Daniel Emilio
Soares
What's in your shopping basket?
Firstly, FIGS, picked from my grandma’s fig tree in the algarve in late August. A white ceramic bottle of TERRA D’ORIA OLIVE OIL from my family’s small grove in Puglia. It’s made using Coratina olives, which are revered with their spicy and earthy complexity. For bread: Olive bread from Le Grande Epicerie in St. Germain, which I stumbled across on a walk last night and went to this morning.
Then cheese. COMTE—very typical for a cheese board, any one with a green band, which means it’s been inspected. BURRATINA, that is, a very small burrata. When it comes to food, I have a reckless abandon. It is my femme fatale I can’t stop. I’m so strict with other areas of my life, but I have no control. A burratina is like a tiny burrata for one, a nice little indulgence without the risk of finishing a whole one.
Another cheese I’d choose is OMA by JASPER HILL CREAMERY. It’s salty and tangy goat cheese with a semi-hard texture.
What words do you live by?
Quality, simplicity, intimacy.
Which spot in your home means the most to you?
The fireplace—a wood burning, functional one. I’ve been lucky enough to have one in every apartment I’ve lived in. It’s really my only requirement. It’s so comforting, it smells incredible—the perfect place to unwind.
If you could share a meal with your grandfather today, what would it be? Where would it be?
The Polo Bar, in New York city. Ralph Lauren has been a huge influence for me, his ability to create this entire world. As for Polo Bar I’ve actually never been, which is why I want to go with him. I’m kind of sentimental, and like to save things for the right person. My grandfather was very … performative, in the same way I am—he used to get these fake Rolexes from Canal Street and wear them around just to piss off my grandma. So I’d probably get a sort of breakfast-for-dinner item because I know he’d enjoy that.
