On his day off, Sze isn’t just checking in on his restaurant’s orders; he is shopping for his own table. His selections at the butcher counter are deliberate: a specialty cut of steak and dry-aged short ribs. The process of dry-aging is a slow, transformative art that concentrates flavor and breaks down muscle fibers to create a texture that cannot be replicated by modern industrial methods. By choosing these cuts for dinner, Sze demonstrates a chef’s preference for ingredients that have been treated with time and patience, ensuring that even a meal cooked at home carries the same depth of flavor found in a professional kitchen.
The midday portion of Sze’s journey brings him to Chrissy’s Pizza, an establishment that exemplifies the New York obsession with the perfect pie. Behind the counter, chef Chris Hansell has spent years in a relentless pursuit of pizza perfection, fine-tuning every variable from oven temperature to flour blends. For Sze, Chrissy’s represents the pinnacle of the "NY-style" pie—a category that is often imitated but rarely executed with such precision.
Sze’s order at Chrissy’s is the jalapeño and garlic pie, a selection that showcases a sophisticated understanding of heat and aromatics. Rather than overwhelming the palate, the jalapeño and garlic are applied in perfect proportions, allowing the ingredients to complement rather than compete with the rich tomato sauce and cheese. However, the true star of the show for Sze is the crust. Described as doughy and yeasted, the crust at Chrissy’s Pizza manages to achieve a crispy exterior while maintaining a structural integrity and a chew that suggests a long, careful fermentation process. It is the kind of pizza that requires a chef’s level of dedication to produce, making it a natural favorite for someone like Sze.
As the day progresses, the journey shifts from the modern streets of Brooklyn to the historic culinary enclave of Flushing, Queens. For Sze, a trip to Flushing is a return to his roots. While his own restaurant, Wenwen, is a celebrated part of the Taiwanese-American narrative in Brooklyn, Maxi’s Noodle 2 in Flushing provides the nostalgic Chinese flavors he has craved since moving to the United States from Taiwan. This stop is less about professional inspiration and more about the emotional connection to the food of his upbringing.
At Maxi’s Noodle 2, the experience is guided by owner Maxi Lau-O’Keefe, who has become a guardian of traditional Cantonese-style noodle preparations. The centerpiece of the visit is the iconic wonton. These are not the small, mass-produced dumplings found in many takeout spots; these are oversized, hand-crafted parcels filled with a meticulously seasoned mixture of shrimp and pork. Sze takes the opportunity to step behind the scenes, where Lau-O’Keefe demonstrates the expert folding techniques required to ensure the wontons hold their shape and texture during the cooking process.
