Night Cheese: What Do Brooklyn Chefs Eat When They Have The Munchies?

By Sarah Zorn

Illustrations by Jordan Sondler

Chefs: They’re just like us! Sure, you might assume they’d cook for themselves the way they do for customers, but after twelve-or-more hours of slaving away over a hot stove, the last thing chefs want to do is devise an elaborate at-home meal. Instead, they turn to greasy, salty, sweet, crunchy, and preservative-laden munchies to satisfy their every craving. Here are some of Brooklyn’s best chefs favorite go-to choices for midnight snacking.

Paulie Gee
Owner of Paulie Gee’s
Matzohs with cold salted butter. And a little extra salt. There’s nothing more to be said. Water crackers (the goy matzoh) and cream cheese doesn’t suck either.

Josh Kaplan
Owner of Dassara
I have a wife and kid so my snacks have to eat like meals. Carbonara with bacon, eggs and cheese.

Fany Gerson
Chef/Owner of Dough and La Newyorkina
My munchie things aren’t really that unhealthy. The first is pita chips with labneh, olive oil, salt and lots of pepper, and the second is cucumbers with a LOT of lime, salt and plenty of tajin!

Nick Subic
Chef/Owner of King Noodle
Jianbing—a Chinese egg crepe. It’s like a breakfast burrito with a thin, crispy outside, fluffy eggs and a bunch of crunchy vegetables inside.

Justin Bazdarich
Chef/Owner of Speedy Romeo
My favorite late night home snack is popcorn cooked in bacon fat and crisp cold Gold Rush apple. Salty, fatty, crunchy popcorn with an acidic apple really hits the spot!

Kimberly Wetherell
Owner/Executive Baketender at Spirited
My favorite go-to meal when I get home from a long day at work is a cold beer (currently drinking Coney Island’s 1609 Amber Ale) and an entire order of ten garlic knots and a Caesar salad from Cotta Bene Pizza in Gowanus. After a long day surrounded by nothing but flour and sugar and elegant craft spirits, there is nothing I want more than something simple, green, crunchy and super-extra garlicky.

Simon Glenn
Chef/Owner of Tchoup Shop
I guess my snack of choice is avocados. I usually eat one a day, on a sandwich, with chips, with eggs, with warm tortillas, or with a spoon right out of the skin. An avocado with flaky sea salt would be my last meal on Earth.

Andrew Zurica
Chef/Owner of Hard Times Sundaes
The thing I eat most at home is cereal. Right now it’s Frosted Raisin Mini-Wheats. Milk, cereal and bananas are always ice cold and stored in my fridge. I usually eat cereal from a large frozen glass and a banana is a must. I crave it just about every single day; it’s an addiction of mine. And sometimes I drizzle a little chocolate syrup over the top for good measure!