Luke Fortney is everything everywhere all at once.

J Lee (0:00)

Hey guys, welcome to Expense Account. How's everybody doing?

So this week, I was faced with a dilemma, a Sophie's choice, a rock in a hard place. Last week, I told y'all about 11 Madison Park chef, Daniel Hoombs, chefed up boxed mac and cheese brand Rift. I told you guys how I was invited to a dinner to see Daniel Hoombs himself in the flesh, cook up his boxed mac and cheese at Bar Clemente. I was excited. I wanted to see if this stuff was actually any good. I wanted Daniel Hoombs to serve it to me. I wanted a gift bag full of junk that I don't need. But I made a mistake. I double booked myself. I didn't realize that the Daniel Hoombs Kraft Mac and Cheese dinner was the same night as the Chase Bank De La Soul Omakase at the Blue Note. It's hard to be me.

I asked my close friend's story for advice and the vote was split, but a majority told me that I had to go see De La Soul and eat sushi. And so that's what I did. I'm not even a big De La Soul fan like that, but it's always just such a treat to see someone who's really good at their job, a master at their craft. I don't know. I was very impressed and I had a great time. I drank some very nice wine. I had a Jura White and a California Truceau. But I promise you guys, I will get my hands on some Rift and I will let you guys know how it is.

Now cue the music.

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And now time to get into the dish. This week, I want to talk to you about something near and dear to me. It may be a little controversial but do not judge me. Do not knock it before you've tried it. If there's anything I want you to learn from this podcast, it's to not knock it before you've tried it. Today, I want to talk to you about one of my favorite ways to dine. Today, I want to talk to you about dining solo. But more than just dining solo, I want to talk to you about dining solo while wearing noise canceling headphones. I love dining solo while wearing noise canceling headphones. To me, it might be the best way to actually taste food, to really appreciate food and the flavors and the textures. It's certainly not the best way to enjoy a restaurant. I acknowledge this, but imagine the pleasure of eating a sushi omakase. You've got some bok on your air pod maxes. You're just in yourself. You're in your body. You're in your head. It's just you and your tongue and some tuna fish. There's no better way to enjoy a piece of toro in my humble opinion. Maybe complete silence might be a better way if we're being honest, but this is a close second. Sadly, I don't do this anymore. I haven't done it in years. It's anti-social. It's rude. It's weird. It doesn't look good. It's not nice. And now when I dine out these days, I'm trying to experience more than just the food. It's my job to experience restaurants in full. Terrible loud music and all. Loud talking people and all. But I miss it. And if you catch me at an East Village Fomakase on a Tuesday, hat pulled down, WH100's on, know that I am in bliss and leave me the fuck alone.

New York City is ridiculous. This would be illegal in France. If there were a 60 euro loaf of bread in Paris, they'd be lighting up their Molotov cocktails and throwing them at police officers. But this morning, I walked 1.8 miles and I've returned with one quarter of a $60 rye loaf. And here it is.

And I'm going to try it live. Or like not so live, but you guys get it. So let's see how this is.

To be transparent, I opened it already. I cut a little slice so that I wouldn't have to do it on camera, but it's wrapped up like a little present. It's beautiful. This is, this is, it's a heavy piece of bread. This is like, I don't know, I imagine this is two pounds for a quarter. So a big, a big one's probably 10 pounds. Like a, that's like as heavy as a bowling ball. So I'm going to give it a try. I cut it a little thick, maybe. I'm doing it naked. No butter, no toast, no nothing. Just to try this bread.

You know what, it's like pretty fantastic if we are being completely honest. This is a lot lighter than the ride that I'm used to. Usually, you're used to the darker colored rye. This is a very subtle rye, very elegant rye.