the best of 2013: the restaurant edition…
~ The late, great Diana Vreeland once said: “A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika. We all need a splash of bad taste––it’s hearty, it’s healthy, it’s physical. I think we could use more of it. No taste is what I’m against.” I couldn’t agree more. There is a growing class […]
~ The late, great Diana Vreeland once said: “A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika. We all need a splash of bad taste––it’s hearty, it’s healthy, it’s physical. I think we could use more of it. No taste is what I’m against.” I couldn’t agree more. There is a growing class […]
best desserts of 2013…
~ Three years ago, I created a separate year-end list for desserts because I wanted to recognize and record the exciting strides that I noticed pastry chefs taking. In the short time since, the borders of dessert-making and dessert-eating have continued to expand. Speaking specifically as an American, our understanding of desserts has taken on a […]
~ Three years ago, I created a separate year-end list for desserts because I wanted to recognize and record the exciting strides that I noticed pastry chefs taking. In the short time since, the borders of dessert-making and dessert-eating have continued to expand. Speaking specifically as an American, our understanding of desserts has taken on a […]
travel: blurred lines…
~ At the end of each of the last two years, I’ve looked back in awe at a calendar filled with adventures. At the same time, I’ve stared nervously into the new year, wondering how it might fill up, if at all. We are at the bottom of December, once again. And, once again, I […]
~ At the end of each of the last two years, I’ve looked back in awe at a calendar filled with adventures. At the same time, I’ve stared nervously into the new year, wondering how it might fill up, if at all. We are at the bottom of December, once again. And, once again, I […]
travel: less twerk, more cook…
– I have neglected my blog. And I am sorry for it. In the months since my trip to Chicago in March (the last, substantive post on this blog), I have seen spring, summer, and autumn happening in fragments all over the Western Hemisphere, both above and below the equator. While I intend to write […]
– I have neglected my blog. And I am sorry for it. In the months since my trip to Chicago in March (the last, substantive post on this blog), I have seen spring, summer, and autumn happening in fragments all over the Western Hemisphere, both above and below the equator. While I intend to write […]
travel: a bunker, a photo shoot, and some sprouts…
~ As I enter March, a month perennially fraught with the anxieties of turning a year older, I find myself clinging to January and February a little tighter, wishing they had lasted a bit longer. But I did more than my fair share of living in the first two months of this year. I’ll start […]
~ As I enter March, a month perennially fraught with the anxieties of turning a year older, I find myself clinging to January and February a little tighter, wishing they had lasted a bit longer. But I did more than my fair share of living in the first two months of this year. I’ll start […]
best dishes of 2012…
~ Seven years ago, I surveyed all of the dishes I had eaten in that year and compiled a list of my favorites, more for my own record than for posterity. Since, it has become an annual tradition. 2012 marked another spectacular year of eating for me. Once again, I traveled the world, visiting restaurants […]
~ Seven years ago, I surveyed all of the dishes I had eaten in that year and compiled a list of my favorites, more for my own record than for posterity. Since, it has become an annual tradition. 2012 marked another spectacular year of eating for me. Once again, I traveled the world, visiting restaurants […]
travel: meet-ups and eat-ups…
~ Aaron and Chrissy are getting married! In Tahoe! I didn’t have time to go home between the Bocuse d’Or training session and the wedding, so I headed straight from The Greenbrier to San Francisco. It should have been an uneventful ride. Unfortunately, there followed an unscheduled, overnight layover in Detroit due to a faulty […]
~ Aaron and Chrissy are getting married! In Tahoe! I didn’t have time to go home between the Bocuse d’Or training session and the wedding, so I headed straight from The Greenbrier to San Francisco. It should have been an uneventful ride. Unfortunately, there followed an unscheduled, overnight layover in Detroit due to a faulty […]
best of 2011: the restaurant edition…
Mood and mind, place and time: once recorded, they cannot be erased. Neither can company nor cast, nor the events that happened at table. To do so would be a pity anyway, for dining is theatre; every part a prop, everyone a role. And, as with life, in its unscripted scenes are often its finest […]
Mood and mind, place and time: once recorded, they cannot be erased. Neither can company nor cast, nor the events that happened at table. To do so would be a pity anyway, for dining is theatre; every part a prop, everyone a role. And, as with life, in its unscripted scenes are often its finest […]
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 […]
(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 […]