy flavor which is not a problem for me.
Plats principaux à la carte
Bavette au poivre (steak fries with pepper sauce)
THE FRENCH FRIES OH MY GOD
Lotte à l’Américaine (grilled monkfish, Manila clams, bouton chanterelles)
Don’t discard the onions! They absorbed so much flavor. Each element in this dish was perfectly cooked.
Side dish: Charred carrots with labneh and za’atar
This was incredible.
Dessert
Bûche de Noël
Not overly sweet as we thought it might be, thanks to the richness of the dark chocolate.
L’addition
For three people who left very, very full.
The Taste of Things prix fixe ($90 on the menu)
Wine pairings for the prix fixe ($60; we ordered one pairing and split it three ways. Each glass was about three ounces.)
Remaining dishes à la carte ($210)
Total spend: $156 per person after tip and tax. A bit of a splurge considering we didn’t drink very much, but Frenchette deserves to be treated as a not everyday meal.
Merci beaucoup for reading and making your way to the end. Please feel free to drop a comment or share this newsletter with anyone who might be into it!
the martinis were shaken and so was I, but I wasn’t going to correct the hosts in the middle of the function
the French title for this film is La Passion de Dodin Bouffant, which is a much better title than The Taste of Things. It’s my least favorite thing about the movie.
i was at the matinee for Godot that sunday! also bummed i missed out on the frenchette x taste of things dinner. french restaurants in nyc are having a moment, and youve inspired me to write a post.