Month: April 2011

review: around the world in 18 plates…

Never has there been so much interest, never have I received so many emails or tweet requests to hasten the posting of a restaurant review as I have for my recent meal at McCrady’s. In fact, so intense has been the enthusiasm, so high the demand that I fear I’m unable to give the experience […]

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review: around the world in 18 plates…

Never has there been so much interest, never have I received so many emails or tweet requests to hasten the posting of a restaurant review as I have for my recent meal at McCrady’s. In fact, so intense has been the enthusiasm, so high the demand that I fear I’m unable to give the experience […]

Continue

review: provenance… (husk)

He’s a farmer, horticulturalist, anthropologist, historian, and preservationist.* He’s an author, inventor, husband, cocktailian, comedian, and restaurateur. He’s a peacemaker – advocating for cornbread, not war. He’s a James Beard Award-winner and, undoubtedly, one of the best chefs in America right now. And he’s only seventeen days older than I. But most importantly, he’s a […]

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review: provenance… (husk)

He’s a farmer, horticulturalist, anthropologist, historian, and preservationist.* He’s an author, inventor, husband, cocktailian, comedian, and restaurateur. He’s a peacemaker – advocating for cornbread, not war. He’s a James Beard Award-winner and, undoubtedly, one of the best chefs in America right now. And he’s only seventeen days older than I. But most importantly, he’s a […]

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review: landscape of memory…

There are three rocks on every table at el Celler de Can Roca, presumably one for each of the brothers Roca. There’s Joan, the chef; Josep, the sommelier; and Jordi on pastries. Together, they’ve built upon their family’s restaurant, where all three worked as youths, and made it one of the world’s most acclaimed dining […]

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review: landscape of memory…

There are three rocks on every table at el Celler de Can Roca, presumably one for each of the brothers Roca. There’s Joan, the chef; Josep, the sommelier; and Jordi on pastries. Together, they’ve built upon their family’s restaurant, where all three worked as youths, and made it one of the world’s most acclaimed dining […]

Continue

review: atonal…

Statistics alone would suggest that, of the twenty-plus meals I had in Europe earlier this year, there would be at least one dud. I just didn’t expect it to be l’Astrance. Perennially celebrated by chefs and “lists,” Pascal Barbot’s restaurant in Paris’s upper-crust 16eme is considered by many to be one of the best in […]

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review: atonal…

Statistics alone would suggest that, of the twenty-plus meals I had in Europe earlier this year, there would be at least one dud. I just didn’t expect it to be l’Astrance. Perennially celebrated by chefs and “lists,” Pascal Barbot’s restaurant in Paris’s upper-crust 16eme is considered by many to be one of the best in […]

Continue

photo of the week 35: peep show…

I’ve made a habit of carrying my camera around with me wherever I go.  I’ll admit, it looks a little silly, especially since my camera isn’t one of those tight little point-and-shoots that fits in palm or pocket.  But you never know when you’ll stumble on a sight worth snapping. The recently refurbished, Art Deco-era […]

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photo of the week 35: peep show…

I’ve made a habit of carrying my camera around with me wherever I go.  I’ll admit, it looks a little silly, especially since my camera isn’t one of those tight little point-and-shoots that fits in palm or pocket.  But you never know when you’ll stumble on a sight worth snapping. The recently refurbished, Art Deco-era […]

Continue

review: you can’t get there quickly enough…

Seasalter, Laguiole, Baerenthal, Cala Montjoi, Honfleur, Fürstenau, Sluis, and Järpen: these are just a few of the far-flung places that people travel many hours – by planes, trains, automobiles, and, if you’re foolish and crazy like me, bicycles – to reach just to have a meal. There is not, unfortunately, the same tradition of traveling […]

Continue

review: you can’t get there quickly enough…

Seasalter, Laguiole, Baerenthal, Cala Montjoi, Honfleur, Fürstenau, Sluis, and Järpen: these are just a few of the far-flung places that people travel many hours – by planes, trains, automobiles, and, if you’re foolish and crazy like me, bicycles – to reach just to have a meal. There is not, unfortunately, the same tradition of traveling […]

Continue

drink: 8 ball bourbon…

Serious whiskey drinkers might claim that the only way to drink good whiskey is to take it neat, with nothing more than ice at most. The flavor and savors of a good whiskey can change greatly over time, even sip to sip. So, to disturb the liquor’s natural evolution as little as possible, cocktailians have […]

Continue

drink: 8 ball bourbon…

Serious whiskey drinkers might claim that the only way to drink good whiskey is to take it neat, with nothing more than ice at most. The flavor and savors of a good whiskey can change greatly over time, even sip to sip. So, to disturb the liquor’s natural evolution as little as possible, cocktailians have […]

Continue

travel: brocked…

A new term was coined this weekend in Charleston: “Brocked.” It’s what happens when you get spoiled by Sean Brock’s full-throttle brand of hospitality – a dangerously high-octane combination of bourbon, lard, and his infectious laugh that’ll keep you up and out until all sorts of crazy hours of the morning. My friends chuckeats, Miss […]

Continue

travel: brocked…

A new term was coined this weekend in Charleston: “Brocked.” It’s what happens when you get spoiled by Sean Brock’s full-throttle brand of hospitality – a dangerously high-octane combination of bourbon, lard, and his infectious laugh that’ll keep you up and out until all sorts of crazy hours of the morning. My friends chuckeats, Miss […]

Continue

rumination 15: update, please…

I haven’t ruminated out loud in a while.  But a recent post on a food forum, chiefly, a complaint therein about the failure of restaurants to update their menus online, spurred me to write. Time was (and I remember those days) when restaurants weren’t on the internets. You showed up, you ordered from what was […]

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rumination 15: update, please…

I haven’t ruminated out loud in a while.  But a recent post on a food forum, chiefly, a complaint therein about the failure of restaurants to update their menus online, spurred me to write. Time was (and I remember those days) when restaurants weren’t on the internets. You showed up, you ordered from what was […]

Continue

review: mirroring miró…

“It isn’t easy being the successor to the Pope,” Philippe Rochat is once quoted as saying. The “Pope,” to whom Rochat referred was, of course, Frédy Girardet, the legendary Swiss chef and early champion of the lighter, more playful nouvelle cuisine. A contemporary of Paul Bocuse, Roger Vergé, and Joël Robuchon, Girardet is considered by […]

Continue

review: mirroring miró…

“It isn’t easy being the successor to the Pope,” Philippe Rochat is once quoted as saying. The “Pope,” to whom Rochat referred was, of course, Frédy Girardet, the legendary Swiss chef and early champion of the lighter, more playful nouvelle cuisine. A contemporary of Paul Bocuse, Roger Vergé, and Joël Robuchon, Girardet is considered by […]

Continue