38 – APRIL 2020
PORRIDGE + PUFFS
Los Angeles
Soy-braised chicken-and-mushroom porridge
with fried shallots and a soft-boiled egg
MADAME VO BBQ
New York City
Braised oxtail congee with honey butter,
fish sauce, and scallions
THE ANCHORAGE
Greenville, SC
Carolina Gold rice congee with rock shrimp,
XO sauce, and charred broccoli
LUCINDA GRAIN BAR
Seattle
Steel-cut oats and red quinoa porridge with
pepita brittle, plum purée, and oat ice cream
PHOTOGRAPHS: EM
ILY BERGER (FOLK); W
ILLIAM
CROOKS (THE ANCHORAGE); ASHLEY LESTER (PEPPERVINE); BRANDON HARM
AN (PORRIDGE + PUFFS); CHARITY BURGGRAAF (LUCINDA GRAIN BAR);
LAURA M
URRAY (M
ADAM
E VO BBQ); JULI LEONARD (BREW
ERY BHAVANA); JOE ST. PIERRE (CONGEE & M
E); KATHY TRAN (PETRA AND THE BEAST). FOR DETAILS, SEE SOURCEBOOK
Away – The Nine
CONGEE & ME
Boston
Rice congee with smoked tofu, everything-
spice furikake, scallion oil, and a lazy egg
More Porridge, Please
When it’s supposed to be spring but the weather says otherwise, it must be porridge season.
Restaurants across the country are delivering on our comfort craving, from thick
Cantonese-style congee with tender shredded chicken to stone-fruit-streaked bowls of soft grains
that taste more like dessert. Not to get mushy, but we’ve fallen hard for, well, mush.
by JESSE SPARKS
Porridge, but
sliced!
BREWERY BHAVANA
Raleigh, NC
Chicken congee with cilantro, chili oil, and an
egg hiding under a mound of fried garlic
FOLK
Detroit
Slow-cooked ginger-and-garlic rice grits
congee with braised pork belly
PEPPERVINE
Charlotte, NC
Sichuan pork belly kimchi porridge
with chopped scallions
PETRA AND THE BEAST
Dallas
Rolled-oats porridge terrine with pork,
shiitake mushrooms, and herby aspic jelly
