Recipe: That's So New York

New York Times Editor Dan Saltzstein Talks About His New Book.

Author Dan Saltzstein and the city in question.

What does the phrase “That’s so New York” mean?

Dan Saltzstein, a longtime editor at The New York Times and a New Yorker since 1997 (as well as an ardent cocktail aficionado), found out one day in early 2022 when he tweeted the innocent question, “New Yorkers: what’s the most New York thing that’s ever happened to you?”

Saltzstein had a healthy Twitter following at the time. But nothing prepared him for the tsunami of both characters (as in people) and characters (as in letters) that soon followed. Thousands of people chimed in with their most memorable Gotham anecdotes. Saltzstein knew some of the responders, but most were new to him. (I was one. I don’t recall the exact story I shared, but it was something about a rat. Every New Yorker has a rat story.)

Very soon, it became clear that Saltzstein had something on his hands that was bigger than just a viral tweet. And so, two years later, comes the book That’s So New York (Chronicle Books), which hits shelves March 12. The volume incudes not just the best tweets of the bunch, but a collection of short essays by a variety of writers and illustrations by Emily Carpenter. There’s also a section in which several seasoned bartenders offer some colorful barroom tales, among them Toby Cecchini, Del Pedro and Bar Regular Sother Teague.

The Mix spoked to Saltzstein about his new work. The interview is below, as is the recipe for the official That’s So New York cocktail. Appropriately enough, it’s a riff on a Manhattan.

I know this book was born of a single Tweet. What made you post that initial tweet?

Dan Saltzstein: I had a story that, for some reason, popped into my head, about a '90s-era request to use the bathroom at Kim's Video on St. Mark's Place (R.I.P.) and being asked if I planned to shoot up. Instead of just posting the story, I decided to add an open question for the masses: "New Yorkers, what is your most New York moment?" I posted it, put down my phone for the night, and woke up to thousands of responses, including people way outside my Twitter network (Questlove and Ellen Barkin included!). 

I think it's also worth noting that they aren't really stories—they are moments, which was (at the time, anyway) perfect for Twitter and its character-count limit.  

How many replies did you receive? Did you really read all of them?

DS: I don't know the exact number, but I'm pretty sure it was in the low thousands. I tried to read them all—and culled my favorites—though I did go back later and realize I had missed a lot, thanks to its long tail, as we say in the newspapering business. (That decision to cull my favorites ended up being a prescient one when we had to reach out to the tweeters for permission!)

Why do you think this simple question resonated with so many people?

DS: It's a question I've asked myself many times. I think New York City is sui generis in that New York stories (or moments) are somehow identifiably so, yet I still can't quite put my finger on why. I struggle to imagine a version based in any other American city (maybe Los Angeles, though I think that would skew pretty heavily show biz, or Chicago?); in fact, there were a few copycat tweets and the responses...weren't as good. 

How long was it before the idea of a book came about?

DS: After the tweet went viral, a bunch of people followed up with some version of "You’ve got to collect these in a book!" But of course a bunch of other people's tweets isn't a book, so I started to think of what I could surround the tweets with that would broaden it and make it more appealing. It helped that the stories sort of naturally fell into seven or so categories—the subway; animals (really rats and pigeons); New Yorkers are actually nice, etc.—which became chapters. 

So I wrote an intro, came up with some essay ideas of my own, and, once I got a deal for the book, asked a bunch of terrific writers to add their own essays. I also did some interviews with "everyday" New York characters: an MTA train operator; a doorman at a fancy building on Fifth Ave.; the (hilariously right of out of central casting) head of a pest control company; a location manager for "Law & Order." My publisher found an amazing illustrator, Emily Carpenter, to complement everything. Suddenly, I had a book.  

How did you go about choosing what anecdotes to include in the book? Did you have to get approval from all the "authors"? Did you vet the stories to make sure they were true and not fabricated?

DS: Honestly, for the most part, the cream rose to the top. That part was surprisingly easy. The hard part: By the time I reached out for permission from the tweeters (which I got from everyone), a bunch had abandoned Twitter (as I mostly now have, for what I hope are obvious reasons). I tracked some down in other ways, but a few of my favorites were lost. Most, though, made it in. 

I didn't do any vetting; it seemed like a fool's errand, given the specificity of the stories and how much time had passed with many of them. I like to think they are all true, but if some are fabricated, they are still fun and I'm okay with that. 

Why did you choose to include some personal essays? How did you choose the authors?

DS: As noted, the tweets are really moments, not stories. So I thought it would be both fun and a way to mix things up to include longer (though still relatively short) pieces by a variety of (current and former) New Yorkers. I reached out to a bunch of writer friends and folks who had written for me at The Times (Alexander Chee, Megan Abbott, Isaac Fitzgerald, Jason Diamond, Andrew McCarthy, Rodney Rothman, Michael Ian Black), as well as a few people I didn't know, but admired and figured would have great stories to tell (Mahogany Browne, Molly Jong-Fast, Garance Franke-Ruta). I offered up the categories/chapters I needed stories for, and, thankfully, many of them said yes. I'm very pleased with the final mix of voices, themes and details. 

What is your favorite of the tweeted stories?

DS: Oh man. I don't know if it's the absolute top of the pile, but one of my favorites came from the (very good) writer Hugh Ryan: "Once at like 6:30 a.m. on a Wednesday, I saw a manhole cover open on Canal Street, and a tall drag queen in a full look emerged from the sewers and walked off."

There's something about the mystery of that moment—never to be explained!—that captures the appeal of the book perfectly. 

Which of the tweeted stories did you find most shocking or surprising?

DS: Perhaps the craziest: "Woman boarded the subway at Canal Street, took a seat, sat down her bags. A giant eel flung itself from one of the bags and began to wriggle down the floor of the car. Woman jumped up, grabbed it, snapped its spine at the head, put it back in her bag, sat down. No one said a word." 

And then, perfectly, someone else responded: "I was on that train."

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The That’s So New York cocktail.

That’s So New York

Dan Saltzstein, New York City, 2024.

• 2 1/4 ounces rye, preferably Old Overholt

• 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth, preferably Dolin

• 1/2 ounce dry vermouth, preferably Dolin

• 1/4 ounce Amaro Nonino

• 1/4 ounce allspice dram

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass half filled with ice and strain into a coupe. Garnish with an expressed orange peel. 

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Odds and Ends…

“Modern Classics of the Cocktail Renaissance,” the cocktail app I created with Martin Doudoroff, has been updated to include three new cocktail recipes… Dusty Booze, Aaron Goldfarb’s terrific new book about vintage spirits and the people who hunt for them, was released on March 5… Also released on March 5 was Hot Sheet: Sweet and Savory Sheet Pan Recipes for Every Day and Celebrations, a new cookbook by Olga Massov and Sanae Lemoine… The Blackbird, a five-part podcast about Josh Lindley’s search for the origins of a popular Toronto shot drink, is highly recommended. (Thanks to Mix subscriber Amanda Schuster for the recommendation.)… My article about the long-lived Lime Rickey is now live on the Imbibe website… Janice Bailon is the new bar manager at Leyenda in Brooklyn… The team from Oxalis, the much-loved Brooklyn restaurant that closed in 2023, will open Laurel Bakery at 115 Columbia Street, at Kane Street… New Jersey’s Windmill Hot Dog chain has debuted its new J.R. Dog, which is simply a small version of its standard jumbo hot dog. J.R. stands for Jersey Ripper, which means the frank is ideal for deep-frying… Galatoire’s, the classic New Orleans restaurant, has restored lunch and dinner service on Tuesdays… Don’t sleep on the Crawfish Mac and Cheese at Grand Army. It’s delicious… Ivy Mix and the team over at the Fiasco wine shop are opening a new wine bar in Crown Heights. In their tradition of counter-intuitive naming, it is called Whoopsie Daisy.