Illustration: Sarah Kilcoyne
Tan France is in the process of moving from Salt Lake City to New York — both City and upstate — with his husband and their two young sons. On a visit to town this month, he caught up with (three of) his former Queer Eye castmates, launched a furniture collaboration with Castlery, and ate at some of his favorite, admittedly touristy places. He’s accustomed to being approached by fans in restaurants, who often greet him as he’s finishing a meal. “Or they’ll film me from across the restaurant, which used to bother me because I feel very embarrassed when somebody sees me eat,” he says. “But after nine years, you get used to it.”
Tuesday, August 4
I woke up in my home in Salt Lake City. I’m not a breakfast person unless I’m going out or if I know that I’m probably not going to get much food that day. So when I’m home, very rarely do I eat breakfast.
My coffee routine is that I make a latte with half regular milk, half water, two shots of espresso, and then half a teaspoon of sugar — in the raw, preferably. So I had coffee, played with my kids — I’ve got a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old — then got a ride to the airport. I had a flight to New York at 10 a.m.
It took a couple of hours to get into the city and into my hotel in NoMad, and so I rushed to get ready for dinner at seven. I was meeting my former Queer Eye castmates Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness, and Jeremiah Brent at Raf’s.
It was so busy. Antoni was the food guy on Queer Eye, and he loves Raf’s. We’d been before for brunch and we loved it, so that’s why we went back. I’m pescatarian, and I had the mafaldine alla Trapanese with tomato, basil, almond, and garlic. It’s their vegetarian option, and it was incredible. All of us loved our food, but mine was the best. Everyone else tried it and said, “I wish I’d gotten that.” They do these braised leeks — I’m obsessed with leeks — and they did it so beautifully and very simply.
They sent out a dessert that was layered — not a cake, more like a torte — with a mirror glaze on top, and then below that was a gorgeous chocolate ganache.
It was just the four of us. If there’s ever more than three people at a table with me, I get overwhelmed and I can’t catch up with anyone. But we had the best time talking about what we’re up to right now. It’d been about six weeks since we were all last together, and we live very different lives.
We stayed out until 10:30, and for me that’s late.
Wednesday August 5
It’s so rare I get room service — when I’m in New York, I just want to walk and get coffee. On this particular trip, I kept going back to a place called Gumption Coffee. I don’t know if it’s a chain, but it has fantastic coffee.
I also frequented a place that only does cinnamon rolls called Sunday Morning. I went about a month ago when I was here with my husband, and we thought it was fucking killer. I love a cinnamon roll, so this time around I went back every single day and got one.
Then I went to Jack’s Wife Freda for brunch, the one next to Balthazar. I was meeting a friend and it was packed, which is great. I go for the ambience because I love how busy it is.
I don’t like people watching me eat, but the reason why is the complete opposite of what you might imagine. It’s not because I’m a messy eater. It’s because every American I’ve ever dined with has made fun of the way I eat, because I act as though I’m a queen. I use my left hand for my fork, my right hand to cut. I balance a tiny bit of everything on the back of my fork, and Americans find that so funny and ludicrous. I don’t know why. Jonathan van Ness has made fun of me for nine years. Whenever he gets a chance to watch me eat, he will just sit there as if he’s watching a David Attenborough show.
I’ve been to Jack’s Wife Freda at least 20 times over the last few years and know the food relatively well. I got the green shakshuka, which doesn’t taste like a regular shakshuka — the sauce has a kind of zestiness. It comes typically with two oven-baked eggs, but I always ask for a third, and then a side of sourdough toast. It was lovely. I also got a second coffee.
I didn’t want to risk getting to dinner without eating anything else, because I had eaten so little the day before. So around 2 p.m. I got a cheese slice from Joe’s Pizza. I’m sure New Yorkers would disagree, but I think it’s only okay. Many people think it’s the best slice. It’s nice enough; it does the job.
That evening was the press and VIP event at Nine Orchard for my new furniture collection. I don’t eat when I’m at an event, even if I always tell myself, You must eat because you might not get a meal tonight. But if I’m hosting an event, I’m technically at work, and I’m not going to eat whilst I’m working.
By around 10:30 p.m., I was like, Oh shit, I’ve not eaten. My publicist managed to get me a to-go spaghetti pomodoro. I didn’t ask for that — I’m not a spaghetti person. I would never go for spaghetti, and definitely not just a plain old pomodoro. But it was the only vegetarian option, and it turned out to be the best spaghetti dish I’ve ever had. I only had a plastic fork, unfortunately, and I was eating in the car service on my way back to the hotel — so forking, twist, twist, twist. It’s a very large bite, but I’m not one for slurping. I was wearing a cream tank. I wasn’t going to risk getting red sauce on that.
Afterward, I wondered, Is it just that I’m ravenous, or is the spaghetti actually exceptional? I thankfully kept a little bit in a box, so the next morning I tried a bite to see if I was nuts. And it was equally good.
Thursday, August 6
I’m a very early riser. I typically wake around about 5:30 a.m. That’s because I’ve got babies, and they’ve been waking up at that time since they were born.
If I know I’m doing live television or shooting something where I’ll need to have a lot of energy, I will make sure to have breakfast. My solo New York breakfast of choice is an everything bagel with American cheese — unfortunately, that just tastes right on a bagel — and two eggs. I got that to go from Bagel Pub, which is great, and then I ate it on my way to the Today show.
After the taping, I went to Balthazar. I’m sure there are other places to go in New York, but I love Balthazar. It’s so consistent, and the staff are lovely. If you’ve been there enough, they’ll know that you like a latte. They’ll also know that you want tap water, because there’s no reason to get bottled water. Those little details really matter to me. If you’re lucky enough to be at one of the red leather booths, it’s so small and intimate. Your knees are knocking, and you’re constantly having to apologize for playing footsie with them. It’s a very special vibe.
I was there for a work meeting with a new friend, and I got my regular order: three eggs, poached medium, a side of sourdough toast, very light on the butter — preferably no butter, or butter on the side. If you have hash browns, I would like them the most crispy you can possibly make them. My friend was like, “Oh, can I just get the same as you?”
I also added a side of avocado. Some restaurants only give you a quarter avocado, and I always want a half, and so I usually just request half and tell them I’ll pay extra for it. It’s so ridiculous, and I know I’m uptight, but that’s just who I am. I want a little bit of avocado in each bite, and if I’ve only got a quarter, that won’t be enough to get me through the entire meal. As I said, the queen takes a little bite of everything. It’s an entire meal, not five separate meals.
Dinner was at the Corner Store. Apparently it’s a very hard restaurant to get into — I had no idea. Jeremiah arranged the reservation for me because my assistant didn’t have any luck.
I was dining with two other friends. We had a Caesar salad that didn’t look anything like a regular Caesar salad, and it was exceptional. I don’t ever order a salad anywhere. I always want a carb, and a salad, for me, just ain’t cutting it. But this was lovely — whatever lettuce they used was crisp, crisp, crisp. What made it so magical was their croutons. They have croutons that are almost like a bagel bite with cream cheese inside. Killer! If they just gave me a bowl of that, I would have been fully satiated.
I wanted to get some protein in for the day, so I also got the branzino with a side of broccolini. Lovely. But the star of the show was dessert. I’m not an ice-cream person, but my friends were like, “You need to try this.” It was a kind of Samoa Girl Scout cookie flavor served in a very large martini glass with a bunch of coconut and chocolate and all that jazz on top. Heavenly!
Friday, August 7
This morning I had the same bagel from Bagel Pub.
For lunch, I got a piadina from Piadi. I had never had this before — it was just really close to my hotel, and I needed a quick bite. Typically, I wouldn’t go for a sandwich. But this was a bit different — a very thin bread, like a round naan or a fluffy tortilla, and you fold that over and stuff it with various things. I had one with burrata, grilled eggplant, sundried tomato, truffle cream, and rocket. (For the Americans, rocket means arugula.) Just a bunch of vegetables, and really lovely.
I had two separate dinners — I don’t know where I got the appetite. First, I went to a place called Chor Bazaar at 4 or 5 p.m., not because I was hungry but because I’d heard about it and really wanted to try what they had. It’s Indian street food, and I’ve not really had that outside India. I got masala chai and a kati roll that had potato, onion, and spices, plus a tamarind dipping sauce and a mint dipping sauce. Absolutely gorgeous. Then I got a samosa chaat, which is a crushed-up samosa covered in yogurt sauce, a bunch of spices, pomegranate seeds, tamarind, mint. Just heaven on a plate.
It was my only evening off, and I was working in my hotel room. But when it came to eight o’clock, I realized I was hungry. I didn’t want to wait until breakfast, and so I ordered from Cloves. As an appetizer I got a skewer of masala-spiced shrimp with a really thick sauce. And then I got bhindi, which is okra curry — which wasn’t good. I did not like it. I thought the shrimp was fantastic, but I don’t understand how they made the bhindi so wrong. A lot of American Indian places really cater to a non–South Asian community because they want to ease them in, but it was lacking authentic flavor.
On the other hand, the aloo paratha was lovely. But a paratha is just bread and potato — if you fuck that up, you shouldn’t be in business.
I was going to get the food delivered, but then I thought, It’s down the street; I’ll walk. I should take a break from my laptop. The second I walked outside, the most insane, torrential rainfall began. I had an umbrella, yet when I walked into the restaurant, my shoes were squelching so loudly it was as if I had literally swam there fully clothed. As soon as I got back and took a bite of the bhindi, I thought, I can’t believe I got completely drenched for this.
Saturday, August 8
Saturday was Gumption coffee and then I went straight to the airport. The Delta lounges in New York and L.A. both do the best poached eggs I’ve ever had in America. I don’t know where they’re getting their eggs, but in the U.K., our yolks are orange, not that weird American buttery yellow. Delta-lounge eggs are a very deep orange — they’re lovely.
Thankfully, my kids love me enough to be excited when I walk into the house. They scream “Abu, Abu, Abu,” which is the word for dad in my language. I try not to speak English with my kids.
After I’ve given them hugs, I ask them what they want for their lunch. They have the same ten things on rotation, so it’s not a daunting question — they’re not going to say “caviar.”
The kids wanted my version of mac and cheese, which isn’t any different to anyone else’s, but my husband will make it from a packet. Whereas I do a roux and then will grate my own cheese. And there’s always a side of peas, broccoli, and a side of berries or mango.
I always pre-make food for my husband when I’m away. He’s got the kids, so I try and make sure that every meal’s covered. We defrosted dal and homemade roti. I make roti and a proper Indian meal most days when I’m home.
