Inside Eddie Huangs sadboi era and turning a new page with his novel

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Set us as preferred On the Shelf Come Undone: A Novel By Eddie Huang One World: 240 pages, $29If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.Eddie Huang has never felt lighter.Last month, after his debut novel, “Come Undone,” finally released, something shifted.“I have a family.

I feel healed,” he said over coffee and short ribs in Santa Monica hours ahead of a live talk with Ottessa Moshfegh, the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of Huang’s favorite book, “My Year of Rest and Relaxation.”“People always write me off as a personality or a multi-hyphenate,” he said.“It’s a nice way of saying I’m not really good at anything.

But I didn’t have any of that this time.” He leaned forward, serious.“I have to be honest.

I do think the Knicks are a big, big part of it.”His beloved Knicks winning the championship, he said, kept him from spiraling over the book.In person, Huang subdues his ironic braggadocio with polite eye contact and rolling belly laughs at his own jokes.

For years, audiences have watched Huang resist whatever box you put him in.His particular brand of cultural fluency — a rapid-fire mix of food, fashion, basketball, politics and pop culture — is what made the “Gua Bao Bad Boy” impossible to categorize.For most of his career, Huang has seemed constitutionally incapable of standing still.

Chef.Memoirist.

TV host.Filmmaker.

Lawyer.Comic.

Podcaster.His first book, “Fresh Off the Boat,” became the longest-running network sitcom centered on an Asian American family, even as Huang publicly distanced himself from the show.

Since leaving post-fires L.A.for New York, he’s reopened Baohaus — returning to the kitchen that built his career.

Waiting for him at home after the book tour is ...