Illustration: Margalit Cutler
A lifelong New Yorker, James Harris, co-host of the menswear-slash-everything podcast Throwing Matches, is aware of the best way to make the most of the vacation week in New York. It’s a time when all of the transplants return to their respective coasts and suburbs and, instantly, Resy slots open up. On a weeklong seafood bender, he managed to squeeze into not one however two of the town’s most unattainable tables: Bong and Bistrot Ha. He additionally hosted his mother and father for the primary time this Christmas, improvising his approach by means of a decadent seafood unfold that left everybody completely satisfied (and functioned as a double-portion lunch the following day). His week of no-lines consuming additionally produced two meals predictions for 2026: Pomelo would be the citrus of the yr, and the Cosmo would be the drink of the yr. Pomelo Cosmo, anybody?
Wednesday, December 24
I get up at 6:45 a.m. for no cause. I’ve determined that 2026 goes to be the yr of sleep. I feel I acquired fairly dialed on this previous yr on cooking for myself at house, and I spotted that perhaps the following massive pillar of life and well being that wants addressing is my sleep points — waking up in the midst of the night time and never with the ability to return to mattress, waking up super-early and never with the ability to go to sleep once more, not with the ability to go to sleep in any respect. I’m not a giant resolutions man, however perhaps that’s a yearlong mission.
I make a 20-ounce scorching espresso at house, which I’ve each morning with out fail. Similar ceramic drip cone I’ve had for ten years, beans from Selection in Greenpoint. I form of want it to operate. I’m very jealous of people that can simply rise up and go. I would like like an hour and a half within the morning to drink espresso, spend time with my Japanese bathroom seat on account of the espresso, do sudoku, learn, scroll my cellphone.
I play tennis for an hour within the McCarren bubble. I picked up tennis severely throughout COVID, and now it’s form of my factor. With any tennis courtroom in New York, getting courtroom time is its personal aggressive sport, so I guide a weekly lesson for the complete season. It ensures me a spot but additionally lets me work on actually small issues — like if I can’t get previous somebody’s backhand, I’ll drill that after which attempt once more subsequent time I play them. It’s all incremental, infinitesimal enhancements.
I’m not often a breakfast particular person, however I’ve been attempting to have not less than a chunk of toast, so I’m not working round with 20 ounces of espresso sloshing round my abdomen. I don’t get to it this morning, and afterward I’m ravenous. Town is empty, which is actually one among my favourite occasions of yr. There’s a tamale cart on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint that all the time sells out instantly from commuters, and I’ve by no means been in a position to catch it whereas it nonetheless has stock. However round 10 a.m., I lastly do. I get a $3 hen mole tamale. It’s phenomenal. After that, I’ve a Muscle Milk protein shake. I don’t know what the present science is, however just a few years in the past somebody was like, “It’s best to have one among these after you’re employed out,” and I’ve simply been doing that ever since.
Again house, I begin making shrimp inventory for shrimp cocktail and a crab-and-lobster pasta. This yr, I’m internet hosting my mother and father for Christmas for the primary time ever. After COVID and a few household losses, there’s now not a set vacation custom, and as an alternative of looking for the right restaurant — the best location, noise degree, delicacies — I simply determined to host. Shrimp cocktail felt like a should, so I peel the shrimp and make inventory from the shells early so it may well cool. On the identical time, I’m totally spiraling about seafood security: Did I purchase it too early? Was it packaged too way back? Am I going to poison everybody? I’m on ChatGPT attempting to determine if I ought to’ve frozen the crab and lobster.
Whereas I’m cooking, I order a grilled pork bánh mì and a Weight loss program Coke from Bahnmigos and eat it whereas watching Business screeners. It is perhaps my favourite present on TV that’s not Bravo, however the screeners don’t have subtitles, and I can’t perceive something these British persons are saying, particularly with all of the monetary jargon.
Later, I drop off a present for my good friend Oliver at Bernie’s. I reside two blocks away, and I’m there rather a lot. This yr, I attempted to be extra intentional about reward giving. I acquired my barber a pound of Wagyu from a Japanese butcher. He tells me later that it form of ruined steak for him, which I feel is perhaps the most effective reward suggestions I’ve ever gotten.
I combine up a hydration powder drink — one other factor somebody as soon as advised me I ought to do — partly as a result of I don’t wish to get sick earlier than Christmas and partly as a result of I do know I’m going to a Christmas Eve feast. Then comes a shrimp-stock catastrophe. I put the inventory in a container, swirl it to combine the sediment, solely to appreciate it’s not closed. Shrimp inventory goes in every single place. It smells insanely unhealthy. I ask Siri the best way to get the scent out of a rug and spray vinegar and water throughout my condo. Now the entire place smells like white vinegar, which I don’t hate however I do briefly think about throwing the rug out.
Earlier than leaving for a household good friend’s Christmas Eve dinner, I order veggie nachos from Selfmade Taqueria as a snack, so I’m not ravenous.
It’s very Italian — loud, joyful, and intensely well-fed. There’s a ton of caviar, a large ham, piles of langoustines, and sufficient crab for about 20 individuals. I largely eat crab. There’s additionally foie gras on some form of potato with crab on prime, which is actually rather a lot however superb.
The meals is usually introduced in from completely different locations after which assembled by a chef, however then, in some unspecified time in the future, the chef quits in the midst of dinner. Nobody actually is aware of why; it turns into the principle plot twist of the night time. However by then, all the pieces is already shut sufficient to being accomplished that it doesn’t actually derail something. The vitality stays boisterous and completely satisfied.
After dinner, everybody simply sits round digesting. For dessert, there’s panettone with zabaglione, that conventional eggy Marsala wine sauce, which I feel is implausible. We don’t depart till round 1 a.m. It’s late, however it’s festive in a approach I’m not all the time used to on Christmas anymore. It seems like a reminder that the vacations can nonetheless be enjoyable.
Thursday, December 25
I’ve my big espresso at house and toast with fresh-ground almond butter. One with raspberry jam, and one with Sky Excessive Farm honey and salt.
I play Christmas tennis within the McCarren bubble with a buddy. After tennis, I principally take advantage of decadent lunch I can handle with what’s in the home: a baguette with lobster, pickle, mustard, and mayo. I’ll be trustworthy: I form of discover lobster overrated. I made it extra for the aesthetics, the festivity, the decadence. The crab and the shrimp inventory are the workhorses of this dinner. If I needed to rank shellfish, I’d say crab could also be my No. 1. I like soft-shell crab season: Fry them up in a pan, throw them on a sandwich with tomato, onion, and tartar sauce. This lobster is technically presupposed to be for dinner, however I additionally persuade myself I’ve to check it to verify it’s nonetheless good. It’s.
I’ve a small espresso at house as a result of I’m attempting to remain on my p’s and q’s. Usually, I like a day nap, however right now I don’t wish to be sleepy when my mother and father come over, and I’ve acquired to drag off this complete dinner. My dad finally ends up consuming half the espresso anyway.
I don’t begin really cooking till they arrive, aside from the shrimp cocktail, which, in hindsight, I want I’d made contemporary — it’s a bit of rubbery. They’re watching me end all the pieces, and my mother is attempting to assist, and I’m like, “No, sit. You’ve cooked for me my complete life. Let me do that for you.”
I’m form of winging it — particularly with the pasta — they usually’re principally watching me function in my own residence, which I feel my mother loves. I’ve this analogy that cooking is definitely actually much like growing your private fashion: Once you’re first beginning out, it’s useful to comply with a “recipe,” like actually being advised what to do. With fashion, it’s like: “Oh, I wish to gown like that” or “I must get these precise garments to construct my wardrobe.” And finally you be taught what you want, you possibly can eyeball it, you perceive the fundamental science, and you may simply determine it out by yourself.
We eat the pasta, a radicchio and endive salad, and roasted fennel. They’re happy. We’re form of attempting to determine new traditions. We used to have a good time with our complete household, however now my brother has a 1-year-old, virtually 2-year-old, and there’s no set factor anymore. So I’m like, “Presents earlier than dessert?” And so they’re like, “Nicely, is that what you wish to do?”
They don’t actually give me vogue items. I’ve advised them: “Please, I don’t want extra garments.” My mother will get me books. My dad went to a Japanese ceramics retailer close to the place they reside and acquired me an attractive dish. I acquired my dad pants from Our Legacy, and he’s actually stoked. I feel by means of osmosis of the podcast, he’s picked up vogue cues. Once I give him the pants, he’s cheering, “Oh yeah! Our Legacy! Let’s go!” I acquired my mother a shawl from Stoffa. It’s an attractive textile, and I’m like, “In case you don’t need it, I’ll preserve it for myself. Say the phrase.”
My mother used to pay attention to each episode early on, and she or he would textual content me her ideas each week — normally one thing like, “That Jonah Hill man sounds good. Please cease cursing a lot.” However they have been most enthusiastic about our episode with Zohran Mamdani. Some Mamdani individuals knocked on their door, canvassing, and my dad was like, “Hey, have you learnt the podcast Throwing Matches?”
I allow them to carry dessert despite the fact that I wished to make all the pieces for them, and I feel they forgot as a result of they undoubtedly simply purchased ice cream and cupcakes from the bodega earlier than driving over right here. Truthfully, it’s form of refreshing. I’m sick of artisanal baked items, handmade cupcakes constituted of hand-ground flour and icing from somebody’s Polish great-grandmother. These are simply ultraprocessed cupcakes: artificial crimson velvet cake, the thickest vanilla icing you’ve ever tasted.
After they depart, I make myself a bit of mini-martini to decompress. I don’t make them a ton at house, however it’s an important day. I take advantage of a extremely briny gin known as Fundy, from Nova Scotia. I do an honest quantity of vermouth, after which a bit of soiled. Tremendous-chilled glass. I suppose the time period is “make it skate.”
Friday, December 26
I’ve my identical 20-ounce espresso at house, then go to the Good Morning Café pop-up at Unusual Delight. I like Unusual Delight, they usually’ve acquired a brand new dinner menu — I’m really going to begin my New 12 months’s there. I’m supposed to fulfill a good friend, however he bails final minute. Even nonetheless, I’m like, “Fuck it. I’m going to take the prepare 25 minutes, eat on my own, and take the prepare again.” They’re offered out of the breakfast sandwich. They’ve acquired pastries that individuals love, however I’m not massive on pastries — I’m extra of a savory-breakfast man, despite the fact that I’m not likely a breakfast man. So, I’m having lunch at 11 a.m. I get the grits with shrimp gravy and the pimento-cheese sandwich with Cajun-spiced cucumbers, iceberg lettuce, all on milk bread.
Then, I run to the ironmongery store to purchase a 1/2-inch drill bit — I’m placing up some shelving. This week I’m catching up on house initiatives, attempting to hit my objective of a guide a month (I do!), and doing nothing and all the pieces on the identical time. It’s a bizarre week the place you get these random bursts of exercise.
I cease on the Japanese market and purchase Yakult. It’s like a peachy-pink juice that my brother and I cherished to drink after we spent summers in Japan as youngsters; we known as it “peach juice.” It’s form of like a Proustian rush again to my childhood. Now, with the English branding on the packaging, it’s being offered to individuals as this live-probiotic yogurt drink, and I’m like … what?
Later, I try and have a small bowl of Christmas-pasta leftovers — the crab-and-lobster pasta. It’s presupposed to be a snack. After which I’m like, “Wait, I ought to simply eat all of it now, for security?” The twenty fifth feels just like the final day the seafood is “good.” So I eat, like, two-and-a-half servings of this pasta. A full second lunch.
It’s dangerous as a result of I’m going to Bong at 7:30 with a good friend. I’m burdened as a result of I can’t break my urge for food for Bong. Bong is normally impossibly busy, however I’m making the most of this week — reservations are straightforward, and all the pieces feels extra spontaneous than it normally does.
It’s freezing and snowing — blizzard vibes — and as I’m within the Uber there, I’m genuinely questioning if I ought to’ve canceled. Searching the automobile window, I fear there’s an opportunity we’ll come out to a foot of snow and received’t have the ability to get house. However I’m additionally like, Fuck it. By the point we’re there, I’m fortunately ravenous.
We get the salt-and-pepper head-on shrimp; pomelo salad with dried shrimp and fried peanuts and mint; somlor machu clams with eggplant and watercress in a bitter tamarind broth; plea sach ko, which is form of like a beef carpaccio; and an unreal complete fried fish with a ton of herbs and pickled issues. That salad is wonderful. I’m calling it proper now: Pomelo goes to be the citrus of 2026.
After, we go to Bernie’s for a nightcap. I order a Cosmo. It’s really my second Cosmo of the week. Cosmos are a kind of drinks the place you order it form of satirically, but additionally, it’s fucking scrumptious. Tart, bitter, vivid, fruity, icy. And for some cause, bartenders adore it. Once I had one at Blue Ribbon Brasserie earlier within the week, the bartender was like, “Hell yeah,” and advised us the key is a few form of orange liqueur. At Bernie’s, they make a spherical of Cosmo pictures for the employees.
Saturday, December 27
I’ve my identical 20-ounce espresso at house. Then I play tennis — courtroom availability is huge open. I’m attempting to place collectively a small tennis event in mid-January with round ten individuals, only a bunch of associates. The plan is to exit to Lengthy Island for the day. My barber really helpful this tremendous old-school place in Lengthy Seaside known as Clay Time — all the pieces’s money, verbal contracts. After tennis, I’ve a chunk of toast with jam.
I head out to run errands within the a part of Greenpoint that’s form of removed from me — close to all of the TikTok eating places: Taku Sando, Kettl Matcha. I really do attempt to go to Radio considering my good-luck streak of moving into locations which are unattainable this week will proceed. However I’m too late. They’re offered out of principally all of the sandwiches besides tuna salad, which is overrated.
It’s one other freezing day — plenty of snow on the bottom — and I’d love some pozole proper now. I take into consideration going to Mariscos El Submarino, however that’s extra of a seafood aguachile place. So, I’m going to Frijoleros. That is in all probability the third time I’ve been there, and it hits each time. I additionally order chorizo tacos, and sadly, I don’t notice the pozole comes with two tostadas; the tacos come first, and by the point the pozole reveals up, I’m stuffed. I’ve to carry half house.
Between lunch and dinner, I work on the shelving, do sudoku, and browse. I’m studying a guide known as The Director, by Daniel Kehlmann. I’m attempting to complete this one earlier than New 12 months’s. It’s a few Jewish director who goes again to Germany throughout the rise of the Third Reich to care for his mom and will get trapped there — principally about creating artwork beneath fascism. It’s good, and likewise scary as a result of it feels very … relevant.
The principle occasion of my day is my reservation at Bistrot Ha — my second time there. I’ve grow to be associates with the co-owner Sadie by means of going to her different restaurant Snack Bar a bunch and loving it. I first got here to Bistrot Ha throughout their opening week, and I used to be blown away. Now it’s gotten even higher. The menu’s up to date. Opening week was super-cramped and crowded as a result of everybody was attempting to get in; this time, it’s extra settled. It looks as if they’ve reworked the inside to be extra accommodating. The lighting is so insane that I requested Sadie about it, and she or he advised me about this lighting designer James Cherry. I really purchased one among his lights as a present for somebody; it’s stunning, made with actual cucumber — like, if you happen to’re hungry, you possibly can eat the sunshine.
We get the meat tataki, Ha’s salad, leeks French dressing with mussels and egg salad, trout crudo with pomelo, leg of lamb, lobster and sweetbreads vol-au-vent, and the passion-fruit meringue. The leeks French dressing is insane. The lamb is so good. The trout crudo with pomelo is fucking hearth. We additionally get a bottle of Matassa, plus a lychee Cosmo. I’m calling it: The Cosmo is the drink of 2026.
I used to be there with a good friend, however it became a kind of nights the place you’re additionally working into individuals. It’s that sluggish week in New York factor. The desk subsequent to us is associates. We see a good friend sitting on the bar along with his mother who’s visiting for the vacations. One other good friend is available in — they only had a child, so it’s one among their first date nights out. It feels heat and New York–y and form of like I’m in a Nancy Meyers film.
Sunday, December 29
Espresso at house. I’ve half a bialy with tomato and goat cheese and head to Lore Bathing Membership. My good friend Cam works there, they usually’re doing single classes proper now earlier than they open open. I like a shvitz. It feels proper after this week of documented hedonism — the true Christmas-holiday decadence is behind us, the New 12 months’s Eve decadence is forward of us, so let’s take a second to flush all the pieces out of us. Detox earlier than we retox.
After that, I spontaneously get veggie tempura udon at Raku — extra-grated daikon, plus shiso tempura, after which I determine to go see No Different Alternative on the Angelika. It’s normally too busy to do the “let’s go to the Angelika and see a film” factor, however the vacation week makes it attainable. I seize a macchiato. I actually just like the film. It seems like Korean dad Marty Supreme. I assumed it was going to be violent and motion packed, however it’s extra of a curler coaster — humorous, thrilling, scary, a bit of gory, a little bit of all the pieces.
I’m going grocery purchasing for the primary time in what seems like a month. I’ve to go to some completely different locations: Maison Jar for produce/wholesome stuff, Mr. Plum for produce/pantry, Prospect Butcher (new close to me), and Greenpoint Fish and Lobster. It’s form of nuts, but additionally rising up in New York, it feels regular. I grew up close to Gristedes and by no means appreciated it. Large supermarkets freak me out once I’m exterior the town. I don’t thoughts bouncing round, even when it’s a fucking ache within the ass — however it’s perhaps why I search for typically and have completely no meals in my home.
At house, I make an artisanal slop bowl. I roast candy potatoes with what I feel is the holy trinity of seasoning: garlic powder, smoked paprika, and cinnamon. Cinnamon in floor pork, floor beef, and on a roast tuber is unbelievable. I do the entire thing: quick-pickle some issues, preserve some issues uncooked, roast some kale, pan-fry some trout, and throw all of it collectively. It’s an easy-ish weeknight meal for me. I purchased the fish at an insane time to purchase uncooked fish: 6:30 p.m. on a Sunday night time. As soon as once more, I’m anxious the seafood will go unhealthy on me. Finish the week playing, I suppose.
EAT LIKE THE EXPERTS.
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