#37: post-GRE jubilation

How to celebrate never having to factor a binomial function ever again.

As a longtime Cherry Bombe follower, I finally applied to volunteer for their annual conference held in NYC—which essentially offers you a free ticket with a few low-lift tasks throughout the day.

The timing lined up perfectly: it was the weekend after I finished the GRE and right before my birthday, so it was an unrestricted excuse to treat myself to a week in the city and many meals with my favorite people.

NYC roundup

These three spots perfectly capture a fraction of what is simply out of reach in DC: hyper-regional Korean seafood dishes, New Orleans cuisine with a side of whimsy, and decadent (but worthwhile) Italian fare.

Ariari

Korean food is so much more than the fiery red stews and sizzling meats that we often associate with hotpot and Korean BBQ. Ariari plays with the wide range of Korean seafood dishes from the region of Busan.

Dinner started off strong with the scallop DIY gimbap, which is delicately sliced and arranged in a half shell alongside tart apple kimchi, mayo, crispy garlic, spicy sauce, nori-dusted rice, and seaweed sheets. This goes beyond a perfect bite. Buttery, rich scallops get a kick of spicy raw apples, creamy mayo, crunchy garlic chips, and a tiny spoonful of rice all wrapped into a sheet of seaweed.

The spicy baby octopus wades in a decadent pool of crab bisque and is then doused in sweet and spicy gochujang and charcoal mayo. The bisque alone could be flying off the expo. Hands down our favorite bite of the night.

The party continues with crab bibim-myeon. Glassy noodles are tossed in doenjang, sweet crab meat, shrimp, salty tobiko, and simmered zucchini, leading to a very messy but rewarding slurp.

Finishing with duck bulgogi is not for the weak. Tender, sliced, and marinated in gochujang, the duck sizzles fajita-style on a hot stone with bean sprouts. Simple and tasty, but hard to outcompete its predecessors.

We shared a lovely bingsoo-style dessert with candied pecans before promptly being asked to leave our table after only an hour and 15 minutes. New York, babes!

Strange Delight

It seems impossible for anything led by Chef Ham El-Waylly to be mediocre. His aptly named restaurant in Fort Greene is home to all things New Orleans seafood culture, which is just a small sliver of his extensive repertoire—including being a new cookbook author!

The space and menu quite literally exude delight. Nothing is taken too seriously, but the care and technique behind these dishes are hard to ignore.

I will be recreating an inferior version of the smoked salmon dip with fried saltines sprinkled with Old Bay seasoning this summer. There’s no world in which this staple does not rip.

Brown butter crudo with lemon segments and chives makes for a layered bite of toasted fat, zingy citrus, and delicate fish, quickly pulling you in a few different directions before they meld into a beautifully cohesive bite.

The fry basket sampling of crispy gems might rival the latest girl dinner of caesar salad and fries: cod, shrimp, green tomato, and crispy Old Bay-tossed fries. It’s made for two girls to hover over the basket and yap about people from high school.

Babbo

Full disclosure, this was a big treat meal, courtesy of my dear friend’s family who thankfully stockpiles Stephen Starr gift cards. So, if you’re rattled by the sheer opulence of this meal, well…same.

Babbo is everything that you would hope for a white-tablecloth Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village to be. Hiding quietly in a beautiful brownstone, the space reveals a two-story dining room connected by a dramatic staircase with a majestic spread of breads and bottles of wine taking center stage. It’s aloof and a little saucy, with the familiar warm blanket of early 2000s alt rock lulling you into the meal.

We start off with tomato martinis, followed by fresh bread and stracciatella cheese, and a shaved celery caesar salad with crunchy bread batons (specifically not croutons).

The dramatic, chilled glass vessel is the only appropriate pedestal for the crudo trio: fluke crowned with tomato and Sicilian olive oil, caper-cured trout dotted with stracchino and dill, and ruby red tuna. Angel hair pasta is glossed in a spicy, tomato butter sauce with generous chunks of sweet crab.

The real star is the veal marsala, which is apparently leaving the menu soon. The bone-in cut is seared and served with a devious black truffle foie gras jus, topped with maitake mushrooms: sinfully savory. Our server admitted they just don’t make enough margins on a dish with such expensive ingredients. Lucky us to be graced by this one.

Cherry Bombe Jubilee!

Despite the chilly and rainy Saturday, Jubilee 2026 was a blast.

The organizers adamantly encourage volunteers to pop into different panels, try vendor samples, and take advantage of all the merch. Sample highlights included plant-based caviar from Pearle Caviar, popcorn tossed in beef tallow and Tajín from Marianne’s, and Via Carota craft cocktails.

Working the registration desk, I geeked out while checking in speakers like Nasim Lahbichi, carla lalli, Ella Quittner, and many other icons that I parasocially worship.

We love to see successful women building an easier launchpad for fellow ambitious women in food and bev. Whether kickstarting new products, mainstreaming career opportunities in private cheffing, or sharing free resources that restaurateurs and recipe developers didn’t know they needed—this network is making the leap into this challenging industry a little less scary.

I left metaphorically and physically full with a swag bag stuffed with goodies from Ghirardelli, Burlap and Barrel, California Prunes, and many more.

DC honorable mentions

April brought lots of fabulous treats in the DMV area.

• Thai Ghang Waan (Springfield, VA): My girls are my girls because our ideal Friday night is driving out to northern Virginia to peruse an Indian grocer then getting a giant Thai spread in the same shopping center. I ate as much spicy crispy pork belly with fried basil as humanly possible. We ended the evening with a gulab jamun nightcap from the Pakistani bakery a few doors down. Sigh, I love northern Virginia.

• Elephant Jumps (Falls Church, VA): Yet another lauded Thai restaurant in northern Virginia tucked away in the corner of a shopping center. We shared an order of yum hua plee, an incredible salad with shrimp, chicken, lime, roasted coconut meat, fried shallot, mint, coconut milk, and chili sauce. Phenomenal doesn’t even begin to describe it. And then a rich khao soi noodle soup with a crispy duck leg for only $15?? Get out of town!!!

• Union Market girls day: March was not cute to us. A wee treat excursion in early April rapidly devolved into a treat yourself day with the girls. We collectively inhaled chicken pitas with whole hash browns at Yellow and then sifted through a rummage sale outside Vintage Vintage Vintage. After puttering around Salt and Sundry, three sixty in La Cosecha, and Best Kitchen Supply, we capped off the day with the most perfect drink to ever exist, the Cocomotion at Cotton and Reed. When you order this bright-green frozen elixir, it immediately sparks a chain reaction at the bar. Strangers will stop you in your tracks to ask “what is THAT?” — gifting you the highest honor of introducing them to the best drink in the swamp.

• Love Makoto bottomless brunch buffet: After spending a Saturday night dancing like absolute freaks at Wonderland Ballroom, we desperately needed this opportunity to refuel. We rolled in squad deep with our 8 besties to the happiest place on earth, the bottomless brunch buffet at Love Makoto. For $65, you are released to consume unlimited sushi, fried snacks, soups, salads, and seared meats galore—a bottomless brunch actually worth your time.

That’s all for this one. Hope you’re hungry for the next one to come sooooon :)

Xoxo,

Merry

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