Hey, everyone!
I’m writing this newsletter from NYC, where I’m living for the rest of the summer. I lived in NYC previously, so it’s not completely new territory for me, but it has been quite the chance of pace and scenery from Austin. I’m really enjoying the walkability and proximity to so many amazing restaurants and specialty food stores, and I’m slowly adapting to a new (and smaller) kitchen setup.
I always say that constraint breeds creativity, and I believe that’s especially true in the kitchen. Prior to moving, I sold/donated a ton of my cookware and kitchen equipment, parsing everything down to just the essentials. And with a smaller kitchen and prep area than I used to have, I’ve had to adapt how and what I cook. But it’s actually been a really fun process. If you read this newsletter regularly, you’ll notice that kitchen minimalism is a big theme for me— I try to focus as much as possible on the few things you actually need to cook well. I really do believe that by reducing your kitchen clutter, you reduce your mental clutter, and then you open up room for more creativity. You don’t need a perfect setup to get started. Work with what you’ve got, let that guide your process, and stay flexible. You’ll be surprised at the creative breakthroughs that happen!
If you have any recommendations for places I should check out in the city, please share them!
Myles
80/20 Cooking Course
This week we kicked off cohort #1 of 80/20 Cooking, the cohort course I’m teaching to help people level up their home cooking. I’m super excited about this course— I love teaching cooking, and it’s been really fun coming up with a curriculum that covers what I believe to be the most important foundational skills.
I also love the cohort model because it allows me to update and improve the curriculum between each cohort. I’m planning to collect a ton of feedback based on students’ experience in cohort #1 and use that to adjust and improve for round 2.
I’m planning to run the second cohort this coming fall— if you want to be notified when enrollment goes live, you can sign up for updates here.
World’s Best (?) Restaurants List
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, a yearly list curated by San Pellegrino, released their 2023 picks. You can find the whole list here.
I’m weirdly fascinated by the world of super fine dining. It’s full of politics and drama, and it occasionally produces some really interesting stuff. But just as often, it’s egotistical chefs employing armies of unpaid interns (called stagiaires) to show you just how much they can manipulate food. I’ve been to some of these restaurants, and sometimes it feels like the things they focus on— avant-garde plating, modern techniques, novel flavor combinations— come at the expense of what I believe should always be the north star: deliciousness. But I’ve also been to some (for example, Quintonil in Mexico City) where I had amazing meals.
All of that is to say that lists like this one— along with the Michelin Guide, Bon Appetit’s best new restaurants list, Food & Wine’s Top 10, etc— should be taken with a grain of salt. These lists are a game of PR and politics— it’s much more about who you know and how well you play the game than it is about the food or even the dining experience. Some will be great, many will be overrated. And most of the best meals you have in your life will be at places that never grace lists like this.
Rooted Local Meats (Austin, Texas)
If you’re located in Austin, then I simply can’t recommend enough Rooted Local Meats. It was founded by two good friends of mine, and they’re sourcing the best meat possibly directly from farmers in and around Austin.
The concept it simple but ingenious. Rooted buys meat in bulk directly from farmers, so they get really competitive prices. Then they pass along those savings to their customers. Farmers win because they get predictable, large purchases (which is super helpful for the small, indepdent farmers they’re sourcing from). And customers win because they get world-class meat from local farmers at a great price.
I’ve cooked with basically all of their products at this point (the photo above is from some braised beef tacos I made with their chuck roast), and I can confidently say its among the highest-quality and tastiest meat I’ve had in Texas.
These guys are close friends, so they hooked it up with a discount code— use MYLES15 for 15% off your first 3 months if you decide to join.
Recommended Listens
I’ve got a couple podcast recommendations for you this month, both featuring guests who are personal friends.
The first is my friend Justin Mares on the Invest Like the Best podcast. Justin recently launched TrueMed, and he went on to talk about the state of American health and our food system. Justin does an incredible job of breaking down the biggest problems we face and how we can go about addressing them. It’s a must-listen.
The second is my friend Anthony Gustin on the Peak Earth podcast hosted by my other friend Case Bradford (damn I have some cool friends). Anthony is one of the founders of Rooted, among many other ventures. We’ve shared some amazing conversations over the years about a more holistic approach to health and human thriving than you usually hear from internet health gurus, and Anthony does a great job of breaking that down on this podcast.
Lindera Farms
I’ve probably mentioned Lindera Farms well over 10 times in this newsletter, but I simply can’t recommend them enough.
I recently had the chance to try a few more products of theirs that are fantastic. This ramp vinegar is my all-time favorite (try it in this yogurt sauce). I also tried the ramp and green chile hot sauce, the scotch bonnet hot sauce, the fermented ramp salt, and a few other vinegars. These guys just don’t miss!
If you’ve heard me talk about Lindera time and time again and haven’t yet given their products a try, consider this a reminder to place that order!
And finally, if you want to read more about ramps and why so many chefs go crazy for them, this article is a good overview.
Claus Preisinger Wines
If you’re into natural wines, I highly recommend checking out anything by Claus Preisinger. There are some places online to buy, and you might be able to find it at a local wine shop that carries a lot of natural wine (you’ll know it by his trademark 😜 on every cork).
I’ve been super into Austrian wines recently, especially Austrian reds. They’re generally light-bodied, dry, versatile, and interesting— and Preisinger is among my favorite producers.
From the Wine Country blog:
Since 2002 Claus Perisinger has been making wine on the North Shore of Lake Neusidel in the appellation of Burgenland in the region of Weinland in the country of Austria. By 2006 he had converted the vineyards and winery to Biodynamic production and is Respekt Biodyn certified. Biodynamic wine making seems to have been made for someone like Claus, he sees the wines he makes as his way of describing nature. To him adding a yeast strain, using new oak or adding sulfur would be him trying to influence not only the wine but nature as well. To Claus nature is so important to his wine making process he puts the type of soil the vines were grown in on his labels when possible.
That’s my kind of winemaker! Check them out if you can find them!