Month: December 2010

best of 2010: the restaurant edition…

A blizzard of gastronomic white paper from tastemakers here and there gave this lame-duck week of 2010 a needed dose of excitement, angst, and confusion.  Who doesn’t love rummaging through another’s list of dirtied linens at the end of the year? While I’m a taster, not a tastemaker, I happily add to the storm my […]

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best of 2010: the restaurant edition…

A blizzard of gastronomic white paper from tastemakers here and there gave this lame-duck week of 2010 a needed dose of excitement, angst, and confusion.  Who doesn’t love rummaging through another’s list of dirtied linens at the end of the year? While I’m a taster, not a tastemaker, I happily add to the storm my […]

Continue

best dishes of 2010…

It’s that time of year again when I shock myself into making new year resolutions by taking a look back at all of the food I ate in the last twelve months. Over the past few weeks, I’ve revisited hundreds of dishes and, through some mysterious and highly subjective process that involves memory and mood, […]

Continue

best dishes of 2010…

It’s that time of year again when I shock myself into making new year resolutions by taking a look back at all of the food I ate in the last twelve months. Over the past few weeks, I’ve revisited hundreds of dishes and, through some mysterious and highly subjective process that involves memory and mood, […]

Continue

photo of the week 27: you are what you eat…

Grass-fed, corn-fed: judge not by the content of the diet alone, but by the color and amount of the fat as well.  You can tell a lot about the animal’s life by the way its carcass looks and ages.  This, and more, I learned recently on a private tour of a local, independent meat locker. […]

Continue

photo of the week 27: you are what you eat…

Grass-fed, corn-fed: judge not by the content of the diet alone, but by the color and amount of the fat as well.  You can tell a lot about the animal’s life by the way its carcass looks and ages.  This, and more, I learned recently on a private tour of a local, independent meat locker. […]

Continue

5 million clicks…

Over the weekend, I noticed that the ticker on my Flickr account had passed the five million mark. Now, I have no clue if that’s a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I’m celebrating.  To thank you all for reading this blog and visiting my Flickr photostream, I’m giving away a prize. […]

Continue

5 million clicks…

Over the weekend, I noticed that the ticker on my Flickr account had passed the five million mark. Now, I have no clue if that’s a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I’m celebrating.  To thank you all for reading this blog and visiting my Flickr photostream, I’m giving away a prize. […]

Continue

photo of the week 26: winter bouquet…

Two years ago on Christmas day, I took the TGV from Paris to Lyon to have lunch at Restaurant Paul Bocuse.  After a leisurely four-hour meal, my friend and I toured the city a bit before catching the bullet back to Paris. As night fell, we were treated to a magical walk. Beneath the gaze […]

Continue

photo of the week 26: winter bouquet…

Two years ago on Christmas day, I took the TGV from Paris to Lyon to have lunch at Restaurant Paul Bocuse.  After a leisurely four-hour meal, my friend and I toured the city a bit before catching the bullet back to Paris. As night fell, we were treated to a magical walk. Beneath the gaze […]

Continue

james beard worked here…

Kansas City is home to one our country’s most storied restaurants. Yet, sadly, it is perpetually overlooked by locals and foreigners alike.  Do you know about it? In 1971, the founder of Hallmark Cards, Joyce C. Hall, opened Crown Center, a commercial palace to complement his company’s headquarters in downtown Kansas City.  The jewel to […]

Continue

james beard worked here…

Kansas City is home to one our country’s most storied restaurants. Yet, sadly, it is perpetually overlooked by locals and foreigners alike.  Do you know about it? In 1971, the founder of Hallmark Cards, Joyce C. Hall, opened Crown Center, a commercial palace to complement his company’s headquarters in downtown Kansas City.  The jewel to […]

Continue

photo of the week 25: tannenbaum…

I love my sister, but the woman cannot bake to save her life. Last night, for example, I suffered a senselessly doughy sugar “snowman” cookie at her holiday, housewarming party.  Later, I was accosted by a gummy mini red velvet cupcake. Why didn’t she use the recipe I sent her?  And why didn’t she use […]

Continue

photo of the week 25: tannenbaum…

I love my sister, but the woman cannot bake to save her life. Last night, for example, I suffered a senselessly doughy sugar “snowman” cookie at her holiday, housewarming party.  Later, I was accosted by a gummy mini red velvet cupcake. Why didn’t she use the recipe I sent her?  And why didn’t she use […]

Continue

review: time colors it rosy…

Inexperience and hunger flatter food. Time colors it rosy. Having said all my goodbyes, I celebrated my last day as a Chicago resident by running a half marathon, indulging in a massage, stealing a nap, and treating myself to a quiet dinner for one.  That was the summer of 2005. I asked Chris Nugent, the […]

Continue

review: time colors it rosy…

Inexperience and hunger flatter food. Time colors it rosy. Having said all my goodbyes, I celebrated my last day as a Chicago resident by running a half marathon, indulging in a massage, stealing a nap, and treating myself to a quiet dinner for one.  That was the summer of 2005. I asked Chris Nugent, the […]

Continue

review: zeitgeist…

Once derided for their culinary ineptitude, the British have invaded us all over again with a new Fab Four: nose, tail, trotter, and jowl (and everything in between). Indeed, the pig has become a modern-day proxy for a larger umbrella of thematic eating, under which fall beer and tattooes, mustaches and suspenders, piles of meat […]

Continue

review: zeitgeist…

Once derided for their culinary ineptitude, the British have invaded us all over again with a new Fab Four: nose, tail, trotter, and jowl (and everything in between). Indeed, the pig has become a modern-day proxy for a larger umbrella of thematic eating, under which fall beer and tattooes, mustaches and suspenders, piles of meat […]

Continue

photo of the week 24: the knights of malta…

Given its geographic situation, it is remarkable that Prague survived the two World Wars. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city is now a municipal museum, a walkable glimpse into history.  Its well-preserved bones are an attraction to millions of visitors each year. There’s a spectacular Gothic-style tower on the Old Town end of […]

Continue

photo of the week 24: the knights of malta…

Given its geographic situation, it is remarkable that Prague survived the two World Wars. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city is now a municipal museum, a walkable glimpse into history.  Its well-preserved bones are an attraction to millions of visitors each year. There’s a spectacular Gothic-style tower on the Old Town end of […]

Continue