Grub Street Diet: Steak Diane

"Stopped at Hatch’s Fish Market in Wellfleet on the way out to pick up some of their kippered salmon. It is the best I’ve ever had. It feels sacrilege to say this, but it’s even better than the kippered salmon at Russ & Daughters. We also picked up Portuguese muffins for tomato sandwiches, which are like a larger and slightly sweeter English muffin."

"For lunch, we stopped at Anthony’s Seafood in Middletown, Rhode Island. Had clam chowder (solid!), onion rings (have you ever met an onion ring you didn’t like?), a stuffed quahog (this was new to me — basically just a clam shell filled with stuffing — a taste of Thanksgiving on a 96-degree day!), coleslaw, and a lobster roll."

"Eight hours later, back in the city. Dropped our stuff off, said hi to the cat, and headed to the West Village for my friend Josh’s birthday party at Julius."

"Got to the area a little bit early so popped into Bar Pisellino for a ’tini — my order is always vodka, a whisper dirty. I’m currently working on a martini guide to NYC and presentation wise the ’tini at Pisellino is one of the best — the silver tray! The sidecar on crushed ice! The olives nestled atop said crushed ice! Swoon."

"Returned rental car from Cape Cod trip. Gabe headed to the Fort Greene farmer’s market (his bliss, not mine — too many kids and dogs!)."

"I headed to Russ & Daughters at the Navy Yard. Sesame bagel toasted, scallion cream cheese, lox, capers, onions. Pint of whitefish for the week. Iced coffee with half-and-half and a few black-and-white cookies."

"Headed uptown early in the evening to have a ’tini at Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle before my friend Honora’s birthday, which was also uptown."

"Dinner was at Deux Amis, a French restaurant in Turtle Bay. It would be generous to call the food mediocre and they were out of frites (seems criminal!), but the vibes were absolutely right. Order was a martini, shared moules marinieres (no frites!), shared beet salad and onion tart (intricate Balsamic reduction sauce work on the plates). Entrée was roast chicken with a potato gratin."

"Got out of bed early-ish (for a Sunday) and biked over to KIT (formerly Meme’s Diner, RIP). They were hosting a pop-up of Zoe Kanan, a baker I follow on Instagram. She makes incredible doughnuts and this was my first time having them. A strawberry tomato ribbon doughnut on a stick and a coconut-crunch mochi doughnut."

"Early evening I headed to Achilles Heel to meet up with my friend Natasha. Not only is Natasha an incredible pastry chef (she does a series of pop-ups around the city called Never Ending Taste — not to be missed!) but she is also a talented artist who illustrated a scarf that we’ll be selling alongside my home textile collection. We chatted and had a ’tini and watched the sunset. Achilles Heel has the best sunset view."

"Left Natasha and in keeping with the Tarlow theme, headed to Diner. Glass of pet nat, shaved summer squash salad, cheeseburger medium rare, and peach-pit panna cotta with blueberries and apricot. Diner is a favorite of mine and I seem to go at least once every couple of weeks. There’s always a table and a friendly face and a warm vibe to greet you and the martini and burger are always perfect."

"A cappuccino and then tomato toast. For coffee, I go to Saraghina Bakery half the time..."

"...and then there’s this other place around the corner, Odd Fox, that I go to the other half."

"Headed into the city to do a bunch of errands. Stopped at Deluxe Green Bo for lunch: scallion pancake, spicy wontons with peanut sauce and chili oil, General Tso’s chicken, and a Coke."

"Called my friend Bari (of nearby Baz Bagel) and she sent me to the Sant Ambroeus Gelateria. I got pistachio in a cone and it did not disappoint."

"I was seeing a dance performance at Little Island so I headed to Pastis to meet my friend Kindall for aperitivi beforehand. A spritz, fries, oysters, and shrimp cocktail and then I rushed over to Little Island to meet Gabe for the performance."

"After the performance, we met up with our friend Sophia and carried out our weekly tradition of what we call Hot Pasta, which is basically our quest to try every red sauce place in Little Italy, for now, and I guess we’ll branch out to the other neighborhoods when we’ve accomplished that. Our spot was Emilio’s Ballato, and the order was a ’tini, Caesar salad, spaghetti pomodoro, and tiramisu. The food was pretty solid for the red-sauce Italian genre and we sat under a picture of Gwyneth Paltrow."

"Final stop on the Steak Diane Grub Street Diet was Hart’s. Hart’s and the Fly and Cervo’s are my absolute favorite restaurants. Don’t make me choose one; it’s simply not possible. Hart’s, though, is closest to our apartment so has become the go-to neighborhood spot."