A delayed filing from the road.

Dec 04, 2021

Hi there, friends.

This is a grossly tardy filing of “A Small, Simple Thing” this week, because I was traveling to NYC with my family and I came down with some crazy viral infection. My doctor tells me it was either something I ate, or stress. I said, “Um, I’ll take stress for 500, Alex.”

I’m on the mend, but it knocked me down a bit this week. Thanks for sticking with me.

Some NYC highlights below:

We were in NYC visiting the garment district - Erin and I are starting a small women’s clothing line called E.M. Reitz. She is calling on her 20-plus years experience in clothing design, and I am calling on my 20-plus years experience of wading into new things I have no clue about.

We were there to review early fit samples, making final notes before seeing the finished samples in the actual fabrics. It’s an extremely elegant line of women’s wear - shirts, dresses, skirts - with an emphasis on architecture, drape and function. Beautifully constructed, lots of pleats, pockets where you need them, and sewn in fabrics traditionally used in menswear suiting and shirting.

It was a short trip, and we wanted to see some of our favorite spots like King, Raoul’s, Via Carota, and Altro Paradiso.

We did make time, however, for the newly opened Commerce Inn from the team behind Via Carota, Buvette and I Sodi.

Jody Williams (one half of the duo that leads these incredible spots) went to college in Kentucky not far from my own alma mater. She was a Centre College, in the heart of Kentucky Shaker country. That experience of the Shaker design and their approach to food (simple, vegetable heavy, honest) influenced her in an outsized way, and it’s all on display at Commerce Inn. (If you’re interested in the Shakers, Ken Burns has a great documentary about them; it’s wonderful.)

The restaurant is at the edge of the West Village, on Commerce Street. The quiet street is a film set in waiting, and the dining room and tavern of Commerce Inn are truly a step back in time: plaster walls and wooden shaker pegs make up the extend of the decor. I’m actually shocked it isn’t lit by candles. (I loved this quiet, peaceful surrounding, an antidote to the showy, made-for-Instagram dining rooms of so many new joints.)

The food was fantastic. A few highlights below:

The pumpkin and lard was a roasted squash dish laden with charred onion and bits of pork fat, curly from a pass over the fire. It was unabashed in its rusticity, and supremely pleasing on a cold night.

I love a dish that promises so little on the plate, and delivers so much on the palate. These were cod cakes - simple, straightforward, and refined.

The oyster prep of the year, for me: Bread and Butter Oysters. These oysters were pickled so slightly in a bread and butter brine - piquant and sweet, they’re my next “make at home” project.

Holiday party season is upon us.

I love this time of year: getting dressed up, seeing friends, drinking bubbly wines.

My wife and I are going to a party this evening and the dress code is Black Tie. Many folks I know would shudder at the thought, but when I got married in 2016, I had a great tuxedo made by New Orleans based clothier George Bass, knowing there would be a myriad of opportunities to wear it in the future, especially in a town like Charleston.

Back then, I couldn’t stand the thought of renting a tuxedo. I wanted something that was special, and that I could have forever. It’s dark navy with black lapels. I’ve always loved when people tell me that black and dark navy don’t go together - it’s an immediate chance to see that someone has no idea what they are talking about.

Stay tuned to you inbox on Tuesday. I’ll be sharing my great-grandmother’s Eggnog Recipe. She claimed it was George Washington’s recipe, and I wasn't one to insist otherwise. In fact, as members of the National Society of Washington Family Descendants, I’d say there’s probably some truth to the claim!

It’s a holiday tradition at our house. A two day process that yields a result that is absolutely knockout delicious. This will be for paid subscribers only - see you there.