Meeting Tom Colicchio
A few weeks back I was on vacation in Santa Monica and coincidentally so was Tom Colicchio. Well, he wasn’t on vaca but he was there to publicize his new book, ‘wichcraft. I got off the plane (Virgin America, which I think deserves its own discussion regarding their food) and immediately made my way to the Williams-Sonoma. And I was very excited.
Unfortunately this wasn’t a Q&A nor was he taking photos. The rather overly guarded store security only permitted for photos to be taken of him while signing. Boo!
But I have to say, this guy is a legend. He was very nice and answered my questions and he even asked me some. But he was most certainly intimidating, even sitting down.
‘Wichcraft is a collection of Tom’s and co-author Sizar Ortuza‘s favorite recipes from the restaurant of the same name, located in L.A., NYC and San Francisco. When I got back from my trip I decided to throw a couple of the sandwiches together for a boys brunch. They were indeed a hit, not that there was any doubt. Read about them after the jump…
The two sandwiches I made were:
Gorgonzola, bacon, egg and frisee on ciabtta
and
Walnut pesto, celery, avocado and lemon vinaigrette on multi-grain.
Both sandwiches were great but it’s the first one I’ll tell you about. It was the one everyone raved about. My host in L.A. actually made me this sandwich but substituted the frisee with arugula– I hope she wont mind that I copied.
Now, ES readers, I know we are bacon lovers here but the gorgonzola really was the star of the sandwich, the bacon and egg were just supporting cast. The book tells us that we could use any blue cheese but why would we: gorgonzola with bacon and egg was an awesome combination. With my limited cooking skills I’ve never thought to combine a blue cheese with a breakfast sandwich, but slap a few rashers of bacon on some bread and brown sauce and we’re good to go.
At $27 it might seem a little expensive for a sandwich cook book but it contains a vast assortment of meals on bread, something I could see myself using regularly, especially for work lunches.
I hate to talk shit about Tom Colicchio – but $27??? I mean, a cookbook about sandwiches is barely even a cookbook, right? It’s more of an assembly manual.
The walnut pesto sammy looks beautiful. So what kind of questions di you ask Tom? And, did you tell him about ES???
I tried to tell Tom about us but he wouldn’t stop talking, which was strange as my friend who was also getting her book signed said he didn’t talk much to her.
Wichcraft (the restaurant) is GARBAGE. I thought it was some awful mall-food court-type place when I went there a few months ago. Not creative and I was definitely underwhelmed by my food. Kind of bold for him to think he should write a cook book based on those menu options but I’m glad you are happy with your own rendition of his recipes!