Category: You Are What You Eat

Name: Jason Kincade

Occupation: Online Editor, Penguin Group USA

Borough: Brooklyn

What did you eat today?

Breakfast: Raw almonds with raisins and iced coffee, Lunch: salami sandwich and a Radeberger from Lederhosen then another iced coffee, Dinner: Tacos de Bistec from Matamoros in Williamsburg.

What do you never eat?

Offal of any kind [Not even chopped livah? -- Ed.], kasha, fast-food burgers

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Various kinds of mustard, Peter Luger steak sauce, scallions, seltzer, cornichons, grana
padano, capers, martini olives

What is your favorite kitchen item?

My Le Creuset Dutch oven and my psychedelically patterned 30s enameled steel salad bowl

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Lunch - Murray's Cheese Shop or Deb's. Dinner - D.O.C., or takeout from the Polish grocery with the tiny food counter in my neighborhood.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

Vodka martini, king prawn and scallop ceviche, Benton Lane pinot noir, rare venison, sweet Italian fennel sausages from Faicco's, roasted leeks, bitter chocolate mousse.

Name: Robyn Lee

Occupation: Student

Borough: Manhattan (but I'm from NJ, damn)

What did you eat today?

Breakfast: a banana, a few figs
Lunch: Japanese eel rice, some figs, pluots, frozen pudding (I was curious to find out what frozen pudding tasted like...because I have no life), water (I don't drink much else)
Dinner: Haven't had it yet but I'm planning to have more fruit, some yogurt, and more frozen pudding

What do you never eat?

Most fast food chains.  Beef tendon.  Bacon and sausages.  Insects (not that I've had the opportunity, but I'll pass.)

Complete this sentence:  In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Fruit.  Although that's more like in the kitchen, not the fridge.  Strangely perhaps, I can't think of something you'll always find in my refrigerator.  You can bet that my kitchen will at least have fruit and olive oil (not that I eat them together!).

What is your favorite kitchen item?

Not really a favorite as much as a necessity: a small knife for cutting fruit. :)

Where do you eat out most frequently?

In NJ, the Ridgewood Country Pancake House.  In NYC, around Chinatown but not one place in particular (yet).  bakeries get my most repeat business, such as Sugar Sweet Sunshine.

World ends tomorrow.  What would you like for your last meal?

ICE CREAM SUNDAE!  With nuts and hot fudge.  And fuyu persimmons (not on the sundae).  And chocolate chip cookies.  (I hope those three things count as a meal.)

Robyn is The Girl Who Ate Everything.  You can visit her at one of several luxurious internet homes:
--> poofy.net/shop - back in business, kind of
--> diskobox.net - not very disko-esque
--> roboppy.net - it's RAHboppy, get it right, kids

*****

Special shout out to Adam Kuban for pointing me to recently featured YAWYE P.Y.T.s Allen and Robyn.  Know a New Yorker who wants to tell the world (or at least my five friends who read this blog) what they eat?  E-mail me.  Foodies, food-phobes, and everyone inbetween accepted.

Name: Mohan Seneviratne

Occupation: Publishing/Web Development

Borough: Manhattan

What did you eat today:

Yesterday
Breakfast:
3 cups of green tea early morning; oatmeal and honey and a cup of whole milk later in the morning

Lunch:
Spicy tuna sandwich and a rainbow roll from Sunshine Market
Berry cobbler by Ganda for dessert.

Assorted Pocky (green tea and coconut) for snacks from Jason

Dinner:
Adapted from the recipe “Macaroni with 4 Cheeses!” by Emeril Lagasse:
Macaroni with gold cheddar, gruyere, fontina, and parmigiano-reggiano cheeses and minced garlic served with cold prosciutto and steamed broccoli. Got the cheeses and the prosciutto from Murray’s on Bleecker Street. There were a lot of people ahead of me. While waiting, I found some expensive, organic, gourmet garlic, which turned out to be the best garlic I’ve ever used. Most of the flower stalk was still attached to the bulb and it was hard to break off cloves by hand. So I used a knife to cut the bulb in half. The flesh of each clove had the color and texture of an unripe pear. And it was sweating, it was almost juicy. Not at all like the smooth, white garlic you find in the supermarket. I ate a thin slice raw. It was rich and nutty, but not super-hot. I saved 2 cloves to plant, minced the rest, and mixed it with the macaroni before adding the shredded cheese. Wanted to serve the macaroni and cheese with white wine, but I forgot to buy wine on the way to my sister’s apartment in Brooklyn. So we had cranberry juice and club soda leftover from a party she had the weekend before.

What do you never eat?

Licorice

Complete this sentence:  In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Juice

What is your favorite kitchen item?

Global Vegetable Knife

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Sun Dou Dumplings on Grand Street. It’s 3 dumplings for $1 at the window and they’re very salty and oily.

World ends tomorrow.  What would you like for your last meal?

Mango with sticky rice

Name: Allen Wong

Occupation: Student/Overall Amateur

Borough: Brooklyn

What did you eat today?

Breakfast: Two eggs, beaten with half-and-half and then fried. A glass of milk.
Lunch: From home: Rice, sweet potato shoots, and cold chicken smothered in Thai sweet chili sauces and sriracha.
Snack: A yellow peach.
Dinner: Rice, bittermelon and beef, chicken with two types of mushroom, and a packet of ready-to-serve jellyfish (don't get this - ever).

What do you never eat?

Fast food chains, instant [noodles, oatmeal, rice,], and KRAFT products are in my ICK! list. Nothing alive.

Complete this sentence:  In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Ginger, scallions, eggs, and fruit.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

That would be the trusty wok; if all else fails, the wok can do it.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Recently: Ba Xuyen
Chef Liu's (A shanghaiese place a block away from home)
Cho Lon
Not So Recently: Ocean Port (is now named World Tong after a dispute between the owners)

World ends tomorrow.  What would you like for your last meal?

Nom yu braised pork trotters with taro, xiaolong bao, and some fried rice with an egg cracked in the middle.

Now you've got me hungry.

Read more of whippersnapper Allen's food thoughts at The Impetuous Epicure. 

Name: Nicolette Wagoner

Occupation: Urban Planner

Borough: Brooklyn

What did you eat today?

A large coffee w/ milk and 1 equal from Oslo. I'm so glad it was cooler this morning because I hate iced coffee and swear that it has no caffeine in it but some people think it's weird to drink hot coffee when it's 90. I also had a Blue Sky muffin. Blueberry and mango.  A calorifically delicious way to start the day.

A big bottle of Poland Spring.

For lunch I had a grilled vegetable salad with balsamic from Mocca.  Just writing about it makes me want another one.

Nature Valley granola bar, oat and honey. I have a tiny addiction.

11 almonds, unsalted.

A bowl of Pacific Foods roasted red pepper and tomato soup w/ some fresh spinach thrown in to give it that false yet wholly satisfying feeling that I cooked dinner. Accompanied by a few Carr's cracked pepper water crackers with some Emmenthaler cheese. Mmm.

What do you never eat?

Lamb.
McDonald's. Most other fast food, except for Runza and Amigos (in Nebraska)
Ice cream
Flan - ugh.
Chicken that looks remotely vein-y. Double ugh.

Complete this sentence:  In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Tamari
Seltzer
Spinach
Tofu
Amy's burritos (for emergencies)
Silk soy milk, unflavored
Vodka  [Yeah, baby.  -- Ed.]

What is your favorite kitchen item?

It's a tossup between the Scripto lighter i use to light my tiny, scary stove, and my wine key from Cakebread Cellars

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Mostly in the neighborhood - Diner, Bonita, Acqua Santa, SEA. I also tend to end up at Pastis and Schiller's a lot - it's beyond my control.

World ends tomorrow.  What would you like for your last meal?

I'd start with bacon-wrapped dates. I'd probably skip the salad unless there was some really fresh arugula around. Then I'd have Humboldt Fog with a loaf of Amy's currant bread, a veggie burrito from El Cid in Chicago, and a filet mignon from my dad's grill. To drink, a dirty Ketel One martini to start and then cabernet with the steak. And for dessert, chocolate peanut butter ice cream from Baskin-Robbins and an espresso. I don't eat ice cream, but it's the end of the world so what the heck.

Name: Dan Nishimoto

Occupation: Musician, Writer, Educator

Borough: Brooklyn

What did you eat today?

~ Breakfast: Kashi Crunch with Silk (Regular).

~ Breakfast, pt. 2: a Carrot Cherry Cream Cheese muffin from Blue Sky Bakery. I have liked all of their muffins except for the Blueberry; for some reason, it's a bit drier than the rest. i suppose they're all pretty dry, being branny and all, so the cream cheese is a welcome ingredient. [2nd breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day -- Ed.]

~ Lunch: Leftover Squash'n Tomato Pasta. sauce is made from garlic, green and yellow zucchini, and hothouse tomatoes. I was too lazy to grate, so a glob of mozzarella found its way in. penne pasta, rigate to catch the sauce.

~ Snack: Dried Mango (of the Key Food variety), Sour Cream'n Onion Dirty Chips

~ Dinner: Nachos w/ Guac, Black Beans, Cheddar'n a white cheese I can't recall, Baked Mac'n Cheese, Grilled Asparagus, Hush Puppies, Corn on the Cob (salted), and Peanut Butter Pie from Bubby's. Black 'n Tan for the delicious mismatch.

What do you never eat?

~ Anything that can carry a conversation.

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

~ Batteries.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

~ Mortar and Pestle. I never learned a particular "pestling" technique, but it's hard not to love something that has blessed me with pesto.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

~ NYC: Grimaldi's. LA: Grand Central Market and the Thai temple out in the valley. [That's my temple, yo! -- Ed.] Bay: Should've been the Thai temple off University, but was Intermezzo.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

~ Steak made by my maternal grandma. Stir-fried Edamame and Bean Curd (the real taut, chewy type). Maguro (tuna) sashimi, fresh out the Mexican Pacific Coast. Spinach Salad w/ veggies yadda*3, Armenian String Cheese, and a splash of Tartuffo Bianco Olive Oil as a dressing. Misoshiru flavored with pork and consisting of gobo, daikon, carrots, crumbled tofu, and the gray, chewy stuff. Natto with nori. A fresh crop of steamed white rice. And brown rice. Mirin Cider and Aqua Frizzante. Those waffle ice cream sandwich bars with the chocolate inside. And Bubby's Peanut Butter Pie. And gelato from that large joint in Rome, near Piazza Navona; any flavor, surprise me.

Read Dan's writing here.

Name: Tracy E. Hopkins

Occupation: Journalist specializing in music, entertainment, and lifestyle.

Borough: Brooklyn

What did you eat today?

For breakfast, I had a carton of Special K with soymilk.  For lunch, I had various salad and cold pasta combinations from the Union Square Whole Foods salad bar.  And for dinner, I ate at Cubana Cafe on Smith Street in Cobble Hill, where I had two delicious-but-deadly mojitos that were only $6 each and for my entree I had a tasty grilled shrimp dish with rice and beans.  My boyfriend had the red snapper with mango salsa and pureed plantains.  The whipped plantains tasted a bit like baby food, but the snapper was good.

What do you never eat?

Liver and onions or any type of red meat. Although I love seafood, I'm also not too crazy about shark -- I don't want to eat a fish that could eat me.

Complete this sentence:  In my refrigerator, you can always find:

A bottle of ketchup, mustard, or mayo.  I have the condiments, but usually not anything of substance to put them on.   

What is your favorite kitchen item?

Dish detergent.  I'm not home that often, so I like to make sure I wash my dishes before I leave.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

In the Cobble Hill or Fort Greene sections of Brooklyn, and in Chelsea near where I work.  But I recently found two great Italian restaurants in areas I don't usually frequent -- Basso Est on Orchard Street and Pesce Pasta on Bleecker.

World ends tomorrow.  What would you like for your last meal?

Although I love Italian, Thai, and Latin food, I would probably want to keep it simple and have a veggie burger with cheese and all the fixins' and sweet potato fries. But since this is my last meal, I'd probably pig out and have that for an appetizer.  Then for the main course I'd have a big plate of Pad Thai with vegetables or Frutti di Mare.  And top everything off with a pint of Ben and Jerry's Heath Bar Crunch ice cream.   

Name: Patrick Farley

Occupation: Software

Borough: Manhattan

What did you eat today?

9:30 AM Iced Coffee with milk from a truck

11:30 AM Iced Coffee with milk from a truck

1:00 PM Crawfish Etoufee from Jacques-imo's.  The Grand Central Food Court
is creepy.

3:30 PM Café Frio from Juan Valdez on 57th, which is not the same thing as Iced Coffee from Juan Valdez on 57th.  Go figure.

5:00 PM 3 Gumballs

Looking forward to:

9:00 PM  Medium-Rare Cheeseburger, fries with mayonnaise, salad with house vinaigrette at Le Gamin.

What do you never eat?

Okra.

If I had a dollar for every time I've had this conversation.

"You don't like Okra?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Too slimy."

"Have you tried Fried Okra? It's not slimy."

"Yeah...umm...that's not true."

Also Gin, but I'm working on that one.

Complete this sentence. In my refrigerator, you can always find:

The sad remains of over ambitious greenmarket shopping.
A ridiculous supply of seltzer
Flour and Sugar because I have this weird thing about it being safe from bugs in there.  After a while the flour starts to smell like refrigerator and I have to throw it out which I feel pretty bad about.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

I have a love/hate relationship with my food mill.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Ramen at Minca (lat least twice a week)
Cheeseburgers, Risotto, Mussels, and desserts at Le Gamin
Arepas at Caracas
Sliders at AKA
Zum Schneider for Weisswurst and Weissbeer on Sunday afternoons and Schnitzel anytime.
Pork Buns at Momofuku
Mandoo at Mandoo Bar
Mussaman at SEA (Can everyone agree on a spelling for this?)
Anything at Beyoglu

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

I'd like to die in Mario Batali's arms.

Name: Andrew Krucoff

Occupation: Full-time Market Research Analyst (part-time recreational blogger)

Borough: Manhattan, Mon-Sun

What did you eat today?

Bacon cheeseburger with fries.
Greek salad sandwich in a pita.
Chips and salsa.
Pint of raspberry sorbet.
Two tableforks of spaghetti.

What do you never eat?

Anything without washing my hands, human flesh (at least not knowingly), elephant bisque, and pears.

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

A light that turns on when the door is open. My roommate's food.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

A clean spoon.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Condé Nast cafeteria.

World ends tomorrow.  What would you like for your last meal?

Waffle House

Maryland crabcakes

BBQ ribs and chicken

6-pack of Bud Light.

Andrew Krucoff can be found at Young Manhattanite, Krucoff (aka The Other Page), Blottered, and probably many other internet places.

Name: Douglas Faneuil

Occupation: manage a private art collection

Borough: BROOKLYN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What did you eat today?

A scoop of ice cream for breakfast: a new flavor from Häagen-Dazs, Caramel Cone Crunch, which I wholeheartedly endorse.

For lunch, a fried oyster samich from Pearl's -- I mean, Pearl Oyster Bar. (I've been told that adding possessives to place names is déclassé, but I always call it Pearl's.) I think those were my first fried oysters, and I loved them. The sammy came with a side of shoe-string fries, which, though aesthetically superior to other fries, I've realized I don't enjoy as much. As I said at lunch, I felt like I was eating barbed wire. Even a small handful of those crispy, pointy shoe-strings can do some damage without a few awkward contortions of the mouth -- and I'll save that for my lover.

I had a late-afternoon cone of pistachio gelato, which hit the spot, and soon after I crashed a dinner party for three. The menu: vodka martinis -- I like straight up with a twist -- a very yummy gazpacho soup with little chunks of vegetables -- not pureed, also what I like --  and a spicy shrimp salad with lightly dressed greens. I ate the shrimp tails, to the befuddlement of the group. Why not? Rob got me eating them, and now I like their crunch.

What do you never eat?

Though I love chopped liver done right, if it ain't chopped get it away from me. I also never eat diet products, except low-fat cream cheese because I can't tell the difference. And margarine is lunacy.

Complete this sentence:  In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Spring Water, preferably Poland Springs. (I love you, Brooklyn, but I don't trust your water.)

What is your favorite kitchen item?

The mandoline, hands down.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Um... There's no clear winner. Some ol' standards: Grand Sichuan (on 24th and 9th), Blue Ribbon Bakery & Blue Ribbon Brooklyn, La Bonbonierre, and the two pizza places nearest home and work.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

My Nana's brisket
my Mormor's Swedish buns
my mother's gingersnaps
my stepmom's rice pilaf
mac & cheese
biscuits and gravy
a root beer float
some trumped-up version of fried dough
an incredibly moist chocolate cake with buttercream frosting, and warmed, home-made Callebaut chocolate sauce for eating straight from the jar.
And for dessert, dinner at Daniel's -- I mean, Daniel.