The Return of Where I Ate Last Week
Tacos 1986, the new-ish Win Son Bakery, my favorite French restaurant in the West Village
It’s chilly and stormy in New York City today, a welcome respite after a week of 8000% humidity. I’m writing this in a little sweater vest and with the Carrière Frères tomato candle burning, having spent a good portion of the day resisting the urge to start making a September moodboard even though it’s August 1.
One of the things I love about August—apart from the fact that I’m an August Leo—is that it’s decidedly still summer with a hint of back-to-school energy. Tomorrow it will be sunny and 80 and I will be eating an Italian sandwich on the beach, but today I’ve been enjoying breezy walks and contemplating the next season of my life.
Part of that is because of the weather. Part of it is because today marks a pretty big transition. For the past few years I’ve been juggling various full- and part-time jobs while writing the Feast and Famine series, and as of today I’m committing to a few months of writing and creating primarily for myself. Of letting joy and impulse and whimsy take the reigns.
I’ve spent a lot of the summer offline. The only social media apps on my phone these days are Pinterest and Substack. I pop in on TikTok and Instagram once a week, at most. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’ve gotten entire days of my life back. I’m less anxious, less concerned with what other people are doing or thinking (especially about me!), and I have way more time not only to write, but to do things.
If you’re a working creative of any kind in the year 2025, being offline is a luxury. When I started tapering off the algorithmically-induced dopamine hits, I genuinely thought I couldn’t do it. But once I ripped off the bandaid, I started doing other things I thought were impossible. I got really into doing sensory deprivation floats, pushed my body in a good way through a 30 day movement challenge with some friends, fired a high-paying freelance client that was draining my energy in ways that simply were not worth it.
I am constantly reimagining what it looks like to be an “internet personality.” I was confronted with this last weekend when I was buying apricots at the farmers market and ran into some followers (if you’re reading this, hi! If you’ve seen me around IRL, know that I genuinely love getting to meet you!) who were also perusing the peak season produce. One of them had just started The Artist’s Way, a process I’ve been though twice and recommend to everyone. “Media Deprivation Week” is a big, scary part of that, and it’s a good thing to practice regularly.
Going offline for a while reminded me of the things I love about being on social media: in particular, sharing my adventures in eating and writing. When I was just starting out, I got a lot of inspiration from seeing how other people managed to live out my dreams. It’s the reason I resist the “ick” of feeling cringe and whip out my phone to film myself eating my favorite street foods or sitting down to work on a new manuscript. Sometimes you have to see someone else doing it to make yourself believe that it’s possible.
One of the girls I ran into last week brought up “Everywhere I Ate Last Week,” the viral TikTok video series I’ve been doing on and off for the past three years. I started it as a way to document my work as a restaurant critic for The Infatuation, when I was eating at a mind-boggling number of restaurants. My eating life looks different now—there’s a lot more cooking! I’ve started treating my apartment like my favorite cafe. One of my biggest accomplishments of the past month was developing a house sourdough bagel recipe inspired by the incredible bagels I had at Layla when I was in LA for Yallwest.
So for now, you’ll find a modified version of Everything I Ate here. Sometimes there will be a video! Sometimes there won’t. It’s a variable reward system, and apparently those are good for creating habits and maintaining motivation!
I had a great late-night dinner at Oncheon, a K-town spot that specializes in food inspired by Korean hot springs. There are big animated screens of tranquil waterfalls on the walls, the menus are shaped like little sliding screen doors, and the food looks like it came straight out of your favorite cozy anime. We had the meat and veggie shabu shabu sets with a side of kalguksu. It was just the right amount of food to take me from hangry to satisfied, and I did feel extremely relaxed when I left. Almost like I’d been to a spa!
The halal cart on the corner of Church and Macdonald Ave. used to be my local spot, and I revisited it for yet another late night dinner (I guess I’m having a night owl era?) after I did a guest spot in the Metal Boy: Your Worst Idea improv show at The Magnet Theater. The chicken and lamb over rice combo was as good as I remembered, though they’ve amped up the spice in the hot sauce by…a lot. I had to eat ice cream straight out of the carton to quell the flames.
I used to love getting up super early and driving over to the old Win Son Bakery to beat the crowds for a breakfast date. Last weekend I hit up their new-ish East Village location after a sauna/cold plunge session at Othership, and I definitely prefer the bigger space. It’s always tough to get a table, so I appreciate that the servers help wrangle the crowd and make sure everyone gets seated. I still find the scallion pancake wraps to be a little much (we tried the mortadella version this time—good, but not my fav!), but I love their sweet pastries. The laminated bolo bao is one to go out of your way for.
Hom Cafe just opened up on 7th Avenue in Park Slope, and I scoped it out after an early morning rock climbing session. They’re in the coffee shop by day/wine bar by night category, with all-day dim sum—a very appealing proposition in this part of Brooklyn. I stopped in for an iced Thai tea latte (yes, it had both Thai tea and espresso) that I’m still dreaming about days later. I’ll be back soon to check in on the food.
I kept hearing people talk about Tacos 1986 and since it’s clearly hot taco summer in NYC, I had to know. There was a line out the door at 6PM on a Tuesday, but it did move pretty quickly. I liked everything, but nothing blew me away. It’s a good stop for a quick meal in the area, about on par with the standard Los Tacos No. 1 experience.
After tacos I popped into Libertine for wine and dessert. I love a double-restaurant dinner experience, and this was kind of a perfect combo. Libertine is my go-to pick for “cute and French and romantic” in the West Village, and a lot of that has to do with the hospitality. The staff remembers little details like where you sat and what you ordered on your last visit, which just makes the whole experience feel special. It doesn’t hurt that their chocolate mousse, which is served with a chartreuse-spiked whipped cream, is a spiritual experience. That, plus an order of comté and a glass of white burgundy, is my idea of a perfect night.