Category: dessert

travel: hot booter an awl…

– My latest trip to Chicago almost didn’t happen. Originally, I was supposed to go in late February, on business. But that trip got canceled. Thankfully, my prepaid hotel and airline reservations were moveable. So, I emailed a few of my friends to see if they could meet me in Chicago in March for an […]

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travel: hot booter an awl…

– My latest trip to Chicago almost didn’t happen. Originally, I was supposed to go in late February, on business. But that trip got canceled. Thankfully, my prepaid hotel and airline reservations were moveable. So, I emailed a few of my friends to see if they could meet me in Chicago in March for an […]

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review: telescope… (pujol)

– It’s a revisionist’s world these days, especially in the kitchen. To he (or she) who can retell the past anew, all glory and honor. Spain, of course, has not only updated its own culinary culture, but inspired a refacing of cuisines around the world. In the Distrito Federal, Enrique Olvera is leading the way […]

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review: telescope… (pujol)

– It’s a revisionist’s world these days, especially in the kitchen. To he (or she) who can retell the past anew, all glory and honor. Spain, of course, has not only updated its own culinary culture, but inspired a refacing of cuisines around the world. In the Distrito Federal, Enrique Olvera is leading the way […]

Continue

review: each leg a length… (jean georges)

– Faced with a shelf of meals, waiting to be transcribed, Jean Georges is always an easy reach. Writing about a meal here always seems effortless. The food is straightforward and simple, but always spectacular. The experience is clear and crisp, like a starched stretch of high thread-count. It’s a concise affair, practically punctuating itself […]

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review: each leg a length… (jean georges)

– Faced with a shelf of meals, waiting to be transcribed, Jean Georges is always an easy reach. Writing about a meal here always seems effortless. The food is straightforward and simple, but always spectacular. The experience is clear and crisp, like a starched stretch of high thread-count. It’s a concise affair, practically punctuating itself […]

Continue

review: candles and cranes… (yusho)

– When Matthias Merges, who left Charlie Trotter’s last year after a decade and a half as its executive chef, opened Yusho in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood (just north of Logan Square), I wasn’t surprised to see his peers flood social media outlets with congratulatory cheer. The enthusiasm for his new restaurant was unanimous, the compliments […]

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review: candles and cranes… (yusho)

– When Matthias Merges, who left Charlie Trotter’s last year after a decade and a half as its executive chef, opened Yusho in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood (just north of Logan Square), I wasn’t surprised to see his peers flood social media outlets with congratulatory cheer. The enthusiasm for his new restaurant was unanimous, the compliments […]

Continue

review: scattershot… (biko)

– And now to Biko in the Distrito Federal, where, as one opinionated observer described it, two Spaniards (Basque, to be specific) are trying, unsuccessfully, to cook Mexican food. I’m no expert on the cuisines of either of those cultures, but, based on the food we were served at Biko last October, that seems to […]

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review: scattershot… (biko)

– And now to Biko in the Distrito Federal, where, as one opinionated observer described it, two Spaniards (Basque, to be specific) are trying, unsuccessfully, to cook Mexican food. I’m no expert on the cuisines of either of those cultures, but, based on the food we were served at Biko last October, that seems to […]

Continue

review: balance in the extremes… (il canto)

– We had been toying with the possibility of eating at Paolo Lopriore’s Il Canto all week. My friend Adam and I were vacationing in Tuscany with my friends last summer, and Siena was within striking distance. The only two people I knew who had eaten there (one of them was Adam, the other was […]

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review: balance in the extremes… (il canto)

– We had been toying with the possibility of eating at Paolo Lopriore’s Il Canto all week. My friend Adam and I were vacationing in Tuscany with my friends last summer, and Siena was within striking distance. The only two people I knew who had eaten there (one of them was Adam, the other was […]

Continue

review: quietude of excellence… (the modern)

– It’s rare that I have an uncommitted meal when I travel. But since I was in New York for three weeks, I left a couple of pockets open, here and there, to play by ear. So, it was dumb luck that I was free for dinner the day that my friend Belinda Chang called. […]

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review: quietude of excellence… (the modern)

– It’s rare that I have an uncommitted meal when I travel. But since I was in New York for three weeks, I left a couple of pockets open, here and there, to play by ear. So, it was dumb luck that I was free for dinner the day that my friend Belinda Chang called. […]

Continue

travel: meet me in st. louis…

~ Although I’ve spent countless hours at Lambert Field (I’ve flown through it more than any other airport in the world, by far) my time in St. Louis has been slight, a half-dozen one-nighters over the past three decades: school field trips, business trips, and a quick eating trip three years ago. So, when Gerard […]

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travel: meet me in st. louis…

~ Although I’ve spent countless hours at Lambert Field (I’ve flown through it more than any other airport in the world, by far) my time in St. Louis has been slight, a half-dozen one-nighters over the past three decades: school field trips, business trips, and a quick eating trip three years ago. So, when Gerard […]

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review: a series of pauses… (kajitsu)

– Situated somewhere in the middle of my three-week, million-calorie binge in New York last year was kajitsu, a meditative pause in an otherwise reckless episode of indulgence. Tucked below street level in the East Village, kajitsu is quiet and clean, not unlike the food it serves, a series of vignettes in kaiseki form. Here, […]

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review: a series of pauses… (kajitsu)

– Situated somewhere in the middle of my three-week, million-calorie binge in New York last year was kajitsu, a meditative pause in an otherwise reckless episode of indulgence. Tucked below street level in the East Village, kajitsu is quiet and clean, not unlike the food it serves, a series of vignettes in kaiseki form. Here, […]

Continue

best desserts of 2011…

(Frozen Sake; elBulli) Is pastry having a “moment?” Judging by the desserts I’ve had this year, I’d say it is. In the past, I’ve tacked on a dozen or so desserts to my annual “best dishes” post in a section at the bottom called “just desserts.”  While their inclusion was far from an afterthought, even […]

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best desserts of 2011…

(Frozen Sake; elBulli) Is pastry having a “moment?” Judging by the desserts I’ve had this year, I’d say it is. In the past, I’ve tacked on a dozen or so desserts to my annual “best dishes” post in a section at the bottom called “just desserts.”  While their inclusion was far from an afterthought, even […]

Continue