Nice questions, Simonson. And very nice answers, Laurie. Glad to see this interview after watching Laurie speak at the Chef’s Conference. Makes me want to read Care and Feeding even more.
Thanks for the tip on Binding Agents! When I'm near the market, I pop into Grace & Proper for a sip or two of Green Monk, their homemade alpine-style herbal liqueur, among other things. They make a version of the Last Word using it. Nice bar to retreat into.
It was good to find out about them. In the past, when I have scheduled book tours, I always stumbled over Philadelphia. There was not a clear choice of a culinary oriented bookstore to hold an event. Now there is!
I wanted to go in because It looked so perfectly preserved, but someone said they thought it was scary (this person also said a scene from the Irishman was filmed in there)… I am investigating.
I think it’s high time I head back to Philly for another look 'round, possibly beginning at Tequilas. Also giddy to learn how I can avoid spending $60+ on a Manhattan, avoid Macallan’s overestimated whisky, AND evade the mortifying spectacle of table-side cocktail service all in one go!
What a brilliant interview, and what a wild, brave arc Laurie’s lived through. There’s something refreshing—almost defiant—about how unvarnished Care and Feeding sounds. That honesty cuts through the sanitized narratives of food media’s “golden age” and brings back the funk, the fire, and the fallout behind the glamour.
I’m especially struck by her connection to Phantom Thread—that irrational, deep identification with something broken-beautiful, which only makes sense in the ache of the moment. That’s not just cinema; that’s trauma logic. Felt like a mirror held up to a lot of creatives who fell in love with chaos thinking it was intensity.
This makes me want to read the book even more. There’s a rawness and specificity here that AI could never fake. Just real human wreckage, and maybe—eventually—redemption.
Spent a good deal of last evening with a friend who spent his career in book publishing and then as an author of “history books for men to read on planes.” We got on the topic of “The Great Gatsby” and when I mentioned my personal reading tastes, his eyes turned into slits and he said: “The Great Gatsby has sold more copies than all of Hemingway’s books combined.” He is a good friend and his most recent book was published by Fitzgerald’s publisher. I am still smiling, no grinning wildly at my friend’s comment. I totally had to share the above with you. :-)
Nice questions, Simonson. And very nice answers, Laurie. Glad to see this interview after watching Laurie speak at the Chef’s Conference. Makes me want to read Care and Feeding even more.
Thanks for the tip on Binding Agents! When I'm near the market, I pop into Grace & Proper for a sip or two of Green Monk, their homemade alpine-style herbal liqueur, among other things. They make a version of the Last Word using it. Nice bar to retreat into.
It was good to find out about them. In the past, when I have scheduled book tours, I always stumbled over Philadelphia. There was not a clear choice of a culinary oriented bookstore to hold an event. Now there is!
Have you ever been to the Friendly Tavern near there?
I haven’t. Worth checking out?
I wanted to go in because It looked so perfectly preserved, but someone said they thought it was scary (this person also said a scene from the Irishman was filmed in there)… I am investigating.
I think it’s high time I head back to Philly for another look 'round, possibly beginning at Tequilas. Also giddy to learn how I can avoid spending $60+ on a Manhattan, avoid Macallan’s overestimated whisky, AND evade the mortifying spectacle of table-side cocktail service all in one go!
We plan to return to Tequilas soon to try out the new restaurant. Let us know if you go.
What a brilliant interview, and what a wild, brave arc Laurie’s lived through. There’s something refreshing—almost defiant—about how unvarnished Care and Feeding sounds. That honesty cuts through the sanitized narratives of food media’s “golden age” and brings back the funk, the fire, and the fallout behind the glamour.
I’m especially struck by her connection to Phantom Thread—that irrational, deep identification with something broken-beautiful, which only makes sense in the ache of the moment. That’s not just cinema; that’s trauma logic. Felt like a mirror held up to a lot of creatives who fell in love with chaos thinking it was intensity.
This makes me want to read the book even more. There’s a rawness and specificity here that AI could never fake. Just real human wreckage, and maybe—eventually—redemption.
—Anton
Spent a good deal of last evening with a friend who spent his career in book publishing and then as an author of “history books for men to read on planes.” We got on the topic of “The Great Gatsby” and when I mentioned my personal reading tastes, his eyes turned into slits and he said: “The Great Gatsby has sold more copies than all of Hemingway’s books combined.” He is a good friend and his most recent book was published by Fitzgerald’s publisher. I am still smiling, no grinning wildly at my friend’s comment. I totally had to share the above with you. :-)