Tony Shalhoub Takes It Easy on the Croissants

For an actor with a new CNN docuseries called Breaking Bread, Tony Shalhoub’s typical routine involves shockingly few carbs. (He’s also an investor in the still-impossible-to-get-into Flatiron pasta restaurant Rezdôra.) Instead, he’s snacking on cheese while procrastinating a book project and taking advantage of seasonal fruit, which has been a constant in his life. Growing up in Wisconsin, he and his siblings would eat fruit by the crate. Now, morning fruit is critical to his daily routine. “I love grapefruit, I love berries, I love any citrus, melon — when it’s good,” he says. Not that he imposes that on his grandchildren when they visit: “When my grandkids are over, I’ll make pancakes or waffles.”

Friday, September 19  
I always like to start my day with fruit. Today, it’s an orange, with two eggs over medium and two pieces of ciabatta toast. I had some family staying at my place for a few days while I was out of town, and they left the ciabatta for me. I don’t know where it’s from, but it’s excellent. I also make a double espresso with my Jura coffee machine. I discovered the company around 15 or 16 years ago, and since then, I’ve been devoted to it.

I love different kinds of fruit in the morning, and I’m especially excited for apples this season. I love apples. When I was growing up in Wisconsin, my father sold sausage and meat from a refrigerated truck to grocery stores. Because he’d already be at the store, my dad basically did all the grocery shopping. We had a big family, so my dad would buy in bulk, whether it was toilet paper or bottles of ketchup in a crate. Oftentimes, he would bring home a bushel of apples that would live on our front porch in the fall. That was our snack food. Every time you walked by, you’d grab one.

After breakfast, I head downtown for a fitting with my stylist, which takes a lot longer than I expect, and I end up missing lunch. By the time I leave the fitting, it’s around 2:30 and I’m getting really hungry. On my walk back to the subway, I pass Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine. There’s a few around town, and I walk by them all the time. I love Cuban food, and I’ve always been curious, so I think, This is right here and it’s not crowded. I can probably get in and out of there pretty quickly. 

I was planning on going in there and grabbing something light and quick — not that you can grab something light in a Cuban sandwich shop, but lightish. I pop in and get their pulled-pork sandwich, which has mayo and marinated onions, with yucca on the side. I end up dining in, and it does not disappoint. I exhale and eat my meal leisurely, thinking, Oh my God, this is so good. By the time I get out of there, it’s closing in on 4 p.m., so I know I’m not going to be in the mood for dinner after that — I don’t like to eat too close to bedtime.

Saturday, September 20 
We live near Central Park, so this morning, my wife, Brooke, and I go for a walk in the park with some friends. There’s a Pain Quotidien near where we gather, so we stop in. I grab a small cappuccino and a pain au chocolat, which I wouldn’t normally do that early. I exercise an enormous amount of restraint when it comes to pastries — unless I’m in Europe. Then all bets are off.

Afterward, we come home and I make a proper breakfast: a couple of eggs over medium and buttered whole-grain toast. I love eggs, in any way — sunny-side-up, over easy, over medium, scrambled, poached, hard boiled, soft boiled. I used to eat a lot of breakfast meat, but I’ve gotten away from that. Now, if I do have a breakfast sausage, it’s usually a chicken sausage, like chicken and sage or chicken and apple. It’s either that or I’ll have leftovers from the night before scrambled into some eggs, like if I have a little piece of lamb chop or a little piece of salmon.

I’m working on a book project with one of my daughters, Josie, which means much of my spare time is spent writing — or avoiding writing. When I’m avoiding writing, I’m likely fixing something in my apartment. If there’s nothing to fix, I find mundane things to do, like polishing silver. I’ll polish a silver frame, or a clock, or anything else that can occupy my time and let me zone out.

Around 4 p.m., I take an unplanned excursion to the refrigerator. I like to pull out a bunch of things from the refrigerator and see if there’s anything I should eat before it goes bad. It’s good grazing. I snack on fresh cherries, a handful of Purely Elizabeth granola, and Mary’s Gone Crackers with triple-cream Brie, paired with a nonalcoholic Heineken. I’ve kind of stopped drinking over the last several months, save for a real beer once every couple of months. I used to like drinking wine pretty regularly, but I found it was really disrupting my sleep. And, lately, these nonalcoholic beers are getting so good that I can barely tell the difference. Athletic does a number of different ones — IPAs, pale ales, a dark beer, a Mexican-style lager, a superlight one — and is doing it the best right now.

Sunday, September 21  
Sunday breakfast! I have half a grapefruit, cranberry-and-pecan granola with half a sliced banana, strawberries, and blueberries, topped with Old Chatham Creamery sheep’s yogurt. I also have a cup of coffee with cream, mixed with one teaspoon of maple syrup.

My father turned me onto maple syrup in coffee, and I’ve been doing it for a long time. I’ve turned other people onto it too. My daughters do it now, along with my wife and some friends. It doesn’t take much maple syrup, and it blends really well.

For lunch, I have a ripe red pear with Gorgonzola cheese and crackers. I’m from Green Bay, Wisconsin, which means I’m a Packers fan. They’re playing Cleveland, and I’m not watching the actual game, but I am tracking the score online. Unfortunately, they lose in the last few seconds. It’s lucky I have something to do tonight to take my mind off of it. Before my dinner plans, I have popcorn as a late-afternoon snack.

Brooke and I go downtown to see a documentary about a war correspondent in Ukraine. After that, we go to the Roxy Hotel to see my friend Michael, a jazz pianist, with his trio at the jazz club downstairs. We start eating around 8:15, which is late for me. I have the baby-gem Caesar salad, some delicious polenta fries, and a nonalcoholic beer. This time, it’s an Athletic. It’s very satisfying. If I’m having a cold one with tacos or whatever it is, I feel like I’m drinking a real beer, and I don’t wake up bloated. The older you get, the harder it is, and the longer it takes, to recover from not just wine and beer, but carbs and sugar too. If I indulge too late, I pay for that the next day.

Monday, September 22
I wake up feeling great despite the late dinner, which is good, because today will be long. For breakfast, I have half a grapefruit and two pieces of Udi’s gluten-free millet-chia bread topped with avocado. I make a cup of coffee with cream and one teaspoon of maple syrup.

Brooke and I have to be in midtown by 10 a.m. to rehearse for a reading of a play that I’ve been involved in. We rehearse until 1 p.m. and then break for lunch. They cater the reading, so we don’t have to leave the rehearsal space. I scarf down half a chicken-salad wrap and half an egg-salad wrap during the short break. The reading is a couple of hours, to an audience of about 25 or 30 people, including some producers they brought in. It goes pretty well.

When we get back, Brooke and I cook at home. I wouldn’t say I’m a great cook, but I like to cook when I have time and I’m not pressured and stressed. I love cooking fish, either on the stovetop or in the oven. I love to make stew or a lamb roast. Big, interesting salads. I make a pretty good whole chicken. It’s very, very simple, but very delicious.

Tonight, we make a black-bean soup topped with sour cream, and a green salad with multigrain bread, served alongside Ithaca lemon-garlic hummus.

Tuesday, September 23 
For breakfast today: two plums, a quarter of a cantaloupe, two eggs over easy, two pieces of gluten-free toast topped with sheep’s feta, and coffee.

I meet a reporter for a lunch interview at Ilili, which has some of the best, if not the best, Lebanese food in the city. A phenomenal restaurant. For some reason, I hadn’t been there in a number of years. But I just remember loving it so much, so I was excited to go back.

We order the tabbouleh, the kibbeh, the labne, and hummus for appetizers, and for lunch, I have the duck shawarma sandwich with a side salad. They also bring out a few things we didn’t order, including the very delicious rakakat bil jebneh, which are cheese rolls. We pound it all down, and it hits the spot.

When I get home, I’m not hungry for dinner. Later in the evening, though, I snack on sheep’s yogurt with sliced peaches and honey, before turning to the book project. I’m busy, my daughter is busy with her children, and we’re both trying to get things in by the deadline. It’s challenging, but it’s coming along, and I like where it’s going.