Page 68 - Esquire - USA (Winter 2020)

is the most exciting culinary movement in the world. Kwame
Onwuachi—who came back from early failure to score big with his
cooking at Kith/Kin and the publication of his essential memoir, Notes
from a Young Black Chef—has become a leader in an ongoing
conversation about where we’ve come from and where we’re headed.

No.

T H E J I D O R I 4 No.
C H I C K E N AT
B O N T E M P S I N
LO S A N G E L E S .
5

No. The name means “good times” in

3 French, of course, and what’s impressive

about Bon Temps is that you can interpret
that however you want. Come by in the
morning and score a pain au chocolat that
Pizzeria Beddia would probably snatch a
makes you moan. Drop in as the sun goes
spot on this list for the mere fact that it has a party
down and kiss a crudité martini (somehow it room where you can throw down with magnums
involves the essence of cucumbers and of wine and a “hoagie omakase experience,” as You’re likely to
snap peas, and there’s a cute carrot the place advertises it. (Am I dreaming?) But even come across words
balancing on the rim) while you opt for a if you simply dine with the regular crowd, chef like ogbono and egusi
Joe Beddia’s geeked-out approach to cheese- on the menu at Benne
second helping of the blue prawns with the and-crust mastery (a recent summer pie involved on Eagle, and that’s
crispy, salty heads or the ethereal micro-tart New Jersey peaches and a garlic-thyme cream), because it celebrates
that pairs a cloud of uni custard with a on-the-nose appetizers like a bowl of Judion the debt that Appala-
quenelle of caviar. You could easily conjure beans bathing in olive oil, and a gently curveballing chian food owes to
wine list mean that you will only fail to enjoy your African cuisine. But
a full meal from the canapés alone, relishing
dinner if you happen to be dead inside. with rising star Ash-
the way Lincoln Carson brings a pastry leigh Shanti working
chef’s mind-set to savory nuggets like the side by side in the
tomato tartare and the chicken liver puff, but kitchen with Asheville
luminary John Fleer,
then you’d miss all the other stuff he excels at. I N S I D E
P H I L LY ’ S the history lesson hap-
(We mean this as a compliment: Bon Temps P I Z Z E R I A pens to be delicious.
B E D D I A .
is a restaurant with multiple personalities.) Deviled eggs are con-
Go all in at night: a whole Jidori chicken, verted into a dip for
crudités; chicken
risotto thickened with bone marrow, a
wings (above) turn
chocolate soufflé with Chartreusey ice cream absurdly tender after
riding shotgun. The magic of Carson’s all- a braise in pot likker,
purpose downtown atelier is that it’s serving the liquid you get after
food as luxurious and meticulous as anything you cook collard
greens. Come back in
in Paris or Tokyo but it’s doing so with a
the A.M.—there is no
sprezzatura breeziness that makes the whole better breakfast than
experience feel like a day at the beach. trout and grits.

60 I L L U S T R A T I O N S B Y L O U I S E P O M E R O Y