The first sentence of the first chapter of “American Fried” lays down the gantlet:
“The best restaurants in the world are, of course, in Kansas City. Not all of them; only the top four or five. Anyone who has visited Kansas City and still doubts that statement has my sympathy: He never made it to the right places.”
Calvin Trillin’s love affair with soulful food, played out on the pages of The New Yorker, made a lot of people hungry for things they had never seen, in places they had never been.
Over the years, Trillin has celebrated boudin, Italian sausage sandwiches, Mission burritos and other foods best enjoyed standing up in the pages of The New Yorker – a magazine of such studied sophistication it would think nothing of publishing a 16-page profile of a lesser-known Bolivian cellist.
His presence was a revelation, like the first perfect oyster loaf in a New Orleans joint. He’s even published An Attempt to Compile a Short History of the Buffalo Chicken Wing.
Today, The Buffalo News published my interview of Trillin, covering topics like why he shouldn’t be considered a food writer, how he discovered Super Taste on Eldridge Street in Chinatown, and why a guy who’ll fly to Singapore to write about snacks won’t take the 7 train to Queens for dinner.
He doesn’t seem to think too much of food blogs, especially the restaurant one-upsmanship that can take place in a competitive blogging environment.
I’ve interviewed more than a few famous writers, and Trillin was among the most humble, agreeable stars I’ve ever had a chance to chat with. His collection “The Tummy Trilogy,” the News November Book of the Month, includes “American Fried,” “Alice, Let’s Eat” and “Third Helpings,” his first three books of eating articles. It’s simply a must-read for people for whom food is more than just fuel.
Pimientos de padron are one of the hankerings Trillin says he just can’t satisfy in New York City. (Photo by flickr user Greg Gladman)
5 Comments
November 6, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Good interview, man. I love the Trillin books, which formed sort of a food Torah for me with Jane and Michael Stern’s Roadfood and Goodfood. (I have an unhappy story about the Sterns which I shan’t repeat here.) Even made pilgrimage to KC. Bryant’s ribs rock.
November 7, 2007 at 7:28 am
Trillin’s photo is soo much nicer than that graphic in the News.
November 7, 2007 at 10:09 am
Fantastic review, Andrew. Now I’m hungry, and have more places to check out next time I’m in NYC.
November 8, 2007 at 12:08 pm
What a great review, Andrew. Trillin is almost as much a character as you. M
November 21, 2007 at 11:31 pm
This is great but you would have loved hearing Calvin Trillin school Alice Waters on Buffalo Wings–she said the didn’t know what they were at their lecture in San Francisco last month. But you better believe they both spoke of their love of pimientos de padron.