New York Magazine - USA (2021-02-01)

february1–14, 2021 | newyork 59

shuka chef ayesha nurdjaja’s chicken-shawarma sandwich

kit doesn’t include a rotating vertical spit, but it’s got everything

lse: two pounds of spice-rubbed, marinated, cooked, and Cryovaced

hicken; puffy housemade pita; and all the fixings, including a halal-cart-

spired white sauce (instead of the usual toum or tahini) that you’ll want

o eat straight from the tub. All you do is heat the meat for 12 minutes,

arm the bread, and assemble the sandwiches. It’s enough for five over-

tuffed pita pockets and one great reason why restaurant meal kits may

utlast the pandemic (shukanewyork.com or via ourharvest.com).

➽

like so much else that was slated for 2020, the Museum of

Food and Drink’s long-planned exhibit “African/American:

Making the Nation’s Table” was postponed indefinitely. This month, the

museumbringssomeofthedelayedshow’s themestolife—orat least

to Zoom—in a series of panel discussions, cooking demos, and virtual-

reality short films that celebrate African American foodways andBlack

American culinary innovators past and present. Cook crab fried rice

along with chef Amethyst Ganaway (recipe developer for Pierre Thiam’s

Yolélé food brand); meet Nfamara Badjie, the Gambian-born drummer

who started a rice farm in the Hudson Valley; learn about Nearest

Green, the Tennessee master distiller who taught Jack Daniel how to

make whiskey, then toast him with a cocktail (mofad.org).

➽

when we think of pie, we think of dessert. We think sweet.

But winter weather and tough times were made for savory pies.

Compared with sweet pies, these self-contained meals are substantial,

serious stuff. A clown wouldn’t pie another clown, after all, with a

chicken potpie. So it’s welcome news that there has been a flurry of

activity on the savory front. Angie Mar of the Beatrice Inn has launched

the Pie Shop, a one-day-a-week delivery service (think steak-and-

Guinness pie with a marrowbone poking out of the top (212-675-2808).

LaLou in Prospect Heights (laloubrooklyn.com) is bringing back its

game-bird pie for Valentine’s Day. And M.Wells (magasinwells.com)

has bumped up production of its coveted tourtière (Montreal-style

meat pie)—once a Christmastime-only treat. Now it can be had for

takeout, as part of a restaurant-subscription service, and via the restau-

rant supplier Baldor (baldorfood.com).

➽

you know damon wise for his fine-dining work as the former

chef of Craft. You may not know him for his award-winning

barbecued chicken wings. A decade ago, he and some chef pals

founded the Ribdiculous Bar-B-Krewe as a hobby of sorts and soon

began racking up accolades on the competition-barbecue circuit.

When the pandemic forced Wise to put his chef-consultant day job on

hold, he started Wise Meats, a barbecue pop-up pivot. For SuperBowl

LV, he’s collaborating on a takeout meal with Houseman chef Ned

Baldwin, who cooked under Wise at Craft. Wise will smoke themeat

(St. Louis spare ribs by the full or half-rack, those chicken wings);

Baldwin will tackle the Maryland crab dip, the French onion sandwich

bites, and the bacon-wrapped shishito poppers. (Order by February

4 at housemanrestaurant.com; pickup only.)

➽

the eternal popularity of pizza, combined with the con-

venience of frozen foods, has inspired a handful of New York

restaurants, in just one of countless pandemic pivots, to get into agame

previously dominated by supermarket brands and national heavy-

weights like Lou Malnati’s of Chicago deep-dish fame. Now, thanks to

the mail-order range of Goldbelly (goldbelly.com), you don’t need to be

quarantining within city limits to enjoy pies from Di Fara, Joe’s,Joe &

Pat’s, or even New York’s foremost Chicago champion, Emmett’s

(emmettsnyc.com), which ships nationally but also delivers its frozen

thin-crust pies (the lesser-known Windy City specialty) locally. Out in

Carroll Gardens, F&F Pizzeria has added frozen pies and slicesto its

online pantry ( frankiespantry.com), and at Momofuku Ko, to satisfy

state requirements to sell no booze without food, the online wine shop

known as the Store at Ko (kostorenyc.com) offers a single edible item

alongside its illustrious cellar: a frozen 12-inch BBQ-chicken pizza with

ranch dressing and barbecue sauce on the side. r.r. & r.p.

food

IllustrationsbyTiago Majuelos

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