Fried chicken sandwich with hot pepper jelly and goat cheese. Potlikker in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. My journey of discovering restaurants serving fried chicken sandwiches had led me to Potlikker in South Williamsburg. Williamsburg is becoming THE destination for all things fried chicken (Allswell, Sweet Chick, The Commodore, Pies 'N' Thighs).
Tumblr continues to amaze me with the number of great looking food blogs and it's super nice to have a dedicated section for food blogs. I've been following Khue Ly's blog for a while now. It's really not that hard to get lost in her blog. It's like an endless waterfall of deliciousness floating (or scrolling) in front of your eyes.
Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? When I'm taking picture of food, I want to re-create the vibe of the scenario around me, and also how appealing and attractive the dish is. Not every food is presented well, but I believe each has their own unique charm that makes people just want snatch and eat it right away. I want to bring that out by my photos.
Q. What is it about food that makes you want to photograph it? Food photography is not the same as portrait which you can capture the emotions/actions of people and able to make other to feel sympathize. Yet, at least, those photos help to bring back my little moments. It can be a story of an ordinary dinner back home embraced by family's love or is able to remind me of an old café that I always visited whenever I was a teenager.
Q. What is photography to you? It is a rough sketch of my life and also an outlet for my emotions. I unexpectedly came to photography when I was 15 years old, not having any specific hobbies but eating street food. While browsing randomly I stumbled to a great food photographer's page on Flickr that really captivated my attention. His photos are so vividly beautiful that make me also want to take such photos myself. And the more photos that I took, the greater my love for photography, especially food. Nowadays, whenever I struggle or have an uneasy mood, searching up for a new food spot, taking the food photos, and even processing them afterwards made me completely forget about that downturn. Last but not least, as I am living away from my family, every photo recalls me of my family, friends, people that I have met during my life, or a special event. It heals my homesickness, I'd like to call it a ticket to the past" as inspired from my favourite book.
Q. What inspires you? The story behind the dish, a secretive traditional recipe passed through generations or the chef's attempt to create a new taste blending dimensions of two different cultures. As a lover of travelling, whenever I go to a place, I want to try out their local food, which I believe could tell me not only the cuisine but also the people and other characteristics of the place I am going to. For example, before moving to Toronto to study, I never believed that Canadians have any special culinary culture at all, as compared to Vietnam, my home country. But somehow as I live here longer, my perception was changed, Toronto and the variety of special fusion dishes surely exhibits its unique multi-cultural side.
Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? First, Rick Poon - my most influential photographer that brings me to this field. His photos are amazing. I also visit Kate Quinn Davies, Bonnie Tsang, Hugh Forte and his wife's cook blog to satisfy my food-photo's obsession.
Q. Best meal so far in 2013? A small birthday dinner with my close friends, a cozy meal is all I want for this long winter.
All photos courtesy of Khue Ly.
- When I was about 4 or 5, I almost got abducted by an old man.
- First movie, I remember seeing in a theater was Rambo: First Blood.
- In first grade, I tried to impress a girl by being a smart ass. It did not turn out well.
- Visited Tokyo for the first time in 1985 and my dad told me it was OKAY to slurp my noodles. That made me happy.
- I hated it when my mom made scrambled eggs over toast before going to school every morning. But I couldn't get enough of it when she made it during the weekends. Yeah I'm weird. (She sure made a lot of scrambled eggs over toast.)
- We had a 12 inch fake Christmas tree on our dining table in Hong Kong, during Christmas.
- In Hong Kong, I lived on the 5th floor, door 4D.
- I once almost climbed out the window.
- My parents fed me "fat kid water" cause I was too skinny.
- In 4th grade, I tried out for the talent show. My thing was lip-synching Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson. I practiced in front of a mirror.
- In 6th grade, I was in choir and in band. I played the clarinet.
- My mom introduced me to steamed turnip cakes when I was 11. Still prefers fried ones.
- Last day of school, my aunt didn't know it was a half day and was late in picking me up from school. I had no idea what to do so I dragged my school project about 5-6 miles home. I was in 3rd grade.
- I had a crush on Jenny in 5th grade. She kept taking my pens.
- My aunt loves astronomy. She taught me how to look at the stars and bought me a book about astronomy. Then I thought about becoming an astronomer, I was in 7th grade.
- When I was young, my mom would make spaghetti with meat sauce and tiny hot dogs with pineapple chunks on toothpicks for my birthdays. I kind of miss that.
Last week I trekked out to Bushwick to have brunch with few friends. We went to Mama Joy's, close to the Jefferson stop on the L. Brunch. The concept of brunch is pretty new to me. Well new like 6 years new. When I used to live in LA, we go to dim sum on the weekends and that technically is brunch. But dim sum, for some reason, didn't equal to me having brunch. Even when I moved to New York in 2003 for grad school. I mostly spent my weekends at school, doing work. Brunch was a sandwich at the local deli.
I didn't really get into brunch until I moved to Brooklyn in 2006. I can see why some would hate brunch. French toasts, pancakes, eggs Benedict, mimosa, 2 hour long waits...etc. Though for me brunch isn't so much about finding the best places for French toasts and wait 2 hours for it. Brunch for me is, alright, I had a long work week and it's time spent with friends, catching up and all. I will stay away from popular places, crowded places. Mama Joy's was good. Local spot, causal and it's sort of a place where you linger a bit. It helps that their house mimosa is PBR and oj ($2)!
