I spent the first week of October laid up with Covid. When I wasn’t laid up in bed, I was laid up on the couch. (A special thanks to teen dramedies for keeping me company.)
Unsurprisingly, like anyone who’s under the weather, recovering at home or generally indisposed, cooking was not on my personal agenda. More likely than not, you’ll soon know someone (or be someone) who needs takeout or a care package. Here are some options for where to order a restorative meal.
Vegan Broth and a Soup Share
On the first (and worst) day of my symptoms, I sent out for delivery from Lucy’s Vietnamese, a small Brooklyn chain of restaurants with locations in Bushwick, Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Though I went for smoked brisket banh mi over the restaurant’s pho — what can I say, I love good bread — I was elated to find that Lucy’s also sells long-simmered vegan broth made with shiitake mushrooms, shallots and a mixture of warming spices ($4 for a half quart). I sipped that, gratefully, between fevered naps.
Another notable discovery from my convalescence was Marisa Mendez Marthaller, also known as @soupdoulanyc on Instagram. Marisa runs a “soup share,” a weekly menu of three 32-ounce soups for $100, including delivery. (Her delivery area covers all of Brooklyn, plus Ridgewood.) While I was gulping down her incredible minestrone, I thought about what a fantastic gift these soups might be for new parents or anyone who’s low on both energy and time.
On the Up With ‘Chicken in the Pot’
When I returned to work (from home), I asked my colleagues in the Food section for recommendations. There was near-universal praise for the Chicken in the Pot, essentially matzo ball soup with a half chicken, from 2nd Ave. Deli on the Upper East Side and in Midtown, which offers delivery anywhere in Manhattan. (Throw in a pastrami sandwich to show how much you really care.)
And don’t forget the sweet-toothed patient! My sister sent me four pie slices, baker’s choice, from Four & Twenty Blackbirds, which has locations in Gowanus and Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, after I told her I was craving something sweet. My colleague Priya Krishna usually sends a box of black-and-white cookies from Zabar’s on the Upper West Side to friends in need; consider adding any hot soup the store offers, including green split pea, barley mushroom and old-fashioned vegetable soup, or even a nice shepherd’s pie.
Beef Momos, Jumbo Won Ton Soup and Vegetarian Egusi
In Jackson Heights, Queens, you could grab a few of Khampa Kitchen’s soul-affirming Tibetan soups, which the journalist Marian Bull described as having “the fortifying and cleansing effect of a hot shower.” (She’s partial to the dumpling soup with beef momos, broth and bok choy.) Or, per Mark Josephson, the editor of this newsletter and an erstwhile Queens resident, you could send out for jumbo Shanghainese won ton soup from the Bund Chinese Cuisine in Astoria and Forest Hills. And Genevieve Ko, a deputy editor for The Times, swears by the pho from Thái Sơn in Elmhurst. (Hot tip: There’s another location in Manhattan’s Chinatown on Baxter Street.)
Mark also endorses the healing powers of Nneji, a West African restaurant in Astoria, for vegetarian egusi with bell peppers and melon seeds or a more fortifying goat stew. Whoever’s on the receiving end of these Get Well Soon meals will appreciate you forever — and hopefully send you some soups, stews, pies and cookies if you’re ever in need.
In Other News …
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In this week’s restaurant review, Pete Wells visits Dunya Kabab House in Brooklyn, where the father and son duo behind the restaurant are determined to showcase the best of Afghan cuisine and culture. (A reminder that subscribers can read Pete’s review a day earlier than everyone else by signing up for the Restaurant Review newsletter.)
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Openings and closings: The chef Rodrigo Fernandini and several partners will open Artesano, a new restaurant in TriBeCa dedicated to the multiethnic cuisine of Peru. After 13 years in business, Anella in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has closed. The Deco food hall in the Flatiron district also closed.
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Priya Krisha visited the popular chain of RH Restaurants, from the company formerly known as Restoration Hardware, where aesthetics — and not the food — are the main draw for customers.
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The Rogue Valley in Oregon is home to a growing scene of restaurants, wineries and farms, but the local community is increasingly threatened by worsening wildfires, Brett Anderson reports.
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The 17,000-square-foot Olly Olly Market opens tomorrow on the ground floor of the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Chelsea with Forsyth Fire Escape, and its scallion pancake burritos, as well as two bars among the anchor tenants.
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The ice cream chain Van Leeuwen agreed to pay a $33,500 fine and start accepting cash payments in accordance with a New York City law that went into effect in November 2020, Remy Tumin reports.
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