Hey There, It's Amanda
This NYC Reservation Is Worth Fighting For
Plus, Amanda’s new Substack newsletter launches next week.
Welcome to the latest edition of Food52 Founder Amanda Hesser’s weekly newsletter, Hey There, It’s Amanda, packed with food, travel, and shopping tips, Food52 doings, and other matters that catch her eye. Get inspired—sign up here for her emails.
Getting into buzzy new restaurants in NYC is a blood sport. If you don’t start a month in advance, you’re outta luck. I often forget to start early enough, so I constantly have enough “Notify Me” alerts set on Resy that they may flag me as a bot (or a drunk dialer). Thankfully, I have friends who are better suited to the hunger game of eating out in New York; they set alarms to make reservations the minute they go online, they dm restaurants, they work their connections. Karen, a longtime Food52 colleague who is now at Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, is one of these people. She recently got us into everyone’s new obsession, Borgo, which lived up to the hype. The spacious dining room with light wood wainscotting and taper candles on every table made me think of Salzburg, but the food is pure Italy. It must be spring because all the dishes we ordered were green and white–fava bean puree with marinated greens, risotto with peas, and even dessert, a pistachio, ricotta, and cherry tart. A stand-out was the bitter greens salad with breadcrumbs. As I ate it, I thought, there’s not enough love for bitter greens. But, it turns out that there is on Food52! Here’s a round-up we did a few years ago. Bonus: Making any of these recipes is far easier than getting into Borgo!
I’m really looking forward to sharing Homeward with all of you later next week. And, in the meantime, I’d love to hear what kind of home topics you’d like me to cover. Email me here.
For those of you who missed my previous notes about it, Homeward is a newsletter about my experience as a homeowner and serial renovator. On Homeward, I’ll be sharing design finds, organization tips, interviews with designers and makers, and recipes (of course!)—all the while detailing a home renovation project I’m working on for the next phase of my life.
I hope to build a community—with all of you!—focused on all things home. I’ve longed for a place where we could go deeper on topics about home, a space where we can talk about both the joys (finessing your coffee set-up, building collections, prepping for guests) as well as the bigger realities (money, compromising on style with a partner, repairs, and hard life decisions) that have a big impact on how you live in your home.
If you’d like to be part of the community, I’d encourage you to upgrade. Paid members can join our community chats and will receive all of my weekly posts—while founding members will get an annual subscription to all the above and a special discount that includes 10% off in the Food52 Shop for the duration of your subscription, as well as a one-time 10% off at Schoolhouse.
Thank you for all the feedback on why Aerflo, our sparkling water bottle kit, isn’t flying off the shelves (yet!). Your thoughts fell into two buckets:
1.) We hadn’t fully explained the benefits of the bottle and how the carbonating capsules get replaced and recycled.
2.) You have a Sodastream and take filled bottles with you when you want bubbly water on the road.
We will do a better job of number 1, and we acknowledge that for the number 2 group, Aerflo isn’t right for you. More soon!
Yours in bitter greens and bubbly water,
Amanda
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