Most people ask cooks, “What do you like to cook?” as if we all have a signature dish or a laminated list of favorites we keep tucked in a drawer. Civilians love this question. They think it reveals something essential about you. But cooks don’t think in favorites. We don’t experience food that way. We think in heat, timing, texture, and problem‑solving. We think in mise en place and muscle memory. We think in the moment the pan hits the right temperature and everything suddenly makes sense.

Ask a cook what they like to cook and the real answer is: everything. Nothing. Whatever’s in front of us. Whatever needs doing. Whatever lets us chase that brief moment of rightness when the food, the technique, and our instincts line up. It’s not the dish. It’s the doing.

Cooks like the click — that tiny internal shift when a sauce tightens or a roast hits the exact point between done and perfect. We like the transformation, the alchemy of raw into cooked, hard into tender, flat into bright. We like the challenge of constraints, the puzzle of limited ingredients, the improvisation required when something breaks and you still have to get plates out. We like the rhythm of it, the way your hands know what to do before your brain catches up.

And then there’s the other side of it: the food we make for ourselves when we’re off the clock. The emotionally uncomplicated food. The bowl of rice with butter. The dino nuggets. The thing that asks nothing of you. Civilians think this is ironic. Cooks know it’s survival.

So what do I like to cook? Everything. Nothing. Whatever’s in front of me. Whatever lets me feel that moment of coherence, that tiny spark of “yes, this is right.” I don’t love a dish. I love the click. And that’s the only honest answer to a question cooks were never meant to answer in the first place.

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Scored with Copilot, conducted by Leslie Lanagan

The Chop Tank is a restaurant in downtown Baltimore that has the best outdoor patio area in the city, in my humble opinion. Opinion is subjective, but every time I’ve been the mood has just elevated the conversation to a whole new level. And every time, I’ve been intending to pay, and someone has beaten me to the check. This has done nothing to dissuade my love of the place. 😉

The last time I went there was with my friend Tiina and two of her kids. It was a little bit cold, but we were dressed for it…. which reminds me of something funny. I originally mixed myself up and though I knew which restaurant I was talking about, I told Tiina we should go to The Chart House. The Chart House is in Annapolis, first of all, and fancy AF. I realized my mistake and corrected myself. She looked at me and said, “I was about to say…. I’m wearing Batman pants.”

It was then that my definition of fancy AF grew to include Batman pants, but we decided to go to The Chop Tank, anyway.

Seeing the menu’s biggest steak through a child’s eyes was unforgettable. It was literally bigger than her.

Our service was great every time I’ve been there with anyone. Before Tiina, it was when Lindsay came to take care of me after my colonoscopy. I’d just been released from a day of not being able to eat anything, so we ordered a little bit of everything.

It was too cold out when I went with Tiina, but when I went with Lindsay, ducks wandered up to our table and tried to con us out of a bite.

That means I’d like to go back with Brian, Tiina, and the kids when it’s warmer, maybe after a day at the National Aquarium. I know they’ve been before, and so have I. That doesn’t take away from the excitement at all. In fact, I’m a member. Maybe I’ll wander over there this afternoon. It would be a good place to do some chillaxing, then maybe end up at The Chop Tank for a burger.

I plan these incredible dates with myself and then I stand me up. We shall see how much energy I have when the time comes. However, as an introvert I always like to be included, so I invite me everywhere. Sometimes, I even take me up on it.

The excitement of possibly ending up at The Chop Tank is enough to rattle me into action. It might be fun to sit at the bar and people watch rather than staying home, and Monday night in a bar is usually dead. That’s a positive for me, because I’d rather talk shop with the staff. I used to be a line cook and some of the things they’re doing really excite me, because it’s not exotic food for the most part. It’s simple, executed and elevated well.

Tiina and I particularly gobbled up the ceviche fast, so now it’s on the permanent rotation of “Things Leslie Will Eat.” I keep a list in my head of go-to foods not because I am picky, but because I cannot make decisions easily. That if I become overwhelmed, I already know I like X.

My favorite comfort food in Baltimore right now is the steak salad. It has this insane dressing and the steak is cooked to perfection. No one is going to say that’s avant garde, but the hot steak and cold salad array of textures and flavors calls to me in the middle of the night.

It’s a restaurant I want to take Evan to when he visits- he has said he’s coming soon. I’m thinking January, after the holiday craziness. Evan was a chef for a long time and now does real estate in Portland, Oregon. So, if I ever want to move back, I have a built in support system in finding housing.

This is my ultimate compliment to The Chop Tank- that it’s so good you’re willing to risk your own culinary reputation by recommending it to another cook.

Cooks often go for simple food done well, because eating high art for every meal is exhausting.

It’s all about fresh ingredients and keeping them as pure as you can.

It leads to great conversations, no matter who is at the table.