What They’re Having: Mon Petit Canard
Dinner and a movie with Emma Leigh Macdonald & Rowan Spencer
Before I get to today’s interview, a few of my own that have been recently published.
Morgan Spector, aka Train Daddy, has been doing the rounds of press, and I lightly profiled him for the Hamptons issue of CULTURED. I won’t bait you with the photos by Jeremy Liebman, which are incredibly hot.
It’s the 30th anniversary of I Shot Andy Warhol, so I talked to its director Mary Harron for Filmmaker Magazine. She’s best known for American Psycho.
Not an interview, but I made my Caper debut with an essay about Maddie’s Secret and food influencers. Ozempic is mentioned.
Lastly: a chat with the writer and director of Blue Film, an actually transgressive and provocative new movie everyone was afraid to release.
Emma Leigh Macdonald and Rowan Spencer are two of the most restlessly cross-disciplinary people I know. Emma is a chef, writer, all-purpose tastemaker and now the editorial force behind Cove and Gem Home’s newly launched newsletter. It informed me, indirectly, that we will be entering a summer of slushies, not fro-yo. Rowan is a DJ and creative director—and I’ll assume, the person responsible for a dozen graphically impeccable flyers that make me deeply envious of people with actual visual brains. He also publishes the newsletter Time Signature, where, most recently, he’s been investigating the song of the summer.
Together, the married couple runs Mon Petit Canard, a pop-up you may have caught at Colbo Nextdoor, or Public Records, or Dae (RIP).
If you haven’t yet, you’re in luck. Their next event is on Saturday 6/20 at Gem Home. More details on the event, and what Emma and Rowan like to watch and eat below.
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What does Mon Petit Canard let you do that other work doesn’t?
Emma: We love what Rita Sodi and Jody Williams have said in interviews—that they opened Via Carota because they wanted to see more of each other. I think we started Mon Petit Canard to work together, and to work for ourselves.
Rowan: It’s also a chance to work with my hands, and with people. Otherwise, my work is mostly on a computer or over a turntable, so shifting to something that is about serving people, and talking to people, is really essential for me.
What’s it actually like to cook together — where do your instincts align and where do you argue?
Rowan: My favorite thing is to prep things for Emma to cook with. I love to chop something for Emma to make delicious.
Emma: We don’t really fight when we’re cooking together—if we have MPC-related arguments, it’s usually because we’ve said yes to too many plans and have overwhelmed ourselves.
How do you decide what to watch next? Who do you trust for recommendations, or who do you distrust?
Emma: Rowan just went on a live edition of Kareem Rahma’s Subway Takes with a take related to this—that you shouldn’t watch a TV show until it’s over and the reviews are in.’s
Rowan: Which is really because so many TV shows jump the shark in their later seasons, once writers are adding on for the sake of it. So I think the take comes down to: no TV show should be longer than two seasons. My real answer is that I’ll watch anything my friends Emad and Jake recommend.
What’s your preferred way to watch—a favorite theater?
Rowan: We love Cobble Hill Cinema in our neighborhood, and have had some important dates at Metrograph (In The Mood For Love, L’Avventura) and Angelika Village East (Spirited Away on what was essentially our first date).
Emma: We also both independently loved Cinema du Parc in Montreal when we lived there (we both lived in Montreal before New York, but didn’t meet until moving here). We just realized something so funny recently: we must both have been there separately on dates for their annual Valentine’s Day screening of Casablanca in 2013, with our other-halves at the time.
Is there a film that made you want to feed people?
Emma: As a kid, I remember seeing the German movie Mostly Martha (remade as No Reservations with Catherine Zeta-Jones, but somehow my parents had come across the original), and an amazing scene in it where the main character, a chef, is trying and failing to feed her niece. She’s cooking these intricate meals, and her niece won’t eat them. Then one day, another chef she works with makes her niece the simplest bowl of pasta, and she basically inhales it. It really stuck with me because I think that feeling of making something just right like that, even when it’s nothing fancy, is why I love to cook. The “Be Our Guest” scene in Beauty and the Beast is also undeniable.
Rowan: That idea of the simplest thing being the best thing is what this brings to mind for me, too. I just want to make people feel like the characters in Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) or Marcel Marx pulling up to Chez Claire for his evening drink in Le Havre (2011). I also love the eating scene in Hook so much because it’s that same sense of complete satisfaction, even though in that case they aren’t even eating.
Emma: This is also making me laugh: it’s revealing a bit of why our FOH/BOH inclinations fall where they do.
The last movie that made you laugh.
We just rewatched The Darjeeling Limited for the first time in years and laughed way more than we remembered.
Your favorite New York movie.
Emma: Dog Day Afternoon and Taxi Driver are two of my favorite movies that are set in New York. I think my favorite “New York Movie” would have to be Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which I think is also the reason I love eating a pastry walking down the street.
Rowan: If I didn’t say The Godfather I’d be lying.
A movie that devastates you.
Rowan: I just watched Sirat on the plane and was absolutely rocked. I then saw someone write on Substack that you shouldn’t be allowed to watch Sirat on the plane and I totally agree.
Emma: Carol (2015) every time.
What’s been languishing in your queue?
Emma: Perfect Days is one.
Rowan: Maybe because we don’t know how to relax? I still haven’t seen West Side Story (2021) and am waiting to watch it with my mom.
You can only have one streaming service, which one?
Rowan: Peacock for the Premier League.
Emma: HBO for the shows. And then we can go to the theatre for movies.
What you’re most looking forward to watching next.
Emma: I’m looking forward to making Rowan watch Bend It Like Beckham for the first time, on the occasion of the World Cup this summer.
The last (delicious) thing you ate?
Emma: I had my first dipped cone of the season last weekend.
Rowan: After the Knicks won on Saturday night, a stranger opened a pizza box to a full cheese pizza and offered us both slices. So good and so NY.
Last week we also tested out the menu for Saturday’s pop-up, and the roast chicken we’ll be serving was our favorite.
What’s the best slice?
Emma: I think my fave slice is Scarr’s. Rowan is a Joe’s guy.
Rowan: It’s a real “sophie’s choice” but if I’m picking one child I am picking Joseph.
Your diner order?
Rowan: Two eggs over easy, wheat toast, sausage, with hot sauce.
Emma: Same for me but no hot sauce, and sometimes poached eggs instead of over easy.
What’s your preferred treat/pick-me-up?
No question, our favorite treat is ice cream. Right now we’re going through a big Malai phase.
Your favorite pasta shape?
Rowan: Pasta for me is like dogs: I don’t have a favorite, I love them all, and I don’t know the breed (or shape) names. My favorite is the one you put in front of me.
Emma: A twirlable shape for me. Maybe bucatini or pappardelle.
DINNER AND A MOVIE: Mon Petit Canard
To watch: Amélie (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
To eat: A whimsical dinner at Le Crocodile
“For our first wedding anniversary, we had dinner at Le Crocodile because we got married at The Wythe (as did Elissa!). We were having the best time, and at the end of the meal Gabriella asked if we wanted to go downstairs to see the new cellar dining room. I believed this was where we were going, but really Rowan had planned for them to screen Amélie just for us in the theatre they have downstairs.
An ideal meal is sharing oysters, country pâté, frisée salad, chicken with herb jus and frites, and profiteroles for dessert.
Pairing-wise, I don’t think we can top that.” —Emma
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MPCMPC: Mon Petit Canard Moviepudding Chat