Michael at work
Last week I went up to Boston to have dinner with some friends. Well, two dinners, first at Sonsie and then I met up with my friend Michael Schlow, the super-talented chef and owner of Radius, Via Matta and Alta Strada restaurants (sorry nothing in NYC. Yet).
“Did you eat yet?,” he asked as he pulled up the bar stool next to me at Oishii Sushi in the South End. “Yes, I’m soooo full,” I answer, patting my belly for extra measure.
“Well you’re going to eat again,” he says with certainty as he marks the sushi menu.
It’s easy to eat again with Michael, because you forget that eating is a finite act (only so much room in that stomach) and embrace it like a sport, to be enjoyed like you would enjoy a night of dancing. “Let that toro sit on your tongue for a second,” he orders me, and I obey, and suddenly I’m tasting a creaminess I never knew before. Between plates of sashimi, a spicy tuna handroll served in a cucumber wrap, smoked tofu, and a phenomenal tea-smoked hamachi, there is sake. Lots of it. Other Boston restaurant peeps pull up chairs, and the jokes fly. Michael, and you would know this from his appearance on Top Chef Masters, has a fine sense of humor. He might be one of the top chefs in the country, but he’s as down’n’dirty as the rest of us and not one to take airs (yes he’s the one who sweats profusely while making dessert for the Girl Scouts).
Michael also happens to be a great writer (he wrote his own cookbook) and so I’m very excited to add his blog to my blogroll. You can find it on michaelschlow.com, a pretty fresh site where much is still under construction. Hopefully he will be guest blogging for AFB when he heads to Italy with his friend Batali. Yeah, that guy.
Michael's cookbook
at first bite 