photos courtesy of Food is the New Rock & Turntable Kitchen
cool shit alert
12.10.2014 | Issue #6/7
Cooks and musicians are forever being compared to one another. Whether it’s the thoroughly exhausted “chefs are the new rockstars” adage, or the whole “music as food for the soul” thing, we get it: they’re cosmically entwined. They both produce creative expression meant for public consumption. A great kitchen is never without a soundtrack, and musicians know all the best chow in all the best places. Food is wearing music’s pin, or maybe it’s the other way around. We’re not here to pick sides.
What we are here to do, however, is give you not one, but two ways to perfect your little love triangle.
This is a great thing that Coppa and Toro chef Jamie Bissonnette tipped us off to a few months back. Zach Brooks, of Midtown Lunch (a blog devoted to the best cheap eats) and Chuck P (from KCRW) team up every week for a new podcast. They talk to chefs about music, and musicians about food. Simple formula, kick-ass results.
They’ve just released their 123rd episode—a good indicator of quality and accuracy being the “explicit” sticker slapped on almost every session. (Except for Jeni Britton Bauer, of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, because she is classy and wholesome and amazing.) It’s intelligent and cutting commentary, and the shiny plastic BS of the Food Network is nowhere to be seen.
The brainchild of a San Francisco couple, Turntable Kitchen might appear geared more towards the home cook than the industry vet, but it’s the curation part of this project that we dig. The site itself is packed with interviews, stand-alone playlists, and recipes, but there’s also a “Pairings Box” option, which lands a package at your door each month. What you’ll get: a limited-edition 7” vinyl from a new featured artist, a digital mixtape, a few key ingredients, three recipes, and a few tasting notes for guidance.
The writing is solid, and founders Matthew and Kasey know their shit in either realm. It's worth a gander not for one category or the other, but for the ways the two play off of each other.
