photos by gluttonforlife

I started working when I was 16 as a hostess at Gilda’s, a seafood restaurant on the wharf in Santa Cruz. It was one of a few restaurants owned by a large family of Neapolitan immigrants—the Stagnaros—who were born fishermen and restaurateurs. I met my first real boyfriend there, a line cook who surfed and drove a turquoise ’59 Chevy. He made a mean Denver omelette and taught me to roll a joint. At Gilda’s (pronounced with a soft “G”) we served excellent Boston clam chowder and a divine crab Louie, the West Coast salad made with crisp lettuce, hard-boiled eggs and Thousand Island dressing. So when I saw a recipe in the Times last month for a slightly updated version (courtesy of David Tanis of Chez Panisse), I began craving it in the way you do the familiar tastes of home. I made it with fresh East Coast lump crab meat, not the classic Dungeness, and dressed it with a creamy boiled dressing instead of the pink stuff, and it still satisfied immensely.

 

bright young things

Crisp celery, the floral notes of Meyer lemon and a tangy dressing yellow from egg yolks. Along with the frisée, I also used some pleasantly bitter radicchio.

 

frisée aka curly endive

the louie, invented in the early 1900s, still satisfies

Here are some things of interest I came across this week. I hope you enjoy them, and your weekend!

 

A great weekend project to revive a tired shirt

 

Or perhaps this DIY is more your speed

 

For cocktails, drizzling and intoxicating sweetening

 

If you need further inspiration to eat more salads

 

Or to start that business you’ve been dreaming about

 

A great place to spend a New York afternoon

 

And yet another of the many reasons to live in Portland