What foods heal a broken heart? Philly chefs and hospitality pros share their heartbreak comfort foods

We’ve all been hurt or let down by a loved one — be it romantically or platonically. For some of us, food helps soothe and mend bruised hearts. Whether it’s fast food favorites or family dishes, we all have that one food that pulls us out of our pity parties, no matter the flavor of heartache.

While chefs are known to harness the power of food to woo, others use it to heal. In that spirit, we tapped some Philly hospitality pros to share with us the comfort foods that keep them going, long after the love was lost.

While at the grocery store last summer, Diana Robinson eyes welled when she saw the section of heirloom tomatoes. “I didn’t really realize what was happening at first,” she said.

For the the bartender at Bloomsday Cafe in Society Hill, heirloom tomato season is a reminder of the end of the pandemic quarantine — and the end of her relationship with a longtime partner.

In her bubble of sadness, she found comfort in a tomato, bacon sandwich. She took two slices of homemade rye bread, slathered them with homemade aioli, added large pieces of bacon and thick slices of heirloom tomatoes, and finished it off with some cracked black pepper.

“I think I ate that meal for three weeks straight, three to four times a day,” she said. “I was mostly tomato by that point.”

With the occasional pinch of heartache, Robinson finds “reverse joy” in her heirloom tomato sandwich. “It’s such a good meal on its own,” she said.

Whenever Jennifer Zavala of Juana Tamale takes a bite of a Big Mac sandwich from McDonald’s, she thinks of a tall, cute boy who listened to her favorite rock bands and broke her heart in high school.

“I loved everything about him,” she recalled. The two went on a couple of dates but nothing clicked for the boy. “One day, I asked him if I would be someone that you would take to prom and he was like, no.”

Zavala was devastated. Coming from a small town with very few Latina girls in her school, she felt it had to do with the way she looked. “I just remember feeling extremely low and very defeated, and questioning myself and everything,” as she wandered around her neighborhood. That is until she walked into her nearby McDonald’s and devoured a Big Mac.

“It cured everything — if only for a moment,” Zavala said. “And then it turned into the reality of having to walk back home and only being satisfied with a Big Mac.”

While McDonald’s is her go-to heartbreak healer, Zavala also gets the Big Mic at Sulimay’s in Fishtown. “They know my order by heart.” The Big Mac dupe is a double patty on sesame seed bun with cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, and house-made sauce and pickles. Zavala will ask them to add bacon and fries to “feel the love that I’m not getting.”

“You want something that [nourishes] you,” she said. “I’m an emotional eater, so when I’m really sad or self-deprecating, I just I want to swim in ranch dressing in a Big Mac — it’s okay to wallow in that moment.”

Nima Etemadi dated quite a bit over the last few years, so he knew heartache was inevitable. The introverted co-owner of Cake Life Bake Shop in Fishtown went through one tough breakup that left him devastated. But when he took a bite of his grandmother’s specialty dish, he began to heal.

“I was pretty bruised and didn’t feel like cooking (or doing anything, really), but my wayback-comfort foods were calling to me,” Etemadi said. “Her Russo-Persian vermicelli yogurt got me through that one — I’ve loved it all my life and it’s super easy to make, plus the sheer amount of tangy yogurt makes it feel way more decadent than it is.”

The dish features angel-hair pasta, dried mint, shredded red onion or crushed garlic, salt and pepper, and lots of tangy, non-Greek yogurt (Greek yogurt is too thick and not tangy enough.)

“Serious treat-yourself vibes that you can eat straight out of the fridge. This one will keep your stomach full until your heart is ready to try again. Plus, your breath will keep people at a healthy distance until you’re ready to heal.”

Chef Reuben Asaram was familiar with heartbreak — but the death of his grandfather hit him the hardest.

“I’ve never experienced losing someone so close to me until the loss of my grandpa,” Asaram said. “He’s the one who made me fall in love with food. He taught me how to make kebabs on these skewers that he made himself.”

After his death, Asaram wanted to feel his grandfather’s presence once again. He decided to create his own spiced lamb kebab recipe inspired by the seekh kebabs his grandfather made for him growing up.

“The smell of lamb as it cooks always brings me back to being next to him and watching him cook and teach me about food,” said Asaram, who does pop-ups around the city. “Using his skewers, I worked for days to make and perfect my lamb koobideh kebabs.” The koobideh spice mix of cardamon, cloves, cumin and coriander enhanced the smell of the lamb connecting him to his grandfather. “It literally felt like he was there, working on the recipe with me.”

At family get-to-togethers. Asaram makes the kebabs to keep “his presence alive through the flavors and love of food he passed down to me — I know he’s always there with me every time I pick up those skewers.”

In the spring 2021, a rough breakup led to Tevon Ty losing his love for food. Usually, the chef of Hummingbird Island, a Philly pop-up shop, would use food as a coping mechanism, but this time nothing could fill that void — until he took a trip to Los Angeles for his 27th birthday.

Ty dined at Elephante in Santa Monica for his birthday, where “one dish brought so much love to his heart.” It was the whipped eggplant with puccia and olive oil appetizer that reminded him just how much he needed a good meal to heal.

As he took a bite of the wood-fired puccia bread slathered with the butter-like, velvety smooth eggplant, Ty was transported back to his childhood — reminding him of the butter and bread he would eat for comfort.

“It was nostalgic, this elevated butter on bread,” he said. “This is one dish brought back a smile, a bright moment during a difficult season of my life.”