PJH Studios

Category: Food

Food, restaurants, meals, drinks, cooking, places to eat

  • Drinking all 102 official IBA cocktails

    The International Bartender Association maintains a list of official cocktails, intending to represent different styles and flavors across the world. Adam Aaronson set out on a quest to drink all of them.

    A formative moment early in the quest came at Uncle Charlie’s Piano Lounge in Midtown with Ming and Alina. A divey gay bar with no menu? Sounded like a perfect opportunity to check off some drinks! I scanned through my list to find something simple to try and order, went up to a mustachioed bartender, and asked, “could you do a caipirinha?” He replied, “nah, we don’t have cachaça”—a reality check—and I said, “alright, I’ll just do uhhh an Aperol spritz” (one of my old reliables).

    After crushing my spritz, I went back to the same bartender. Still determined to check some boxes, I asked for a mint julep. “I’m afraid we don’t have mint,” he laughed, “you fancy boy!” Unwilling to settle for another spritz, I scurried back to Ming and Alina and asked them what to do. Alina suggested, “why don’t you just show him the list and see what he can make?”

    So that’s exactly what I did. Back at the bar, I briefly explained my mission to the bartender, handed him my phone, and he scrolled through the list. “Oh, I can do a few of these,” he said, “You’re cool with any of them?” “Yeah, whatever you can make,” I replied. Soon enough, I had a lemon drop martini in hand. (Alina tried mine and then ordered one for herself, but the bartender asked her, “Is that for your friend or you? If it’s for your friend I’ll make him something new!”)

  • The DC pizza tracker

    Domino’s has their fancy pizza tracker, allowing you to see where your order is in the process. In Washington D.C., pizzeria’s can track national security when the Pentagon orders large quantities of pizzas, especially outside of regular times.

    On Saturday, June 21, at 7:13 p.m. EST – shortly before President Donald Trump announced via Truth Social of the U.S. bunker-buster attack, Pentagon Pizza Report tracked a “HIGH activity [of sales] at the closest Papa Johns to the Pentagon.”

    @PenPizzaReport’s account is dedicated to “open-source tracking of pizza spot activity around the Pentagon (and other places).” The X handle went live last August — months before the 2024 election — and it already has over 203,000 followers.

  • Chefs sprinkle in some ChatGPT

    Chefs have started using ChatGPT as a tool to think up flavors, learn obscure cooking techniques outside of their repertoire, keep track of seasonal ingredients, and concoct plating designs. One of those chefs is Grant Achatz, of Alinea.

    Since Mr. Achatz’s first serious experiments with ChatGPT, about a year ago, it has become his favorite kitchen tool, something he used to say about Google. Its answers to his questions about paleontology and Argentine cuisine helped him create a dish inspired by Patagonian fossils at his flagship restaurant, Alinea.

    I had the opportunity to dine at Alinea last April, and this dish was served. The presentation appeared as a miniature archealogical dig, complete with tools, and while interesting, wasn’t our favorite dish

  • Discontinued food

    There’s an entire BlueSky account dedicated to discontinued food.

  • Critic asked to leave French Laundry

    It sounds like the setup for an SNL skit, big time chef (Thomas Keller) confronts a food critic (MacKenzie Chung Fegan) off the clock who just wanted a night out with friends. The critic is asked to leave, but instead partakes in an hour plus conversation about food criticism and the fine dining.

    Keller does not know what I want from him, he says, or what I am doing at his restaurant. I’m not here to write a review, I tell him honestly. My predecessor, Soleil Ho, weighed in 2½ years ago, and it’s not customary to reassess so soon after. But I eat at restaurants I’m not planning on reviewing all the time, and my credibility demands that I visit one of the most celebrated and enduringly popular restaurants in the country — helmed by one of the most powerful chefs in the world. 

  • Dining Alone

    The New York Times delves into dining alone and its experiences.

    I’ve had mostly good experiences dining alone. Good service, occasionally bad table, even got to speak with a local chef about Maryland style crab cakes.

  • MD Foodie Boyz

    “These are three middle schoolers who podcast,” Barstool Sports’ Pat McAuliffe explained in a podcast episode this week, where they attempted to book the boys for their show. “It’s an unintentional parody of what podcasts are. They’re like ‘what’s your favorite pizza,’ and then they just talk about pizza.”

    There’s something hilarious about the juxtaposition of the young boys’ extremely basic food reviews and the high quality podcast studio they’re filming in and slick editing on their clips. (Their parents have access to a podcast studio and one of their older brother’s produces the clips).

    Taylor Lorenz, Meet the MD Foodie Boyz

  • Trying all the Mountain Dew flavors

    For a long time, Mountain Dew was my vice. The green, sugary, citrus fizz delivered the caffeine kick I needed at lunch, or sometimes breakfast. I’d probably only sampled three or four from the growing endless line of flavors, some of which are regional or business exclusives.

    Geraldine DeRuiter, aka The Everywhereist, tried 21 Mountain Dew Flavors.

    Mtn Dew has a following so devoted it makes Catholicism seem like a casual hobby. Fans of the drink post photos of their collections online, bottles and cans in a Lisa Frank array of hues. I stare at a picture taken in someone’s wood paneled basement, in a subreddit specifically for Mtn Dew enthusiasts (because the internet, for all its faults, has guaranteed us this: no matter how esoteric our passions, we need never feel alone). Meticulously arranged, some have been custom made, because the beverages in question are only available in fountain drinks. Other fans weigh in, inquiring where to purchase rarer bottles. I try to understand what would propel someone to buy a stale, questionably-stored bottle of Mtn Dew from eBay.

    Three weeks later, I’m doing it myself.

  • Cheez It Snap’d White Cheddar chips

    Cheez It Snap’d White Cheddar chips are a crunchy cracker variation of Cheez Its. They offer that salty snack fix with enough flavor to satisfy, but not hang around or taste too artificial.

  • Redwood Empire Grizzly Beast Bourbon

    Grizzly Bear is a bottled in bond straight bourbon whiskey from California. At 90 proof it’s full bodied, leans on the sweeter side of bourbon with cherry, maple, and brown sugar, with a long finish.

    This is my second bottle, and definitely one of my go tos for a drink. I still need to try Redwood Empire’s other offerings, which include high rye and other blends.