Ask Me Anything: Will Neighborhood Restaurants Exist in the Future?

This week, I talk about a basic pantry for Thai dishes, what restaurants will look like in 2050 and where to buy snails.

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Ask Me Anything. Your questions were terrific this week!

I take questions from Spilled Milk subscribers every week, and when I say ask me anything, I mean anything: In previous weeks I’ve talked about how to buy knives, cooking for dogs and my favorite state fair food.

Links!

Snails like the ones I used for this week’s recipe. Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 of my Tokyo travel guide. Caddis is where I buy a lot of my glasses.

This week’s questions

Sue: 

Where do you get the snails?

HFC: 

What will a restaurant look like in 2050?

Beth: 

We are going back to Tokyo and Kyoto soon for a visit. Any mid priced recommendations on great restaurants?

Susie: 

Andrew, you recently posted about dishes we home chefs can and should make that are Thai/Asian favorites we should make at home. Here’s my issue: I never have everything needed for those recipes. I live out in the sticks! I don’t have three basils, I don’t have everything needed. Can you put together a basic pantry for these dishes? I desperately want to cook them but NEVER have everything needed. Thank you

Barb: 

Hi Andrew. We’re just back from a trip to Italy where we had some fabulous cannoli. Specifically we went to the Central Mercato in Florence. I’d like to try to replicate the pistachio cannoli that I had. Can you recommend a good recipe? Any tips for making them in a humid climate (Savannah)?

Mark: 

Cool to hear you are a guitar player… my question is how many pairs of glasses do you have?

Susie: 

What do you do with the cookbooks you don’t want? Asking for a friend

CPSP:

I am a Public Educator, and your work inspires me to cook well for myself on low pay. Plus, it's such a great view into the world we may never get to see!"

A couple weeks ago, I asked what your worst airport meals were. Here are some of your answers.  

Jan: 

Many years ago at O'Hare, there was a restaurant called The Tartan Tray. As a kid I remember spotting many times it as my parents and I raced through the airport on our way to catch yet another flight. Fast forward to adulthood and my 1st husband was a pilot for American Airlines and we frequently passed through O'Hare. I discovered that the Tartan Tray still existed and I just had to eat there. Now, granted, in those days food choices could be pretty spartan in airports. But The Tartan Tray sadly managed to bring that to a new low. The food was basically institutional food: bland, pre-packaged and nothing Scottish about it. To O'Hare's credit, there was a Mexican restaurant downstairs beneath the airport Hilton that was fantastic and eventually I discovered the International terminal's diverse choices for dining which made being stuck at O'Hare far more bearable. But my childhood fantasy balloon was deflated that day at The Tartan Tray, lol!

Marmi: 

My worst airport meal was at the Max's Fried Chicken in Ninoy Aquino International. I hadn't been to the city of my birth in 24 years, and so when I arrived, I specifically sought that out as my first meal back. Disappointed isn't the word i would use, it was more profound. So I want to write a longer piece at some point, but TLDR is I didn't chickenjoy it 🐣🍗😭 In Manila, you gotta go to Manam instead, and for modern Filipino food!

Michael: 

Worst airport meal was in the late '90s in Islamabad Airport in the Pakistan International Airport (PIA) lounge. Even though it was the "first class" lounge, it was just an area cordoned off from the main waiting area. A woman came around with a cart and asked if I'd like to eat. What she served me was completely inedible. I think it was mutton or goat in a brown gravy, but the gravy was barely warm and the gravy had congealed into a gelatinous goo. I actually tasted it and it was horrible. The meal in the lounge was only marginally better. Islamabad has built a new airport since those days and I understand things are vastly improved. (Best airport meal was in the old Bangkok airport in the middle of the night. The place was packed and everyone was eating a certain soup. My colleagues and I ordered the same and it was phenomenal. This was pre-strict security so people came from outside just for that soup, we were told.)

RSE: 

Worst airport food experience: Kind of different. In Paris Orly with work group. Top level manager tells me "find me a hamburger." I tell him that’s not served here. So he goes looking on his own. An hour later, he's back. "Just find me some food."