November 2, 2025 • 23 mins
From The Real Housewives of New York City, Erin Lichy takes a seat at Luke’s Diner this week.
Erin and Scott bond on cooking for others. She shares the secret to being a good host.
Plus, Scott learns about the Divorced Dad Chicken Pot — a mouth watering recipe.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I Am all in Again. Let's you.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I Am all in Again with Scott Patterson, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, i'mal and Podcast one of them
productions iHeart Radio Media. iHeart Podcast. We have another edition
of Luke's Diner and we have very special guests. Aaron
Leachy is a New York based entrepreneur, TV personality, mother
of four, best known for her role in Real Housewives
(00:44):
of New York. She has built a multi faceted career
spanning design, lifestyle, hospitality. She is a founder of an
interior design build firm whose work has been featured in
Architectural Digest, Elle, Decor, Vogue, and this co founder of
pronounces for us Aaron Mescal Mescal, an artisanal mescal brand.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Do you like mescal?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Oh man, you really do need to get me some
mescal and I need it quick.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
By the way, I wish you could now.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
We should you know. At the heart of her work
is the love of storytelling, recipes, rituals, ways of connecting,
the draw on her multicultural heritage, and her passion for
bringing people together. She's the host of Aaron's debut cookbook,
A Stylish Personal Guide entertaining with art, ease, and intention.
The book draws on both her familiar groups and cosmopolitans sensibilities.
(01:41):
Do you have you have cosmopolitan sensibilities.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
To I think I do. I'm born and raised city girls.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I think you do, all right?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Okay, So these recipes are inspired by your heritage. I
rack Yemen, Israel, Turkey, alongside modern spins and New York classics.
Entertainment entertaining tips, styling, shortcuts to hosting, memorable gathering, good
look at you? All kinds of great stuff. Ideas for
dinner parties, Sha Bought Dinners, Girls' Nights, and more. Complete
(02:08):
guides from styling tabletops, organizing flow. I mean runs a
game lifestyle brand. She's like a Martha Stewart two point zero.
I love that you created a cookbook called She's a Host?
What inspired that?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You know? I have spent my entire life just being
hosted and then now becoming a host where it's really
an automatic part of who I am and what I do,
and it's really, to me not such a big deal,
Like it's not that serious, you know, Like I just
I just kind of go with it, and I really
(02:43):
want to share that with people because I think, especially
after COVID, we've all seen how important community is to everybody. Togetherness,
you know, having conversation typically that happens over food at
least for me, and that's how I enjoy it or drink,
and I just wanted to share just easy ways. First
of all, the recipes in there are you know, from
(03:05):
my heart and really from a heritage, and they're nutritious
and they're delicious, and then they're different. So I think
it's fun for people to be able to make things
that they're not normally used to, but they're still kind
of easy. But beyond that, it's also just sort of
a message to be together more and to do that
without it being so difficult.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Right, Yeah, it's very nice. Prepare a meal for a
group of people, you sit down, time, you share stories,
you share all kinds. It really is the only way
to have a meal, well, at least one meal a
day like that. I mean, I think all three would
be tedious, but you know, all at least dinner, maybe
(03:43):
a lunch and a dinner. You know, so your recipes
come from your multicultural heritage. Can you share one that
feels especially meaningful for you?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yes, I can that is the divorce Dad's chicken in
a pot. And my dad had me with my mom
and then got divorced and had four kids and was
a single father to them, and he didn't know what
the fuck he was doing, to be blunt, and so
he only knew how to make chicken. That he would
either make chicken soup or he would make chicken in
(04:16):
a pot. And it was essentially the same dish with
less water, which we all discovered later on, but that
became such a staple and it became something that we
all kind of turned into something more elevated, and you know,
we'd throw different kind of vegetables in it, and it's
really like what we make now, all of us, Like
if anyone's hosting a dinner or Shabbat dinner, rather we
have that recipe and it's so delicious, Like people will
(04:38):
come over and be like, what is this delicacy, And
I'm like, dude, this is what my dad used to
make when he didn't know what he was doing. So
that was a great one. And also my husband's mother
is from Cuba, so I learned how to make amazing
Latin recipes from her that are just like the perfect
balance to everything that I used to make now, like
you make pickadillo and like the tostonas and like this,
(05:03):
like meshes so well that you know, we have all
of that in the book, and you know it's exciting.
Are you getty hungry?
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah? I mean it's a constant state for me. It's
just really tragic. It's really tragic. So your family holidays
must be really something. Describe them. Who's cooking, what's being served?
How many people are there? Where are you?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Okay, So let's go Thanksgiving because it's my favorite and
I usually host Thanksgiving. Honestly, people everybody helps, and that's
something I just talk about my book too, like everyone
makes something or brings a side or whatever, because it's
a lot to cook for thirty people, which it typically
is like between thirty and thirty five people at a
Thanksgiving holiday at my house, and we're all making different
(05:47):
types of things, like my mother in law makes her
Cuban stuff. You know, we'll make some Mediterranean Middle Eastern recipes.
My mom usually makes like rice three ways, which is
in the book. And the way to I think the
best way to tell if someone's a good host or
not is how long people stay Like I'm literally kicking
people out of my house. It's actually kind of annoying.
(06:07):
So sometimes I take away the tips of tricks that
I give in the book when I want people to leave,
you know, but it's all about keeping keeping the food,
keeping the music, keeping the candle, going the like. And
then people never want to leave.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Sudden change in personality. Perhaps we'll get them out. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It's like right, like just like start going crazier, get.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
To It's like, if you're really good at this, yeah,
you're going to have to figure out how to get
people out, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah, that's usually our issue.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Right right right. I used to have this house. Before
we got this house, I had this house up in
the Hollywood Hills and nobody would leave. It was so
it was so great and a good host. But I
think it was the house. I don't want to take
all the credit, right and I did. I did spoil
people when they could come over. I cook for them,
they serve them, and you know, I am a good host,
(06:55):
but that house man, they love the view, they love
the pool, they love the nature, they love you know,
and it's like it's ten o'clock, guys, you gotta go.
It's like I gotta, I gotta get up at six,
you know, let's go.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I love that. Though. What do you cook?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
I mean, I just do basic stuff, right, But I
do it well, I do it. I do sam in
a couple of different ways. I do chicken a couple
of different ways. You know. I have some postay.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
It's it's all just very basic things. Is how I
convince my wife to to marry me is to cook
for her? Right?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It's so nice?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, because she doesn't cook, so I just sort of
like quartered her the whole time, just like her dish
after and I'm thinking, is this going to be the one?
Is this going to be the one? It's kind of thing.
So I still do it because I love it.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
And it's therapeutic, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
It truly is. I love five o'clock. I love prepping.
I love doing it all. I really do. I really
really enjoy.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It, like a sense of calm. Especially it put some
music on. Gotta you just like zone out. It's the best.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I can't I can't do. There's one particular album I
play all the way through, but I started getting a
little bit not sick of it, so now I banned
it from my list because I don't want to get
sick of this album because it's so great. But yeah,
I always cook with something and it's amazing. What doesn't work?
Oh sure? Yeah, like albums from like when I was
growing up. I catch up on old rock and roll.
(08:19):
I love it. Try Who's Next? Okay, Try Who's Next?
When you're cooking? Okay, I got to tell you. There's
something about the way Keith Moon drums. There's something that
there's something about that album. It's a it's a powerful
album anyway in its own right. But cooking to it.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Oh man, Oh I'm excited people. So that's that's good
to hear.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, try that one. Try. And there's some CSNY stuff
that's pretty good too. But yeah, the classic stuff usually works.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah it does.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So what is a kitchen tip that you can give
the audience here or some kind of trick? You know?
I learned on a previous episode about how to make
really great marinera sauce that sticks to the pasta and
doesn't make it watery, And that's by using the the
(09:25):
pasta water after the pasta's boil poor a little bit
in the sauce. But now I'm doing it and I
think I'm pouring too much in because it's still water.
I'm scrolling it up. I used to be able to
nail it. I'm not nail at it anymore. So help
me out. What's the tip that you can improve everybody's
cooking with.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I'm going to give you a tip that I actually
just learned because it's a really good one. There's a
chef named Ben Jingji. I don't know if you know him,
and he's married to a woman named Zicky, and they
make these dishes together. They've actually met in culinary school.
Their story is very cute, and she taught me, you know,
I love We always make like ground meat and we
(10:06):
cook the meat down with the onion. But she taught
me that you have to slow, slow, slow cook first
the onion. Then you put the beef in and you
let it like caramelize with the beef in it for
like a while, like ten minutes, and like very low flame,
which I usually would use like medium to high, right,
like that's what you would typically saute. It makes the
(10:29):
beef taste like like it's like melts in your mouth,
like it's.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You're taking you're taking ground beef or you're taking a
steak grown beef. You're taking ground beef with the onion,
with with the onion, okay, because the.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Way I do it, Yeah, tell me how you do it.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
The way I do it is, you know, I oil
oil up the pan. I get a very deep pan. Okay,
it's like you know, yadep. And so I put some
nice olive oil in. I throw in a ton of onion,
chopped onion yep, okay. And then once it's I don't
want to ice, I don't want to overcook the onion.
(11:08):
But once it's nice and sort of you know, half liquefied,
I'll throw in the ground beef. But I keep it
at a.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Very low Oh so you're already doing it.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I'm already doing it. I'm not. I never cook it
on high because because I want you right, because I
want the meat to be cooked and tenderized.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
You're already here five steps ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I mean, that's just I've been doing it so much,
but that's the way I do it now because I
want it to percolate for forty minutes, thirty minutes.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, So that was like it's a small change that
I didn't I was like just a lower of a
little bit and cook it a little bit longer. And
I was I was like, oh my god, like what
a difference. So the other thing I say, I would say,
and this is like more to hosting. You need little bowls.
And in the little bowl you should have nuts, you
should have like pretzel like whatever you have. Throw out
(11:59):
the little bowls and like put them on your counter,
put them like on the table let. People like Nash
you know, I'll hang around if they not if they
have something to not on.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
It's yes, that's great, great stuff. Do you have one
kitchen appliance that is underrated that you can't cook without?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, I'm like promoting this out of my friend's company,
and I'm just gonna I guess I'm gonna keep doing it.
Not a purpose. By the way, he's gonna like need
to give me commission at this point. Now I'm kidding
a spurtle. Have you heard of it?
Speaker 1 (12:32):
No, what's up?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
It's the mix. It's a mix between a spoon and
what is uh, I don't know what else what it
would be called like a like a mix like a
wooden spoon.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yes, okay, so it's a mix between a steel spoon
and a wooden spoon, like.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's like it's a mix between playing it. Yeah, it's
like long and like gets into the crevices of things.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay, yeah, I got you.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Too, because we have them in like our press boxes.
They literally are the most useful things. Like I saw te,
I can't sautee without them. The regular wooden spoon doesn't
get into.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
The sides right exactly, I have, but I see I
have one that. I have two wooden spoons and a
third one that's got a point on the right side.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Right, and you would need three spoons.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Gotta have it.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I'm sending it to you.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Okay, you need it. I'd love to have one I got.
My dream is to have like that rack hanging from
the ceiling, hang everything off the ceiling. I don't have that.
I gotta. I got to install that.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I can help you with that too. My friend literally
makes those.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Swear to God, Okay, hook me up, I'll do it.
I'll buy it or whatever it takes. But I want one,
you know.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I know me too, actually need one of those.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You're a you gotta have that, all right? So what
is uh? Okay, hang on high all right? So listen,
you do so many things right, and they right, but
that's good, right, it keeps you busy. Yeah, the Real
Housewives of New York. So I want to talk to
(14:13):
you about your knowledge of the food the city. What
type of food you know? Dash your meal experience is
something that you can only get of the best of
it in New York? What is it?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I wouldn't say that you can only get like a
Michelin star amazing meal in Manhattan. You can get that
in a lot of places. So I'm going to go
more basic. I'd say you can really only get the
best bagel or the best slice of pizza, the best locks.
Like You're not getting that in Miami, you know you're not.
(14:51):
So we have like the good stables, like you're getting
your best croissant, and obviously in Paris you're not getting
that here. But our pizza and our bagels they don't compare.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
You know, they gotta. They got a pizza place out here,
the Kathy Moriarity runs. She's I guess she's an owner,
part owner, and it's in it's in Beverly Hills and
they ship the water from New York. Wow, they use
New York while I'm not kidding. Wow, because the water
west of the Mississippi is too alkaline, and that's that's
(15:27):
why you get the the soft. You can't get the hard,
crunchy crust. So you go to this place.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Wait, it's better to have alkaline water, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Okay? So I said, at the opposite it's not alkaline
enough west of the Mississippi, right, So east of the
Mississippi you get the New York water. It's alkaline, and
you get the crunchy, crunchy crunchy, right, you get the
better crust. That's the that's the key.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
So interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, yeah, they ship the water in from Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
That's wild.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It's wild, right, it's a lot of a lot of
ship and water. But they care if you There was
one role I wanted to gain a lot of weight for.
I was there every day. That's so fun eating giant
it is eating giant pies and drinking Coca Cola.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
That's like the best job ever.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
It's a good job. Like wow, people will just sturbys,
excuse me, I'm working here. I'll take you together.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
And the pizza, Oh okay, I'm destined to be three
hundred pounds. I know one day it'll happen. It's a
dream of mine. What's your favorite under the radar New
York City restaurant?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Oh, my favorite under the radar New York City restaurant.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Yeah, what's going on in the restaurant side of things
in New York? Did a lot of people pack up
and leave? Everybody came back from Florida? Right they went.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
They were like, oh, we're gonna go to Florida because
New York City is horrible. And then they went to
Florida and they were like, wow, it's still Florida.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Like, you know, not the flower is terrible, but it's
like it's not New York, right, Florida.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
You know, it's like you're in Florida. So everyone came back.
You know what's happening now? Which is kind of like
a little bit annoying. We're in a world of like
private members clubs.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Oh god, it's so annoying.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
It's so annoying.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
These people have such low self esteem.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Like it's enough already, it's enough.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
You don't have to pay a monthly fee to feel superior.
You can do that all by yourself.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Right right, Like what is this obsession?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I get a monthly bill?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
It's wild?
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You get this huge monthly. It's two thousand and three
thousand bucks a month, and then it's like just to
make sure that you feel special. I mean, it's just ridiculous. Yeah,
I agree, that's that's I noticed that the other day
I said the same thing. I said, man, because they
were doing some kind of an expos on it was
either Miami or New York City. But the private club
(18:01):
thing that was happening, and it's just a it's a
thing now and it's like every sector, every sector of
anything you want to do. You know, you can't just
do it join a tennis club. It's got to be
a private club, right.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And it's like it made sense when it was basically
just so a house because you know, if you were
young and they had like the under twenty seven and
it was a discount, you used to work from there
and it was kind of like a like, you know,
incubator type space. But now it's just go have a
cocktail somewhere, but make sure that you pay a lot
of money to be able to have a call.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
It is. That's all it is.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So I'm trying to think of my favorite I like
so many restaurants. That's really hard, Okay, El Cantonori is
a classic East Village, classic Italian restaurant. Just excellent food,
always good. It's been around forever.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
That's my go to, Right, you have any of these
places give you kind of like the Luke's Diner vibe?
Is there anything in the city that gives you that
kind of Gilmore feels a little bit?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Should compare it to Tom that was in Seinfeld restaurant.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Tom's and Seinfeld. Oh that place. Yeah, that's yeah, that's
I mean that's a little different, but yeah, that's very
New York it is.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I mean it's just like iconic, and so it was yeah, absolutely.
I mean we don't have like the cozy like suburban places.
We don't have that here.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
So no, no, it's different. It's a different thing, all right.
So you found your mescal brand mess Khaloom.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yeah, like tulum and mescal.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
What's your ideal way to serve it?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So I actually have a lot of cocktail recipes in
the book. I am lately addicted to something that's called
a Maximilian affair, which is Saint Germain and mescaloum and lemon.
It's so easy and it's out of this world delicious,
and I love that it comes in a martini glass.
But like on a regular day, if I'm having mescal,
(19:55):
which is probably too often now that I am not
pregnant anymore, I will have on the rocks with fresh
squeezed any fruit that I have, Like lately, I've been
into grapes because they're really sweet, and it's just it's
a very smooth messcal. It's not really smoky. That's like
our whole stick and it's really pure, so I feel
fine the next day, and it's just it's great. I
(20:17):
can't wait for you to try it.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Man, I tell you, I want to go on a
plane right now. Walk me through a meal. Kind of
meal you'd have to create to serve the mess color.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Oh well, we actually cook with it sometimes. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you can like make fish with it. It's got a
really good flavor profile for cooking. But if you're gonna,
I mean, I don't know. I love Latin food, so
like for me, it really goes with anything, like it
depends on what you put in the cocktail itself. But
(20:52):
like just love like Cuban food. I love Mexican food,
and so for me, like the fresh meats and the
avocado corn, like Saul says, that's just caring.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
All right, we got time for one more question. Unfortunately,
you have to come back, by the way.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I'm happy to because we didn't.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
We didn't really connect very well, so we gotta we
gotta try again. Okay, okay, we'll try again. If you
were coming to Luke Steiner, what would you order? Where
would you sit?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
I take closest to you?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Damn right, you would, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
And I would order a coffee and hopefully you would
yell at me for it. Yes, yes, I get a
cappuccino and a croissant.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
You get a cappuccino that, yeah, you you'd get. Yeah,
I'd yell at you for that.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, you'd yell at me.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
If you said cappuccino or latte or anything. That's not
gonna happen. Uh. Sorry about those Yankees, right, it's all over.
They rely too much on power. You don't care, all right, baseball.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Is not I think, ask me about I'll be into that.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Okay, all right, Aaron Leachie a pleasure. Hey, everybody, go
out and get her book, watch the shows, eat her food,
drinker tequila. She's got you covered. Let her redesign your
entire life, because I think I'm about to allow her
to do that with mine and all. Tuck was like
twenty minutes just talking to her. It's amazing. She's amazingly magnetic, intelligent,
(22:24):
beautiful and talented. Here we go, Aaron Leechee, thank you
so much for coming on and best fans on the planet.
Thanks everybody for all your downloads, cards, and letters. Keep
them coming and remember where you lead, we will follow.
Stay safe everyone, Hey everybody, and don't forget Follow us
(23:11):
on Instagram at I Am all In podcast and email
us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.
I Am all in Again. Let's you.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I Am all in Again with Scott Patterson, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, i'mal and Podcast one of them
productions iHeart Radio Media. iHeart Podcast. We have another edition
of Luke's Diner and we have very special guests. Aaron
Leachy is a New York based entrepreneur, TV personality, mother
of four, best known for her role in Real Housewives
(00:44):
of New York. She has built a multi faceted career
spanning design, lifestyle, hospitality. She is a founder of an
interior design build firm whose work has been featured in
Architectural Digest, Elle, Decor, Vogue, and this co founder of
pronounces for us Aaron Mescal Mescal, an artisanal mescal brand.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Do you like mescal?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Oh man, you really do need to get me some
mescal and I need it quick.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
By the way, I wish you could now.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
We should you know. At the heart of her work
is the love of storytelling, recipes, rituals, ways of connecting,
the draw on her multicultural heritage, and her passion for
bringing people together. She's the host of Aaron's debut cookbook,
A Stylish Personal Guide entertaining with art, ease, and intention.
The book draws on both her familiar groups and cosmopolitans sensibilities.
(01:41):
Do you have you have cosmopolitan sensibilities.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
To I think I do. I'm born and raised city girls.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I think you do, all right?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Okay, So these recipes are inspired by your heritage. I
rack Yemen, Israel, Turkey, alongside modern spins and New York classics.
Entertainment entertaining tips, styling, shortcuts to hosting, memorable gathering, good
look at you? All kinds of great stuff. Ideas for
dinner parties, Sha Bought Dinners, Girls' Nights, and more. Complete
(02:08):
guides from styling tabletops, organizing flow. I mean runs a
game lifestyle brand. She's like a Martha Stewart two point zero.
I love that you created a cookbook called She's a Host?
What inspired that?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You know? I have spent my entire life just being
hosted and then now becoming a host where it's really
an automatic part of who I am and what I do,
and it's really, to me not such a big deal,
Like it's not that serious, you know, Like I just
I just kind of go with it, and I really
(02:43):
want to share that with people because I think, especially
after COVID, we've all seen how important community is to everybody. Togetherness,
you know, having conversation typically that happens over food at
least for me, and that's how I enjoy it or drink,
and I just wanted to share just easy ways. First
of all, the recipes in there are you know, from
(03:05):
my heart and really from a heritage, and they're nutritious
and they're delicious, and then they're different. So I think
it's fun for people to be able to make things
that they're not normally used to, but they're still kind
of easy. But beyond that, it's also just sort of
a message to be together more and to do that
without it being so difficult.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Right, Yeah, it's very nice. Prepare a meal for a
group of people, you sit down, time, you share stories,
you share all kinds. It really is the only way
to have a meal, well, at least one meal a
day like that. I mean, I think all three would
be tedious, but you know, all at least dinner, maybe
(03:43):
a lunch and a dinner. You know, so your recipes
come from your multicultural heritage. Can you share one that
feels especially meaningful for you?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yes, I can that is the divorce Dad's chicken in
a pot. And my dad had me with my mom
and then got divorced and had four kids and was
a single father to them, and he didn't know what
the fuck he was doing, to be blunt, and so
he only knew how to make chicken. That he would
either make chicken soup or he would make chicken in
(04:16):
a pot. And it was essentially the same dish with
less water, which we all discovered later on, but that
became such a staple and it became something that we
all kind of turned into something more elevated, and you know,
we'd throw different kind of vegetables in it, and it's
really like what we make now, all of us, Like
if anyone's hosting a dinner or Shabbat dinner, rather we
have that recipe and it's so delicious, Like people will
(04:38):
come over and be like, what is this delicacy, And
I'm like, dude, this is what my dad used to
make when he didn't know what he was doing. So
that was a great one. And also my husband's mother
is from Cuba, so I learned how to make amazing
Latin recipes from her that are just like the perfect
balance to everything that I used to make now, like
you make pickadillo and like the tostonas and like this,
(05:03):
like meshes so well that you know, we have all
of that in the book, and you know it's exciting.
Are you getty hungry?
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah? I mean it's a constant state for me. It's
just really tragic. It's really tragic. So your family holidays
must be really something. Describe them. Who's cooking, what's being served?
How many people are there? Where are you?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Okay, So let's go Thanksgiving because it's my favorite and
I usually host Thanksgiving. Honestly, people everybody helps, and that's
something I just talk about my book too, like everyone
makes something or brings a side or whatever, because it's
a lot to cook for thirty people, which it typically
is like between thirty and thirty five people at a
Thanksgiving holiday at my house, and we're all making different
(05:47):
types of things, like my mother in law makes her
Cuban stuff. You know, we'll make some Mediterranean Middle Eastern recipes.
My mom usually makes like rice three ways, which is
in the book. And the way to I think the
best way to tell if someone's a good host or
not is how long people stay Like I'm literally kicking
people out of my house. It's actually kind of annoying.
(06:07):
So sometimes I take away the tips of tricks that
I give in the book when I want people to leave,
you know, but it's all about keeping keeping the food,
keeping the music, keeping the candle, going the like. And
then people never want to leave.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Sudden change in personality. Perhaps we'll get them out. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It's like right, like just like start going crazier, get.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
To It's like, if you're really good at this, yeah,
you're going to have to figure out how to get
people out, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah, that's usually our issue.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Right right right. I used to have this house. Before
we got this house, I had this house up in
the Hollywood Hills and nobody would leave. It was so
it was so great and a good host. But I
think it was the house. I don't want to take
all the credit, right and I did. I did spoil
people when they could come over. I cook for them,
they serve them, and you know, I am a good host,
(06:55):
but that house man, they love the view, they love
the pool, they love the nature, they love you know,
and it's like it's ten o'clock, guys, you gotta go.
It's like I gotta, I gotta get up at six,
you know, let's go.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I love that. Though. What do you cook?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
I mean, I just do basic stuff, right, But I
do it well, I do it. I do sam in
a couple of different ways. I do chicken a couple
of different ways. You know. I have some postay.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
It's it's all just very basic things. Is how I
convince my wife to to marry me is to cook
for her? Right?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It's so nice?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, because she doesn't cook, so I just sort of
like quartered her the whole time, just like her dish
after and I'm thinking, is this going to be the one?
Is this going to be the one? It's kind of thing.
So I still do it because I love it.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
And it's therapeutic, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
It truly is. I love five o'clock. I love prepping.
I love doing it all. I really do. I really
really enjoy.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It, like a sense of calm. Especially it put some
music on. Gotta you just like zone out. It's the best.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I can't I can't do. There's one particular album I
play all the way through, but I started getting a
little bit not sick of it, so now I banned
it from my list because I don't want to get
sick of this album because it's so great. But yeah,
I always cook with something and it's amazing. What doesn't work?
Oh sure? Yeah, like albums from like when I was
growing up. I catch up on old rock and roll.
(08:19):
I love it. Try Who's Next? Okay, Try Who's Next?
When you're cooking? Okay, I got to tell you. There's
something about the way Keith Moon drums. There's something that
there's something about that album. It's a it's a powerful
album anyway in its own right. But cooking to it.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Oh man, Oh I'm excited people. So that's that's good
to hear.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, try that one. Try. And there's some CSNY stuff
that's pretty good too. But yeah, the classic stuff usually works.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah it does.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So what is a kitchen tip that you can give
the audience here or some kind of trick? You know?
I learned on a previous episode about how to make
really great marinera sauce that sticks to the pasta and
doesn't make it watery, And that's by using the the
(09:25):
pasta water after the pasta's boil poor a little bit
in the sauce. But now I'm doing it and I
think I'm pouring too much in because it's still water.
I'm scrolling it up. I used to be able to
nail it. I'm not nail at it anymore. So help
me out. What's the tip that you can improve everybody's
cooking with.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I'm going to give you a tip that I actually
just learned because it's a really good one. There's a
chef named Ben Jingji. I don't know if you know him,
and he's married to a woman named Zicky, and they
make these dishes together. They've actually met in culinary school.
Their story is very cute, and she taught me, you know,
I love We always make like ground meat and we
(10:06):
cook the meat down with the onion. But she taught
me that you have to slow, slow, slow cook first
the onion. Then you put the beef in and you
let it like caramelize with the beef in it for
like a while, like ten minutes, and like very low flame,
which I usually would use like medium to high, right,
like that's what you would typically saute. It makes the
(10:29):
beef taste like like it's like melts in your mouth,
like it's.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You're taking you're taking ground beef or you're taking a
steak grown beef. You're taking ground beef with the onion,
with with the onion, okay, because the.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Way I do it, Yeah, tell me how you do it.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
The way I do it is, you know, I oil
oil up the pan. I get a very deep pan. Okay,
it's like you know, yadep. And so I put some
nice olive oil in. I throw in a ton of onion,
chopped onion yep, okay. And then once it's I don't
want to ice, I don't want to overcook the onion.
(11:08):
But once it's nice and sort of you know, half liquefied,
I'll throw in the ground beef. But I keep it
at a.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Very low Oh so you're already doing it.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I'm already doing it. I'm not. I never cook it
on high because because I want you right, because I
want the meat to be cooked and tenderized.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
You're already here five steps ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I mean, that's just I've been doing it so much,
but that's the way I do it now because I
want it to percolate for forty minutes, thirty minutes.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, So that was like it's a small change that
I didn't I was like just a lower of a
little bit and cook it a little bit longer. And
I was I was like, oh my god, like what
a difference. So the other thing I say, I would say,
and this is like more to hosting. You need little bowls.
And in the little bowl you should have nuts, you
should have like pretzel like whatever you have. Throw out
(11:59):
the little bowls and like put them on your counter,
put them like on the table let. People like Nash
you know, I'll hang around if they not if they
have something to not on.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
It's yes, that's great, great stuff. Do you have one
kitchen appliance that is underrated that you can't cook without?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, I'm like promoting this out of my friend's company,
and I'm just gonna I guess I'm gonna keep doing it.
Not a purpose. By the way, he's gonna like need
to give me commission at this point. Now I'm kidding
a spurtle. Have you heard of it?
Speaker 1 (12:32):
No, what's up?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
It's the mix. It's a mix between a spoon and
what is uh, I don't know what else what it
would be called like a like a mix like a
wooden spoon.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yes, okay, so it's a mix between a steel spoon
and a wooden spoon, like.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's like it's a mix between playing it. Yeah, it's
like long and like gets into the crevices of things.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay, yeah, I got you.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Too, because we have them in like our press boxes.
They literally are the most useful things. Like I saw te,
I can't sautee without them. The regular wooden spoon doesn't
get into.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
The sides right exactly, I have, but I see I
have one that. I have two wooden spoons and a
third one that's got a point on the right side.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Right, and you would need three spoons.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Gotta have it.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
I'm sending it to you.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Okay, you need it. I'd love to have one I got.
My dream is to have like that rack hanging from
the ceiling, hang everything off the ceiling. I don't have that.
I gotta. I got to install that.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I can help you with that too. My friend literally
makes those.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Swear to God, Okay, hook me up, I'll do it.
I'll buy it or whatever it takes. But I want one,
you know.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I know me too, actually need one of those.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You're a you gotta have that, all right? So what
is uh? Okay, hang on high all right? So listen,
you do so many things right, and they right, but
that's good, right, it keeps you busy. Yeah, the Real
Housewives of New York. So I want to talk to
(14:13):
you about your knowledge of the food the city. What
type of food you know? Dash your meal experience is
something that you can only get of the best of
it in New York? What is it?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I wouldn't say that you can only get like a
Michelin star amazing meal in Manhattan. You can get that
in a lot of places. So I'm going to go
more basic. I'd say you can really only get the
best bagel or the best slice of pizza, the best locks.
Like You're not getting that in Miami, you know you're not.
(14:51):
So we have like the good stables, like you're getting
your best croissant, and obviously in Paris you're not getting
that here. But our pizza and our bagels they don't compare.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
You know, they gotta. They got a pizza place out here,
the Kathy Moriarity runs. She's I guess she's an owner,
part owner, and it's in it's in Beverly Hills and
they ship the water from New York. Wow, they use
New York while I'm not kidding. Wow, because the water
west of the Mississippi is too alkaline, and that's that's
(15:27):
why you get the the soft. You can't get the hard,
crunchy crust. So you go to this place.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Wait, it's better to have alkaline water, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Okay? So I said, at the opposite it's not alkaline
enough west of the Mississippi, right, So east of the
Mississippi you get the New York water. It's alkaline, and
you get the crunchy, crunchy crunchy, right, you get the
better crust. That's the that's the key.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
So interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, yeah, they ship the water in from Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
That's wild.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It's wild, right, it's a lot of a lot of
ship and water. But they care if you There was
one role I wanted to gain a lot of weight for.
I was there every day. That's so fun eating giant
it is eating giant pies and drinking Coca Cola.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
That's like the best job ever.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
It's a good job. Like wow, people will just sturbys,
excuse me, I'm working here. I'll take you together.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
And the pizza, Oh okay, I'm destined to be three
hundred pounds. I know one day it'll happen. It's a
dream of mine. What's your favorite under the radar New
York City restaurant?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Oh, my favorite under the radar New York City restaurant.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Yeah, what's going on in the restaurant side of things
in New York? Did a lot of people pack up
and leave? Everybody came back from Florida? Right they went.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
They were like, oh, we're gonna go to Florida because
New York City is horrible. And then they went to
Florida and they were like, wow, it's still Florida.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Like, you know, not the flower is terrible, but it's
like it's not New York, right, Florida.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
You know, it's like you're in Florida. So everyone came back.
You know what's happening now? Which is kind of like
a little bit annoying. We're in a world of like
private members clubs.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Oh god, it's so annoying.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
It's so annoying.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
These people have such low self esteem.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Like it's enough already, it's enough.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
You don't have to pay a monthly fee to feel superior.
You can do that all by yourself.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Right right, Like what is this obsession?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I get a monthly bill?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
It's wild?
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You get this huge monthly. It's two thousand and three
thousand bucks a month, and then it's like just to
make sure that you feel special. I mean, it's just ridiculous. Yeah,
I agree, that's that's I noticed that the other day
I said the same thing. I said, man, because they
were doing some kind of an expos on it was
either Miami or New York City. But the private club
(18:01):
thing that was happening, and it's just a it's a
thing now and it's like every sector, every sector of
anything you want to do. You know, you can't just
do it join a tennis club. It's got to be
a private club, right.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And it's like it made sense when it was basically
just so a house because you know, if you were
young and they had like the under twenty seven and
it was a discount, you used to work from there
and it was kind of like a like, you know,
incubator type space. But now it's just go have a
cocktail somewhere, but make sure that you pay a lot
of money to be able to have a call.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
It is. That's all it is.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So I'm trying to think of my favorite I like
so many restaurants. That's really hard, Okay, El Cantonori is
a classic East Village, classic Italian restaurant. Just excellent food,
always good. It's been around forever.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
That's my go to, Right, you have any of these
places give you kind of like the Luke's Diner vibe?
Is there anything in the city that gives you that
kind of Gilmore feels a little bit?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Should compare it to Tom that was in Seinfeld restaurant.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Tom's and Seinfeld. Oh that place. Yeah, that's yeah, that's
I mean that's a little different, but yeah, that's very
New York it is.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I mean it's just like iconic, and so it was yeah, absolutely.
I mean we don't have like the cozy like suburban places.
We don't have that here.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
So no, no, it's different. It's a different thing, all right.
So you found your mescal brand mess Khaloom.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yeah, like tulum and mescal.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
What's your ideal way to serve it?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So I actually have a lot of cocktail recipes in
the book. I am lately addicted to something that's called
a Maximilian affair, which is Saint Germain and mescaloum and lemon.
It's so easy and it's out of this world delicious,
and I love that it comes in a martini glass.
But like on a regular day, if I'm having mescal,
(19:55):
which is probably too often now that I am not
pregnant anymore, I will have on the rocks with fresh
squeezed any fruit that I have, Like lately, I've been
into grapes because they're really sweet, and it's just it's
a very smooth messcal. It's not really smoky. That's like
our whole stick and it's really pure, so I feel
fine the next day, and it's just it's great. I
(20:17):
can't wait for you to try it.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Man, I tell you, I want to go on a
plane right now. Walk me through a meal. Kind of
meal you'd have to create to serve the mess color.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Oh well, we actually cook with it sometimes. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you can like make fish with it. It's got a
really good flavor profile for cooking. But if you're gonna,
I mean, I don't know. I love Latin food, so
like for me, it really goes with anything, like it
depends on what you put in the cocktail itself. But
(20:52):
like just love like Cuban food. I love Mexican food,
and so for me, like the fresh meats and the
avocado corn, like Saul says, that's just caring.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
All right, we got time for one more question. Unfortunately,
you have to come back, by the way.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I'm happy to because we didn't.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
We didn't really connect very well, so we gotta we
gotta try again. Okay, okay, we'll try again. If you
were coming to Luke Steiner, what would you order? Where
would you sit?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
I take closest to you?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Damn right, you would, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
And I would order a coffee and hopefully you would
yell at me for it. Yes, yes, I get a
cappuccino and a croissant.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
You get a cappuccino that, yeah, you you'd get. Yeah,
I'd yell at you for that.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yeah, you'd yell at me.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
If you said cappuccino or latte or anything. That's not
gonna happen. Uh. Sorry about those Yankees, right, it's all over.
They rely too much on power. You don't care, all right, baseball.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Is not I think, ask me about I'll be into that.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Okay, all right, Aaron Leachie a pleasure. Hey, everybody, go
out and get her book, watch the shows, eat her food,
drinker tequila. She's got you covered. Let her redesign your
entire life, because I think I'm about to allow her
to do that with mine and all. Tuck was like
twenty minutes just talking to her. It's amazing. She's amazingly magnetic, intelligent,
(22:24):
beautiful and talented. Here we go, Aaron Leechee, thank you
so much for coming on and best fans on the planet.
Thanks everybody for all your downloads, cards, and letters. Keep
them coming and remember where you lead, we will follow.
Stay safe everyone, Hey everybody, and don't forget Follow us
(23:11):
on Instagram at I Am all In podcast and email
us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.
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