Meet & Eat: Hannah Howard, Serious Eats Intern
Editor's note: And so we continue the getting-to-know-you routine with the folks behind Serious Eats. Today, we give the treatment to SE intern Hannah Howard, who's with us for the summer. In addition to the extemporaneous blogging she's been doing on the site, she's jumped right in and has started an entertaining, heartfelt, and insightful column for us called Served, which gives readers the inside scoop on her job as a waiter. So without further ado, here's Hannah! —Adam
Name: Hannah Howard
Location: Upper Upper West Side, New York City
Occupation: Student and waiter
Favorite comfort food? Different pasta incarnations. At home, pasta with olive oil, garlic, red chile flakes, lots of black pepper, and pecorino. At Casellula, where I work, mac and cheese with caramelized onion and lardons. And greasy lo mein or pad thai, always.
Guilty pleasures? This list could be long! I love dessert. I love sweet and salty, chocolate and peanut butter. City Bakery chocolate chip cookies. Boardwalk fries with lots of salt and malt vinegar.
Describe your perfect meal. It's a jubilant affair with people who I love, cooking and eating excessive amounts of excessively delicious things late into the night.
What food won’t you eat? I'll try anything once!
What would you like to try but haven't yet? Street food in Singapore, Thailand, the Caribbean. And I want to eat at The French Laundry before I die.
Favorite food person? Ruth Reichl.
When did you first realize you were a serious eater? During a seventh grade field trip to New York. On the agenda was "lunch in Chinatown." My group, indifferent to my protests, chose McDonald's. I cried. My math teacher appeased me with a trip to a little restaurant next door. I don't remember where we went, but I do remember the steaming, juicy roast duck we shared and feeling giant relief.
What do your family and friends think of your food obsessions? They either "get it" or they don't. The former are happy to cook, eat, and drink with me. I try not too worry to much about what the latter think.
Favorite food sites or blogs (besides Serious Eats, of course)? I like 101 Cookbooks, The Wednesday Chef, and ruhlman.com.
What is your favorite meal of the day and what's your go-to spot for that meal and what do you usually order? I love weekday brunch at Pastis, when it's not a total zoo and the light is streaming in. Their steak sandwich is killer. But usually dinner is the meal I get to share with people, and thus my favorite.
Do you ever cook? What's the best dish you make? I am always wanting to cook new things, so I don't have many dishes that get made repeatedly. My recent success stories are braised short ribs; scallop, mint and pea risotto; thai peanut noodle salad; a simple summery berry crumble.
Most memorable New York City meal? It's a tie between a grand tasting at Eleven Madison Park, my birthday celebration in Artisanal's "cheese cave," wd~50, and an amazing Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner party at a friend's apartment, complete with wine and cocktail pairings and a few more than seven courses.
Best pizza in the city? Una Pizza Napoletana.
Favorite burger? Sadly, I don't eat too many burgers. When I worked at Beacon, I thought the burgers we grilled for ourselves at the end of a sweaty kitchen shift were perfection.
Favorite bagel? Mini bagels at Absolute Bagels. Bialys at Kossar's Bialys.
Best late-night eats? Blue Ribbon.
Undiscovered gem? If I knew, I wouldn't tell.
What is New York missing, foodwise? I have no complaints. There is still so much here I have yet to explore and eat.
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6 Comments:
Welcome aboard, Hannah!
Raphael at 3:52PM on 06/19/08
Hannah with a fork and knife! Watch out. Phew, so glad I sit behind you. Safe.
Erin Zimmer at 4:38PM on 06/19/08
What are "boardwalk fries"?
Adam Kuban at 5:01PM on 06/19/08
@Erin, May I remind you, the fork and knife were totally your idea. (Although I am wielding them like they're weapons.)
@Adam, Boardwalk fries are these fresh-cut big, juicy fries that I remember as a big deal in Baltimore when I was a kid there.
These are what I'm thinking of.
Their site says, " While Boardwalk Fries®, located in many malls, continues with the original concept of fresh cut fries, now packaged pre-cooked frozen Boardwalk Fries® have been successfully introduced with overwhelming acclaim."
I don't get this...does that mean they have both fresh and frozen?
And although the Boardwalk Fries company has a trademark, to me "boardwalk fries" refer to a whole fry genre. I know that they are definitely a Maryland thing. I don't know much more about them, other than they're thicker than the average fry (although not as thick as "chips") and served piping hot and in a paper cup.
I will conduct a boardwalk fry investigation. If anyone has any boardwalk fry knowledge, please share!
Hannah Howard at 5:31PM on 06/19/08
My favorite boardwalk fries are from Thrasher's in Ocean City, MD. You can buy them by the KFC sized bucketful and damn skippy are they good! They're fresh cut, skin on, and pretty much fried to order as there is almost always a line 5-6 people deep. I've not tried the ones at Boardwalk but I imagine they're probably very close. You can sometimes find boardwalk type fries at carnival and street fair concessions. But there is something about the combination of salty sea air and salty vinegary fries that just makes them taste so much better than anywhere else.
Rottenmom at 9:09AM on 06/20/08
Yay, Hannah! Thanks for the illuminating story about your seventh grade trip.
CindyH at 12:11PM on 06/20/08