“Brooklyn Chef’s Table” Love Fest Warms Up the Polar Vortex
by Elizabeth Nelson
“Spread Love, it’s the Brooklyn Way,” is slain rapper Biggie Smalls’ anthem in the mural that wraps around the Brooklyn Love Building in Fort Greene.
Not far away at The Vanderbilt on a recent icy night, a tsunami of Brooklyn love was flowing at Sarah Zorn’s book party, celebrating the publication of Brooklyn Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes from Coney Island to Brooklyn Heights (Lyons Press, $24.95). If you weren’t at home on the sofa, huddled under a down comforter as you waited out the Polar Vortex, the Vanderbilt wasn’t a bad place to be on a frigid January Monday. Its gleaming reclaimed wood and glowing Edison bulbs—the borough’s de rigueur décor—made for a cozy scene as chefs mingled with editors, writers, bloggers, foodniks and their families.
The author’s mother, an aurora borealis of pride, made the rounds of the chefs in attendance, pen and book in hand, while Ms. Zorn herself floated through the crowd in a ruffled black mini with a flowered tiara. Beards, stocking caps and tattoos were the evening’s must-have accessories, unless you had a newborn you could wear in a sling. Susan Povich from the Red Hook Lobster Pound confided that she’d scored her striking blue frock that very day on sale at J.Crew. Naturally, she paired it with a striped stocking cap. Her Lobster Mac and Cheese recipe is in the book, but I didn’t spot a sampling anywhere, drat.
I did snare more than my share of the fabulous smoked whitefish chowder from Shelsky’s Smoked Fish, miniature cheesecakes from BiteMe Cheesecakes, purple sweet potato gnocchi from Colonie on Atlantic Avenue, and Paulie Gee’s hot honey canapés—ginger snaps smeared with cream cheese and fiery honey. It left my mouth burning and my fingers sticky. Pigs-in-a-blanket made with cheese-stuffed sausages and scallion pancakes were deliciously dripping, but I missed where they were from—as well as snapping a picture. My hands were too greasy to hold the camera steady.
Some chefs chose to bring dishes other than those they contributed to the book; Tom’s Diner did their Famous Danish Pancakes recipe for the book, but brought spinach pie to the party. And Do or Dine served their signature foie gras doughnuts, though their Cumin Lamb Breast was their gift to literary posterity. I left before the Brooklyn Blackout Cake from Robicelli’s was sliced. Regrets, I’ve had a few.
Near the end of the night, pizza impresario Paulie Gee signed a cookbook for pizzaiolo Peter Entner of Pete Zaaz, a half-eaten square of Spumoni Gardens pizza in one hand and a pen in the other. A ménage-a-trois of Brooklyn pies. Someone asked Paulie if he’d checked out a mutual friend’s soon-to-open Greenpoint restaurant, mentioning a pre-opening New Year’s Eve party. “What? Why wasn’t I invited? That asshole! I’m texting him right now!” Paulie whipped out his phone, but he was laughing. Like Biggie said—spread love; it’s the Brooklyn way.
Greenpoint pizza legend Paul “Paulie Gee” Giannone doesn’t put down his Spumoni Gardens square to autograph Peter “Pete Zaaz” Entner’s copy of Sarah Zorn’s new book.
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