After Rain Comes The Sun
Plus: Palm Royale, New York (or nowhere), and happy 'softies season' to all who celebrate!
I’ve been thinking a lot about a particularly delicious drink and conversation I had with a bartender called Pierre at Super Lyan in Amsterdam lately.
I ordered a Dewers-based cocktail called the Polar Bear Fizz based solely on the name and sheer weirdness of the ingredients: sugar snap pea, amazake with white grape and cabbage soda. The fact that Pierre confirmed the menu’s tasting notes “drinks like a warm, delicious hug,’ was the chef’s kiss cherry on top.
While I don’t typically dream in cocktails, or bartenders called Pierre for that matter, this one hit different. Beyond just being delicious, this ballerina pink-hued drink with a marigold on top told a deeper story.
Inspired by the Dutch saying: ‘Na regen komt zonneschijn,’ which translates to: after the rain comes the sun, the menu is a riff on the seasonality found in the Netherlands along with personal stories and traditions rooted in Dutch culture.
“Na regen komt zonneschijn is something people tell each other all the time in the Netherlands, especially in the winter, and it basically translates to ‘after rain comes the sunshine,” Pierre told me. “In the bar, it’s our interpretation of embracing the seasonality, but the subtext is really about how good things always tend to follow the bad.” Amen to that.
Now if I had a dollar for every menu that promises a bounty of seasonally inspired ingredients, I would be a literal millionaire by now, but I love how these peeps are taking this concept one step further by incorporating a message of positivity coupled with a cool story rooted in local tradition to boot.
The Polar Bear Fizz takes its inspiration from Nieuwjaarsduik which is akin to a polar bear plunge that takes place at Scheveningen Beach along the North Sea every New Year’s Day. After you plunge, everyone’s served a hot pea soup, sweet bread, and other traditional Dutch dishes. After rain comes the sun, after bad comes the good. Now that’s a mantra I can fully get behind.
Also, next time you’re in Amsterdam, I highly recommend checking out Super Lyan and tell Pierre this pink drink obsessed American says hello.
Here’s what else is on my seasonally inspired menu this month…
It’s Officially ‘Softie Season’
A.K.A The Most Wonderful Southern Season Of All
On the topic of all things seasonal, we’re officially entering into soft-shell crab a.k.a ‘softie season’ here in the South! It’s that fleetingly wonderful and oh so delicious time of year that only lasts a few weeks, and you gotta get em while the gettin’s good.
I’m looking forward to our return to The Wyld near Savannah and our new favorite seafood spot here in Beaufort called Locals Raw Bar to try their take on this Southern delicacy. If you go to the latter, please don’t skip a chance to try the cabbage pancake a.k.a okonomiyaki which is just as much fun to eat as it is to say.
Later this month, I’m hoping to check out an Ole Fashioned Gullah Oyster Roast in Hilton Head at the Gullah Museum and trying a new restaurant called Joelle in downtown Bluffton. So much good food, so little time (for softies anyway).
Latest and Greatest
Newly Published Stories
I’ve had some exciting stories run lately, including my latest for Robb Report about Tokyo’s new Azabudai Hills neighborhood. Any chance to write and report a story about Japan that includes Tony Roma’s, teamLab, Hermes, and Aman in the span of one 600-word article is a win for me, but also perfectly sums up Tokyo in a nutshell. Read on, and as always, thank you for supporting me/my work!
Goings On
West Palm Beach Or Bust
If you follow me on Instagram, or if we’ve talked or texted anytime in the last couple weeks, you likely know that I’ve been obsessing over all things Palm Royal on AppleTV+. It transcends good television and is serving late 60’s West Palm Beach energy meets vintage socialite glamour. And even though I’ve never had any desire to try a Grasshopper, it’s had me looking up recipes way more than I care to admit. A requisite trip to WPB might be in the cards soon, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, I’m off to the Big Apple this week for my quarterly catch up trip. Can’t wait to see everyone there and eat all the foods (Pop Up Bagels, Russ & Daughters, Bangkok Supper Club, I’m coming for you loves).
Thanks for reading, now go get yourself a softie if you can, and I’ll see you back here in May with the last newsletter I’m ever gonna pen in my 30’s!
Warmly, Fondly, and Forever Yours —
Mich / The Beau Yorker
we love The Wyld 🦀