I had my first meal of the outdoor season on my building rooftop before temperatures reached the mid-60s. Even on this chilly day, I enjoyed watching the sun cast a shadow over my blueberry muffins and seeing the city reflected in orange juice.
There are some dining experiences that can only be had outside. Consider risking a splinter on an ancient wood picnic table in the park; it’s worth it for a just-off-the-grill hot dog. Or dragging a cooler to the beach filled with fruit, cheese, and a bottle of rosé. Or watching fireworks while eating potato chips and caviar on the bow of your friend’s boat.
When we dine outside, the conviviality and joy of gathering with friends and family brings new energy to our streetscapes. Our backyards become little restaurants, strung with lights and softened with linen tablecloths, and our rooftops become cocktail parties and dance halls. In fact, I would argue that the unofficial start of summer is not Memorial Day, but when the beer gardens open, the bistro tables form a sidewalk barrier, and the reservation apps add “patio” to their seating options.
Recently, I returned to Aponiente, one of my favorite seafood restaurants in Spain, renowned for environmental sustainability. Chef Ángel León serves half the menu outside on a pier so diners can soak in the sunsets and surrounding marshland. Among the dishes is blue crab plucked from the water tableside, then served rillette-style using fat from the restaurant’s estuaries.
That crab dish reminds me of Sundays spent with friends at the waterfront Maine Avenue Fish Market in Washington, DC. We’d buy three or four pounds of freshly steamed blue crab generously seasoned in Old Bay, handed to us in brown paper bags. We’d find a bench, tear the bag along the seam, then crack the crustaceans open with our bare hands, laughing heartily as the buttery shards of shell went flying.
In this issue we’re outside for some very special summer meals paired with Americana. We went out West for fish fries and pretzels on the Oklahoma rodeo trail. As the US gears up for its 250th anniversary, historian Ashley Rose Young explores the shape-shifting character of American cuisine. And the Test Kitchen editors have developed 10 new recipes you can make and eat outdoors all summer.
