Aloha from DC
Getting Poi Dog BBQ sauces into Whole Foods and Fette Sau, moving in, and some writerly stuff.
Aloha from our new apartment in DC! We spent two intense days unpacking absolutely everything…and then slowly over the course of the last week, decorating the walls with my grandpa’s paintings, Ari’s late uncle’s pieces (his uncle was Sam Maitin), and the other pieces of art that make anywhere seem like home. I’m surprising myself — I love our new place. It feels like living in a Soho House without the people. It’s clean and fancy and designy and working from home has been a dream.
I’m finishing up writing an article for the Inquirer about black walnuts (did you know you can’t compost those suckers? I’ll tell you all about it when the article comes out. You should definitely, like Danny Childs and Dan Solway in my article, make nocino with them…and go gather them now), and I needed to do some hands on research. So I leashed up Coconut and popped around the corner to Montrose Park and found the largest black walnut tree I’ve ever seen in my life (thanks to a little help from some local foraging websites). I plucked the nuts, popped them in my tote bag (they made my fingers smell like green cardamom), and after cleaning and soaking them in water, I cut them up and put them into a jar with cask-strength tequila. (Because that’s what I had on hand. I know Danny and Dan will tell me that I should have used Everclear or high-proof vodka because you need a high-proof alcohol to extract all the black walnut flavor but I have neither of those things and didn’t feel like going to the store). There are so many interesting plants and trees I’m unfamiliar with in DC (remember, my point of reference is Hawaii) I constantly have my Picture This app out, learning to identify them.
Photo by Megan Stricker in the Center City Philadelphia Whole Foods.
Some big sauce news
Poi Dog’s Guava Katsu and Huli have been accepted into all the Mid-Atlantic Whole Foods stores. This has been a year in the making (with so much paperwork and praying). They’re being delivered slowly because it’s literally me, Ari Miller and Ari Miller making all the deliveries. The docks are only open until 1pm generally and only on weekdays, which means I’ve been studying the traffic patterns around here intensely. I’m making printed maps and plans like I’m a detective in one of my favorite crime shows, and we’re all getting sweaty early morning workouts from lifting cases of sauce. The production runs heading to store shelves are all vegan and gluten-free (previously Huli was gf and vegetarian, GK was not gf and vegan), and these will be the formulas going forward. I’ve been getting a lot of congratulations over this, but I’m holding my breath. Big grocery is scary. Staying on shelves is going to be the real challenge. Please, if I’ve ever given you a bottle of sauce or made you feel a piece of home at my restaurant or through making you something to eat, please consider going to Whole Foods and buying just one bottle to show that these sauces can move, and they do belong on these shelves long term. I will be endlessly grateful.
The Whole Foods in South Jersey and Philadelphia are all stocked now! DC’s Foggy Bottom, South Capitol Hill, Florida Ave stores are all stocked and Virginia’s Old Town Alexandria and Pentagon City stores are also stocked. We’re working our way through west of DC and Maryland (though most Maryland stores besides Bethesda are now stocked).
The sauces are also at Fette Sau Philly all month long.
The support I continue to see from the restaurant community in Philly (and also beyond) is unreal. It is so thrilling to see other chefs with vastly different backgrounds use the sauces in their own ways. At Poi Dog the restaurant, we were very intentional about seasoning things our way, having our customers consume things our way, but my approach to cooking and serving people has been completely turned on its head with the sauces. Now I want to see what other people do with them. I don’t want to impose my own will, just see where my sauces will take them.
I couldn’t be more happy about Fette Sau making a special BBQ pork with our Huli and Chili Peppah Water. Get it all month long at Fette Sau in Fishtown. We’re also throwing a party with them on July 21 (more info to come on that!). There will be fun cocktails.
I am mesmerized by how succulent this looks. Some chefs get pretty wild with the sauce, like my own husband who has used the Huli as a pasta sauce straight up, adding nothing else to it…and it marries so beautifully with mozzarella.
This particular bite of wagyu and broccoli scraps (remember, he may be cooking in a luxury hotel these days, but he’s still Ari Miller), emulsified with olive oil and seasoned with Chili Peppah Water, was served to Wolfgang Puck, the man, himself.
But the sauces were designed to be used simply. “Just add chicken” is the slogan we’re going to be putting on shelves at Riverwards, for instance. You get a bottle of Huli (or Guava Katsu), you take chicken. You marinate the chicken in the sauce and nothing else (ideally two nights but however much time you’ve got), and then you cook the chicken. Ta-da!
Of course, sub out any protein for chicken.
More writing news
I’m not writing as much as I used to because I have to spend so much time editing these days, but in the last couple weeks, I did interview two chefs I adore about the stuff they love for The Strategist. I’m committed to highlighting products that are from family businesses and small makers, and for whom mentions in articles like these can affect the courses of their businesses.
What Reem Assil Can’t Live Without
What Chutatip ‘Nok’ Suntaranon Can’t Live Without
From the other side
I was interviewed by NPR while I was in Las Vegas and the article and interview just came out this past week:
Interview on NPR : Dining out with a big group? Learn the social etiquette of splitting the check
It’s based on an article I wrote for Food and Wine a while ago. I wrote a lot of etiquette pieces for their FW Pro vertical and I’ll link them all here because some of them are wildly fun reads (especially the potluck one, which I bolded below). The NPR interview refers to my piece on splitting the check (duh).
Back to me writing
The Private Chef Life Seems So Glam on the Surface, but Here’s What Really Happens When You Hire One, Food and Wine, September 2023
What to do When You’re Running Late for a Restaurant Reservation, Food and Wine, November 2022
How to Bring Back Food from a Vacation and Become Extremely Popular: Omiyage tips from experts, expats, and the perpetually homesick, Food and Wine, September 2022
How to BYOB and Not Be a Jerk About It, Food and Wine, August 2022
How to Share Food with Other People in the Least Gross Way Possible, According to an Expert, Food and Wine, August 2022
The Fine Art of Leaving a Tasting Menu Early, According to a Chef, Food and Wine, August 2022
The Fine Art of Asking a Chef to Donate to Your Event or Fundraiser, Food and Wine, May 2022
The Fine Art of a First Date at a Bar or Restaurant, Food and Wine, April 2022
The Fine Art of Splitting the Check, Food and Wine, March 2022
The huge black walnut tree that Coconut found.
And if you’re writing…
Finally, if you’re an aspiring AAPI writer, some news for you:
Calling AAPI writers of any level and editors! Indie publishing house, Slant’d is launching their first month-long writing program as a nonprofit and their applications are now open for their first cohort of writers, as well as creative writing coaches.
Blank Page Revival (BPR) is our first month-long program for AAPI writers to challenge perfectionism, channel communal creativity, and tackle a new piece of work from start to finish in 30 days. The program is centered around joyful play, collaboration, and building a sustainable writing practice – with a rotating genre annually. Participants are blind matched, paired with a dedicated creative writing coach, to complete a written work in a specified genre from start to finish.
BPR will kick off with a day-long experiential creative writing event in New York City in late September. 20 participants will engage in community-building sessions, writing sprints, and creative reboot sessions alongside the full cohort. After the in-person event, writers will participate in three virtual sessions with their creative writing partner and their creative writing coach to receive support during the writing process. The goal of the program is to have a completed piece of collaborative writing in 30 days.
Writer + Creative Coach applications here:
https://www.slantd.com/programs
(+ FAQ)
About Slant’d:
Slantd is an independent publishing house and nonprofit that champions inclusive storytelling through the amplification of diverse, multifaceted, and authentic stories from Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Slant’d has developed 150+ emerging AAPI writers and editorial talent since 2017 through their annual literary magazine.
Mahalo for reading,
Kiki