Adrian was recommended to me by my best friend who described him as: “a creative force (film-maker, musician, photographer, late night dancer), primary school teacher extraordinaire, and single dad-of-the-century to Ezra, a very special kid indeed.” Turned out to be true.

Read about Adrian’s Brian Eno pasta pairings, wacky cooking repertoire and warm memories of the family “lazy Susan”. His recipe for a toned-down Greek Salad, sans olives, is a Mediterranean staple we can all manage to pull off.

Name: Adrian Briscoe
Occupation: First Grade Teacher + Film-maker
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Family members: Adrian and Ezra Day Briscoe Sanseverino (9)

I’m a first grade teacher and I feel so fortunate to do work that I love. Since COVID hit New York York in March, I've been teaching remotely from my kitchen, spending most of my time focused on the work of being there for my students and being the best dad I can be.

I used to run a film school for kids. I always have some project I'm obsessed with and talk too much about. I'm always making films in a way. I'm a day dreamer like that. I'm so often thinking of stories and I'm really enjoying writing lately. I also have a music project called Disaster Deluxe. I guess they’re pop songs. Hit songs? Mostly about love, confusion about love, and this weird era.

I do a number voices or accents when I cook. I can get pretty theatrical for my son's amusement but I’m also prone to fall into character with friends of course. I do a sort of frustrated James Mason. He's my go to voice. I also catch myself doing a sort of Pan-slavic voice. I spent seven weeks filming in a Russian coal mining town about a decade ago. It left more than just few marks on me, I guess.

Growing up, we had this amazing kitchen table 'lazy Susan'. My mom had tiled it herself with tiny brown spotted pink tiles. There were probably more than a thousand little tiles on that table. The kitchen was always warmly lit, and my mom usually had a sweet glow about her. It's so easy to picture her at that table where we ate together for more than twenty years. She loved cooking and knew I loved her rice pudding which she made on occasion. It was so perfectly burned and crispy at the top. Sure my brother and sister also dug in, but she really made it for me.

My son Ez splits his time with me and his mom. He spends half of his life here in Williamsburg. I tend to keep very little in the fridge until Ez comes home to me. I like to have all the food here and waiting for him. Good olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, basil, feta, avocados, onions, smoked salmon and prosciutto are staples. I'm hypoglycemic. I go for protein. Sometimes if I can't sleep, I eat fruit or drink juice and it knocks me out. Sometimes I keep fruit in the fridge for when I'm feeling especially neurotic. Ez loves peaches. He's a peach.

When we do go shopping, he's quite aware of the difference between clean food and the other stuff. We used to walk by this McDonalds a few years ago and he would scream, "Fake food!" at people walking out with their unhappy meals. It was almost confrontational and massively funny. That was back when he loved The Fall. These days it Desiigner, the Beatles.

Before I was a parent I was rather mono about meals. I'd spend a week having more or less the same salad and then the next week delve into a tomato heavy diet. I still have these periods when I'm mostly eating one kind of thing. Every so often I go full blown ceviche and then boom the next week I'm in love with salmon (again).

Now I’m a parent, I'm generally a lot more aware of – and more proactive about – the quality of the food and water. I'm cautious about what Ez eats. We avoid processed foods. When Ez is around the meals are way more varied content-wise than when I'm on my own.

NYC does have a lot of gardens around and we’ve done a bit of participating here and there. Ez has his mom to thank for a sweet little garden in their back yard. They grow mostly herbs and tomatoes. He has a lot of basil in his life. His mom is a great cook. She and I are both of Italian extraction and tend to encourage a Mediterranean diet I suppose. I like the idea of something called Italian extract in a bottle, like vanilla extract. Italian extract in a vespa shaped bottle. A little vespa that runs on rosemary, olive oil and romance.

Ez and I don't really talk too much about mealtime rules anymore. But he's quite a polite eater. His mom's taught him how to hold silverware according to Anglo-retentive norms. He cuts things up rather gracefully, and I have to say it's kind of sweet to see. He has mastered chewing with his mouth closed. We often have candles going and some mellow music going. It's not a rule, but I encourage meals to Brian Eno. Music for meals, such as the softer tracks on Before and After Science. Try mushroom ravioli, butter, garlic and sage with a little dollop of olive oil some black pepper – then add Eno's Spider and I.

Variation on a Greek Salad

Heavy on balsamic but sans olives. Ez isn't crazy about olives but I could eat them all day. I guess it's a hit because it's easy to make – it's a quick thing to do. It has such a warm flavor and I have a wonderful warm son, so there's an alignment come think of it.

4 Buffalo tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 white salad onion
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
4 cups of baby rocket
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried oregano
1 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper to taste

Wash the vegetables and pat dry. Slice the tomatoes, cucumber and white onions and add to a salt bowl.

Mix in the rocket. Drizzle over the olive oil, balsamic and lemon juice. Toss to combine.

Top with the crumbled feta, dried oregano and salt and pepper.