From Anna Dunn.
Editor-In-Chief of the Diner Journal...
"This journal amounts to the traingulation of a moment. Like trying to hold a bubble in your hand or committing on summer's sunset to memory. This is about longing, to go back to stretch one perfect moment into an eternity, to return to a taste, to stay always with friends as the soft night sifts into the sky. Our lives, in this way, are a series of exquisite losses. Ones we are thankful for.
Orange and blue are the colors of nostalgia, the way a lense catches light or flame spits from the fire, the way a wave reaches for a moment toward the sky. Nostalgia, the word and the sum of all its parts, derives from the Greek word for home and the Homeric word for ache. We are a population of perfect storms forever wanting to be captured and then set free. A photograph never does it. Neither does this Journal."
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The
Diner Journal is a quarterly magazine from the folks over at
Marlow and Son's restaurant, under restaurateur
Andrew Tarlow, and editor in chief,
Anna Dunn, and this is the one journal I always buy, no matter what, as they nail it, in every respect.
1. Editorially, it always has a really strong focus; and it's usually themed. (whether it be Fall, Spring, Summer or Winter, etc. They also did a Poultry issue, once, which I have, and their current issue (above) it titled 'Town and Country", which merges images, literature and recipes from the city and the land and
2. The recipes are always from their chefs, or cooks who work for the restaurant, so you know they'll work, and also they are usually something you've never heard of before. You'll want to pore through and bookmark them, and keep turning back to them, time and time again and,
3. the photography and art work are always cutting edge and inspiring
They're current issue, No. 22. "Town & Country" (with pics above) has recipes such as Grilled Sardines + Eggplant w/ Bone Marrrow Agrodolce, Grilled Corn in Clarified Lobster Butter and a ridiciously easy Smokey Eggplant Dip that I want to make right now.
The
Diner Journal grew out of the creative flow of the restaurant staff working together everyday, and they hope this independent spirit shines through. There's a certain intangibility to the feeling of dining in a restaurant at night, and the journal editors confess, they both hate and treasure; that the sensation is fleeting.
Diner Journal was partly created as a print object that hopefully embodies and continues that feeling and mood from the restaurants. The goal was to make every page something that they would want to pass on and save and come back to, which is why they don't have any advertisements.
The themes of each issue are decided organically and their contributor list is too. Many contributors work at their restaurants (Marlow and Sons, Diner, Roman and Reynard), or are people they know professionally in the industry, or are customers, even. The journal gives them the platform to work with different types of writers and creators; from poets and water colorists, to photographers and micro-finance wizards turned cheese-makers. Sometimes when they decide on an article, they can often base the theme of the entire issue around it.
How to get it? The journal is for sale within the cafe at Marlow and Sons, and they can also be bought online at Marlowgoods.com, as well as all over the US and internationally hand picked bookstores. They are also carried at Anthropologie. The diner journal comes out several times a year but if you order a subsription you will get 4 issues. To order the journal or to see their website for a full list of stockists, click here.
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Pic 3: Spit-Roasted Lamb photograph by Julia Gillard.
Pic 4: Braised Squid in Grilled Tomato Sauce by
Jenna RansomPic 5: Country photo by Julia Gillard at Blooming Hill Farm
PIc 6: TOC illustration of the map by Tessa Basore and Becky Kirsten Johnson.