I can't count the number of times that I've stopped and started this column, putting it on pause to deal with other pressing matters regarding The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's food and dining coverage, as we continue to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic. As I finally sit down to write, this story is two days overdue — and it happens to be Easter.
It doesn’t feel like Easter. It’s feels like we’re still in one long, weird Groundhog Day kind of Lent.
However, on this holiest and most celebratory day for Christians, I’m determined to stay positive and hopeful, even though most of us are parked inside our houses instead of packing church pews. For a good laugh, I watched the 2009 comedy “The Hangover” as well as the April 11 “Saturday Night Live” at-home edition. What an amazing feat of imagination and ingenuity — and moments of hilarity (the Zoom office meeting sketch and Ego Nwodim’s Crayola marker makeup tutorial, in particular).
I realize that I can’t take away bad news, but I can bring you news to put a smile on your face. So, today, I figured I’d share snippets from the Atlanta food community — including from you, our readers — that made me smile during this time of uncertainty.
First, it seems that a lot of you are enjoying our new Atlanta Orders In series. These are weekday installments in which fellow dining critic Wendell Brock and I check in with area restaurants to learn about the challenges operators and their staffs are facing. The series also serves as a guide to ordering takeout and delivery. After we featured Arnette's Chop Shop in Brookhaven, co-owner Michel Arnette sent me this note:
These are, without doubt, very trying times for everyone. We feel so fortunate that Brookhaven has embraced us all these years. It is remarkably evident now, as our neighbors have flocked to support our staying in business during the dining restrictions and stay at home orders. … We worked throughout the years to ingratiate ourselves to our community. It's very heartfelt and rewarding to see how the neighbors have rallied around us.
Every restaurant owner that I speak with echoes Arnette's appreciation for community support. Andre Gomez of Porch Light Latin Kitchen couldn't say gracias enough times to his patrons in Smyrna. The last word Gomez said to me before I left his restaurant was "seguimos." It means, "we'll continue." The Puerto Rican native has the fortitude to do the loco takeout thing, in part, because of all of you who continue to order food, buy gift cards and add to GoFundMe pots.
Your support is also what is inspiring folks like me right now. Journalists in the AJC’s newsroom, and newsrooms across the country (some of which are getting trimmed to skin and bones), are not frontline health care workers, restaurant employees or grocery store clerks and cashiers. The majority of what we do can be accomplished at home, or from a safe distance. Yet, the news cycle is a 24/7 bear. Interviews, in particular, are emotionally draining. I hear the cracking or pause of a voice on the other end of the phone line, the voice of yet another person trying to get a grip, because their livelihood and that of their employees has been upended.
When my breakdown moments happen, I sometimes look to reader letters to keep me going.
Here are a couple of recent notes that were especially heartening:
On the Atlanta Orders In series:
This change to reporting takeout restaurants from the former restaurant reviews is BRILLIANT. This is certainly the kind of news and information we need now. Thank you, and thank the AJC for valuable/interesting reporting.
— Jessica Linden
On the weekly Kitchen Curious recipe column in the Food section, which has turned its focus to quarantine cuisine:
“Thanks so much for helping us out. I had eaten 2 meals from a rotisserie chicken and still had leftovers. Your suggestion and recipe for the North African stew looks good. Haven’t tried it yet. I appreciate your caring about us at home.
— Paula Gruskin
And, then there are the dozens of letters from readers suggesting restaurants that they want to see featured, because these eateries matter to them, like Joy Boling and her affinity for Fagan’s Biscuit Barn in Cumming:
Fagan’s has always been a source of comfort food. It is even more comforting during this time. Fried chicken, collards, hashbrown casserole, banana pudding … Even their iced tea is better than what I make at home. They are offering drive-through and pickup services, and are also offering pickup family dinners.
We love this place so much that my son had his wedding rehearsal dinner there. I would love to see them featured. They are trying very hard to keep their employees working, and I would like to give them support.
And then there was the letter from Sabra Cohen, who’s been cleaning out old emails and photos:
I found some soup recipes my daughter had emailed me in May, 2014, when she lived in Dubai, UAE. The reason this is even more significant now is she became very ill (in) October, 2016, and has declined ever since. Coming across her soup recipes that she emailed me so long ago filled my heart, but also filled my eyes with tears. Nevertheless, having them comforts me, and when I make the soups, I will feel a connection with her. Her daughters, my granddaughters, are learning to cook now, too, and the soups will be very special for them to make, because their mom, my daughter, can no longer cook. We all will return her act of love and kindness in feeding us in 2014 by feeding her her own recipes all these years later! My daughter can’t type anymore, either, so the 2014 email with the recipes is priceless.
If I had not been homebound, I may have not come across these recipes again for a very long time, and, because of isolation and not seeing her, her soups help with the loneliness.
Because of Sabra and other readers sending notes about their “blessing in disguise” home-cooking experiences during the coronavirus crisis, we have decided to begin a new installment called Community Cooks. Longtime AJC food and beer writer Bob Townsend will curate the column. Look for Community Cooks to debut in the Living & Arts Dining section on April 26.
Stay safe. Be well. Wash your hands. And smile.
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