Best of Brunch: What Chefs Cook at Home - New York City

[Amiel] [bright mellow music] I am Amiel Stanek,

contributing editor at Bon Appetit.

I'm visiting chefs across America

to see what they cook at home on a relaxed Sunday off,

when they're not cooking professionally

and just wanna connect with friends and family.

What's for brunch?

[bright mellow music continues]

Today, I'm visiting Chef Remy Park in Brooklyn, New York.

My journey with food actually started

when I was trying to heal my relationship with food,

and around the same time was when I went vegan

for the first time.

So I'm half Korean and part Japanese and part Taiwanese,

and I think that all three of my cultures

really informed the way that I eat and the way that I cook.

I think a lot of the things that I saw

on the table as a kid [camera shutter clicking]

are not things that you would typically see veganized.

And I think it's really fun to draw inspiration

from your own culture,

and I think it's a great connection point,

because everybody eats.

[mellow music] [knuckles rapping]

[Both] Hi.

[Amiel] Good to see you. How are you?

It's so good to see you. Thanks for coming.

Thanks for having me.

Do you need help cooking?

I would love a hand. Great.

You like tofu, right?

I love tofu.

Alright, so what are we cooking?

We're having a vegan Japanese breakfast set,

and we're also gonna have bubble tea

made with Gold Peak iced tea.

Yum. We're gonna actually

make the tapioca pearls from scratch.

Really? Yeah.

It's really easy to do. Okay, okay.

And it's a lot fresher,

and tastes, in my opinion, a lot better.

I have never heard of doing this yourself.

We're gonna just warm the dough up a little bit,

and then we'll take a piece. This feels like Play-Doh

a little bit. It really is.

It's like very therapeutic.

This is very therapeutic. [Remy laughs]

And we'll roll them into our pearls,

and then we'll just try and make the balls

as uniform as possible.

Alright, well, mine are a little smaller than yours.

Is that okay?

I think yours are probably a great size

for fitting through the straw.

[Amiel laughs] We'll see how mine go.

They look perfect.

We're gonna just boil them, and then we'll be ready

to assemble our drinks. Alright.

Mm, I can, like, see how chewy they are, you know?

Okay, to assemble,

then we'll add our ice,

and then we'll add our Gold Peak tea.

[tea sloshing]

And then we'll top it off with a little bit of plant milk.

Nice. [plant milk sloshing]

[Remy] That looks great. And there we have it.

It's smooth and refreshing.

[Amiel] So what are we making next?

I think we should start with the cucumber salad.

Okay, cool. Do you wanna

maybe chop the cucumbers for me?

Great. That would be awesome.

Can I grab that cutting board?

Yeah.

[Amiel] Do you often have Japanese breakfast?

Growing up, I used to have it a lot

[Amiel] with my grandma especially. Oh, nice.

And then when I went vegan,

I feel like it got a little more tricky,

because a lot of the elements aren't naturally vegan.

But then being able to recreate it with her

was the most fun.

And then now, I feel like I can enjoy that tradition still.

[Amiel] Was the food a big part of your childhood?

I think in most Asian families, definitely mine,

we didn't really say, I love you, a lot.

Like, food was really how we communicated

with each other in general.

So every time we gather together,

there's always some kind of food element.

We're going to a restaurant, we're doing Korean barbecue

or something. Totally.

Well, what else are you supposed to do with your family?

[Remy laughs] You know,

it's just cooking and eating.

[Remy laughs] [liquid sloshing]

[Remy] Wanna give these cucumbers a taste?

Yes, hmm.

What do you think?

That's really good.

My favorite easy salad.

Tell me a little bit about breakfast

or brunch for you growing up.

So many of our memories as a family

were just all kind of built around food,

you know, those golden moments.

Weekend breakfast was family time, you know?

[food sizzling]

Okay, I think we're about there with our tofu,

so let's pull it off heat,

and then we'll put our seasoning on.

Great.

[Remy] And we're almost done.

I feel like it's just nice to make a beautiful dish,

and on the weekends I have time

to put a little bit more care and love into it.

It just feels a little different

when it's just for you.

So the last one is the miso soup.

So I'll have you actually break down the miso paste.

[Amiel] Alright, sounds great.

[Remy] And while you do that,

I will make some decorative tofu pieces.

[Amiel] Love.

[Remy] A little bit of our broth, which is a veggie broth.

[Amiel] Alright, cool.

So I really was not measuring that miso,

so let's just add some. [Remy laughs]

We can always adjust as we go.

[Amiel] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think with vegan cooking,

you can go hard on the seasoning.

A lot of veggies, people are afraid to season them,

but, you know, it's just like you would treat your protein.

Wow, this is beautiful.

So who all's coming to brunch today?

So today we'll have my aunt

and one of my little sisters joining us.

Well, I feel honored to be joining your family.

I'm excited for you to meet them.

And there we have it.

We have our Japanese breakfast ready to go.

Let's go ahead and put it on the table.

Alright, sounds great.

[uptempo music]

Gorgeous. We're ready to have brunch.

Feel free to dig in.

[Amiel] Alright, this looks great.

Does she cook for you guys

like this all the time? [Remy laughs]

[Remy] We love food in our family.

Too much.

[all laughs]

No, there's no such thing as too much.

Dun, dun, dun.

[all laugh]

Cheers.

[All] Cheers. [glasses clinking]

Wow, it's refreshing.

[Remy] I made it with Gold Pea Tea.

[Sister] Thousand out of ten.

[all laugh]

This is like my favorite kind of breakfast.

I really love the fact that there are so many

different flavors here,

and so many, like, little composed dishes.

It feels like there's so much love

that goes into each thing.

It's just a really different way

to experience brunch together, and I really love it.

Yeah, definitely.

Mm, bubble tea is yummy.

So good. That's what I was gonna say.

[all laugh] [mellow music]