Dining Diary: A Day in the Diet of Almond Chef Jason Weiner
June 18, 2012 | East End Eats
Almond executive chef Jason Weiner eats his way around New York and East Hampton—from five-dollar shawarma to Pike’s strawberries.
7:30 AM
Breakfast with my 4-year-old. Poached egg on buttered toast—Piment d’ Esplette on hers, Sriracha sauce on mine.
11:30 AM
Now I’m driving into the city to our 22nd Street restaurant. Stopped at the Manorville McDonalds for a large French fry. Second stop in Manorville: you guessed it, Starbucks. Rice crispy treat and a large (I refuse to use their parlance) iced coffee shaken with one pump of simple syrup.
1:00 PM to 11:00 PM
I’m in the restaurant now, so it’s a random assortment of nibbles and tastes; a combination of quality control and a manifestation of an oral fixation. Specifically, but not necessarily in this order, I had smoked blue fish, polenta ravioli, merguez, grilled asparagus, fontina fonduta, green goddess dressing, fava beans, chocolate-peanut butter baked Alaska, mignonette, oil-cured tuna, bresaola, and basil oil.
11:30 PM
‘Mixed with Yellow Rice and Everything’ from the Halal cart on the corner of 30th Street and Fifth Ave. It’s equal parts lamb shawarma and grilled chicken thigh, chopped and served on saffron rice with a piece of falafel, pickled okra, julienne jalapeno, grilled peppers and onions, an identifiable white sauce, and hot sauce—all for five bucks. It’s easily the best in the city, as evidenced by the double and triple parked cabs and Lincoln Town Cars. Not only is it an amazing deal, the execution is always spot-on. These people really care.
2:00 AM
Back home in East Hampton and… score! There are leftovers from dinner. My wife’s a pretty sharp cook with good insticts. Not a huge repertoire, but what she does, she does well. Tonight it’s a chicken and chickpea curry with coconut rice. I guess I could microwave it, but I’m not in the mood to wait 45 seconds. For dessert, there happens to be a pint of Jen and Jim Pike’s strawberries.
