Snack Club: Date Night
Earlier this month, I was in San Diego to see my friend (and West Wing Weekly co-host) Joshua Malina perform in the premiere of the new play “What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.” It was wonderful, funny, and thought-provoking; everyone should see it. (It's at the Old Globe Theater through October 23.)
The next day, the drive back up north to Los Angeles was slow and frustrating, full of unexpected traffic congestion, and as my ETA on the GPS kept making me yell WTF, I realized I was cranky partly because I was getting hungry. And I was reminded once again that adults are, forever, just babies that got taller.
But then — I thought of Wholesome Choice, a grocery store in Irvine that I’d recently learned about from my friend (and Home Cooking co-host) Samin Nosrat. (Look, I promise I also have friends that I don’t co-host podcasts with, but they are not a part of this story.)
Samin had told me that there was a special Persian grocery store situated halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles, and that I should go there if I ever could. And if a James Beard award-winning chef and food writer ever tells you to go to a place and eat something, it’s usually a good idea to listen. Plus, I find the easiest route to a new snack adventure is simply to go to a grocery store outside of your usual habitude.
So, I got off the 405 and found my way to Wholesome Choice. It isn’t a chain grocery store, though it’s the size of one. It’s huge. They carry all kinds of international foods, but the reason why this place holds so much significance for Samin and her family is because of their freshly-baked sangak.
Sangak, in the words of Samin, is “a dimpled, sesame-and-nigella-seed topped Iranian whole wheat flatbread named for the sang, or river stones, that line the ovens in which it’s traditionally cooked. It’s often two or three feet long and best eaten straight from the oven, when it’s chewy, soft, and crisp at the same time.”
When I walked in, the oven where they make the sangak was the first thing I saw – and smelled. The freshly-baked sangak is so popular that customers are limited to two each. I asked for one, and they folded its length in thirds and wrapped it in brown paper and put the whole package, still quite hot, in my arms. I walked around the store, nibbling on the delicious, tangy, spongy bread.
And then, while I was perusing the fresh feta in the deli case, something caught my eye: a bright green matte package (what is it about matte packaging that seems ‘fancier’?) with pistachios and dates on it. Dates covered in chocolate. Reader, I was done for.
This was everything I could want from a food adventure. Samin had sent me on this mission to experience a beautiful food memory from her childhood—and it was beautiful. And I also got to discover and indulge in some hitherto undiscovered individually-wrapped candy. Candy? I guess it counts as candy, because the dates are covered in chocolate. And it tastes vaguely like a giant Raisinet…? But not quite as sweet, because it uses dark chocolate, and the pistachios at the center give the chewy date a little bit of crunch. It isn't a centuries-old traditional recipe from the Fertile Crescent, but it was pretty good!
If you want fresh-baked sangak, you might have to travel far. But, for these chocolate-covered dates, I found the manufacturer's website, and you can order some to be shipped directly to you.
Will you tell me where I should try to have a food adventure in the following cities, on the following days in October? I have three shows in the Midwest, and I can only hope that those dates are also chocolate-covered:
Wednesday, October 26 - Chicago, IL - Sleeping Village - tickets
Thursday, October 27 - Iowa City, IA - Englert Theatre - tickets
Friday, October 28 - St. Paul, MN - Amsterdam Bar and Hall - tickets
I’ll be playing all of those shows with my friend Jenny Owen Youngs (There! A friend with whom I do not co-host a podcast! Though she does host podcasts, and our concerts do feel a little like a live podcast taping). I hope you can come to one of the shows. Feel free to bring (me) snacks.
Thank you,
Hrishikesh
PS: Did you know that little typographic break thing above (* * *) is called a ‘dinkus’? Rude!