Thank God, its finally artichoke season!
This happens fleetingly each March.
Are you a lover of autumn, with its variegated foliage?
FROM THE HEARTAn artichoke from California, the state where (nearly) all domestic versions are grown. Photographed by Fujio Emura.Vogue, March 2025.
Spring with its odoriferous aura of renewal?
Le Dives chef Nicole Gajadhar cant take them off her menu when theyre available.
Ive tried, she says.
“I’ve chosen Le Dive’s innocent, simply steamed version to inaugurate the season.”
Who first ate artichokes?
Where are they from?
How do they manage to seem both rustic and refined?
An artichoke dish at Le Veau d’Or in Manhattan.
That, by the way, was Pablo Neruda from his poem Ode to the Artichoke.
The peaceful mush part sounds better in the original Spanish.
Artichokes are technicallyCynara cardunculusvar.scolymuswhich, frankly, tells us nearly nothing.
Theyre unbloomed flower buds in the thistle familyall of whose members are edible, if prickly.
(Cardoons look nearly identical to artichokes and also taste nearly identicalor at least only a little inferior.
Italians love them, but theyll eat anything.)
Artichokes may or may not have culinary roots in ancient Greece and Rome.
Ive chosen Le Dives innocent, simply steamed version to inaugurate the season.
Le Dives Gajadhar cooks hers in neither.
I dont even consider attacking my waitress.
Her crop top and sangfroid make her too intimidating.
Its a classic bistro preparationthe poaching liquid inspired by artichokes a la barigoule, Provencal in origin.
It affects service too.
The server interacts with you, explaining how to eat it, clearing the leaf bowl.
Italy, where artichokes were domesticated, grows more than anywhere else in the world.
(Egypt is a not-too-distant second.)
Several years ago I bought a single two-kilo Lyon artichoke at the Biarritz market.
It was the size of a small soccer ball.
It was the most delicious artichoke Id eaten to date.
American artichokes99.99 percent of themare grown in California, where theyre the official state vegetable.
Marilyn Monroe was the states very first Artichoke Queen.
An artichoke dish at Le Veau dOr in Manhattan.
Its a far cry from Gajadhars rowdy preparation at Le Dive, a perfect showcase of the vegetables versatility.
But artichokes, Hanson says, are a chef favorite.
What makes them a favorite?
Well, theyre a pain in the ass.
Hanson removes all but the artichokes tender inner leaves and scoops out their fuzzy chokes.
The artichokes are cooked in the brine, each in its own pot, until tender.
(Sometimes weve got six pots going.)
But most of Le Veaus menu is unabashedly rich.
I leave Le Veau dOr for my next artichoke.
Im trying to eat as many as I can, gathering my thistle buds while I may.
The married chefs, one of whom is Italian, adore artichokes.
We love the ritual, Williams tells me.
And the complexity of the artichokeboth flavor and preparation.
It isnt always obvious what to do with them; its something someone shows you.
Tomorrow, there may be more artichokes yet at Via Carota.
The artichokes come and go, Williams tells me.
Soon, well switch to raw artichokes, oranges, mint, watercress, and Pecorino Romano.
And well add carciofi to the pinzimonio and bagna cauda.
Having ordered a case from California, I now suffer an arresting case of anxiety of influence.
Should I channel the louche denizens of Le Dive and serve mine poached and otherwise barely touched?
Or attempt a complicated French rendition?
I love artichokes and potatoes, she tells me.
Artichokes and beans, I hear myself say out loud.
I picture a heavy enamel casserole, like the one Caravaggio threw at the waiter.
I follow my plan, inviting neighbors who profess to love artichokes as much as I do.
We try the artichokes.
Im reminded of a line fromThe Princess Bride,when the irascible Peter Falk describes historys famous kisses.
This one left them all behind.
It is true of my artichokes.
They left them all behind.
