Category: restaurant review

review: ever after… (sant pau)

Good chefs tell stories. They convey a sense of time and place. Great chefs tell fairytales. They create time and place. Carme Ruscalleda is a great chef. And at her restaurant by the sea, a meal unfolds like a storybook, full of romance and wonder. It is a capsule, a world unto itself, Sant Pau […]

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review: ever after… (sant pau)

Good chefs tell stories. They convey a sense of time and place. Great chefs tell fairytales. They create time and place. Carme Ruscalleda is a great chef. And at her restaurant by the sea, a meal unfolds like a storybook, full of romance and wonder. It is a capsule, a world unto itself, Sant Pau […]

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review: pioneer… (notion)

You know what I like about Dave Racicot? He’s passionate. He’s generous. He’s fearless. And, he’s just a bit crazy. There’s little glory, if any, in slim margins, empty seats, and twenty-hour days. But chefs across the world run the restaurant gauntlet again and again. Why? They love to cook. They were made to cook. […]

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review: pioneer… (notion)

You know what I like about Dave Racicot? He’s passionate. He’s generous. He’s fearless. And, he’s just a bit crazy. There’s little glory, if any, in slim margins, empty seats, and twenty-hour days. But chefs across the world run the restaurant gauntlet again and again. Why? They love to cook. They were made to cook. […]

Continue

review: glutting… (m. wells)

Can there ever be too much foie gras? Debatable. I mean, surely there’s a point of diminishing returns, right? I wasn’t about to test the limits. But, I had heard that everything at M. Wells, the “Quebeco-American diner” in Long Island City brought to you by a former chef of Au Pied de Cochon in […]

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review: glutting… (m. wells)

Can there ever be too much foie gras? Debatable. I mean, surely there’s a point of diminishing returns, right? I wasn’t about to test the limits. But, I had heard that everything at M. Wells, the “Quebeco-American diner” in Long Island City brought to you by a former chef of Au Pied de Cochon in […]

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review: splendor anew… (jean georges)

Given a choice, I’ll rarely order the same dish twice. And yet, I keep going back to Jean Georges, where, for the past few years, the lunch menu had barely budged an inch (or, so it seemed). Why? I love the dining room, a light box that makes lunch on Columbus Circle the bright centerpiece […]

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review: splendor anew… (jean georges)

Given a choice, I’ll rarely order the same dish twice. And yet, I keep going back to Jean Georges, where, for the past few years, the lunch menu had barely budged an inch (or, so it seemed). Why? I love the dining room, a light box that makes lunch on Columbus Circle the bright centerpiece […]

Continue

review: anthology… (elbulli)

My wish came true. I got to have lunch on that patio by the sea after all.* Having already had the extraordinary fortune of getting a seat at elBullí in February, I was invited back in early July, last-minute, by my friend Adam of A Life Worth Eating, who, having eaten there last fall, found […]

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review: anthology… (elbulli)

My wish came true. I got to have lunch on that patio by the sea after all.* Having already had the extraordinary fortune of getting a seat at elBullí in February, I was invited back in early July, last-minute, by my friend Adam of A Life Worth Eating, who, having eaten there last fall, found […]

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review: table 3…

Some places are closer to paradise than others. Table 3 is one of them. Directly outside the window is the ocean, where fishing boats bob deep into the night.  Up the road is Chino Farms, whence arrives corn and melon, sweet as candy, and a rainbow of vegetables, crisp and perfect.  And in the kitchen […]

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review: table 3…

Some places are closer to paradise than others. Table 3 is one of them. Directly outside the window is the ocean, where fishing boats bob deep into the night.  Up the road is Chino Farms, whence arrives corn and melon, sweet as candy, and a rainbow of vegetables, crisp and perfect.  And in the kitchen […]

Continue

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