new york food journalism

[Diancecht]

“Alan Sytsma is a longtime observer of the New York City dining scene who is behind New York magazine’s formidable food coverage. On this episode we dig into Alan’s take on the current NYC restaurant scene and hear about New York mag’s amazing “Who Ate Where” issue, which digs into the cultural history of eating out in New York City. It’s really fun talking restaurants with Alan, and I hope you enjoy this conversation.”

click (slightly over one hour in length)

[Diancecht]

on being a regular at a restaurant: “i think the real test is whether the restaurant is happy to have you…if you are adding something to the dining room, whether it’s a certain kind of energy, whether that…if you’re just a whale…whatever it may be…for the restaurant to be happy that you are there, that’s when you have really arrived as a regular.”

[Wilfrid]

5 hours ago, Diancecht said:

“Alan Sytsma is a longtime observer of the New York City dining scene who is behind New York magazine’s formidable food coverage. On this episode we dig into Alan’s take on the current NYC restaurant scene and hear about New York mag’s amazing “Who Ate Where” issue…

 

I paged through that issue and gosh it was dull. Mainly people I hadn’t heard of or didn’t care about and long gone and forgotten restaurants.

And I like restaurant history. I read old restaurant guides. If you’ve lost me, who are your readers? 

[Diancecht]

…I started 30 Minute Meals. It was a three hour course where you were given six versions of five different recipes. Over the course of three hours, we would go through the basics of how to make all this stuff. Then in theory, you could go home and make a month's worth of food without repeating yourself. That got picked up on the local news, and then the local news got me onto a local public radio station. My friend called me one day, all of his guests had canceled and he said, "Can you bring over a hot plate and make food in the Radio Control Room?" I said, "Well, I think that's completely illegal, but sure." So I made 30 minute jambalaya in his little Vox Pop Studio at the Albany Public Radio Station.

There was a man named Lou Ekes who knew the Vice President of Food Network, Bob Tuschman, who teaches at NYU right around the corner. We do classes together to this day. We hang out together with his peeps. But that guy got a call from Lou. This guy said, "I don't know who this girl is, but she makes 30 minute meals, and she's doing it on the radio. I can't even see her, but it sounds fun."

 

rachael ray interviewed by kim severson in 2022

click for the podcast 😉

the transcript is the first link