It was the early 1990s and we were all working at San Francisco Weekly. John Roemer was our main news writer, an intrepid reporter with flair who once wrote a news feature on the Mission's burritos. This was, John tells me, at Vince's behest, and the project entailed much "research" on the part of both John and Vince. (A good editor must be "hands-on," right, though it doesn't usually mean "hands-on the burrito.")
Well, Vince and I shared an office, so I got to overhear not only his brass-tacks editing sessions with less gourmand writers but his nearly operatic discussions of food with John. John would come in with a story to pitch but the news could wait. For Vince and John needed to talk about the best way to do a pork roast; whether it was better to use the traditional parsley in vongole or do John's version with basil; the itinerary for a daylong feast that would include a trip to Tomales Bay for oysters (eat there or bring back?) and end with pasta, dessert, and way too much wine in Sausalito.
When the volume rose, for neither is a quiet man, I would sometimes grumpily shout over the partition that they really needed to quiet down and finish up so we could get some f@!#ing work done. But often I said nothing, for I was listening to the details of my next meal.
xo,
Chris
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