Martha eats a tomato fertilized with human hair—that’s just one highlight of the Brooklyn-centric episode of The Martha Stewart show, which aired today at 11. After an exuberant dweeb in the studio audience leaps up to announce that he’s from N. 6th Street between Driggs and Roebling (as if!), Martha begins her exploration of the “brand new Brooklyn” by noting that one out of every seven Americans can trace his or her family roots to the city’s most populated borough. Who knew?
It all starts with a visit to Marlow & Sons, the Williamsburg foodie den owned by Andrew Tarlow and Mark Firth, who first met while working at the Odeon in Manhattan, then opened Diner in 1998, followed more recently by Marlow & Sons and Marlow & Daughters. Martha’s slavish coverage of the duo culminates in calling them “the pioneers of the local sustainable food movement in Brooklyn.” (Can someone in fact-checking confirm that with the Park Slope Food Co-op’s founders?)
The next scene features Marlow & Sons exec chef Sean Rembold making his famous brick chicken, which is smushed into the smoking hot pan with a circular weight “cut from the hull of a battleship in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.” Even covered with lead, the chicken does look pretty awesome, as do Sean’s stone fruit (peaches and plums tossed with extra virgin olive oil, fresh herbs and fried okra), fried corn (sliced corn on the cob, tossed with lime aioli, parmesan cheese and fresh herbs) and shell bean crostini (with dandelion greens and aged goat cheese).
The tomatoes served with the chicken conveniently turn out to be from the Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint. You’ve probably heard about the farm, run by Ben Flanner and Annie Novak, a winsome swan of a farmgal who is now destined for a spread in Vogue wearing Stella McCartney. But you probably didn’t know that those heirloom tomatoes just eaten by Martha and niece Sophie Herbert are fertilized using HUMAN HAIR from an organic beauty salon in New York City.
Neither did we, and we’re guessing Sean didn’t either, because, well… gross! “Hair clippings are a huge source of protein,” Annie says. “We’re mulching with a New York City product that’s totally organic and it’s going to end up being very resourceful for the soil once we till it in.” How fitting then, that pest control is done with Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap. No conditioner?
Martha, unfazed by the revelation, goes on to make ricotta pancakes with Betsy Devine from Salvatore Brooklyn ricotta, stops at the Marlow & Daughters cheese counter—who did these guys sleep with?—where she confesses her love for tongue (the kind you get at a deli.) Then she hits the Brooklyn Flea to interview founders Eric Demby and Jonathan Butler (sorry, but how cute are these boys?) followed by a whirlwind gastronomical tour: Pizza Moto pizza, McClure’s pickles, Asia Dog franks, Lobster Pound bisque, the famous Red Hook Ballfield pupusas, and Blue Marble Ice cream. “I’ve never had maple ice cream before,” Martha confesses. Seriously? Certainly not in a biodegradable cup made from sugar cane.
Then it’s on to a pupusa-making segment, a clam pie at Franny’s pizza (wow—their ovens can reach 900 degrees!) and some pretty postcards “you can send to your friends to remind them how beautiful Brooklyn is.” Stay tuned for the video…
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that “exuberant dweeb” is martha’s audience warmer-upper, which totally boggles my mind. he and martha are both so incredibly awkward that I actually have to mute the TV when they interact with each other.
I was at the taping of this show and there was no awkward interactions. Martha looks pretty good for pushing 70 and yes, there are in fact people from Williamsburg not just midwestern & Japanese transplants.