It’s funny how your neighborhood becomes the lens through which you see the New York restaurant scene. When it’s twelve degrees outside and wind is slapping your face like Joan Crawford in “Mommy Dearest,” are you really going to trek to the Upper East Side from Brooklyn to check out a new two-star bistro? Or are you going to stay local and patronize a similar restaurant where everyone already knows you because you go so often?

Every neighborhood needs a Rucola. We’re very lucky here in Boerum Hill because our Rucola is Rucola.

I don’t root for sports teams, but I do root for restaurants. When Ruta Oaxaca Mexican Cuisine opened in our neighborhood (Boerum Hill) a few months ago, I was jazzed that we were getting not just a widely-praised Mexican restaurant, but one that specialized in Oaxacan cuisine. We were in Oaxaca last year and the food was unbelievable; I loved the idea that high-quality mole was just a stone’s throw away.

When I went on Watch What Happens Live to promote my novel Food Person, I was told that Andy would be asking me one and only one question: “What’s the book about?”