The Resy Questionnaire

1. Favorite thing you’ve ever cooked?

I used to make chicken piccata for my brother after school. It was the first time I had ever cooked for anyone else.

2. Kitchen tool or equipment you couldn’t live without?

A set of grill tongs or tweezers.

3. What five culinary items would you bring on a desert island?

Peanut butter. Just that.

Photo by Brandon Harman, courtesy of Roberta’s
Photo by Brandon Harman, courtesy of Roberta’s

4. What’s your favorite place to get a slice in New York?

5. Favorite cookbook?

Popes, Peasants, and Shepherds by Oretta Zanini De Vita.

6. Your drink of choice?

Freak Flag Hazy IPA from Self Care by Three Magnets Brewing Co. in Olympia, Wash. It’s a non-alcoholic beer.

“Tortilla Italiano” made with potato and garlic. Photo by Brandon Harman, courtesy of Foul Witch
The pancake at Roberta’s. Photo by Shelby Simpson, courtesy of Roberta’s

7. Favorite food movie?

Don’t have one.

8. Which industry people, living or dead, would you love to cook for or have over for a dinner party? 

Pellegrino Artusi [author of “La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene” (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well)]  and [chef] Marie-Antoine Carême.

9. What restaurant industry person do you admire the most?

David Kinch.

10. What’s been the greatest restaurant experience of your life so far?

Dinner alone at La Grenouillère.

Sungold tomato pomodoro at Roberta’s. Photo by Shelby Simpson, courtesy of Roberta’s
Sungold tomato pomodoro at Roberta’s. Photo by Shelby Simpson, courtesy of Roberta’s

11. Your greatest professional achievement?

Being able to see people that I have worked with in the past go on to find their own success within the industry.

12. What single dish best describes your personality?

Ha. I’m pretty boring so probably something like chicken breast.

13. If you could go back in time, which restaurant would you dine at?

Not necessarily a restaurant but I would find it interesting to experience an imperial banquet during the Qing Dynasty.

14. Your favorite meal from childhood?

My grandmother used to whip egg yolk and espresso for me on Sunday mornings with a little bit of sugar. I just loved it.

15. What is your wish for the restaurant industry?

We need to do a better job of bringing in the next generation of chefs into the industry.

Photo by Brandon Harman, courtesy of Foul Witch
Photo by Brandon Harman, courtesy of Foul Witch

16. What do you wish you did better? What do you do well?

My training skills seem to always need improvement. See question 18 for what I do well.

17. If you could eat through a city for a day, where would you go?

Saigon, Vietnam.

18. The one thing you can’t resist splurging on when you go out?

Not so much in restaurants but around late June I am eating a disgusting amount of Albion strawberries. It’s scary how many I can eat in one sitting.

19. What do you value most in restaurants?

Consistency.

Carbonara from Barbuto. Photo by Jen Davidson for Resy
Carbonara from Barbuto. Photo by Jen Davidson for Resy

20. It’s your last meal on earth, what are you eating?

Carbonara.


Foul Witch is open Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m. Roberta’s (Bushwick, Domino Park, and Penn District) is open daily. 


Deanna Ting is Resy’s New York & Philadelphia Editor. Follow her on Instagram. Follow Resy, too.

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