Sundays surrounded by books
It must have been winter the first time I went to an Archestratus cookbook club, because the dish I brought was a parsnip, date, and hazelnut loaf cake from the Winter section of Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg. I didn’t know what to expect when I showed up at the brightly lit shop on a tree-lined neighborhood street with my loaf pan, but what I found was like the best potluck attended by every excellent cook in your life. There were people my age, younger, and my parents’ age, who’d made different things from the cookbook or the same dish but with their own spins, and I filled up my plate the way you do at Thanksgiving, trying to only take tiny servings so that I would have room for everything. Paige presided over the event, with her huge smile and slightly awkward pronouncements, making us all feel like the shop was her living room and we were her motley group of friends who didn’t know each other very well.
Over the years since then, Six Seasons became one of my favorite cookbooks, Archestratus one of my favorite places in the city, and I came to know that group of people well, especially over the pandemic when we Zoomed regularly to see how everyone was doing and living and eating. I’ve only grown to respect Paige more, as the living embodiment of what I mean when I talk about creating community and making welcoming spaces. It’s been my dream to work at “somewhere like Archestratus” for years, so it’s beyond dreamy to actually get to work at there now.
I’m all over the shop, working prep on one of the days the shop is closed, lunch service another day, and in the bookstore on Sundays. I like the variety more than any one job. The prep days are cozy and tranquil, as I get to know the other cooks while our music plays behind closed doors. I’m looking forward to getting really good at giving cookbook recommendations in the store. Service days are busy but not frenetic. The place has a totally different atmosphere from everywhere I’ve worked before. It’s more relaxed (I don’t think I would get anxious text messages if I’m running 1 minute late for a shift), but the smaller staff also seems more invested in making the place as good as it can be. Paige cooks from her gut (or her tongue), with lots of improvisation based on what ingredients we need to use up and little tricks to heighten the flavor of a sauce or dish. Despite my entire post last week about trash food and using everything you have, my main mistake so far has been throwing out the things I thought were trash, like the juice from the bottom of the lamb roasting pan that could have been added to the gravy. I struggled to feel like I was “cooking” when I was performing repetitive tasks at the restaurant, but the prep days at Archestratus let me feel like I’m flexing my muscles. I learned to be a professional at the restaurant, but I think I’ll grow into a better cook here.
I don’t know how many cookbook clubs I’d been to when I went last Thursday, but it was just the second in-person since the pandemic. The gathering was small and simple, almost all regulars with one new person who’d found the event through the Internet. The food was mostly vegetable dishes with tangy, spicy Haitian accents, from Gregory Gourdet’s Everyone’s Table. I made roasted carrots that were laid over some yogurt mixed with mint and cilantro, and a spicy pickled beet vinaigrette. I ate Paige’s pureed parsnips with someone else’s garlic-herb dressing, and mixed together the mushrooms with the kimchi brussels sprouts. All the dishes balanced each other as if someone had planned it, which just seems to happen every time. I walked home that night content and full, as if from a friend’s house.