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Justin Peck Approaches Cooking Like It’s Choreography
Photo-Illustration: Adam Mazur
Justin Peck, resident choreographer at the New York City Ballet, is probably on a Citibike right now. For months, he’s been splitting his days between rehearsals for Mystic Familiar, his new ballet production, and the Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club, which he’s co-choreographing with his wife, Patricia Delgado. In between rehearsals, he’s found a few reliable spots on the Upper West Side and down near the Public Theater, but on a day off, he’ll also occasionally bike to Williamsburg for shellfish at Maison Premiere. (“I could eat, like, 50 oysters,” he says.) When Peck finds the time, though, he delights in making “a long-form meal that makes the whole house smell really good,” like the vat of ropa vieja he made from scratch over the long weekend.
Monday, January 13
I always start my day with a pour-over coffee. This week, the ground beans are from Devoción Coffee. I used to be a big bagel lover, and I still am, but I’ve not been liking how they’ve made me feel recently. Becoming a parent has me waking up earlier and burning more energy, so I’ve been trying out protein-heavy breakfasts. Today, it’s scrambled eggs and half an avocado sliced up, salted, and peppered.
Inspired by The Bear, I’d made chicken piccata with rigatoni, sautéed kale, and lettuce greens for my family the night before. It’s even better the next day, so it doubles as lunch.
I’d never made piccata before. I’m making a new dish, I’ll read several recipes to get the lay of the land in terms of what the ingredients are, and then I’ll just start to freestyle it a little bit. You can be much looser with cooking than with baking. It’s an activity that I find really calming — a kind of meditative, almost therapeutic thing.
Between a new ballet and musical, I’m doing double duty. One is downtown — we’re rehearsing Buena Vista Social Club at the Public Theater, and the ballet is at Lincoln Center, so it’s a lot of jetting back and forth. I snack on almonds and an apple from the farmer’s market throughout rehearsals.
A bunch of family just got into town, so for dinner we order a taco spread from Tacombi. They have a pretty solid birria taco, which I inhale, along with their rice, beans, and guac with chips. I also love their agua de sandia.
Tuesday, January 14
On my way to rehearsal, I cycle by the Danish bakery Smør and grab a coffee and a tebirke, a poppy-seed pastry with a marzipan filling that I became obsessed with when I was living in Copenhagen — I love that it’s not too sweet. The one from Smør is the best I’ve had outside of Denmark. I pocket a couple more to have at home.
For lunch, a quick bowl of ramen from Ippudo, close by. I swap the pork out for chicken in my bowl — they have a really beautiful poached chicken.
On my way home, I stop at the butcher Hudson & Charles to pick up some pork chops for dinner. I serve them along with roasted butternut squash, mushrooms in butter and toasted sesame oil, and sautéed spinach. Cooking is something that evolved in tandem with my work as a choreographer, really. I started doing both in my early 20s, and there’s something very parallel to me about them — a lot of craft, a lot of detail work, sometimes a lot of mundane activity, and one final product, which you consume in a very short amount of time relative to how long it took to make. I started working on the ballet in October, and I’ll be working through the premiere on January 29; it’ll be over for the audience in less than half an hour. A meal that took two hours to prepare will be gone in five minutes. I kind of love that.
For dessert, it’s a scoop of almond brittle Jeni’s ice cream. I’ve been obsessed with that flavor lately. I also really love their mint chocolate chip, which is really hard to find for some reason. (I scored a pint from the Wegmans in Astor Place.)
Wednesday, January 15
Day-old tebirke, still good after 24 hours. And pour-over coffee.
Between rehearsals for Buena Vista, I trot down the street to Electric Burrito. They make the kinds of burritos that make me nostalgic for my time growing up in San Diego: fries in burritos! I order one with grilled chicken. I grew up in North County, along the coast’s sleepy surf towns. Every town seemed to have a neighborhood with taco shops and Mexican restaurants on nearly every block. In middle and high school, we’d get burritos from a local spot called Rico’s — one of the really good ones.
I jump on a Citibike and head uptown for ballet rehearsal. The show is called Mystic Familiar, and it’s an entirely new production that expands on The Times Are Racing, a ballet I choreographed for the City Ballet in 2017. It feels like our sophomore album. It’s a one act, loosely inspired by the five elements presented in five movements — air, earth, fire, water, and ether. The composer and DJ instrumentalist Dan Deacon wrote the score, which uses our full orchestra.
We do a run-through with the full cast in the studio, and I invite a few friends to observe so I can try and get a sense of how an audience might take it in. They rarely get the chance to sit that close to the expression of dance, especially at the level that happens at New York City Ballet. So it’s always a little bit like, “How’s this gonna go?” And then by the end, it’s a big release.
After rehearsal, we roll over to Tatiana on the Upper West Side. We order too much because everything on the menu sounds so tasty: the empanadas, the dumplings, the hummus. We try their famous braised oxtail, and the branzino. They also make a pastrami that’s pretty epic.
Thursday, January 16
I have ginger-turmeric bone broth for breakfast as I head out the door.
All week, I’ve been racing back and forth between NYCB and the Public, but today, I have enough time to grab a PB Açai Bowl from Juice Generation, which is kinda my go-to. It’s light, but the banana and peanut butter sustains me. During rehearsal, I have more banana and peanut butter, a tried-and-true snack. All the Cubans make cafecito in the afternoon, so I also have one. It’s like a big caffeinated hug.
We’re in rehearsal every day with these incredible Cuban musicians that the show has assembled; they come from all over the world, and they’re just constantly jamming, whether it’s a break in rehearsals or just while they’re waiting around for something. It puts a smile on everyone’s faces. I’ve been to Cuba a few times, and that’s how I remember it: music playing on every street, in every corner. As a result, there’s also dance happening everywhere.
For dinner, I cook again. I have a great recipe for a homemade General Tso’s chicken; I serve it with white rice and roasted broccoli and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. So good. A couple of mini black-and-white cookies from Orwashers for dessert.
Friday, January 17
I need a little extra boost this a.m., so I make a breakfast burrito: flour tortilla, two eggs, white cheddar, half an avocado. I wash it down with a grape-apple juice.
For lunch, I head to Librae Bakery, a gorgeous, family-owned bakery. It’s two blocks from where I’m rehearsing for Buena Vista, and I just stumbled into it one day. I order their roasted beet sandwich, which has avocado, arugula, labne mustard, and pumpkin seeds all on cloudlike focaccia. I also grab a sage and yuzu shortbread cookie to bring back with me to the rehearsal room.
I’m co-choreographing the show with my wife, Patricia. I grew up listening to the Buena Vista Social Club album from the ’90s — my dad would play it in the car on long drives — and I’ve always loved it. It’s even more personal for Patricia, who is Cuban American; her parents were born in Cuba and emigrated to America.
Our task is bringing to life the spirit of historic Cuban social clubs, for which there is no kind of video documentation. We’re constantly circling the questions: What is that energy, and how is it expressed through movement and music? It’s involved a lot of research, but even that only gets us so far. We have to take a leap of faith and use our imaginations to ultimately define the show.
I’m pretty drained from the intense work week, so we splurge on takeout Blue Ribbon Sushi. A bunch of rolls, edamame, salad, and tofu. They make an outstanding shrimp-tempura roll.
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