The Gastro-Bromance Between Francis Ford Coppola and Ruth Reichl

The Believer: A cache of soft-boiled egg strategies.

​We are stoked on the January issue of The Believer (and not just because it contains this blogger's interview with a professional wrestler). Right there, on the front cover, directly across from our wrestler's glowering visage, gentler caricatures of Ruth Reichl and Francis Ford Coppola beam out benevolently. On page 66, the two giants of their respective and somewhat overlapping fields enjoy a conversation. The resulting mood recalls a rekindled barstool bromance, albeit with more glamorous and gastronomically-interesting content. Instead of stirring up nostalgic whiffs of football games won, pranks carried out, and ancient objects of affection that they could have, should have had, Reichl and Coppola talk beef (American vs. Argentinian vs. Italian), wine writers, Coppola's triumphant version of the L'Ami Louis potato tart, soft-boiled egg strategies, and chasing down the ephemeral "pizza of our childhood." We like this much better than Reichl telling us what's in her fridge. Grab your copy and tuck in. For now, enjoy this exchange:

RR: "You sound like you're spending all your time deciding what not to eat!"
FFC (laughs): "No, not at all, I'm past that. I did have to do that ― you know, again, unless I wanted to continue to turn into Orson Welles or Marlon Brando."