Setting a Table at the Whitney With Art

Culinary passion and art-making can flourish together in the right hands, such as those of Rirkrit Tiravanija, who has explored meals-as-art-medium, and the artist-founded restaurant Food, started in SoHo in the early 1970s by Gordon Matta-Clark and others. Now, the Whitney Museum of American Art is rebooting its restaurant spaces with commissioned artworks by two…

An Orange Cake From a Revolutionary Chef

Sal, Aaron and Big Country (given name: Jesse) were my chef-brothers in that kitchen. We talked everything through, every day, over cereal bowls and test recipes and, eventually, finished dishes. I learned how to make Sal’s father’s salsa in that kitchen, and Big Country’s mama’s oatmeal bread, a recipe he wrote down for me as…

Let’s Make Some Meatballs

Everyone has comfort food. Here’s mine: juicy meatballs done Italian American style, served with homemade tomato sauce or piled on top of a spaghetti heap. I used to make a pot of meatballs when friends came over for dinner because it was cozy but not frumpy and everyone loved it. It was also very easy.…