Eat (Sandwiches), Drink & Be Literary: Rachel Kushner

Eat, Drink & Be Literary 2015, presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation, concludes this week with 2013 Guggenheim Fellow Rachel Kushner. With it comes a new batch of food, beverage, and book-related questions for our featured author. (Read responses from other EDBL writers here.)

What is your favorite sandwich?

I don’t eat sandwiches.

What is your go-to beverage?

I’m stumped by the concept of a go-to beverage.

What is your favorite Brooklyn-based novel?

While not a genre that I classify on my own, Paula Fox's Desperate Characters comes to mind. Also Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn, a beautiful book. And Hubert Selby Jr.'s Last Exit to Brooklyn impressed me a lot when I was young, especially the section called "Strike," which has intense downward and forward propulsion.

When you write, do you write by hand or on the computer (…or typewriter)?

Combination of by hand and on a computer that is more like a word processor, because it's not connected to the internet.

When you read, are you an e-book or a paper book person?

Actual book, preferably hard-bound. Many awesome first editions now available for very little money are purchased, read, shelved, kept for later.

What is your favorite Brooklyn restaurant?

I don’t know Brooklyn restaurants any more, not since I lived on Plymouth by the Navy Yard almost 20 years ago. Junior’s? Why not Junior’s?

Junior's in Downtown Brooklyn.

What is the last live performance that really moved you?

Dawn Upshaw and Crash Ensemble performing Yeats poems in a beautiful church in Kilkenny Ireland. Incredible.

Rachel Kushner will read from her most recent novel, The Flamethrowers, and talk with moderator Lorin Stein at Eat, Drink & Be Literary on Wednesday, June 10.

Eat (Sandwiches), Drink & Be Literary: Jane Smiley

Eat, Drink & Be Literary, presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation, is back this week with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jane Smiley. With it comes a new batch of food, beverage, and book-related questions for our featured author. (Read responses from other EDBL writers here.)

What is your favorite Brooklyn-based novel?

I'll say Brown Girl, Brown Stones, but what I really want to say is Tropic of Capricorn, though I read it with my hands over my eyes.

What is your favorite sandwich?

West coast, grilled ham and cheese. East coast, pastrami on rye with a bit of mustard.

What is your go-to beverage?

DIET COKE!

What is the last live performance that really moved you?

A show by Sarah Jones, Bridge and Tunnel. I think she is a genius.

When you write, do you write by hand or on the computer (...or typewriter)?

Computer.

Smiley's east coast favorite.

When you read, are you an e-book or a paper book person?

Both.

What is your favorite Brooklyn restaurant?

Whatever Barbara Grossman takes me to.

Jane Smiley will read from her most recent novel, Some Luck, and talk with moderator Lorin Stein at Eat, Drink & Be Literary on Tuesday, June 2.

Eat (Sandwiches), Drink & Be Literary: Joseph O'Neill

Eat, Drink & Be Literary, presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation, is back this week with the PEN/Faulkner Award-winning Joseph O'Neill. With a new season comes a new batch of food, beverage, and book-related questions for our featured authors. (Read responses from other EDBL writers here.)

What is your favorite sandwich?

Emmental and green olives. Neutral about the bread.

What is your favorite Brooklyn-based novel?

Pass. To answer that question would be to alienate 97% of American writers at work today.

When you write, do you write by hand or on the computer (…or typewriter)?

MacBook Air. 

A novel twist on the Emmenthal and green olive sandwich.
(Photo: Une Touche de Rose)

When you read, are you an e-book or a paper book person?

I'm papery in the extreme. 

What is your go-to beverage?

Black coffee from whichever deli is closest by.

What is your favorite Brooklyn restaurant?

Vinegar Hill House.

What is the last live performance that really moved you?

Antony and Cleopatra, at the Public Theatre in 2014, with the wonderful Jonathan Cake as Mark Antony.

Joseph O'Neill will read from his most recent novel, The Dog, and talk with moderator Deborah Treisman at Eat, Drink & Be Literary on Wednesday, April 29.

Eat (Sandwiches), Drink & Be Literary: Michael Cunningham

Eat, Drink & Be Literary, presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation, is back this week with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael Cunningham. With a new season comes a new batch of food, beverage, and book-related questions for our featured authors. (Read responses from other EDBL writers here.)

When you write, do you write by hand or on the computer (…or typewriter)? 
I write on my computer. I love my computer. I love the way the words on a computer screen occupy a halfway zone between consciousness and paper. They exist but don’t exist; they’re more than stray thoughts but at the same time they’re still just blips of light; you can push a button and POOF it’s as if they were never there at all.

What is your favorite Brooklyn-based novel? 
Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn.

When you read, are you an e-book or a paper book person? 
I’m fine with both. I love a bound book, but at the same time don’t really understand the objection to e-books. I mean, a little glowing box that holds thousands of stories? What’s not to like?

Two Shake Shack cheeseburgers (with fries). Photo: burgerdays.com

What is your favorite sandwich? 
Shake Shack cheeseburger. Twice a year.

What is your favorite Brooklyn restaurant? 
Franny’s. Or no, wait Roman’s. Or Roberta’s. Or Berlyn...

What is your go-to beverage? 
I’ve been trying for years to overcome an addiction to Diet Coke.

What is the last live performance that really moved you? 
Ivo van Hove’s production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America.

Michael Cunningham will read from his most recent novel, The Snow Queen, and talk with moderator Deborah Treisman at Eat, Drink & Be Literary on Wednesday, March 11.

Eat (Sandwiches), Drink & Be Literary: Tiphanie Yanique

Tiphanie Yanique. Illustration by Nathan Gelgud.

Eat, Drink & Be Literary, presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation, is back this week with Caribbean writer Tiphanie Yanique. With a new season comes a new batch of food, beverage, and book-related questions for our featured authors. (Read responses from last year's writers here.)

When you write, do you write by hand or on the computer (…or typewriter)?
By hand, by computer... but lately I've been sort of writing a lot in my mind. Just composing things in my head on the go... and hoping I remember them later! But also being okay with forgetting.

What is your favorite Brooklyn-based novel?
Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall.

When you read, are you an e-book or a paper book person?
Total paper. I am as analog as can be.

Pilar's grilled cheese. Photo from Serious Eats.

What is your favorite sandwich?
Grilled cheese with sweet plantains. They make it as the Cuban place called Pilar in my hood.  So good.

What is your favorite Brooklyn restaurant?
Pilar!

What is your go-to beverage?
Water, sparkling if it's available.

What is the last live performance that really moved you?
Saul Williams at BAM. My husband and I still talk about it. It was transporting and transformative.


Tiphanie Yanique will read from her most recent novel Land of Love and Drowning, and talk with moderator Lorin Stein at Eat, Drink & Be Literary on Tuesday, March 3.

Eat (Sandwiches), Drink & Be Literary: Meg Wolitzer

Illustration by Nathan Gelgud

Our sandwich series continues with author Meg Wolitzer, who joins us tonight for Eat, Drink & Be Literary.

Wolitzer penned The Interestings, one of the must-reads of 2013 that was on The New York Times best-seller list, Amazon's top pick for March, and garnered comparisons to other top novels, including the über-lauded Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen.

She outlined some of the methods she uses to find inspiration while writing a novel, including watching the movie Up, doodling, and listening to folk music.

Her go-to sandwich:

I love the house roasted turkey sandwich on a sweet semolina roll at Parm, on Mulberry Street. (And I like saying all those words...)

Parm's beautiful 'wich, available on a roll, hero, or as a platter (no bread, with sunday salad or ziti). Photo by Robyn Lee.

We spot a trend among our literary friends' sandwich preferences... keep it simple. (Does the simplicity of menu choice free up brain space for creativity? Just a thought.)

Eat (Sandwiches), Drink & Be Literary: Alison Bechdel

Illustration by Nathan Gelgud

Our sandwich series continues with author and cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who joins us tonight for Eat, Drink & Be Literary.

When it comes to sandwiches, she keeps it simple and French:

My favorite sandwich is ham and butter on a baguette. I had this for the first time on a high school trip to France, late one night in a bar. I’ve since learned that it’s called jambon beurre, and that it is the iconic French sandwich. I like its simplicity and purity. I get sandwich panic whenever I have to order a custom-made sandwich from a long list of ingredients. And ready-made sandwiches are no solution. I have stood in front of airport coolers full of complex gourmet assemblages, none of which is the exact combination I want, until my flight is called and I walk away hungry.

But of course it’s rare to find a decent jambon beurre in an airport or a sandwich shop. And though I have had many excellent ones over the years, none have quite lived up to that first one.

Le grand classique.

It's not quite the same, but Bittersweet by Fort Greene Park serves an excellent salami and butter sandwich. Feel free to share any leads on local jambon beurre purveyors in the comments!

Eat (Sandwiches), Drink & Be Literary: Daniel Alarcón

Illustration by Nathan Gelgud

In the second of our popular series on the favorite sandwiches of Eat, Drink & Be Literary authors, we present Daniel Alarcón, featured on April 23.

This Peruvian-born, Alabama-raised writer's most recent book is titled At Night We Walk in Circles.

His favorite sandwich is... drum roll please....The Cubano! ("So much meat!")

The traditional recipe for this toasty marvel contains savory roasted pork plus ham, gooey swiss cheese, crunchy pickles, pungent mustard and/or mayo, all on a grilled loaf of cuban bread.

There are infinite variations; one of the most irresistible (and, okay, pricier) versions is at The Spotted Pig. April Bloomfield's version contains slow-roasted port, thinly-sliced prosciutto, Gruyère cheese, chopped cornichons, and pickled jalapeños on crusty bread.

The Spotted Pig's Cubano.

And if you're looking for something closer to BAM, Habana Outpost boasts an award-winning Cuban sandwich.

Eat (Sandwiches), Drink & Be Literary: Alice McDermott

Here at the BAM blog, we believe in a good sandwich. It's really the perfect food—infinitely versatile, well-balanced, and usually pretty easy to make. Every culture and cuisine has its own take on the sandwich, and it can be as nostalgia-inducing or experimental as you want it to be. Plus, a person's favorite sandwich can tell you a lot about them.

As part of a new series, we're asking the writers participating in Eat, Drink & Be Literary about their favorite sandwiches, starting with tonight's author, Alice McDermott. Her response:

My favorite sandwich is lettuce and tomato on white toast with mayo and a touch of black pepper—but the tomato must be just picked and perfectly ripe, and the sandwich must be eaten outside on a summer afternoon...
 
I think Henry James would approve.



We absolutely approve.