Grub Street

It’s been a happy New Year for Rolling Stone “Artist to Watch” Santogold (née Santi White), who just returned from a British tour with M.I.A. to see herself on the cover of this month’s Fader. What sort of challenges might 2008 bring? “I do these detoxes where for 20 or 30 days I can only eat organic fruits or vegetables,” she says. “It makes you not even really be able to eat greasy food — you can, but it feels disgusting. By the end of the year [after not doing the detox for a while], I tend to crave fried food and chocolate all the time.” That doesn’t mean you’ll find her eating cheesesteaks like she did growing up in Philly (she now lives in Bed Stuy and has been a pescatarian for twelve years), but this week she did hit the vending machine at the Soho studio where she’s recording her debut self-titled album, out in April.

Thursday, January 3
We get into the studio around 11 a.m. and leave around 2:30 a.m. I’ve been spending all my time here. At some point someone will be like, "I’m hungry," and we’ll figure out what to eat.

To start off the day I had some leftover nachos from Castro’s. They make their nachos fresh. I didn’t want them to go bad so I brought them in [to the studio] and ate them first thing. Then I had salmon and mashed potatoes and string beans for dinner. I had some peppermint teas throughout the day and a Starbucks soy chai latte and these coffee-infused ginger cookies that I’m addicted to.

Friday, January 4
I had a veggie burrito from Chipotle down the block and a grapefruit Izzy drink. Later on I had a pad Thai with shrimp and Fiji water from some sushi restaurant right near the studio. I love Thai food.

There’s a vending machine I generally stay away from, but I got a pack of Famous Amos chocolate-chip cookies. I only had three or four and then it made me feel gross.

Saturday, January 5
I had a Caesar salad with tuna from Grey Dog Coffee, and then I had a Kombucha — it’s a “handmade Chinese tea that’s delicately cultured for 30 days…” I think somebody told me that it’s fermented mushroom tea — it pretty much tastes like Champagne. It smells kind of vinegary. The first time I drank them I was like, “Uh…” But they’ve grown on me.

Then I had ma-po tofu from Kelley and Ping, and I had rice and edamame. And I had a strawberry, blueberry, and orange smoothie with the salad. I had a Petit Ecolier dark-chocolate cookie.

Sunday, January 6
I had challah French toast with blueberries and strawberries from Grey Dog, and I had home fries and a blueberry-strawberry-orange smoothie. But it was gross the second day so I didn’t get it anymore after that. And I had a peppermint tea and two veggie dogs from Crif Dogs. I love that place — I even drove to get the dogs (with cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapeños, and Cheddar cheese), but they were cold by the time we got back to the studio. I also had a couple spud fries and lemonade.

Monday, January 7
I discovered this new place called Sunrise Mart. I got kitsune soup with udon noodles, and it has bean curd in it and tofu. I had edamame and a grape Kombucha. Since that pack of cookies was here, I had another cookie. Then I had a green salad with grilled shrimp and carrot-ginger dressing. I also had Twizzlers and a Snapple iced tea at night.

Tuesday, January 8
I had a clementine orange, and then I had pretty much the same thing — kitsune udon soup, edamame, a ginger cookie, Kombucha, and Fiji water.

For dinner I had a Chipotle veggie burrito, nachos, and salsa, and the Izzy sparkling grapefruit.

Wednesday, January 9
I had the kitsune soup again and edamame and a Kombucha (the ginger flavor) and a ginger cookie. I had one salmon-skin roll. I gave the rest away because it was really fishy. And I also bought a grilled shrimp salad with the carrot-ginger dressing. I almost didn’t go to Sunrise Mart today, but it’s not just me in the studio and everyone else wanted it. I said, “Again? Aren’t we over that?”