12 days: on the twelfth day of christmas: kostow… (2015)

~ What can I say this year that I didn’t say last year? Before you read the rest of this post, I urge you to read what I wrote on the twelfth night of last year’s Twelve Days of Christmas.  Even if you’ve read it before, please read it again. Every word and every sentiment in that […]

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12 days: on the twelfth day of christmas: kostow… (2015)

~ What can I say this year that I didn’t say last year? Before you read the rest of this post, I urge you to read what I wrote on the twelfth night of last year’s Twelve Days of Christmas.  Even if you’ve read it before, please read it again. Every word and every sentiment in that […]

Continue

12 days: on the fifth day of christmas: skenes… (2015)

~ I have eaten at Saison (San Francisco) nearly twenty times, and at The Restaurant at Meadowood (St. Helena) nearly fifty times.  With only one exception*, I have eaten at these two restaurants more than all others around the world. I have also photographed in both of their kitchens many times, and have, over the years become intimately […]

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12 days: on the fifth day of christmas: skenes… (2015)

~ I have eaten at Saison (San Francisco) nearly twenty times, and at The Restaurant at Meadowood (St. Helena) nearly fifty times.  With only one exception*, I have eaten at these two restaurants more than all others around the world. I have also photographed in both of their kitchens many times, and have, over the years become intimately […]

Continue

12 days: on the second day of christmas: mlinarevic… (2015)

~ A last-minute trip to Switzerland earlier this year landed me within commuting distance of Focus, a two Michelin-starred restaurant at the Park Hotel Vitznau on the quiet banks of Lake Lucerne.  Although I had seen pictures of the resort online, no photo could have prepared me for its breathtaking setting, nestled among the Alps with an enormous […]

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12 days: on the second day of christmas: mlinarevic… (2015)

~ A last-minute trip to Switzerland earlier this year landed me within commuting distance of Focus, a two Michelin-starred restaurant at the Park Hotel Vitznau on the quiet banks of Lake Lucerne.  Although I had seen pictures of the resort online, no photo could have prepared me for its breathtaking setting, nestled among the Alps with an enormous […]

Continue

12 days: on the first day of christmas: humm… (2015)

~ There are few restaurants about which I have been more enthusiastic than Eleven Madison Park in the first couple of years that Daniel Humm became head chef there.  If you look back on this blog, you’ll find many posts cheering him and his team in those transformative days of dining in New York City.  While restaurants […]

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12 days: on the first day of christmas: humm… (2015)

~ There are few restaurants about which I have been more enthusiastic than Eleven Madison Park in the first couple of years that Daniel Humm became head chef there.  If you look back on this blog, you’ll find many posts cheering him and his team in those transformative days of dining in New York City.  While restaurants […]

Continue

save the dates: the twelve days of christmas (2015)…

~ Thirty-six meals and tens of thousands of photos ago, I arrived at Meadowood Napa Valley for my first Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood.  In the three, short years since, I have had the pleasure of watching it grow into a celebrated event with an increasingly global reach. For twelve truly enviable nights of food […]

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save the dates: the twelve days of christmas (2015)…

~ Thirty-six meals and tens of thousands of photos ago, I arrived at Meadowood Napa Valley for my first Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood.  In the three, short years since, I have had the pleasure of watching it grow into a celebrated event with an increasingly global reach. For twelve truly enviable nights of food […]

Continue

travel: intercontinental… (chile part ii)

~ In this second half of my report about my trip to Chile earlier this year (here’s the first half), I take you to some of the most beautiful destinations I’ve ever visited: three of Chile’s wine valleys, and to a few points along the country’s long coastline.

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travel: intercontinental… (chile part ii)

~ In this second half of my report about my trip to Chile earlier this year (here’s the first half), I take you to some of the most beautiful destinations I’ve ever visited: three of Chile’s wine valleys, and to a few points along the country’s long coastline.

Continue

2013 twelve days of christmas: save the dates…

~ 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 […]

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2013 twelve days of christmas: save the dates…

~ 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 […]

Continue

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: cave à manger…

The last time I saw my friend LaTache, I was in my running clothes eating porchetta out of a food truck. In the months since, he had moved to France and made it his home. So, on my recent trip to Paris, we met for dinner at Saturne, Sven Chartier’s upwardly trending cave à manger […]

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review: cave à manger…

The last time I saw my friend LaTache, I was in my running clothes eating porchetta out of a food truck. In the months since, he had moved to France and made it his home. So, on my recent trip to Paris, we met for dinner at Saturne, Sven Chartier’s upwardly trending cave à manger […]

Continue

yippy skippy…

alinea Cookbook By Grant Achatz I’ve been a busy boy. In the recent months, I’ve been traveling quite a bit (and the end does not seem near), which has flung me far from the kitchen.  I miss it. Though I haven’t had time to cook, don’t think I’ve stopped reading recipes. No, I haven’t quite […]

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yippy skippy…

alinea Cookbook By Grant Achatz I’ve been a busy boy. In the recent months, I’ve been traveling quite a bit (and the end does not seem near), which has flung me far from the kitchen.  I miss it. Though I haven’t had time to cook, don’t think I’ve stopped reading recipes. No, I haven’t quite […]

Continue