Category: restaurant review

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 […]

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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

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 […]

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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

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 […]

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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: the mill…

Where does one have lunch before dinner at elBulli? My friends and I agreed that a more traditional, Catalan meal would be proper. So, from Girona, we sped off into the hills in search of el Moli, whose name had been dropped by friends of friends of friends. That seems to be the only reliable […]

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review: the mill…

Where does one have lunch before dinner at elBulli? My friends and I agreed that a more traditional, Catalan meal would be proper. So, from Girona, we sped off into the hills in search of el Moli, whose name had been dropped by friends of friends of friends. That seems to be the only reliable […]

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

review: the happiest corner on earth…

If good food is to be celebrated, then there is much too little mirth at the high end of gastronomy these days. And, it seems that the more you spend, the more sombre the scene, the more severe the service. At their best, meals should be fun and delicious, a party for one or for […]

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review: the happiest corner on earth…

If good food is to be celebrated, then there is much too little mirth at the high end of gastronomy these days. And, it seems that the more you spend, the more sombre the scene, the more severe the service. At their best, meals should be fun and delicious, a party for one or for […]

Continue

review: crave…

By the time I landed in Barcelona at 11 a.m., I had already set foot in three countries that morning. I hadn’t slept a wink and was still working off the excesses from the night before. But, having just spent a week above the glacial line, I perked up to the balmy breeze on the […]

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review: crave…

By the time I landed in Barcelona at 11 a.m., I had already set foot in three countries that morning. I hadn’t slept a wink and was still working off the excesses from the night before. But, having just spent a week above the glacial line, I perked up to the balmy breeze on the […]

Continue

review: into thin air…

Food isn’t the only reason we eat out. Sometimes, we simply want an experience that takes our breath away, a shallow thrill that can match our joy, mask our sorrow. On those occasions, logic and reason rarely have a voice. Gripped by such an moment, I recently found myself wantonly throwing fistfuls of money off […]

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review: into thin air…

Food isn’t the only reason we eat out. Sometimes, we simply want an experience that takes our breath away, a shallow thrill that can match our joy, mask our sorrow. On those occasions, logic and reason rarely have a voice. Gripped by such an moment, I recently found myself wantonly throwing fistfuls of money off […]

Continue

review: weinstube…

My friend Niles is such a ham. Last week, as our group paused to survey our dinner table, astonished by the amount of pork we collectively ordered, Niles alone shrugged. “I’m still plumping,” she clipped wryly, and dove right in. In that moment, Niles framed me perfectly as I arrived in Alsace on a train […]

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review: weinstube…

My friend Niles is such a ham. Last week, as our group paused to survey our dinner table, astonished by the amount of pork we collectively ordered, Niles alone shrugged. “I’m still plumping,” she clipped wryly, and dove right in. In that moment, Niles framed me perfectly as I arrived in Alsace on a train […]

Continue

review: tail of a feast…

Regretfully, I never wrote about my first meal at St. John Bread & Wine near Spitalfields, sibling to Fergus Henderson’s more-famous St. John at Smithfields.* Some say that, between the two restaurants, the food at St. John Bread & Wine is better, or at least more consistent.  I haven’t the wherewithal to make that  judgment. […]

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review: tail of a feast…

Regretfully, I never wrote about my first meal at St. John Bread & Wine near Spitalfields, sibling to Fergus Henderson’s more-famous St. John at Smithfields.* Some say that, between the two restaurants, the food at St. John Bread & Wine is better, or at least more consistent.  I haven’t the wherewithal to make that  judgment. […]

Continue