2013 twelve days of christmas: save the dates…

•June 18, 2013 • Leave a Comment

End of service.

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For the past five years, Christopher Kostow, chef of the three Michelin-starred The Restaurant at Meadowood has hosted an extraordinary series of dinners known as the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”  Every December, it brings a holiday wish list of the world’s best chefs to the restaurant, which is located on the breathtaking property of Meadowood Napa Valley, a Relais & Châteaux resort in St. Helena, California.

Last year, when Kostow invited me to attend the Twelve Days of Christmas (here’s a recap, with links to all twelve dinners), he told me that it would be his last year hosting the event.  I didn’t say much about his decision until the end of the series, when, impressed by the experience, I urged him to reconsider (I’m sure I was not alone in doing so).  I’m glad he did.

The chef alumni of this dinner series comprise an amazing collection of the most relevant and current names in kitchens across the world: Enrique Olvera, Mathias Dahlgren, John and Karen Shields, Sean Brock, Gabriel Rucker, David Toutain, and April Bloomfield are among the dozens of names that this event has brought to Napa Valley over the past five years.

I am happy to announce that this year, Kostow adds eleven more to the list.

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travel: second city…

•May 28, 2013 • 7 Comments

10th Course: Pressed Squab

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When I left my twenties, I went to Chicago to mark the passing of that decade, and to welcome the next. In the five years since, I’ve kept the tradition, choosing a different city with each new birthday.

In 2009, I celebrated in New York; in 2010, in Washington D.C.; and in 2011, Charleston.

Last year, due to a canceled event that I was supposed to attend in Chicago, which left me with pre-paid lodging and airfare to that city around the time of my birthday, I decided to cut my losses and return the Windy City to celebrate once more.

Beyond spending an unforgettable week with dear friends, that trip reminded me of just how much I love Chicago.

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rumination 28: what goes up, must come down…

•April 29, 2013 • 24 Comments

We are on the eve of the annual announcement of the “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list (published by the British magazine Restaurant and sponsored by San Pellegrino & Acqua Panna).  As chefs from all over the world gather in London to find out how high or low their restaurants have climbed or fallen in this past year, I wish to share a few thoughts on this event, and that for which it stands.

I have been, heretofore, open but not terribly vocal about my opinion of this list.  And that’s because I am loathe to bring it any more attention than it already receives.  My issues with the list are long and varied.  But I’ll spare you a detailed accounting of my complaints, partly because I feel insufficiently qualified to criticize this list,* but mostly because it is not the subject I wish to explore in this post.  However, by the very nature of this address, some of my complaints about this list will naturally follow.

Continue reading ‘rumination 28: what goes up, must come down…’

travel: rediscovering coastal cuisine…

•April 24, 2013 • 5 Comments

Stormy

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I’m not going to be shy: I’m very good with geography.  I always have been.  (I also have an unusually good sense of direction. My family calls me the walking GPS.)

But, whereas I once associated places with landmarks, or friends, or museums, or colleges, I now mentally map out the world with food and restaurants.

If you say Ann Arbor, I think of the many sandwiches I had at Zingerman’s as a law student.  If someone mentions Modena, Massimo Bottura’s three Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana comes to mind.  If you bring up Seasalter, I think of Stephen Harris’s wonderful, vinegary skate wing at his 17th-Century gastropub, The Sportsman.  And, if Carmel were to come up in conversation, I’d think of two restaurants: Marinus at Bernardus Lodge in the valley and Aubergine at l’Auberge Carmel by the sea.

But, until I revisited Carmel a few weeks ago (I had been there once as a child, when Clint Eastwood was still the city’s mayor), there was very little that I could attach to that tiny seaside town otherwise.

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travel: the well-preserved patina of yesterday…

•March 21, 2013 • 2 Comments

Buckyball

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You know those restaurants you’ve been meaning to visit for ten years?  I have long lists of them.  And none is longer or harder to maintain than my New York list.

New York City is a high-volume situation.  The sheer number of restaurants that open (and close) there each year, makes it one of the hardest markets with which to keep pace.  Despite the fact that I have begun complaining about the culinary stagnation there – has anything truly groundbreaking appeared on New York’s restaurant scene in the last half-decade? – to its credit, I never hurt for options in that city.

Every trip to New York requires me to balance the comfort I take in returning to the reliable against the hope I keep for discovering something new, something better, something different.  But, in the past couple of years, that hope has been dashed repeatedly on the glossy pages of overhype.  Disenchanted and disappointed, I recently decided to reprioritize my roster.  I shelved the new draftees and started working down the bench.  And you know what?  I ate very well.

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travel: better late than never…

•March 19, 2013 • 6 Comments

Night on the "kanal."

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The last time I was in Copenhagen, I was eleven years-old.

In the years since, the city has waxed into a culinary constellation that now attracts gastronauts from faraway places.

Copenhagen’s rise as an eating destination was quick and hot, and unexpected. But its story was a good one: a naissance of exploration, celebration, and exploitation of natural resources among Danish chefs, who have begun to paint a compelling picture of their indigenous culture, one that is not familiar to most.

But I was skeptical. I always am when I see the press dart, like a school of fish, towards some shiny, new subject.

So, I avoided going to Copenhagen for years. In hindsight, I probably waited a bit too long – not because I missed the apex of the city’s gastronomic parabola (which, I think it has yet to reach), but because the city now brims with more options than I can adequately cover in one or two short trips.

Better late than never, right?

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travel: one day more…

•March 14, 2013 • 4 Comments

The Les Mis moment of this year's Bocuse d'Or

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In January of 2011, I went to Lyon a spectator, expecting little more than a fun detour on a two-week break from life. It turned out to be the start of the most incredible adventure I’ve known yet.

It’s hard to believe, but one more day and one day more has turned into two years.

I returned to Lyon this past January not only with Team USA, but as a part of Team USA, to photograph the American candidate, Richard Rosendale, and his commis, Corey Siegel, at the 2013 Bocuse d’Or.

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