Cherry Bombe House
Sept. 9th–18th
412 W. 14th Street
Manhattan

The Countdown is ON: Cherry Bombe House opens next week in New York City!

From Sept. 9th through 18th, we’re taking over a three-story building in the Meatpacking District and filling it with everything we love—live podcast tapings, cookbook signings, food, fashion, shopping, community, and our very own Cherry Bombe Cafe, powered by Square. And we’d love to see you there!

Here’s how it works: Some of the events are ticketed, some require a reservation or application, and there are lots of free events! Scroll on for a taste of what’s happening and check out the full schedule here. Ticket prices range from $20 to $50.

One important thing to note: Cherry Bombe House will be open to the public every day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. So come by, say hi to Team CB, and meet other foodie folks in the city.

ALL THE DEETS

The Schedule

Wednesday, Sept. 9th

🍒 The House Special at the Cafe: Clementine’s Creamery ice cream

• 10 to 11:45 a.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 12 to 1:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 2 to 3:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

Thursday, Sept. 10th

🍒 Small Business Owner Meet-Up with special guest Tamara Keefe, founder of Clementine’s Creamery

• 10 to 11:30 a.m. Free to attend, but you must apply here.

🍒 Radio Cherry Bombe Live and book signing with cookbook author Carla Lalli and host Kerry Diamond

• 12 to 1:30 p.m. Tickets here.

🍒 The House Special at the Cafe: Clementine’s Creamery ice cream

• 12 to 1:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 2 to 3:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

🍒 House of Al Bronzo pasta pop-up from recipe developer Nea Arentzen

• 12 to 3 p.m. Complimentary bites while supplies last.

Friday, Sept. 11th

🍒 Trunk Show with Rachel Antonoff, our foodie fashion darling

• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free to attend.

🍒 Coffee Break with pastry chef & author Caroline Schiff and She’s My Cherry Pie host Jessie Sheehan

• 10 to 11:30 a.m. Tickets here.

🍒 The House Special at the Cafe: The Good Batch by Anna Gordon

• 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 2:15 to 4 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

🍒 House of Al Bronzo pasta pop-up from chef & restaurateur Silvia Barban

• 12 to 3 p.m. Complimentary bites while supplies last.

Saturday, Sept. 12th

🍒 Rachel Antonoff Trunk Show

• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free to attend.

🍒 The House Special at the Cafe: The Good Batch by Anna Gordon

• 10 to 11:45 a.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 12 to 1:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 2 to 3:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

🍒 Maha Rose sound bath & goop kitchen lunch

• 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets here.

Sunday, Sept. 13th

🍒 She’s My Cherry Pie Live and book signing with Lucie Franc de Ferriere of From Lucie and Dona Murad of Librae Bakery, hosted by Jessie Sheehan

• 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets here.

🍒 The House Special at the Cafe: From Lucie

• 12 to 1:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 2 to 3:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

🍒 House of Al Bronzo pasta pop-up from The Lineup founder Elena Besser

• 12 to 3 p.m. Complimentary bites while supplies last.

Monday, Sept. 14th

🍒The House Special at the Cafe: From Lucie

• 10 to 11:45 a.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 12 to 1:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 2 to 3:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

🍒Radio Cherry Bombe Live and book signing with private chef & social media superstar Olivia Tiedemann and host Kerry Diamond

• 12 to 1:30 p.m. Tickets here.

Tuesday, Sept. 15th

🍒 Small Business Owner Meet-Up with special guests Reem Assil and Zaynah Hindi of Reem’s California

• 10 to 11:30 a.m. Free to attend, but you must apply here.

🍒 The House Special at the Cafe: Reem’s California

• 12 to 1:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 2 to 3:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

🍒 Radio Cherry Bombe Live with cookbook author & New York Times columnist Melissa Clark and host Kerry Diamond

• 12 to 1 p.m. Tickets here.

Wednesday, Sept. 16th

🍒 The House Special at the Cafe: Bombesquad Brands

• 10 to 11:45 a.m. Reserve your spot here.

🍒 Radio Cherry Bombe Live and book signing with Annie Meyers-Shyer of This Oak House and host Kerry Diamond

• 1 to 2:30 p.m. Tickets here.

🍒 The House Special at the Cafe: Reem’s California

• 12 to 1:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 2 to 3:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

Thursday, Sept. 17th

🍒 Cookbook Lovers Meet-Up with literary agent Sally Ekus & author Jenna Helwig

• 10 to 11:45 a.m. Tickets here.

🍒 Radio Cherry Bombe Live with Moon Juice founder Amanda Chantal Bacon

• 12 to 1 p.m. Tickets here.

🍒 The House Special at the Cafe: Ramen by Ra from Rasheeda Purdie

• 12 to 1:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 2 to 3:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

Friday, Sept. 18th

🍒 The House Special at the Cafe: Bombesquad Brands

• 10 to 11:45 a.m. Reserve your spot here.

🍒 Radio Cherry Bombe Live and book signing with cookbook author Serena Wolf and host Kerry Diamond

• 12 to 1:30 p.m. Tickets here.

🍒 The House Special at the Cafe: Ramen by Ra

• 12 to 1:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

• 2 to 3:45 p.m. Reserve your spot here.

Thank you to our partners

Today’s Eat to the Beat is The Linda Lindas, the punk band that’s three parts Gen Z and one part Gen Alpha. talks to the group about their Funyuns ritual, their dream dinner with Joan Jett, and the comfort of a home-cooked meal on tour. Their new album, GOTTA GET OUT, dropped on Friday and explores corners of grunge, early-aughts emo & surf rock through political outrage and melancholic uncertainty.

Lily: Is there a hometown dish you’re craving right now?

Eloise: Leek cakes from Chinatown in L.A. There's a restaurant called Kimchui and they make leek dumplings. They're like the garlic chives, not like leek-leeks.

Lily: Who’s hungry first?

Lucia: Bela. But also I think she has a smaller appetite and Eloise and I eat more when we do get food.

Eloise: Bela will be like, “Can we get food?” And then eat *this* much. So then I basically get two meals, which is great.

Lily: Do you have a guilty pleasure road snack?

Bela: The sour belts from Buc-ee’s, the mango sour belts.

Eloise: The candied nuts are really good. From Buc-ee’s.

Mila: Anything from Buc-ee’s.

Lucia: Eloise and I used to eat a bag of Flamin’ Hot Funyuns before the show.

Eloise: Not the small size, but the family size.

Lucia: But then it was really bad for our voices.

Eloise: We haven’t been doing the Funyun ritual! It made our voices a little grittier. Gives it a nice tone. Some people use pedals for their guitars, but we use Funyuns for our voice.

Lucia: I don’t know if we have any guilty pleasures. I feel like we kind of just eat whatever.

Eloise: We eat whatever. We just have pleasure.

Lily: Which city had the best food on your last tour?

Mila: When we were in Europe last year, we played this show at this venue. It was called Rotown, in the Netherlands. They had this rule that every band gets a home-cooked meal. It was so good.

Bela: It was chicken and potatoes, but I think because it was made with love it tasted really good.

Mila: We hadn’t had a home cooked meal in a very long time.

Eloise: We need some more home-cooked meals in the U.S. U.S., do better. I won’t play unless you cook me a meal!

Lily: It’s been a long day or night. What’s your pick-me-up treat?

Eloise: Hot water.

Bela: Any caffeinated beverage.

Lucia: Late at night?

Bela: Yes. I can sleep if I have a full cup of coffee

Eloise: Like cooked vegetables, like leafy food.

Mila: I would say maybe dark chocolate raspberry trü frü.

Eloise: That was so specific.

Lily: If you could cook your signature dish for another musician, who would it be and what would you make?

Eloise: Mila’s making pasta. I’ll make the vegetables. We’ll stir fry leeks and tofu to be vegan-friendly. Well, I’ll make a pot of rice because what are you doing eating leeks and tofu with pasta? And then Lucia’s making dessert. And we’re cooking for Joan Jett.

Lily: Dessert. A miss or a must?

All: MUST!

Eloise: Who picks “miss”?!

Lily: If your sound were a food, what would it be?

Mila: Fried rice. You can kind of put anything in it.

Bela: You know what though? I feel like our sound would be tofu because it’s so versatile and there’s a lot of flavors and you can have it raw or cooked or steamed.

Lucia: Let’s not have tofu raw.

Eloise: I like what Mila said about fried rice, too, though.

Lucia: So our sound is basically leftover Joan Jett fried rice with tofu that’s cooked.

Eloise: We’ll throw in some vegetables and stuff.

The Linda Lindas LIVE

Don’t miss their North American tour this fall in a city near you!

CATCH THEM IRL

Listen to The Linda Lindas on:
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

Rock on

🍒 Check out our last Eat to the Beat with IAN SWEET

🍒 Meet culinary rockstars at Cherry Bombe House Sept. 9-18

🍒 If you’re a vegan-friendly fried rice lover like Eloise, try Synmia Rosine’s Vegan Kimchi Fried Rice recipe

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Presented by Miele, Nonino & Whole Foods Market

“I wouldn’t have done it had I not believed in my future happiness.”

’s marriage ended after 24 years. And amidst it all, she found her way to the kitchen. “I was having hard-core food cravings,” the award-winning cookbook author told Kerry Diamond on this week’s Radio Cherry Bombe. Buttered rice, icy tapioca pudding, an anchovy-heavy fagioli (aka fazool, as Carla calls it). Organically, a cookbook like no other came together around those dishes: Food Is a Feeling (out September 8th).

It’s an uplifting, reviving, and thought-provoking memoir-slash-cookbook on topics way beyond marriage: her line cook days, lost (and found) friendships, and going topless on the beach (PSA: it’s legal in New York), with 65 recipes. It’s a “full-throated endorsement of eating your feelings,” said Carla.

The book upends many cookbook formats and expectations, from the photos shot on film by it-photographer Lucia Bell-Epstein, to the conversationally written recipes, to the book tour. Instead of big Q&A events, Carla wanted to skip to the good part: mingling and getting to know the people in attendance, so her events are smaller, more intimate, and there may be tarot.

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From Nora Ephron to ENM

Carla and Kerry cover a lot of ground:

• Online dating guys who wait a few dates too many to confess “I love your popcorn recipe”

• The nail artist credited in her book

• The layoff that changed the course of her life

• The perfect party snack (warm olives with sticky dates and caramelized citrus peel)

• The last-ditch effort beach house

• A few companion reads: Nora Ephron’s Heartburn, Maggie Smith’s You Could Make This Place Beautiful, and Belle Burden’s Strangers.

Carla’s in the House!

If you’re in NYC this September, come on over! Cherry Bombe House is our 10-day pop-up in the Meatpacking District and our schedule is packed with great food, folks, fashion, books, bites, you name it. If you’re a Carla superfan, you can catch her IRL on Thursday, Sept. 10th, at noon, in conversation with Kerry. Tickets are $45 and include a signed copy of her new book; a Q&A (bring your questions); bites and sips in the Square Cafe; and more.

GET YOUR CARLA TICKET

✨ Join us for our Member Meeting! ✨

Wednesday, Sept. 2nd
3 to 4 p.m. EST
On Zoom

Featuring food stylists Victoria Granof,
Dorothy Barrick & Christine Tobin

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Presented by California Prunes

This week calls for almond croissant rugelach, and we know exactly who to call.

is the award-winning cookbook author of eight books on Jewish cooking and the Substack newsletter The Jewish Table, where she shares recipes like Maple-Tahini Rice Krispies Treats (yes, please). That one is actually from her latest book, The Dessert Table: 100 Joyful Jewish Sweets, out September 1st.

What’s special about this cookbook is that because Leah comes from a journalist background, she loves to dig deep on the cultural history of iconic dishes. Her recipes span classics, like her mom’s Back-Pocket Apple Cake (on the cover!), and her globally inspired takes, like the Almond Croissant Rugelach she shared with us. Each recipe tells a story of migration, adaptation, and generational shifts.

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“Desserts are indelibly woven into the Jewish calendar and the Jewish year and the Jewish life cycle,” she said. Learning to bake them carries them forward. If baking doesn’t run in the family, that’s okay, too, said Leah: “That’s what Entenmann’s is for.”

This week on She’s My Cherry Pie, Leah talks to host about her move from journalism into recipe writing, the new cookbook, and the fascinating history of rugelach—an American invention, as it turns out.

Catch Leah in conversation with Jessie for her book launch at Books are Magic in Brooklyn on Sept. 2nd, 7:00 p.m.—tickets here!

GET THE RECIPE

Shop the show & more

• Leah suggests slicing rugelach with a pizza cutter or, her favorite, a mezzaluna knife (do you know this one?)

• Catch up on her other cookbooks, such as Modern Jewish Cooking and The Jewish Cookbook

• This convo will make you crave a chocolate turtle

• But also, babka

• Leah made us realize that having a baker’s “speed rack” at home would really come in handy for holiday cookies…

Tip of the week

• In savory baking, a little sugar helps enhance the flavor of the dough—don’t skip it!

Fresh baked news

• RIP, Dolly Parton

• We’ll always love your cookbooks, baking mixes & buttercreams

• In her honor, butterfly sugar cookies from Lauren Dozier

• These cupcakes at SusieCakes benefit Dolly’s Imagination Library

• Copy-cat Dollywood cinnamon bread to spread that Dolly joy

• The East Village’s Hani’s Bakery is opening an ice cream shop

• This cake is literally the cherry on top

The cherry on top

🍒 You’re invited to Cherry Bombe House! Our 10-day pop-up of food, fashion, and fun arrives in NYC Sept. 9th–18th. Schedule and tickets here.

🥐 Join us for Coffee Break with Caroline Schiff on Sept. 11th—pastries, coffee, and a convo with Jessie

🎧 SMCP Live + book signings with Lucie Franc de Ferriere of From Lucie & Dona Murad of Librae Bakery on Sept. 13th

One of the things I love most about American rugelach’s butter and cream cheese dough is how it puffs and crisps up in the oven, ending up almost as flaky as a croissant. In this spin on the classic Ashkenazi cookie, I leaned all the way into the French pastry vibes to create rugelach that taste remarkably similar to almond croissants. The rich frangipane-­inspired filling is flavored with an irresistible trio of almond extract, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon.

—Leah Koenig

Don’t miss Leah’s book, out 9/1!

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Ingredients

Makes 32 cookies

For the Dough

• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks/ 227 grams) unsalted butter, softened

• 8 ounces (225 grams) cream cheese, softened

• ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

• 2 cups (280 grams) all-­purpose flour, plus more for rolling

For the Filling

• 1½ cups (150 grams) almond flour

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick/113 grams) unsalted butter, softened

• 1 cup (120 grams) confectioners’ sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ¾ teaspoon almond extract

• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

To Finish

• 1 large egg, beaten

• Granulated sugar for sprinkling

Method

1. Make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a handheld electric mixer and a large bowl), beat the butter, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the flour in two additions, beating at low speed and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until a soft dough forms.

2. Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead it a few times to bring it together. Divide it in half, shape into 2 disks, wrap each one well in parchment paper, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and up to 1 day.

3. Make the filling: Combine the almond flour, butter, confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, almond extract, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse, scraping down the sides as necessary, until a smooth paste forms.

4. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Remove one of the dough disks from the fridge (keep the remaining dough chilled). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a large circle that is ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick. Trim the dough to an approximately 12-­inch (30 cm) round. Spread about half of the almond filling evenly over it, leaving a ¼-­inch (6 mm) border all around.

6. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the round into 4 equal wedges, then cut each wedge into 4 wedges (ending up with 16 wedges). Starting from the outer edge, roll each wedge up on itself. Gently curve the rugelach into crescent shapes and place seam side down on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat the filling and rolling process with the remaining dough and filling.

7. Brush the top of each cookie with a little of the beaten egg (you will not use all of it), then sprinkle generously with sugar.

8. Bake, rotating the baking sheets back to front and top to bottom halfway through baking, until the rugelach are deep golden brown and the tops are flaky and puffed, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool.

9. Store the rugelah in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week or, well wrapped, in the freezer for up to 6 months.

From The Dessert Table: 100 Joyful Jewish Sweets by Leah Koenig. Reprinted by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Bombesquad Scoop

• Dolly’s cookbooks & baking mixes

• Pour yourself a Cup of Ambition at Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop

• Martha and Dolly…

• How Dolly Parton’s baking line came to be

• Scouring eBay for the sold-out Dolly Parton x Lodge collab pieces

• Bye-bye BNA, hello Dolly Parton International Airport!

• We think Dolly would have loved these lil’ cowgirl boots

• Make Dollywood’s famous Cinnamon Bread at home

• TN locals! Catch 9 to 5 in Regal Cinemas this weekend. We hear nationwide is coming soon.

Come to our house!

Cherry Bombe House is our 10-day pop-up in NYC’s Meatpacking District, full of food, fashion, and fun! We’ll have live Radio Cherry Bombe events with Melissa Clark, Carla Lalli, Olivia Tiedemann, Annie Meyers-Shyer, and others, plus cookbook signings, meet-ups, and special bites & sips. Come on over!

FULL SCHEDULE & TICKETS

Our dessert darling

Caroline Schiff joined host Kerry Diamond on this week’s Radio Cherry Bombe to talk about her new cookbook, Daily Dessert: Treats on Repeat, and her upcoming Brooklyn restaurant, Monday Diner. Hungry for more? Join our Coffee Break at Cherry Bombe House with sips from Miele and pastries from Caroline. It’ll be a House party!

TIX TO CAROLINE'S COFFEE BREAK

Presented by Miele & Nonino

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Join the next member meeting

Hey, Bombesquad! Join us for our next member meeting on Zoom this Wednesday, 9/2, at 3 p.m. EST. We’ll be chatting with food stylists Christine Tobin and Dorothy Barrick about their incredible work in films like Tony, The Roses, and Little Women. If you’re a member or paid Substack subscriber, click here to register. Not a member yet? There’s still time to become a member and join us on Wednesday!

REGISTER FOR THE MEETING

Looking like a snack 👀

If you’re lucky enough to see Harry Styles during his 30-day residency at MSG, you’re going to need a dinner plan. Check out our guide to female-fueled places around the Garden: Eat All The Time (Disco Occasionally 🪩🕺)! Whether it’s a proper pre-show meal, a little sweet treat, or a midnight snack, we’ve got you covered.⁠

GET THE GUIDE

Cherry Bombe checklist ✅

🦋 Save this recipe—Dolly Parton & Rachel Parton George’s Sweet Potato Casserole

🦋 We’re heading to Paso Robles, CA! Join us 9/25-27 for Farmers & Makers.

🦋 Or, apply to our Farmers & Makers’ scholar or volunteer programs by Friday, 9/4

By Laura Neilson

The morning after Dolly Parton’s death was announced, “9 to 5,” her 1980 anthem of workplace gender inequality, came blasting through the speakers at my early-morning dance class. Since her passing earlier this week, it seems we’ve all been looking for ways to make our own personal tributes to Dolly, and this was my instructor’s. Mid-class, I found myself craving cake—just as anyone else on their fortieth leg extension might—but on this day, I longed for Dolly’s favorite: coconut cake. One so fluffy and lush with frosting, that if I baked it myself, this just might be my own perfect salute to the woman who gave us “Jolene,” Dollywood, the Imagination Library, and much more—including a popular line of cake mixes packaged in bubble-gum pink boxes.

Before the cake, there were cookies. In late 2020, when many of us were still homebound and trying to make sense of “normal living” during Covid, Dolly introduced a holiday baking collection with Williams Sonoma. Its lineup included a Holly Dolly sugar cookie mix, a 26-piece cookie kit, aprons, even a gingerbread replica of her childhood log cabin—all perfectly-timed hits for doubling down on family rituals, and gift-giving with a side of kitsch.

In 2022, “Dolly Parton’s Favorites,” her namesake line of cake mixes for Duncan Hines, launched with two flavors—coconut and banana—and two buttercream frostings. Nothing cost more than $2.20 in most markets, and that was how Dolly wanted it. Of cake, she often said, “Every bite feels like a warm hug,” and this was Dolly’s way of embracing her countless fans. Hugs and cake for all! Still, many Americans were happy to splurge on the $40 limited-edition kit that dropped on Duncan Hines’ website two months before boxes hit grocery store shelves. It sold out in a day.

The line expanded to more mixes, including brownies, buttermilk biscuits, sweet cornbread, and eventually a full lineup of food products reaching beyond the baking aisle, with the emphasis firmly planted on Southern-comfort cooking. Even as the brand grew, Dolly never let it turn into something she wasn’t. Duncan Hines didn’t release sales figures, but considering the line’s rapid growth from two cake mixes to frozen dinners in only three years, it was a hot seller.

Of course it was! Who wouldn’t want someone as recognizable and beloved as Dolly in their kitchen? Betty Crocker—the woman whose name has become synonymous with American domesticity in the kitchen—is a virtual enigma in comparison. And Dolly was the anti-trad wife, too (not that she, nor I, have anything against them), encouraging us to take the easier routes, cut the corners, use the cake mix—without shame, without feeling any less—whenever we needed.

Dolly’s cake mixes celebrated love and intention, and the simple pleasures of indulging our sweet cravings. “I have a lot of teeth. And all of them are sweet,” she deadpanned in a TikTok video promoting the line. In this era of Ozempic and macro counting, advocating dessert is almost downright radical. But Dolly was always radical in the way she undercut people’s assumptions—about her appearance, her Southern upbringing, her intelligence and ambition. Why should her love of coconut cake be any different?

Working 9 to 5, unless you’re keeping baker’s hours

About the author

Laura Neilson is a New York City-based writer who’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, WSJ, Vanity Fair, L'Officiel, W, and Cherry Bombe.
IG: @lauraneilson

Come on over

🍒 Join us at Cherry Bombe House, Sept. 9th-18th

🍒 Catch pastry chef Caroline Schiff live at Cherry Bombe House, Friday, Sep. 11th

🍒 Listen to our baking podcast, She’s My Cherry Pie

DOWNLOAD THE MAP

Harry just kicked off his historic 30-day residency at Madison Square Garden, and we couldn’t be more excited. If you scored tickets, here are some of female-fueled, Cherry Bombe-approved places to grab a bite around MSG. If you’re in a big rush before or after, there are lots of grab & go places in Moynihan Station or Penn Station. Any questions? Comment below. We’re here to help! 🫶

Dinner🍴

• Ci Siamo (Italian restaurant) — 440 W. 33rd Street

• Glass Ceiling (rooftop restaurant) — 1204 Broadway

• Il Fiorista (Italian restaurant) — 17 W. 26th Street

• Lola’s (New American restaurant) — 2 W. 28th Street

• Markette (Modern European/Caribbean restaurant) — 326 7th Avenue

• miss KOREA BBQ (Korean barbecue restaurant) — 10 W. 32nd Street

• Shukette (Middle Eastern restaurant) — 230 9th Avenue

• Woorijip (Korean restaurant) — 12 W. 32nd Street

Ice Cream & Dessert 🍦

• Magnolia Bakery — 383 8th Avenue

• Milk Bar — 1196 Broadway

• Van Leeuwen Ice Cream — 1 Penn Plaza

Bars 🥂

• INDN Small Plates & Cocktails — 30 W. 30th St

• TALEA Beer Co. — 160 W 32nd St

  

Coffee & Matcha ☕

• Cafe Grumpy — 200 W 39th Street

• maman — 114 W 41st Street

• {petite} maman — 441 8th Avenue

Juice & Smoothies 🧃

• Playa Bowls — 1 Pennsylvania Plaza

• Pressed Juicery — 383 W 31st Street
  

GET IT HERE!

Before you head to Harry’s…
Stop by our House! 🏠

Check out the full Cherry Bombe House schedule here for our 10-day pop-up

412 W 14th Street
September 9th to 18th

Cherry Bombe House
Sept. 9th–18th
412 W. 14th Street
Manhattan

CHECK OUT THE FULL SCHEDULE

For 10 days this September, we’re bringing the Cherry Bombe universe to the Meatpacking District in NYC—and you’re invited! Cherry Bombe House is three floors of food, fun, fashion, and your favorite personalities.

Some House highlights

📚 Cookbook signings with amazing authors including Carla Lalli, Olivia Tiedemann, Melissa Clark, Annie Meyers-Shyer, and others.

🎤 Live podcast recordings hosted by Radio Cherry Bombe’s Kerry Diamond and She’s My Cherry Pie’s Jessie Sheehan

🍒 Special bites served at The Cherry Bombe Cafe, powered by Square, from Ramen by Ra, From Lucie, Clementine’s Ice Cream, The Good Batch, and Reem’s California

⭐️ Rachel Antonoff trunk show

🛍 Exclusive Cherry Bombe merch

🍒 Delicious sips from Miele, DONA, S.Pellegrino, and Ghirardelli

One important thing to know: Cherry Bombe House will be open to the public; walk-ins welcome. You can reserve your spot ahead of time online, and some events require a ticket. We’ll be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day from September 9th–18th, so come on by and say hi!

For the full schedule and tickets, click below:

CHECK OUT THE FULL SCHEDULE

We hope to see you at Cherry Bombe House! Any questions? Leave us a comment or email us at info@cherrybombe.com.

The sweet potato is a vegetable that’s perfect for the fall—the color and the flavor always make us think of harvest time. Rachel likes to cover her casserole with marshmallows. You have to—it’s just one of those things. But she also adds some pecans on top—we love the taste they add, making this extra special.

—Dolly Parton & Rachel Parton George

Don’t miss Dolly & Rachel’s book

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Ingredients

Makes 8 servings

• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing

• 5 large sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered

• ½ cup packed light brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ cup chopped raw pecans

• 2 cups miniature marshmallows

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

Place the sweet potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat to maintain a low boil and cook until fork-tender, about 20 minutes.

Drain the potatoes in a colander and transfer them to a large bowl. Add the brown sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon and mash using a potato masher until well combined.

Transfer the mashed sweet potato mixture to the prepared baking pan, smoothing the top. Sprinkle it with the pecans, then cover the casserole evenly with the marshmallows. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the marshmallows are golden brown, about 5 minutes more.

Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 15 minutes before serving.

From Good Lookin’ Cookin’ by Dolly Parton & Rachel Parton George. Reprinted by permission of Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.

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Presented by Miele & Nonino

“Is it elevated? Is there a twist? No!”

Caroline Schiff is opening a diner in Brooklyn. A good, old-fashioned diner with Greek omelets and tuna melts and grilled cheese on rye (but come on, it will be really good rye). It’s called Monday Diner, and TBD when it opens, as all restaurant openings go—but it will be worth the wait.

Because do you know Caroline? She’s a phenomenal, James Beard-nominated pastry chef and Food & Wine Best New Chef who kicked off the Baked Alaska craze that swept through New York City when she was at Gage & Tollner. You might recognize Caroline by her meringue cloud of voluminous brown hair, which is almost always piled atop her head. Beyond the diner, Caroline is also dropping her next cookbook, Daily Dessert: Treats on Repeat, on October 13th. Get ready.

It’s a wonderful follow-up to her first book, The Sweet Side of Sourdough, with home-bakeable recipes that make a case for a nightly sweet treat. “You can come home from work and bake yourself one giant chocolate chip cookie,” she told host Kerry Diamond on Radio Cherry Bombe, and she has a recipe for that, among other single-serving sweet treats. Caroline has a knack for elegant yet playful desserts, like an espresso crunch coffee cake, tiny tiramisu, and the black-and-white coconut macaroons she brought to the podcast taping (perfect bribe; no notes). Plus, a few paparazzi shots of her cat, Babka. (Of course, her cat’s name is Babka.) You need this book.

Elsewhere in the Cherry Bombe universe, Caroline made a decadent coconut layer cake from her new book with us in collaboration with Miele, and we’ll see her again soon at Cherry Bombe House on September 11th, where she’s hosting a coffee break and chat with Jessie Sheehan. (Yes, there will be pastries). Get your tickets here! See ya there.

Don’t miss Caroline’s upcoming book!

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Caroline checklist!

✅ See Caroline IRL at Cherry Bombe House on Friday, Sept. 11th
✅ Caroline’s in the September Issue of Cherry Bombe’s print magazine; pre-order now
✅ Don’t miss our Heart of the Home series with Caroline Schiff & Miele

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People were confused. They had questions. They were skeptical.

Joyce Tang had quit her tech job in the Bay Area and was selling hand-laminated pastries at a local beer garden, including her signature Croissubi, a Spam musubi-inspired croissant sprinkled with melted parmesan and togarashi.

“People saw the word ‘Spam,’ and they told me, ‘Ooh, yuck. That’s weird,’” she told host this week on She’s My Cherry Pie. “And I had to explain myself more times than I liked.” But Joyce was onto something, and after years of doing food competitions, pop-ups, and wildly popular pandemic pastry boxes, she opened her brick-and-mortar bakery in Oakland in 2021: Bake Sum, which now has two locations.

Then, in 2024, the New York Times named her Croissubi one of the best dishes of the year. Suddenly, customers lined up for it, no questions asked. Others were in line for her rotating flavors of mochi bites (Thai tea! Ube!), swirling, cloud-like milk buns, okonomiyaki danishes, and cookie boxes (think black sesame snickerdoodle), from a continually changing menu.

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Lucky us, she captured all her creative bakes in Bake Sum: Asian American Pastries, Breads, and Other Treats, which comes out Sept. 1st. The flavors are inspired and exciting, and whether you’re a novice or pro-baker, the book will meet you where you’re at.

This week on the pod, Joyce walks Jessie through her pivot from tech world to butter world, the delicacy of dragon beard candy, and her recipe for her most popular flavor of mochi bites: brown butter. Snag the recipe right this way.

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Shop the show & more

• To get a crisp exterior on the mochi bites, a heavy-gauge steel mini muffin pan is the secret (aluminum cooks things quickly so they’ll be done before they’re brown enough)

• A mochi must: Mochiko flour! (This is glutinous rice flour, which is not the same as regular rice flour)

• Joyce likes to top the mochi bites with puffed buckwheat groats for texture (also good on yogurt)

Tip of the week

• Color = flavor. Home bakers tend to err on the side of playing it safe, but if you want that brown butter to bring its butterscotch magic, you need to take it further than pale golden. Keep bubbling until it’s a cognac leather brown, with black flecks of milk solids.

Fresh baked news

• Natasha Pickowicz & friends’ bake sale, 9/6, NYC

• Cookie lovers! We’ve got a giveaway with Levain Bakery.

• Madonna’s eye-conic birthday cake

• GBBO returns next month—with new judge Nigella Lawson

• Rose Wilde’s Charred Tomato Swiss Buttercream

• A purse for all you breadwinners

The cherry on top

• For the new restaurateur, get the 411 on PR, marketing & social media

• Introducing Cherry Bombe House: our 10-day pop-up in NYC this Sept.

• Caroline Schiff gets baking in our Heart of the Home series with Miele

Butter mochi is a classic Hawaiian dessert that’s irresistibly chewy, with a perfect bouncy texture. As a bonus, it’s hella easy to make and fun to play around with, and the aunties are always swapping recipes and tips to try new versions of it. My husband Keven’s mom would often make pans of butter mochi for the family, experimenting in the kitchen to really get the recipe down to the right delightfully squishable level. At potlucks and dinners, it tends to be served in a large dish, though you’ll often see it at bake sales cut into smaller squares, like brownies. I like to bake it in a snackable size, with a cute round shape that maximizes the exterior crunch while keeping the inside super moist. The addition of brown butter gives the mochi a caramelly, nutty flavor. At the bakery, we make the mochi bites in many flavors, like lilikoi, blue jasmine, lychee, Thai tea, black sesame, and more!

—Joyce Tang

Don’t miss Joyce’s book, out 9/1!

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Ingredients

Makes 24 mochi bites or 14 cupcakes

• 8 tablespoons (115 grams) unsalted butter

• Cooking spray, for the pan

• ¾ cup (160 grams) packed brown sugar

• 2 eggs, at room temperature

• 2½ cups (300 grams) mochiko (glutinous rice flour)

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt

• ⅔ cup plus 2 teaspoons (160 grams) whole milk

• ⅔ cup (160 grams) coconut milk

• Toasted buckwheat groats, for topping

Method

In a medium saucepan, warm the butter over medium heat. Once the butter starts to boil, scrape the bottom of the pot with a spatula frequently to keep the brown bits (1) on the smaller side and (2) constantly moving so the butter doesn’t burn. Keep cooking the butter until the milk solids (solid bits in the butter) are nearly a dark chocolate color, as color equals flavor. Pour the browned butter into a heatproof bowl and let it cool completely to room temperature (it should be soft and opaque).

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a mini or standard muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), cream together 5½ tablespoons (80 grams) of the browned butter and the sugar at medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the sugar has fully incorporated into the butter. Pause the machine occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

With the mixer running at medium-low speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. (Pro tip: Before using, crack your eggs in a clear pitcher or container so you can see if you have any eggshells still in there.)

In a small bowl, mix together the mochiko, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add this to the mixer while pulsing on and off to prevent the mixer from throwing a cloud of flour into your face. As the flour mixture is being incorporated, slowly add both of the milks and mix until the batter is streak-free.

Fill each muffin cup three-quarters of the way with mochi batter. Top with a sprinkle of buckwheat groats. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a mochi comes out clean and the mochi feels quite firm when you touch it, about 45 minutes.

The faster you remove the mochi from the tin, the crispier the outside will get, so quickly flip the tray upside down (while wearing oven mitts) and give it a nice smack. Everything should come out smoothly. Place the mochi bites onto a wire rack to cool at least slightly. These are best straight out of the oven, but once cool they’re good in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. Reheat in an air fryer for 5 minutes to recrisp.

From Bake Sum: Asian American Pastries, Breads, and Other Treats by Joyce Tang. Reprinted by permission of Hardie Grant Books.

The Bombesquad Scoop

• Katie Couric demos her ‘mater sandwich

• The ultimate haul from Martha’s farm

• Choose your tomato adventure: sorbet or spritz?

• For dessert, break out the tomato cake

• The perfect tablecloth for a 🍅 party

• We need a seat at this tomato retreat in Italy

• Reenie x Romilly x anchovies on Picky Eaters

• We’d dance all night under this giant tomato disco 🪩

• The tomato coming in (beaded) clutch

Red lips, red wine & roast chicken

Mariana Velásquez is a celebrated food stylist and author of the new book Revel: A Maximalist Guide to Having People Over. She joins Radio Cherry Bombe host Kerry Diamond to discuss cooking and hosting in a small New York City kitchen and the deeply personal story behind her book.

Presented by Miele

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Get ready for the house tour

We’re hosting a 10-day pop-up this September in NYC and filling it with all Bombe things! Be sure to check out our Radio Cherry Bombe Live events with Olivia Tiedemann, Annie Meyers-Shyer & Carla Lalli. We hope to see you there!

SCHEDULE & TICKETS

Reigning champ of Top Chef

Top Chef winner and CanoeHouse exec chef Rhoda Magbitang also joined Kerry this week on Radio Cherry Bombe. They talked about her remarkable path from the Philippines to California at age 17, cooking in some of L.A.’s top kitchens, how she found her way to Hawaii, and, of course, winning the latest season of Bravo’s culinary competition show.

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Recipe of the week

Hailee Catalano knows what the people want! Make her Grated Tomato Linguine this weekend. She designed the recipe—which is from her debut cookbook, By Heart—to be made when tomatoes are at their peak deliciousness. So right now is the time to try it.

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Cherry Bombe checklist ✅

• Our PR 101 guide for the new restaurateur

• Enter our Levain Bakery cookie giveaway! 🍪

• The latest edition of Eat to the Beat with IAN SWEET

• Don’t miss our Heart of the Home series with Caroline Schiff & Miele

• The infamous brioche tart that made Julia Child cry—get the story on our baking pod, She’s My Cherry Pie

Embarrassingly enough, there was a time in my life when I thought I hated fresh tomatoes. Wild, I know. It turns out, I’d just never had a good, ripe, in-season tomato. That being said, this pasta is designed to be made in the summertime when tomatoes are at their peak deliciousness. Basic tomatoes just won’t do this justice! Grating the tomatoes is a really easy way to break them down into a pulpy sauce with minimal skin.

—Hailee Catalano

Don’t miss Hailee’s book!

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Ingredients

Makes 4 to 6 servings

• 3½ pounds (1.5 kilograms) beefsteak or heirloom tomatoes

• ¼ cup (60 milliliters) olive oil, plus more for serving

• 6 garlic cloves, minced

• 3 oil-packed anchovy fillets

• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

• 1 pound (454 grams) dry linguine

• ½ cup (55 grams) finely grated pecorino Romano

• 1 cup (15 grams) torn fresh basil leaves, plus more for serving

• 4 ounces (113 grams) burrata, at room temperature, optional

Method

Grate the tomatoes on the large holes of a box grater into a large bowl, discarding the skin when you get down to the end.

Place the olive oil, garlic, and anchovies in a large pot. Set over medium heat, and cook, stirring, until the anchovies melt into the oil and the garlic is slightly golden, 2 or 3 minutes. Add the grated tomatoes, and season with a small pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes cook down and the sauce thickens, 45 to 55 minutes. Season with a small pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper.

When the tomato sauce is close to being finished, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Generously season with salt. Drop in the linguine, and cook according to the package directions until it’s about 1 minute under al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 mugful of pasta water. Add the pasta to the pot with the tomato sauce, toss to coat, and reduce the heat to low.

Add the pecorino Romano, and toss again. Add a small splash of pasta water if needed to create a nice cohesive sauce that coats the pasta evenly. (This pasta dish may not need any pasta water, depending on the water content of your tomatoes.) Drizzle in a bit more olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.

Turn on the heat, and toss in the basil to wilt slightly. Divide the pasta among serving bowls. Top with more fresh basil, torn burrata, if using, a drizzle of olive oil, and pepper, and serve.

From By Heart by Hailee Catalano. Reprinted by permission of DK Publishing, a division of Penguin Random House.

Welcome to the latest installment of So You Want to Open a Restaurant. Thank you to Square for supporting our series.

If you’ve been following along, you know my story. Once upon a time, I had several restaurants in Brooklyn, which included the coffee shop above. Today, I have zero restaurants. Long story short, I struggled with the operations side of the business, but excelled at the PR and marketing. (Silver lining: The experience led me to create Cherry Bombe.)

If you’re in the process of opening your own place, amazing! You’re doing something brave and life-changing, and I’m sending you lots of good vibes. You no doubt have a massive to-do list right now, and perhaps you’re hemorrhaging money, questioning your life choices, and wondering how you got in this mess in the first place. (Sorry. Projecting there!) Take a deep breath and remember that most restaurateurs were in the same spot. Whatever you do, don’t kill your contractor (prison is definitely worse than opening a restaurant) and brush your teeth at night no matter how exhausted you are.

PR, marketing, and social media might be the last things on your mind, but you need to focus on this aspect of the business before you open. And in case you’re wondering why you should listen to me, a not-so-successful restaurateur, I was the head of PR for Lancôme and then Coach in North America before I started Cherry Bombe. And in the 13 years of editing our magazine and hosting our podcast, I’ve interviewed hundreds of restaurateurs, from the newbies to the rock stars.

A few basics before we get to the checklist:

* What’s the difference between PR, social media, and marketing?

Some pros might fight me on this, but if you’re handling PR, marketing, and social for your own restaurant, it’s all kind of the same. Technically, PR stands for public relations, and it’s how you get publicity, or attention, for your restaurant. You or a PR firm (or a friend, family member, or fan) “pitch” a media outlet, like a blog, newspaper, magazine, or TV station, via email or DM. Then, if the media outlet is interested, they write about you.

You all know what social media is—Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, etc. Marketing, to put it simply, is the stuff you control—newsletters, social media, posters in your window, sandwich board outside on the sidewalk.

* Do I need to hire someone to do all of this?

It depends on the type of restaurant you’re opening and your budget. If your place is fancy, if you dream of having a Michelin star or Beard Award one day, if you have zero time to do your own PR, then yes. But good PR is expensive. Hiring a freelance PR person or a PR agency will run you a few thousand dollars per month (at least in NYC), and you will need to sign a multi-month or annual retainer. You can also hire a freelance social media manager or agency. A restaurant can’t get by without social media these days, so that might be a good investment. A PR person won’t necessarily do your social media for you, unless that’s part of the services they offer.

* If I do hire someone, what do I need to know?

What they charge per month, the length of their contract, their scope of work, what kind of reports you can expect, and the frequency of those reports. Don’t sign with anyone before you have an in-person meeting. These folks will be representing you and your business, so you need a vibe check. I think this is called a chemistry read in Hollywood. Make sure you have good chemistry!

Lastly, get everything in writing and read the contract. If you’re an AI user, run it through AI and ask for a summary and any red flags.

Your checklist

You’ve got this! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below.

✅ Get that website ready

Hopefully at this point, you’ve registered your domain name, have a URL/web address, and know what your website plan is. Building your own website today is easier and more affordable than ever. You don’t need a ton of bells and whistles; do not get fancy, unless you know what you’re doing. Stick to the basics: menu, hours, location, reservations, about. Call it what you want, but please do not skip the About section. So many restaurateurs leave this out for some reason. Don’t be so modest.

And don’t forget to collect email addresses from day one. Put a sign-up on your homepage, or a pop-up. They’re annoying, but they work. Unlike social media, newsletters are a form of customer communication you have control over. (At least a little control.) I found Mailchimp to be the easiest email platform to use; a lot of folks also like Klaviyo.

✅ Claim your business on Google Business Profile

This is essential. You need your place to show up on Google Maps. Make sure to keep your hours updated, or you will frustrate potential customers.

✅ Grab your social handles

As soon as you have the name of your restaurant, cafe, bakery, etc., make sure to go on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and whatever other social media outlets you love, and start an account. Don’t give someone else the chance to grab your name on social media, even if you don’t plan to use that outlet. Make sure there’s no one in your city with the same or a similar name. If there is, change your name. They got there first. (You should trademark your name, but that’s a whole other subject for another day.)

✅ Focus on Instagram

If you’re a pro at social media and think you can juggle it, that’s great. Skip ahead. But if not, I would advise that you focus on one social media outlet for now—Instagram. Your bandwidth is about to get severely stretched, so be mindful of your time. Instagram is the easiest to use, there are a billion foodies on there—literally—and you can impart a wealth of information efficiently in your profile, links, feed, and Stories. And you can crosspost to Facebook without having to create any new content. (Just go to your Instagram Settings and look for “Crossposting.”)

Also, pay attention to restaurants that do Instagram well. Start a folder on the app and save excellent posts so you can study what others do right.

✅ Don’t neglect your Instagram profile

Keep it brief, but make sure to include the essentials, especially your city or town and state. Let the algorithm help you! Sometimes, Instagram will show me an interesting restaurant I don’t already follow, and there’s no state listed, and I don’t recognize the city. Take advantage of every opportunity to get new customers.

✅ Schedule a photo shoot

You need pictures. There is no way around this. You need them for your website, social media, and newsletters, and to fulfill any media requests. Can a friend take the photos? Can you take them? Sure, but if you can afford to hire someone, go that route. Just make sure to find out the photographer’s rate, how many pictures are included in their rate, if retouching is included, and if you have full usage rights. Basically, you would like to own the photos and use them however you see fit.

Here is the starter pack of photos you will need: exterior and interior of your business, a few of the dishes on your menu, and portraits of you and the chef (together and separate, or just you if you’re chef/owner). Since a photo shoot is expensive, maximize! Bring two sets of clothing so you essentially wind up with two sets of portraits. Get ready to channel your inner supermodel. Smize.

Once you open, someone will need to take photos or video (or both) of everything on your menu, specials, cocktails, etc. If that person is you, find a spot in your restaurant with good light and start practicing. A new iPhone with updated cameras and good storage is probably a good investment.

✅ Let the restaurant platforms help you

If you’re on Square, Resy, OpenTable, SevenRooms, DoorDash, or one of the many other services restaurants have available to them these days, be sure to talk to your reps and make sure you’re taking advantage of all the extras. Can your reservations platform include you in their editorial content? Ask! Are you sending emails to customers who opt in via Square? It’s a great way to spread the word about specials and events.

✅ Acquaint yourself with local media

Before you open, find out who covers restaurants in your area. Look for any newspapers, magazines, radio programs, blogs, Substacks, social media accounts, etc. It’s probably not a bad idea to follow these folks on Instagram as well. It might get you on their radar.

✅ Pitch yourself!

When you’re ready to open, write a short and sweet email with all the particulars and pitch yourself to any and all local media you found (see above). You can also DM, but keep it brief. If you don’t get a reply to your DM or email, follow up once. Don’t be insulted if you don’t get a reply. That’s life, and inboxes are hellholes. Don’t follow up multiple times. You’ll seem desperate.

No responses at all? Focus on running a great restaurant—and double down on your social media. Folks will notice and word will spread, and the media might come to you eventually.

✅ Send an email to everyone you know

Again, when you’re ready to open, send a short, sweet, sincere email to every person you’ve ever met. Friends, frenemies, crushes, exes, old bosses, relatives you haven’t talked to in a while, everybody. Ask them to help you spread the word and to come by and support you. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. (Double-check that you’ve BCC’d everybody and not CC’d.) This is a big moment and people will want to help you. You only open once. Six months from now, the news won’t be as exciting.

✅ Do some old school marketing

Put a poster or sign in your window about your opening. Think about your windows as your billboard. Don’t go overboard with signage, but take advantage of foot traffic and passers-by. Also, introduce yourself to other business owners in the neighborhood. Most entrepreneurs like to support each other. Again, you want word of mouth.

✅ Pat yourself on the back

Good luck. You’ve got this. Team Cherry Bombe and I are rooting for you!

Questions? Comments? Let us know below.

What did I miss?

• Why Is It So Hard To Ask For Money?

• How To Find The Perfect Location For Your Restaurant

• “I’m Never Going To Open A Restaurant”

Listen (literally) to these wise women

• Lois Freedman, Co-CEO of Jean-Georges Restaurant Group

• Levain Bakery’s Cookie Queens, Pam Weekes and Connie MacDonald

• Link in Bio’s Rachel Karten: Substack Star and Social Media Expert

Tips from our foodie friends

Cherry Bombe and Square created this guide to help sharpen your focus and move forward with confidence. It’s full of insight from incredible women in dining, including Chef Missy Robbins of Lilia.

GET THE GUIDE

Today’s Eat to the Beat is experimental indie-rocker Jilian Medford, aka IAN SWEET, interviewed by . Her new album, Shiverstruck, is a synth-laden confessional, reflecting on moving out of New York and back home to L.A.

Lily: Is there a food that’s banned from the van?

Jilian: There’s nothing really banned. We’re all actually meat eaters, and every once in a while someone will take out a beef jerky stick and you’re like—even that is thumbs down. But still you got to get your fuel. I would say taking shoes off is maybe more banned than food. We all got smelly ass feet.

Lily: What did you eat on the first day of your tour?

Jilian: The first day was chaotic as hell because we flew into New York and then immediately that morning had a radio show. I’m pretty sure I just drank coffee for the first half of the day, and I had a doughnut. Usually I go for a strawberry frosted with sprinkles. That was breakfast/lunch. Then I had a solo performance at the Susan Alexandra store on the Lower East Side for Polyester Magazine, and my publicist and I went over to Dimes and got a glass of Pét-Nat and shared the salmon and it was delicious. And then I had a lot of red wine after.

Lily: Craft services hero item?

Jilian: Chocolate’s number one. And then it’s a bottle of red wine and then we have the essentials. I need some kind of sweet thing because I don’t eat a lot before a show. If we’re in Europe, I love to ask for local candy so we can try something new.

Lily: 2 a.m. drive-thru order. Go.

Jilian: Funny you ask because we did that a lot. For me, it’s going to be chicken nuggets. If it’s McDonald’s we’re getting, I honestly am a Happy Meal kind of guy. So I’ll get six chicken nuggets and fries and a perfect amount of Dr. Pepper. One night, we stopped at Cook Out, which is in North Carolina, and we all got quesadillas and milkshakes. I got a Neapolitan, which is chocolate malted, vanilla, and strawberry. I’m obsessed with Neapolitan stuff.

Lily: What did you eat today?

Jilian: My dad cut up some mango for me. I’m a weird person to ask because I have such weird eating habits in general, but then on tour it’s like I’m fueled by iced coffee. Iced coffee with a splash of whole milk in it. I’m not a fancy coffee order-er. I just want to get it straight to the veins. Literally, that’s it.

Lily: Do you have a guilty pleasure road snack?

Jilian: I don’t have a ton of guilty pleasures. I used to be much more of a candy connoisseur on tour. Anywhere we were going, I’d grab something sweet. I do really love Twizzlers. At the gas station, I randomly always go for those orange crackers that have peanut butter in them. I love those. I feel like nobody else goes for that. They’re really good.

Lily: Last great meal you had and where was it?

Jilian: Oh my God. I have a funny story. So we ended the tour in Atlanta. My mom came from L.A. because she actually had to help me drive the van back to Philly. After the show, my friends from there—I made my record in Atlanta, I love it there—they were like, “We gotta go to the Clermont Lounge,” because we were staying at the hotel that’s attached. So we went with my mom and we were all starving. I asked the bouncer if there was food inside, and he said, “No, but you can order stuff here.” So I ordered a Domino’s pizza. I thought I ordered a large. Turns out it was a small. There were 10 of us, and this pizza was literally *this* big.

Everyone’s like, “What the hell?” So I ordered Domino’s again. Something was glitching with the app and I wound up ordering a medium. It was only *this* much bigger. I kept leaving the Clermont Lounge to go meet the guy to get the pizza. There were all these strippers around us and we’re eating Domino’s and they’re asking if we want lap dances. We’re like, “Sorry, we’re just hungry—We’re exhausted.” It was very dystopian-feeling, very Lynchian. It wasn’t the best meal, but it was so funny. Although that pizza really hit in the moment.

Lily: If your sound were a food, what would it be?

Jilian: Probably soft serve—a chocolate-vanilla swirl soft serve with rainbow sprinkles dripping down your hands and you’re trying to lick it up and clean it up. It’s nostalgic, comforting, and a little messy.

IAN SWEET Live

Don’t miss IAN SWEET on her North American tour this fall in a city near you!

IAN SWEET'S LIVE TOUR DATES

Listen to IAN SWEET on:
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

Rock on

🍒 Check out our very first Eat to the Beat with Momma

🍒 Don’t miss Olivia Tiedemann, the most rock-and-roll of chefs,
at Cherry Bombe House, 9/9. Get your tickets before they sell out.

🍒 If you love all things Neapolitan like Jilian, try Sarah Kieffer’s
recipe for Neapolitan Cookies 🤎🤍🩷