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A Love Letter to Drinking Foods Around the World
THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE DECEMBER 3, 2022, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE.
When I was a 22-year-old teaching English in Wuhan, China, I spent almost every Saturday night at a punk club in the Wuchang district. The joint never really got going until midnight, by which time the dance floor was sticky with spilled baijiu and the dive bar next door was spilling into the street. By the time I staggered out at the tail end of the night, I was a real mess—but more importantly, I was hungry.
Luckily, Wuhan has a long history of serving excellent food at odd hours. The city’s famous re bro mian (“hot dry noodles”) don’t make an appearance until dawn, but the hawkers grill up the rou chuan—lamb skewers liberally dusted with cumin and chile —had a sixth sense for pulling up right when the revelers were rolling out.
Although originally from Xinjiang province, the skewers are popular around China, especially in Beijing (where they’re known as chuan’rwith the hard Beijing r). They’re great as a snack at any time, but at a certain point in the night, the alchemical combination of charred animal fat, smoke, spices, and salt is nothing short of transcendent.
Science has told us that nothing can really save you from a hangover, but certain foods definitely seem to help—or at least feel destined to pair with booze. After I moved to Bangkok, I swapped the chuan for hoy tod (an oyster slathered omelet with hot sauce), gai tod hat yai (shatteringly crisp fried chicken), and bowls of kuay teow reua (“boat noodles” made fragrant with star anise and rich with pig’s blood). In Berlin, my order became ein Doner mit allesthe kebab born in the city’s Turkish-German diaspora, served with all the fixings.
Even since moving to New York, my late-night eats have shifted with neighborhoods and boroughs. I never got the appeal of New York–style pizza until I moved around the corner from a slice shop that stays open until 4 am
While living on Mott Street, in the heart of Manhattan’s Chinatown, my nights ended in tangles of taxi-yellow lo mein topped with Cantonese-style roast duck or once, in a memorable (but delicious) misorder based on a drunk friend’s attempt at Mandarin , a platter of garlicky snails in a subterranean dining room.
Because the neighborhood was hit so hard financially during the pandemic, many of Chinatown’s iconic after-hours spots are now closing early. As grateful as I am to see them still there, it hurts to imagine that those feasts in the liminal space before sunrise might be gone.
Because so many cities have their own drinking foods, powerful, Pavlovian connections form between our most memorable nights and the dishes that fuel us through them. Drinking food has become a point of pride for the places that serve them, partly because our associations feel so personal with them.
Q&A With Jimmy Lee
For Jimmy Ly, the chef-owner of Monsieur Vo in New York’s East Village, Vietnamese drinking-food culture feels especially personal. Born and raised in Queens, Ly grew up with one foot culturally in New York and one in Vietnam.
His menu at Monsieur Vo is an homage to ăn nhậu, or Vietnamese gastropub culture, as well as the kind of flavor-charged fare his dad used to serve at dinner parties in their home when the top-shelf cognac came out. I spoke with Ly about trying to stave off hangovers, being the life of the party, and craving com chay. Below is our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity.
How would you characterize Vietnamese drinking foods?
Every culture has its drinking foods. I think in Vietnamese culture, it leans more towards the pungent flavors—more anchovies, more fermented fish. My dad would start off [his parties] with a lot of fried dishes. There were shrimp fritters, which are great for absorbing alcohol.
Fermentation is always a thing in Vietnamese drinking culture. So in dishes like our salads, it gets really wild. My dad made one salad with mango, chile, and little fermented soft-shell crabs. It was pungent and salty and sweet all at the same time.
You’ve said that your dad was a big inspiration when he came to Monsieur Vo. How did he factor into your menu development?
For months, I leaned really heavily on my upbringing and my experience. I had a lot of talks with my dad and
Why BJ’s Restaurants put a margin improvement team into place
Greg Levin was named CEO of BJ’s Restaurants in the summer of 2021 during perhaps the most disruptive time for the casual dining segment in its history.
Those uncertainties have only grown since, given inflationary and supply chain challenges, as well as a predicted recession on the horizon. Still, BJ’s system sales and comp sales exceeded pre-pandemic levels in Q3. Though margins remain pressured (BJ’s is not anomalous here), Levin and his team have put several initiatives into place to maintain the 214-unit chain’s momentum – uncertainties be damned. Take, for example, the company’s recently-created margin improvement team featuring representation across several functions to actively identify and implement cost savings opportunities, some of which are low-hanging fruit and others that have long-term implications. The team focuses on four areas specifically – cost of sales, labor, operating occupancy and G&A. The ultimate goal is to bring margins back into the mid-to-upper teens, while maintaining quality and portion sizes.
“Most companies came out of Covid thinking inflation would be more transitory but the fact is labor inflation has come in and there are higher input costs than three years ago,” Levin said during a recent interview. “As we looked at margins, we felt it was important to look for areas to improve.”
As an example, when BJ’s chicken wing supplier experienced a labor shortage that significantly increased costs, the chain began testing chicken thighs.
“We have slow-roast ovens, which are unique to BJ’s, so we were able to take those items and put them into these ovens – almost like a crockpot,” Levin said.
The thighs are no longer on the menu, but the experience allowed BJ’s to consider new supply opportunities; in this case, raw jumbo wings that can be cooked in those ovens and then fried when ordered.
“We were able to bring in a commodity wing and cook it better than the rest of the industry. And because of that commodity wing, we are able to save a certain amount of dollars per pound,” Levin said. “The thighs didn’t work out but they made us realize we could introduce more of a commodity product and put our unique spin on it. We had a failure that led to a success down the road.”
Levin estimates this change saves the company about $3 million annually based on current prices. The margin improvement team also looked at ways to trim its fresh salmon differently to yield more product, versus sourcing a cheaper frozen salmon.
“So, again, we’re going to a commodity-type of product and that is giving us savings. These are the types of things we’re doing at the cost of sales – looking at what the commodity products are out there that maintain quality either by slow roasting or adding our sauces or something along those lines,” Levin said. “This initiative is directly reducing pricing required to offset inflation.”
BJ’s is also testing smaller menus and will examine those results in the next few months to understand the cost savings versus customer satisfaction balance. Levin said if the test was successful, a smaller menu could be introduced around June 2023.
“We are mostly looking at things that may not be necessary. We have eight salads, for example. I’m not sure we need eight salads. But we will see where the guest is and what is selling and what is not,” Levin said. “We don’t want to take away the top selling items that our guests want, even if it is complex.”
In addition to the menu, BJ’s is also looking at labor efficiencies for cost savings. Labor is a critical piece for the company’s momentum, as higher staffed restaurants generate stronger topline sales and save on overall costs. Currently, the system is staffed above 90%.
“When we looked at our numbers this year, we were spending a lot of money on overtime and training. We’ve been able to reduce those as we’ve staffed up more, so that has been a big priority,” Levin said. “Also, now that we’ve got this base of people maturing and getting their sea legs under them in the restaurants, we can go back to the traditional labor metrics we’ve had in the past. That’s the switch where we’re getting some efficiencies from because we’re able to understand how to better allocate people in certain timeframes.”
Labor allocation, he notes, has changed with the elevated off-premises business. Pre-pandemic, for instance, about $10,000 of weekly sales came outside of the dining room. That mix has since doubled. To maintain the momentum on labor, BJ’s recently hired its first chief people officer to emphasize culture, which has helped reduce turnover.
Of course, technology is also playing a part in finding efficiencies. To achieve this goal, BJ’s
17 Twin Cities area bars and restaurants with retail spaces perfect for holiday shopping
We’re counting down the days of the season and hoping to cram in as much joy, laughter and togetherness as possible. That means multitasking — it’s the only way to accomplish everything we need to accomplish before the holidays.
That’s why the growing trend of restaurants with added retail space is so incredibly helpful this time of year, when many who are gathering at restaurants are also looking for gifts to share. Along with rustic reclaimed-wood tables, there are shelves lined with possibilities from makers near and far, all curated to reflect the restaurant’s aesthetic.
At Vivir, the breakfast cafe from Jami Olson that’s adjacent to her Minneapolis taco spot Centro, the pivot came in part due to the pandemic. “We wanted to create a market feel,” she said, remembering the early pandemic days when she and chef Jose Alarcon shifted the Mexican fine dining restaurant Popol Vuh over to Vivir. “We wanted to add things that added energy to space.”
The goods stocked at the store are intentionally selected from Mexican makers or local artists from its neighbors in the historic Northeast arts district.
At Wrecktangle’s relatively new stand-alone pizza restaurant on W. Lake Street, the addition of shop space was a way to honor familial roots. Brothers Jeff and Alex Rogers opened Silver’s Market & Deli, named after the grocery store their grandparents operated in Hibbing, Minn.
Co-owner Breanna Evans said most of the items stocked inside Silver’s are small businesses just getting off the ground, many from their artistic friends and workers.
“Plus, with the pandemic, we thought why not give people a place to sell the things they made with their idle hands?”
Here are some of our favorite places to go for a bite and to linger for a little retail therapy.
Alma Provisions
This little beauty is a new concept for Alma that pulls together some of the greatest hits from its cafe, like divine breakfast sandwiches, and shelves stocked with gorgeous goods. While waiting for a coffee order, use the seasonal scents in the forms of candles, incense, sprays and oils. Pick up some handcrafted cooking tools, or a couple of Alma’s pantry staples that just happened to be the size of stocking stuffers.
812 W. 46th St., Mpls., 612-895-1251, almaprovisions. com
Bellecour Bakery
Cooks of Crocus Hill has long been a destination for those in search of the finest cookware and kitchen implements, but the addition of Bellecour Bakery has made it a must-visit for food fans. The North Loop location has indoor tables to order up a cup of Dorothy’s dark roast coffee and laminated treats (or a sandwich/salad combo). Nab a giant sprinkle-crusted macaron for later and then peruse all the Le Creuset, All-Clad, cookbooks and gadgets on the wish lists of your favorite foodie. (The St. Paul Cooks of Crocus Hill also has Bellecour goodies, but no space to stay and enjoy.)
210 N. 1st St., Mpls., 612-223-8167, bellecourbakery.com
Churchill Street
This destination eatery in Shoreview is top-to-bottom beautiful — and so are the market goods they stock. Walking inside the restaurant, it’s easy to get swept away by the tall, airy ceilings, but don’t miss the shelves at the center front of the room and next to the door that demand attention. There are beautiful, sturdy burlap bags, small jars of delicious food stuffs, and candles with alluring scents.
4606 Churchill St., Shoreview, 612-466-2596, churchillst.com
Clancey’s Meats & Fish
The newly expanded butcher shop includes plenty of shelf space for artisan grocery goods. Stop by in the morning for an oven-fresh cinnamon roll, order up holiday roasts and then spend time lingering among all the pretty small jars and other goods to help complete a meal. There are plenty of host gifts that would add a killer cheese board.
3804 Grand Av. S., Mpls., 612-926-0222, clanceysmeats.com
Earl Giles
This massive warehouse space and distillery from Jesse Held, Jeff Erkkila and Nick Kosevich is also a greenery-filled winter wonderland during markets held on the second Saturday of the month through April. Stop by for local goods from artisan makers and stay for fantastic pizza and a cadre of cocktails.
1325 NE. Quincy St., Mpls., 612-345-5305, earlgiles.com
EaTo
Have your pasta and eat it, too, at this downtown Minneapolis Italian restaurant with market stations set up throughout the sprawling space. You’ll find a small grocery store with imported ingredients that would make a lovely gift basket for an Italophile, plus local artisanal goods and grab-and-go prepared foods. In the dining room, find kitchen and home goods, cookbooks, beauty supplies, plants and pots, and Baggu totes. The Bottle Shop, curated by beverage director Scarlett Carrasco Polanco, features a large selection of Italian hard-to-find wines.
305 Washington Av. S., Mpls., 612-208-1638, eatompls.com
El Burrito Mercado
Through the generations, this Mexican grocer, deli,