September 15, 2025

Hello!

I am so excited to debut a new, hand-painted logo by the brilliant Claire Dufournier, who can be credited with several of the most eye-catching restaurant personalities and menu designs in the city. Besides the fun of swapping swatches and voice notes with a talented friend, the process of visually defining my name felt reflective and cathartic.

Over the last year I’ve seen a special alchemy emerge. As I drew the outline of my new business in real time, a link of vibrant, fortifying people streamed in and gave it color, depth and purpose. This exchange has simultaneously bolstered my own taste, inspired and expanded my work and made my life very interesting. Thank you!

While the promise of a tangible product is always motivating — be it a gleaming new logo or a brimming buffet table — the proposals, spreadsheets, calls and sourcing trips have emerged as gratifying hurdles, like crinkling tissue paper before a gift appears. Thank you for your support in the “before” moments, when things are noisy, kinetic and coming together.

Here’s the image that inspired us to make the logo glow. I am so drawn to its incandescence and texture, which Claire reinterpreted so well.

Gold, James. *Golden Map*, 2019. Egg tempera and India ink on panel.

A summer recap

June brought tiny potatoes for salad niçoise, sweet zucchini cooked into split lentils, crackly beef tenderloin and cornmeal olive oil cake puckered with almost-purple strawberries for a special birthday dinner.

In July the linguine and clams got juicier, the Romano beans more velvety, the tomatoes and corn more sweet. I had the distinct pleasure of cooking for clients in Rhode Island, land of sand, rock and sea — and my home. I got to play with goats, chickens and bunnies (never mind the cats and dogs) on my friend’s farm once cleanup was done.

August was the month of the baby shower, which might be my favorite occasion to cater. I stuffed beefsteak tomatoes with braised spigarello and packed almond tea cake with poppy seeds. Between greenmarket trips I wound together a bouquet for my friend Odette’s civil wedding ceremony and ran it down to city hall. The month ended on board an exciting photo shoot and then off the train platform to Rhode Island once again to celebrate my birthday with my sisters and our family.

September isn’t over (obviously) but I’ve just cooked a fundraising dinner at a83, where I had the pleasure of plating confit tuna, new potatoes and aïoli (and more!) in vessels fabricated especially for the event by Andy Kim. The custom table, settings, menus and team were memorably fabulous.

Autumn and winter catering news

Coming Up I’ll next dip my spoon into the fashion sphere for a pop-up party before stocking up on honey — Lure Mountainhoney, to be exact — for Rosh Hashanah dinners. Look out for a fall event with Flowers for All at Shahmiri, my sister Leah’s boutique in Park Slope which has become the center of our neighborhood solar system. She doesn’t serve food (boxes of Masha Tea, yes!) but has plenty of delicious jewels to feast your eyes on.

Notes on booking Weekday drop catering is here for you if you’re entertaining, celebrating or in need of prepared meals in the fridge that will more than make up for the Rx bar you ate for lunch. I also offer cooking classes by request, which make thoughtful and unique gifts for partners, parents or friends. Winter holiday bookings start now, so please reach out if you'd like to snag a date. As always, I would love to hear from you if you have a celebration in mind — please inquire here or by email.

Travel I will be traveling to Argentina the first week of November and reachable between bites of milanesa. If you have a recommendation you’d like to share, a friend to connect or would like to collaborate in the kitchen there, let’s chat.

A few things I’m dreaming about before my trip

Beautiful trios at Parrilla Peña:
Morcilla, chorizo and red wine
Onion, tomato and lettuce salad
Beef, chimmichurri and salsa criolla
Flan, dulce de leche and whipped cream

There is an ice cream shop on nearly every block in Buenos Aires, which suits me well. Cadore is one of my favorites and they’ve been making gelato for decades on Corrientes, and in Italy before that. The texture is totally singular and the pistachio is delicious.

The collection at the Latin American Art Museum are as anthropologically and socially significant as they are beautiful. Rafael Barradas’ portraits of his wife, Pilar, are among my favorites.

Barradas, Rafael. *Pilar (retrato de su esposo)*, 1920. MALBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Rogel is so cool. The hectic, smurfy meringue looks like a Cadore ice cream cone.

Recommendations from the chef

Carlos Saura’s films process trauma in a layered, compelling way, uniquely portraying the beauty, horror, creation, destruction and cyclical nature of life and memory through performance and mimesis. Los Ojos Vendados(1978) and Tango (1998) are especially salient mirrors to this current era of political repression and censorship. Available on Criterion.
I just got a tabletop tape dispenser and it’s changing the game.
A reminder that City Harvest makes donating surplus ingredients so easy with coordinated pickups.

Autumn from Audrey