Around the holidays, a frenzy of baking takes place. Everyone is spritzing out those German butter cookies, rolling Mexican wedding cookies, dipping things in chocolate and sticking on sprinkles. And god bless them. But ever since my holistic nutritionist Sally Kravich likened eating white flour to putting elementary-school paste up my butt, I've tried to drastically reduce the amount of traditional baked goods I eat. (And after that lovely analogy you may, too, right?) The refined sugar, the refined flour, the Crisco...it's just not doing me any favors. And because G cannot eat gluten, options diminish even further. But none of this means I'm going to give up the occasional indulgence. So when I feel like eating a cookie, I make these deliciously chewy, assertively spiced, buttery little oat cookies that pack a lot of flavor.
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Did you read Dana Goodyear's profile of inimitable LA food critic Jonathan Gold in the recent New Yorker? (If not, you can check out an excerpt here.) It makes reference to an article he wrote for the LA Times last March, touting a growing movement he dubbed "The New Cocktailians." He gives a shout-out to Sasha Petraske, whose cocktail bar on the Lower East Side, Milk & Honey, arguably kicked off the post-modern fetish for authentic drinks that may finally have driven the appletini from our midst. That’s where Sam Ross, the gentleman above, made a name for himself with fabulous concoctions that tweak classic cocktail combinations in clever and delicious ways. Like many of the new so-called mixologists, he appears to favor a steampunk-inflected look, with the requisite vest and curated facial hair. Don’t let that distract you. I recently sampled his Penicillin at Momofuku Ssam and it’ll cure whatever ails you.
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