{"id":67984,"date":"2026-08-21T10:51:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T10:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/67984\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T10:51:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T10:51:13","slug":"tan-frances-grub-street-diet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/67984\/","title":{"rendered":"Tan France\u2019s Grub Street Diet"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n Illustration: Sarah Kilcoyne\n <\/p>\n

Tan France<\/a> is in the process of moving from Salt Lake City to New York \u2014\u00a0both City and upstate \u2014\u00a0with his husband and their two young sons. On a visit to town this month, he caught up with (three of<\/a>) his former Queer Eye castmates, launched a furniture collaboration with Castlery<\/a>, and ate at some of his favorite, admittedly touristy places. He\u2019s accustomed to being approached by fans in restaurants, who often greet him as he\u2019s finishing a meal. \u201cOr they\u2019ll film me from across the restaurant, which used to bother me because I feel very embarrassed when somebody sees me eat,\u201d he says. \u201cBut after nine years, you get used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday, August 4
I woke up in my home in Salt Lake City. I\u2019m not a breakfast person unless I\u2019m going out or if I know that I\u2019m probably not going to get much food that day. So when I\u2019m home, very rarely do I eat breakfast.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 in the raw, preferably. So I had coffee, played with my kids \u2014\u00a0I\u2019ve got a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old \u2014\u00a0then got a ride to the airport. I had a flight to New York at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was so busy. Antoni was the food guy on Queer Eye, and he loves Raf\u2019s. We\u2019d been before for brunch and we loved it, so that\u2019s why we went back. I\u2019m pescatarian, and I had the mafaldine alla Trapanese with tomato, basil, almond, and garlic. It\u2019s their vegetarian option, and it was incredible. All of us loved our food, but mine was the best. Everyone else tried it and said, \u201cI wish I\u2019d gotten that.\u201d They do these braised leeks \u2014\u00a0I\u2019m obsessed with leeks \u2014\u00a0and they did it so beautifully and very simply.<\/p>\n

They sent out a dessert that was layered \u2014\u00a0not a cake, more like a torte \u2014\u00a0with a mirror glaze on top, and then below that was a gorgeous chocolate ganache.<\/p>\n

It was just the four of us. If there\u2019s ever more than three people at a table with me, I get overwhelmed and I can\u2019t catch up with anyone. But we had the best time talking about what we\u2019re up to right now. It\u2019d been about six weeks since we were all last together, and we live very different lives.<\/p>\n

We stayed out until 10:30, and for me that\u2019s late.<\/p>\n

Wednesday August 5
It\u2019s so rare I get room service \u2014\u00a0when I\u2019m 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.<\/a> I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a chain, but it has fantastic coffee.<\/p>\n

I also frequented a place that only does cinnamon rolls called Sunday Morning<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

Then I went to Jack\u2019s Wife Freda<\/a> for brunch, the one next to Balthazar. I was meeting a friend and it was packed, which is great.\u00a0I go for the ambience because I love how busy it is.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t like people watching me eat, but the reason why is the complete opposite of what you might imagine. It\u2019s not because I\u2019m a messy eater. It\u2019s because every American I\u2019ve ever dined with has made fun of the way I eat, because I act as though I\u2019m 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\u2019t 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\u2019s watching a David Attenborough show.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been to Jack\u2019s Wife Freda at least 20 times over the last few years and know the food relatively well. I got the green shakshuka, which doesn\u2019t taste like a regular shakshuka \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t 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\u2019s Pizza. I\u2019m sure New Yorkers would disagree, but I think it\u2019s only okay. Many people think it\u2019s the best slice. It\u2019s nice enough; it does the job.<\/p>\n

That evening was the press and VIP event at Nine Orchard<\/a> for my new furniture collection. I don\u2019t eat when I\u2019m at an event, even if I always tell myself, You must eat because you might not get a meal tonight. But if I\u2019m hosting an event, I\u2019m technically at work, and I\u2019m not going to eat whilst I\u2019m working.<\/p>\n

By around 10:30 p.m., I was like, Oh shit, I\u2019ve not eaten. My publicist managed to get me a to-go spaghetti pomodoro. I didn\u2019t ask for that \u2014\u00a0I\u2019m 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\u2019ve ever had. I only had a plastic fork, unfortunately, and I was eating in the car service on my way back to the hotel \u2014\u00a0so forking, twist, twist, twist. It\u2019s a very large bite, but I\u2019m not one for slurping. I was wearing a cream tank. I wasn\u2019t going to risk getting red sauce on that.<\/p>\n

Afterward, I wondered, Is it just that I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n

Thursday, August 6
I\u2019m a very early riser. I typically wake around about 5:30 a.m. That\u2019s because I\u2019ve got babies, and they\u2019ve been waking up at that time since they were born.<\/p>\n

If I know I\u2019m doing live television or shooting something where I\u2019ll 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 \u2014\u00a0unfortunately, that just tastes right on a bagel \u2014\u00a0and two eggs. I got that to go from Bagel Pub<\/a>, which is great, and then I ate it on my way to the Today show.<\/p>\n

After the taping, I went to Balthazar<\/a>. I\u2019m sure there are other places to go in New York, but I love Balthazar. It\u2019s so consistent, and the staff are lovely. If\u00a0you\u2019ve been there enough, they\u2019ll know that you like a latte. They\u2019ll also know that you want\u00a0tap water, because there\u2019s no reason to get bottled water. Those little details really matter to me. If you\u2019re lucky enough to be at one of the red leather booths, it\u2019s so small and intimate. Your knees are knocking, and you\u2019re constantly having to apologize for playing footsie with them. It\u2019s a very special vibe.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014\u00a0preferably 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, \u201cOh, can I just get the same as you?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019ll pay extra for it. It\u2019s so ridiculous, and I know I\u2019m uptight, but that\u2019s just who I am. I want a little bit of avocado in each bite, and if I\u2019ve only got a quarter, that won\u2019t be enough to get me through the entire meal. As I said, the queen takes a little bite of everything. It\u2019s an entire meal, not five separate meals.<\/p>\n

Dinner was at the Corner Store<\/a>. Apparently it\u2019s a very hard restaurant to get into \u2014\u00a0I had no idea. Jeremiah arranged the reservation for me because my assistant didn\u2019t have any luck.<\/p>\n

I was dining with two other friends. We had a Caesar salad that didn\u2019t look anything like a regular Caesar salad, and it was exceptional. I don\u2019t ever order a salad anywhere. I always want a carb, and a salad, for me, just ain\u2019t cutting it. But this was lovely \u2014\u00a0whatever 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019m not an ice-cream person, but my friends were like, \u201cYou need to try this.\u201d 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!<\/p>\n

Friday, August 7
This morning I had the same bagel from Bagel Pub.<\/p>\n

For lunch, I got a piadina from Piadi<\/a>. I had never had this before \u2014\u00a0it was just really close to my hotel, and I needed a quick bite. Typically, I wouldn\u2019t go for a sandwich. But this was a bit different \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

I had two separate dinners \u2014\u00a0I don\u2019t know where I got the appetite. First, I went to a place called Chor Bazaar <\/a>at 4 or 5 p.m., not because I was hungry but because I\u2019d heard about it and really wanted to try what they had. It\u2019s Indian street food, and I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

It was my only evening off, and I was working in my hotel room. But when it came to eight o\u2019clock, I realized I was hungry. I didn\u2019t want to wait until breakfast, and so I ordered from Cloves<\/a>. 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 \u2014\u00a0which wasn\u2019t good. I did not like it. I thought the shrimp was fantastic, but I don\u2019t understand how they made the bhindi so wrong. A lot of American Indian places really cater to a non\u2013South Asian community because they want to ease them in, but it was lacking authentic flavor.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the aloo paratha was lovely. But a paratha is just bread and potato \u2014\u00a0if you fuck that up, you shouldn\u2019t be in business.<\/p>\n

I was going to get the food delivered, but then I thought, It\u2019s down the street; I\u2019ll 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\u2019t believe I got completely drenched for this.<\/p>\n

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\u2019ve ever had in America. I don\u2019t know where they\u2019re 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 \u2014\u00a0they\u2019re lovely.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, my kids love me enough to be excited when I walk into the house. They scream \u201cAbu, Abu, Abu,\u201d which is the word for dad in my language. I try not to speak English with my kids.<\/p>\n

After I\u2019ve given them hugs, I ask them what they want for their lunch. They have the same ten things on rotation, so it\u2019s not a daunting question \u2014 they\u2019re not going to say \u201ccaviar.\u201d<\/p>\n

The kids wanted my version of mac and cheese, which isn\u2019t any different to anyone else\u2019s, but my husband will make it from a packet. Whereas I do a roux and then will grate my own cheese. And there\u2019s always a side of peas, broccoli, and a side of berries or mango.<\/p>\n

I always pre-make food for my husband when I\u2019m away. He\u2019s got the kids, so I try and make sure that every meal\u2019s covered. We defrosted dal and homemade roti. I make roti and a proper Indian meal most days when I\u2019m home.<\/p>\n

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