S E O U L D I V A

When you grow up in a household where your mom’s a chef and your parents own June & Ho in Rye, food is the center of the universe.  Childhood vacations from school were basically one gigantic Food Crawl: if we vacationed in France, we would eat our way from Nice to Paris, with Zagats and the Relais Chateaux books as our roadmap.

My parents own June & Ho, a French gourmet specialty store located in Rye (Westchester).  [June is my mom's name, Ho is my dad's name.]  They’ve been there for over 25 years – I can safely say that they are definitely a cornerstone of the community.  One day, I’m gonna have to dedicate a post to their shop – I am truly in awe of the quality they produce and I’m so proud of them.

Momma Park, being the classy lady she is, focuses primarily on Classic French fare.  The way she has always created her own signature recipes is by conducting Food Forensics: she eats as many iterations of a dish as she can…until she has enough info to create and customize it her own way.

Momma Park’s latest focus:  Cassoulet.

This morning, I get a frantic call on my cell phone.  It’s my mom: “Where are the best places in New York to get Cassoulet??!”  Me, being the uncivilized foodie I am – I didn’t even know what Cassoulet was.

According to Wikipedia, Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked bean stew or casserole originating in the south of France, containing meat (typically pork sausages, pork, goose, duck and sometimes mutton), pork skin (couennes) and white haricotbeans.

Apparently, my mom has an older French couple who have been customers for years.  They’ve been begging my mom to make this dish.  Being that my mom aims to please, let the investigations begin!

So this Sunday, I’m responsible for plotting out a Cassoulet Crawl for the Park Family.  I’m gonna try & do my best to find the best places in NYC, according to Yelp & Chowhound, but if anyone knows of any restaurants that do an amazing Cassoulet, please let me know!

Full report to come!