october12–25, 2020 | newyork 77wanted to make it, with care. They offered
triple-fried potatoes that took a full-time
worker an entire 12-hour shift to prepare.
They paid the dishwasher a living wage. It
was wild and utterly impractical.
The restaurant lasted about a year, which
was pretty good considering they started off
with enough money to keep them afloat for
two months. “A lot of people complained,
“Why is this burger $15?” she remembers.
“But it’s grass-fed meat that’s ground every
single day with homemade American cheese,
homemade bread, homemade pickles. And
that is really stupid, because no one can tell
those things. We didn’t put it on the menu
because we were like, ‘The food isgoing to
speak for itself.’ And it really, really doesn’t.”
When Hail Mary folded, El-Waylly made
her way into food media—first atSerious
Eats and then Bon Appétit. The eventual Test
Kitchen blowup was unavoidable.“Sohla’s
never changed,” says Ham. “She’s not one to
eat her words if she sees something wrong.”
After a photo of the former editor-in-chief
Adam Rapoport minstreling as a Puerto
Rican surfaced, there was never a question
that she would speak up about the culture of
racism at Bon Appétit. During anall-staff
Zoom meeting, she asked him point-blank if
he was going to resign. “He was like, ‘Maybe.
Maybe I should help fix this and then go.’
And I’m like, ‘No, man. You got to go.’ ”
She and Ham planned for worst-case sce-
narios: Sohla would get fired; they would
have to move in with his fatherin New
Jersey; they’d experience total social
opprobrium from the food world. “She had
been silenced and ignored so many times we
really didn’t think this time would be any
different,” he says. But during the summer,
Rapoport stepped down. El-Waylly was
offered a fair contract for video work, with
back pay. But the entire experience, includ-
ing learning that others weren’t getting fair
contracts, ultimately led to her decision to
walk away from Test Kitchen. (She stayed on
as a freelance contributing editor.) “We
should all be getting paid fairly,” she says.
On Stump Sohla, they’re still figuring out
what works, but there’s an audience—the
pilot has more than 2 million views. (Under
the YouTube model, she gets a direct cut of
the profits.) The bodega episode began to
hit on something because it allowed her
imagination to roam. At their best,her con-
coctions are joyful and strangely familiar: a
vegetable “Fun Dip” from powdered spices,
spaghetti carbonara reimagined as a dessert.
Toni Morrison once famously said, “The
very serious function of racism is distraction.
It keeps you from doing your work.” When
El-Waylly is alone in the kitchen, those dis-
tractions slip away. It’s just her and a liquid
sablé made of dehydrated Twinkies. ■
TRIBUTES
mileycyrushaslongrecognizedthepowerof a
goodcoverandhasthevoicetobackit up,bending
songstoherwillforthebetterpart ofa decade.With
hernewcoverofBlondie’s “HeartofGlass”nowstreamingand
a “BackyardSessions”specialonMTVUnpluggedpremiering
October16,hereareCyrus’s topfive. justincurtoMiley Cyrus’s BestCovers, Ranked- “Don’t Dream It’s Over”
2015 (Crowded House) with Ariana Grande
The “Backyard Sessions” take of this cover is the definition of
casual, with Cyrus and Ariana Grande wearing onesies and
hanging out like longtime friends, talking during the
instrumental break and messing up their lines. They’re a good
match musically, too: Grande’s silky vocals balance Cyrus’s
smokier tone. When they revived the cover at Grande’s “One Love Manchester”
concert, it took on new meaning as a song of resilience, even as it provided a much-
needed moment of levity. - “Androgynous”
2015 (the Replacements) with Laura Jane Grace and Joan Jett
She doesn’t take a verse or chorus for herself, but Cyrus is the
glue that holds together this cover of one of the better songs
ever written. Her joy is infectious as she harmonizes with her
hero Joan Jett and rock trailblazer Laura Jane Grace.
Eventually, Cyrus turns to passionate shouting that should
makePaul Westerberg proud; a month later, when she came out as gender-fluid,
fanswould learn what the words truly meant to her. - “Lilac Wine”
2012 (standard, written by James Shelton)
Cyrus wasn’t even old enough to drink when she delivered
what may well be the definitive take of this then-62-year-old
standard—outdoing Eartha Kitt and Nina Simone. Her voice
is as entrancing as the elixir she’s singing about, but she
performs with unmatched control, pushing and pulling the
notestoward a huge, stunning finale. - “my future”
2020 (Billie Eilish)
Condolences to Billie Eilish, because Cyrus sang this song as
if she herself had written it, and she turned it into a master
class in restraint. Her raspy belt makes the it sound bigger
than you ever thought it could, before she reins her voice back
in for smooth runs that string you along. The conviction she
bringsto each line allows Cyrus to make Eilish’s anthem for a generation at a
crossroads into her own, turning it into a statement from an oft-misunderstood
artistentering the next stage of her career. - “Peace Will Come (According to Plan)”
2015 (Melanie) with Melanie Safka
You can see in Cyrus’s face just how excited she is to be singing
with Melanie Safka, a ’60s folk icon she first covered back in - Or you can hear it after the second chorus, when Cyrus
emotes with a religious fervor she has never quite matched.
That’s the standout moment of this performance, but hearing
Cyrusand Safka gently land their duet is impressive in its own right, as their voices
meldand make them sound like the intergenerational soul sisters they are. To listen
toit is to experience a perfect minute of the peace they’re singing about.