On the Menu: Deviled Eggs Have Taken Over
The retro favorites are popping up everywhere from Maine to Wisconsin, and come with fancy accoutrements like caviar and smoked paprika mayo.
Welcome to the weekend! This is our first issue of the fall and as cookouts transition to tailgates and linens are swapped for sweaters, we’re writing about some simple pleasures. Here’s what you’ll find in today’s newsletter:
On the Menu: Deviled eggs are one of our favorite snacks; here are some we love.
Weekend Reading List: Remembering a bartending legend, the New York Times list of the 50 best restaurants in America, and more.
The Order: Our favorite burrito in Nashville is as simple as it gets.
Featured Field Guide: How to download your complimentary copy of our digital dining guide to Portland, Maine.
No matter what American city you’re in, it seems like chefs and bartenders are embracing a certain era of nostalgia lately, with menus reading like we’re at a 1965 cocktail party (to be clear, we are here for this). On the drinks side, classic martinis are happening in a big way, and every day I see menus with some combination of shrimp cocktail, pimento cheese, olives, and deviled eggs.
That last one is particularly popular right now, and we’re inclined to order them anytime we see them (deviled eggs were one of the first foods I ever made by myself, thanks to the American Girl cookbooks!). Pickled eggs have long been a bar snack, but chefs these days are incorporating all sorts of fun add-ins and toppings. And not only are all these versions delicious, they are excellent with a martini.
Babas on Cannon, Charleston, South Carolina
When in Charleston, Babas is part of our daily rotation, and it’s in no small part due to these deviled eggs. An order comes with soft-boiled eggs sliced across the middle and available neat, with caviar, or deviled. The deviled is an oeuf mayo topped with a layer of smoked paprika mayonnaise and finished with salt flakes and more paprika. They’re so simple and tasty, I’ve made them at home a few times. 11 Cannon St, Charleston, SC 29403
Portland Hunt & Alpine Club, Portland, Maine
The Lil’ Devils at this great cocktail bar are the perfect drinking snack. They have a great mix of textures and come loaded with trout roe, sesame seeds, and scallions. Harissa adds some heat. 75 Market St, Portland, ME 04101
Clancy's Restaurant, New Orleans, Louisiana
There are many reasons to visit this old-school French-Creole institution, and the deviled eggs remoulade are one. With remoulade sauce mixed into the yolks and piped into the whites, these are available on their own or as an enhancement to the shrimp remoulade. 6100 Annunciation St, New Orleans, LA 70118
Turn Key, Madison, Wisconsin
This Madison spot serves the Party Time Relish Tray, a fun take on the Wisconsin classic. It features a rotating selection of bites like the deviled egg dip, whipped deviled egg filling, which is perfect for dunking veggies, house potato chips, or pickles. (Read my story on fancy relish trays in Plate). 1344 E Washington Ave, Madison, WI 53703
Agi’s Counter, Brooklyn, New York
We had a delightful brunch at Agi’s featuring sugared grapefruit, a tuna melt, and deviled eggs. The latter are on the menu as “green devils” thanks to loads of dill and chives, an herby oil, and a pickle slice garnish. Accent them further with anchovies and hot sauce. 818 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11225
Raise a Glass for Murray: The bartending community lost a legend last week. Seattle’s Murray Stenson, who re-popularized the Last Word, passed away at age 74.
shared some memories of Stenson in his Substack newsletter, .Keeping Up with the Times: The editors of the New York Times compiled a list of the 50 restaurants that excite them most right now. The list includes some favorites like Daisies in Chicago as well as new hotspots like Brochu’s Family Tradition in Savannah.
Leave Your Worries on the Doorstep: There’s nothing better than the first day of vacation. And nothing worse than the last. In Conde Nast Traveler, Matt Ortile asks, “How can I minimize the stress and anxiety I feel when returning from a trip or a vacation?”
— Compiled by Kenney Marlatt
A Simply Perfect Burrito
NASHVILLE, TENN. — When we rolled into Nashville recently, after grabbing crustburgers and chicken on a stick (Four Corners Chevron forever!) at Sean Brock’s Joyland, we headed over to Chopper, a robot-themed tiki bar (you read that right). Alongside our mai tais and Lost Lakes, we snagged a few snacks from the Maiz de la Vida food truck parked outside the bar.
Julio Hernandez, a semifinalist for the James Beard emerging chef award this year, runs this truck, which is a fixture outside Chopper. Hernandez, who cut his teeth in New York working for chefs like Jean-Georges Vongerichten, serves quesabirria with beef bone marrow consommé, striped bass tacos with Topo Chico batter, and hashbrown quesadillas on tortillas he makes with heirloom corn from Mexico.
The tortillas and quesabirria were terrific, but it was the simple $6 bean and cheese burrito that we kept talking about. They’re available only on the weekends and only from the truck and not Hernandez’s Maiz De La Vida Tortilla Shop. With mashed beans and melted cheese wrapped up inside the housemade flour tortilla, it was full of earthy, buttery flavors, and came with salsa for dunking: simple and perfect.
1100 B Stratton Ave, Nashville, TN 37206
It’s the last week of September, which means it’s your last chance to get all our picks for Portland in our Field Guide. Our digital dining guides are formatted for your phone and are the perfect companion on your next road trip. Head over to our website and use the promo code LOBSTERROLL when you download the guide.
A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS
The Danforth, a Nice Little Neighborhood Bar
This week, we had planned to run a cover story talking with Alex Day, one of the owners of The Danforth in Portland, Maine. Day is perhaps best known for his work with the cocktail bar Death & Co., and is the co-author of several beautiful cocktail books. But his latest project was a neighborhood cocktail bar and restaurant in his adopted hometown.
“I think Portland would celebrate a Death & Co., one that’s similar to the other locations,” Day told us. “But as I got to know the city better, I wanted to do something a little different. We wanted to put much more emphasis on the food and create a space that was not just for drinking late in the evening, but one that could be a little airier and more welcoming. There’s something convivial about the space being bustling at 4pm as people come in and then transition into a proper meal.”
We ordered pigs in a blanket with spicy mustard, a big Caesar salad, and a cheeseburger with malt vinegar aioli, along with a few rounds of cocktails, including the Monarch Martini, with Old Tom gin, manzanilla, and pineapple. We looked forward to returning when we’re next in town.
But the Danforth closed its doors last weekend.
“Shutting down a business is painful,” Day wrote on Instagram, “but more than anything, upending the lives of this team — every single one who brings passion to every shift — is gutting.”
In August, we wrote about Wells Provisions, a New Orleans-inspired cafe and market in rural Massachusetts. While the idea was a success, the owners have decided to bring the business to an end to focus on catering and pop-up events.
“Even we have been surprised by how far people are willing to drive for a cup of gumbo and a plate of Andouille sausage hash,” owners Levi and Wesley Janssen shared on Instagram. “But success takes its toll and when you have a young family it’s pretty much impossible to balance taking care of your kids (not to mention ourselves) and taking care of running service.”
This is a tough industry. Even without the struggles of the past few years, running a bar or restaurant is never a sure thing. With luck, experienced owners and devoted regulars can combine to build lasting local institutions. But sometimes that same story can come to an early end, leaving a shuttered storefront, fondly remembered.
So we take this news as a reminder that all good things must come to an end. But, as Day wrote, we should feel lucky that for a moment we got to experience “the magic that are bars or restaurants, our homes away from home.”
— Amy Cavanaugh and Kenney Marlatt
We’ll be back next week. Want more from American Weekender? Follow us on Instagram @americanweekender.