In “One Good Meal,” we ask cooking-inclined creative people to share the story behind a favorite dish they actually make and eat at home on a regular basis — and not just when they’re trying to impress.
Thanks to its cool Pacific breezes and aggressively casual work force, San Francisco has become, fashion-wise, the Land of the Fleece. But it wasn’t always so. Back in the 1950s, when Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac presided over North Beach, the local style was more about work-wear jackets layered atop button-front shirts, worn over rumpled trousers.
Today, the 30-year-old San Francisco men’s wear designer Evan Kinori is updating that relaxed, refined look for a modern generation. The pants he sells in his eponymous line are wide enough for a leg and a half. His shirts hang low. His unusual jacket fabrics include hemp denim, butcher linen and waxed cotton. His clothes are what the Beats would wear if they were young in 2019.
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Kinori at home in San Francisco.CreditJason Henry
Kinori is in the midst of a breakthrough spring season: His collection is now sold in 18 stores around the world, including the New York, Los Angeles, London and Tokyo outposts of Dover Street Market. And yet, he’s still a one-man brand: He designs every sample, answers every email. “I probably am a control freak,” he said on a recent evening in his whitewashed Hayes Valley studio, which doubles as his showroom and storage area. “It’s great having the ability to execute your ideas all the way down the line.”
Another upside of doing everything himself is that he gets to set his own hours. “I like the idea of starting a little later and working a little later,” he said. “I don’t function that great in the morning. And so, to me, the idea of a big breakfast sets the tone nicely.” Often, that means a West Coast riff on shakshuka, the tomato-and-egg casserole beloved in Israel, where his father was born. “I’ll put in kale or different greens to make it a little healthier,” he said. “And avocado. Definitely a California thing to do.” Kinori also adds enough cayenne pepper to give the dish some heat. And he sets aside all his business for the time it takes to cook. “That’ll be my Zen minute,” he said. “I’m not usually trying to work and eat at the same time.”
Evan Kinori’s Shakshuka
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1 chopped yellow or white onion
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1 chopped green bell pepper
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3 chopped cremini mushrooms
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3 leaves dinosaur kale
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1 28-ounce can organic diced tomatoes
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2 tablespoons olive oil
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Salt, pepper, cumin and cayenne pepper to taste
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Sliced toast and sliced avocado
1. Sauté onion in olive oil until translucent. Add green peppers. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, adding mushrooms after about a minute, stirring until vegetables are soft. Add tomatoes and season to taste. Cook 5 to 7 minutes, stirring until liquid evaporates.
2. Using a serving spoon or ladle, make three impressions, or “nests,” in the mixture. Crack eggs into nests and cover pan (ideally with a transparent lid). Poach eggs until the whites solidify but yolks are still runny.
3. While eggs cook, chop kale, slice bread and begin toasting. Plate the shakshuka with kale sprinkled on top, plus toast and avocado on the side. This recipe serves at least two people, and you can always add more eggs if you’d like.
