All products featured on Bon Appétit are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
Regina King strolls into Joanne Hendricks Cookbooks on the hunt for classic hors d’oeuvres recipes.
The Academy Award-winning actress director, and executive producer is quite the cook and entertainer, and she’s looking for inspiration to pair with her brand-new wine brand, MianU. What better place than this quaint vintage book shop nestled in Lower Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood, which specializes in all things culinary. King and shop owner Joanne Hendricks are instantly in conversation, chopping it up over how difficult it is to debone a chicken and how absolutely delicious Jerusalem artichokes are.
Peering through sunglasses, King is professorial, but her vibe is homegirl for life, totally expected from the woman who started her showbiz career as Brenda Jenkins on the memorable 1980s sitcom “227,” was Janet Jackson’s sidekick in the 1993 film Poetic Justice, and won the 2019 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as Sharon Rivers in the film adaption of James Baldwin’s 1974 novel If Beale Street Could Talk.
King talks of the loquat, citrus, and olive trees that grow in her Los Angeles backyard and the two women marvel over how easy it is to make olive tapenade. While thumbing through early 20th century author Harriet Ross Cloquitt’s 1933 edition of The Savannah Cookbook, King stumbles upon a recipe for jambalaya. Her eyes linger on the page. The spicy dish would pair perfectly with orange wine.
“Have you ever had orange wine?” King asks Hendricks, the latter’s auburn braids pulled into a chignon pinned just above the nape of her neck. No, Hendricks hasn’t.
King takes some time to journal while nursing a cup of tea at Cafe Jalu, in the new French department store, Printemps.
King reaches into her tote, retrieving a bottle of wine the color of an autumn sunset melting into the horizon. MianU—pronounced Me-eyan-you, or me and you—was conceived in honor of her late son Ian Alexander Jr., who King describes as a, “Renaissance man, an artist, and a chef. He liked big flavors.” For her, this wine is as precious as the memories she created with her son.
“Ian and I just loved exploring wines together,” she said. In fact, it was Ian who introduced Regina to orange wine six years ago.
“We were having dinner at Kismet, one of his favorite LA restaurants, and he asked me if I wanted to try orange wine. I asked him if it had oranges in it,” she said laughing. “I took a sip and thought, ‘“Oh my God, this is so good.’”
Ian died in 2022. In 2023, King decided to launch MianU in his memory. It’s an offering that urges people to savor precious time with one another,
