Personalbest P N S

S MU IC S L EC IA T C I E O PERSONALBEST P N S A SALUTE TO THE STARS WHO MAKE OUR HEARTS SING 2018 HAIRSTYLIST: MARISA FRANCO; MAKEUP ARTIST: HAE KYUNG YOO; FOOD STYLIST: JAMIE KIMM; ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE SHAFER. OPPOSITE, BOTTOM, FROM LEFT: COURTESY RONNIE SPECTOR; GETTY IMAGES I’VE ALWAYS loved simple food. When I was growing up, my mom, Sandwich Beatrice Bennett, waitressed at King’s Donuts, a Harlem luncheonette next door to the Apollo Theater. My sister, Estelle, and I would stop there on the way home from school, and my mom would stick us down- of Love stairs in the employees lounge to do our homework. After about an Ronnie Spector cooks hour and a half, she let us come upstairs and sit at the counter; booths burgers with two were for big-time customers. Estelle and I always had burgers and fries with a Coke. They toasted generations’ worth of care the buns. I loved those burgers! Medium well, the way I still like them. 62 AARP THE MAGAZINE / Real Possibilities PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID WILLIAMS I’d look out the window onto 125th My mom’s burgers at home were Street, see lines around the block for even better than the ones she made at the Apollo and get this pang in my work. She’d take an onion, then chop RECIPE stomach: That’s what I want—lines and chop and chop till the pieces were around the block for me! really tiny. She said that that way, the The Apollo’s owner had a crush on next day my breath wouldn’t smell my mother. She was the only one he of onions. It was so yummy! If we ran let make his burgers and sandwiches. out of buns, we’d toast Wonder Bread. So when Mom asked him if Estelle Simple things taste the best. Every MOTHER- and I could do Amateur Night at the time I have a burger, I think of her DAUGHTER Apollo, he naturally said yes. and growing up in Harlem. It was a HAMBURGERS In those days, it was Frankie Lymon real neighborhood then. Candy stores SERVES 4 and the Teenagers, Little Anthony had big jars of pickles, with tongs to and the Imperials—boy groups. So we pull one out. I’d try to get the biggest INGREDIENTS figured, let Cousin Ira sing lead. I’m one, and Mrs. Rutenberg, behind the 1 small onion 11—he’s a couple of years younger. We counter, would say, “Now, Veronica, 1½ pounds 80/20 ground beef Kosher salt get out there; Ira opens his mouth and take the one on top—all the juice is Ground black pepper nothing comes out. Can you imagine? spilling!” Everybody was looking out 1-2 tablespoons avocado oil I grabbed the mic and sang a Frankie their windows and knew one anoth- 4 slices American cheese Lymon song. The audience loved me! er. My grandmother lived across the (optional) 4 old-fashioned packaged I had this attitude—streetwise. That’s street from City College and watched hamburger rolls or 8 slices when the ball started to roll for me. us out the window: “Don’t you go Wonder Bread around that corner!” When my dad, Ketchup and mustard Louis, wasn’t working in the subway Chop the onion finely; mix I’d look out the yards, he’d take me across the street 1 it with the ground beef. to Sherman’s Bar B.Q.; I used to sell window onto 125th Form into 4 equal patties. lemonade to college students for two Sprinkle salt and pepper on Street, see lines cents a cup, on the sidewalk there. each side of the patties. Today, when my oldest son visits, Add the avocado oil to the around the block 2 I’ll make my special hamburger. It’s skillet. Warm the pan on for the Apollo and a combination of the King’s Donuts medium heat for 4 or 5 minutes. Add the patties and cook, burger and my mom’s. I chop up the 3 get this pang in my flipping once, until they onion and shape the meat into pat- turn out the way you like stomach: That’s what ties. I use a little avocado oil to cook them—approximately 4 to 5 I want—lines around them in—that’s my modern twist. minutes on each side for Rock & Roll Hall of !Fame inductee Ronnie Spector, medium well. (For cheeseburg- the block for me! 74, is the lead singer of the Ronettes. ers, top each with 1 slice American cheese after cooking the second side for 3 or 4 minutes.) The burgers should sizzle and give you a great crust if the temperature is just right. While the burgers are 4 cooking, toast the buns or bread. Squirt a little ketchup and mustard on one side of each bun. Put each burger on a bun. 5 Get out a jar of supermar- ket pickles, and pour yourself a Coke. Have a bite—it’ll be like you stepped into Ronnie Ronnie, far left, Spector’s kitchen! watching her mom play and, Nutrients per serving: 478 calories, 35g protein, 25g carbohydrates, above, flanked 1g fiber, 25g fat, 101mg cholesterol, by the Ronettes 552mg sodium JUNE / JULY 2018 63.

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