2009: You Know How This Ends

Ingredients for Edward Lee's Gutsy Prokchops. Drawn by Lucey Bowen from John Kernick's photograph in 2009 Gourmet.

     In the March 2009, Gourmet, under the heading "Politics of the Plate," Barry Estabrook wrote about "The Price of Tomatoes."  In an expose of farming practices in Florida, Estabrook asserted that "If you have eaten a tomato this winter, it might well have been picked by a person who lives in virtual slavery."   Thirty years earlier, I worked for a fall, packing apples into crates at the last working orchard in Connecticut.  I got the job because Blue Jay Orchards had to advertise for and hire anyone local willing to do the work before bringing a team of workers from Jamaica to do the job.  The Orchard provided reasonably decent housing for these men, and paid them enough that they could send enough money back to Jamaica to make possible the purchase of a fishing boat or the completion of a small house.  I loved listening to their patois and the hymns they sang from up in the apple boughs.
     Labor, food, journalism --- all is political, isn't it?
     Travel can take Nicole Mones to the glorious Li River for cooking school, and immigration bring strangers to our shores.  In 2009, the products of these currents showed in "Sweet Life," the tale of a start-up restaurant, Street, and the resultant clutch of recipes, many strongly influenced by Asian street foods.  But my favorite, can't wait to get myself there, is Brooklyn-born, Korean-American Edward Lee's 610 Magnolia in Louisville, Kentucky.  I think I have to take my the-grits-gene-skipped-a-generation daughter, who has adopted Anson Mills Grits as her own, from Atlanta to Louisville, just for one of his meals.
     For Ruth Reichl and others at Gourmet, the sudden closing of the magazine came as a bolt from the blue.  Management blamed falling advertising revenues, in spite of a subscription base of over a million.   If bringing Asian food, culture and travel to Americans in a literate and visually appealing Gourmet had fulfilled d the goals of its earliest editors and contributors.
     What I miss is the writing.  As we've seen, Gourmet's writers brought  intelligence and information to the table.  I still have a great appetite for those.

Chicago:
Wow Bao at 1 West Wacker Boulevard, is still Wow Bao
Urban Belly at 3053 North California Avenue, is still Urban Belly.

Los Angeles:
Cheun Hing at 8450 Garvey Avenue, Rosemead, is closed.
Din Tai Fung at 1108 South Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia is still Din Tai Fung.
Duck House at 1039 East Valley Boulevard, San Gabriel location is closed.
Elite Restaurant at 700 South Atlantic Boulevard, Monterey Park is still Elite Restaurant.
Garden of Flowing Fragrance Tea Shop at Huntington Museum is Garden of Flowing Fragrance Tea Shop.
Half and Half Tea House at 120 North San Gabriel Boulevard is still Half and Half Tea House.
Happy Family Restaurant at 111 North Atlantic Boulevard, Monterey Park is still the Happy Family Restaurant.
Lake Spring Restaurant at219 East Garvey Avenue, Monterey Park is still Lake Spring Restaurant.
Monterey Palace at 1001 East Garvey Avenue, Monterey Park, is still Monterey Palace.
Street is still Street.
Tianjin Bistro at 534 East Valley Boulevard, San Gabriel, is still Tianjin Bistro.
Yi Mei Pastries 736 South Atlantic Boulevard, Monterey Park, is closed.
Yun Chuan Garden at 301 North Garfield Avenue, Monterey Park is still Yun Chuan Garden.

Louisville, Kentucky:
610 Magnolia is still 610 Magnolia.