Destination: California

12 days of christmas: calvert… (2019)

– Each night of the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood, hosting chef Christopher Kostow writes a personal note about that night’s guest chef, which is printed with the menu. His note for Daniel Calvert, who cooked on the third night, was far more eloquent, precise, and personal than anything I could muster, […]

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12 days of christmas: calvert… (2019)

– Each night of the Twelve Days of Christmas at The Restaurant at Meadowood, hosting chef Christopher Kostow writes a personal note about that night’s guest chef, which is printed with the menu. His note for Daniel Calvert, who cooked on the third night, was far more eloquent, precise, and personal than anything I could muster, […]

Continue

12 days of christmas: shieldses… (2019)

– In April of 2011, my friends and I arrived in the sleepy town of Chilhowie, Virginia. We had driven eight hours from Charleston to eat at John and Karen Shieldses’ restaurant Town House.  The meal was as exciting and delicious as I had heard, and it was the beginning of a friendship that would […]

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12 days of christmas: shieldses… (2019)

– In April of 2011, my friends and I arrived in the sleepy town of Chilhowie, Virginia. We had driven eight hours from Charleston to eat at John and Karen Shieldses’ restaurant Town House.  The meal was as exciting and delicious as I had heard, and it was the beginning of a friendship that would […]

Continue

12 days of christmas: camara… (2019)

– I remember the first time I met Gabriela Camara. My friends and I were standing on the sidewalk outside of her new restaurant Contramar in Mexico City.  The sun was bright, the sky was clear, and spirits were high. Yet Camara managed to outshine all of it with her colorful entrance. Mexican by birth, […]

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12 days of christmas: camara… (2019)

– I remember the first time I met Gabriela Camara. My friends and I were standing on the sidewalk outside of her new restaurant Contramar in Mexico City.  The sun was bright, the sky was clear, and spirits were high. Yet Camara managed to outshine all of it with her colorful entrance. Mexican by birth, […]

Continue

favorites of 2018: the restaurant edition…

– Last year, I got pretty worked up about an insultingly bad meal I had in 2017. This year I have no barns to burn; only good news to share.

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favorites of 2018: the restaurant edition…

– Last year, I got pretty worked up about an insultingly bad meal I had in 2017. This year I have no barns to burn; only good news to share.

Continue

favorite desserts of 2018…

– I have little to add to the thoughts that I previously recorded about pastryland in 2016, and which I reiterated in 2017. The majority of desserts I encounter in restaurants continues to be overwrought.  Sadly, excessive plating remains a popular style.  And pastry chefs haven’t lost their interest in unorthodox (sometimes bizarre) ingredients. In 2018, […]

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favorite desserts of 2018…

– I have little to add to the thoughts that I previously recorded about pastryland in 2016, and which I reiterated in 2017. The majority of desserts I encounter in restaurants continues to be overwrought.  Sadly, excessive plating remains a popular style.  And pastry chefs haven’t lost their interest in unorthodox (sometimes bizarre) ingredients. In 2018, […]

Continue

favorite dishes of 2018…

– Before I get on with telling you about my favorite whatnots from 2018, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.  What follows is partly an explanation, partly an admission, and all of it a disclaimer. –

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favorite dishes of 2018…

– Before I get on with telling you about my favorite whatnots from 2018, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.  What follows is partly an explanation, partly an admission, and all of it a disclaimer. –

Continue

travel: field and stream… (2018)

– Some of my happiest moments in 2018 were spent waist-high in cold water.  On especially good days, the sun glinted off the rushing stream, and glistened at the seams of the slow-moving eddies and pools into which my mind swirled.  In those peaceful afternoons, tiny flies hung in the air like a thousand points […]

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travel: field and stream… (2018)

– Some of my happiest moments in 2018 were spent waist-high in cold water.  On especially good days, the sun glinted off the rushing stream, and glistened at the seams of the slow-moving eddies and pools into which my mind swirled.  In those peaceful afternoons, tiny flies hung in the air like a thousand points […]

Continue

12 days of christmas: ros… (2018)

– Slovenia is a small country, she told me. You can go from the beach to skiing in less than an hour. Wedged between Italy, Austria, Croatia, and Hungry, it’s a dynamic crossroad for wildly different cultures and culinary traditions.  And Ana Ros, chef of the Hiša Franko in Kobarid near the Italian border, is […]

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12 days of christmas: ros… (2018)

– Slovenia is a small country, she told me. You can go from the beach to skiing in less than an hour. Wedged between Italy, Austria, Croatia, and Hungry, it’s a dynamic crossroad for wildly different cultures and culinary traditions.  And Ana Ros, chef of the Hiša Franko in Kobarid near the Italian border, is […]

Continue

12 days of christmas: tusk… (2018)

– There are few chefs I know who can and will hand-make pasta on-the-road at events.  Michael Tusk is one of them.  He’s the chef and owner of the wildly popular Cotogna and three Michelin-starred restaurant Quince, both in the Jackson Square neighborhood of San Francisco.  He’s about to open a cave à vin and […]

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12 days of christmas: tusk… (2018)

– There are few chefs I know who can and will hand-make pasta on-the-road at events.  Michael Tusk is one of them.  He’s the chef and owner of the wildly popular Cotogna and three Michelin-starred restaurant Quince, both in the Jackson Square neighborhood of San Francisco.  He’s about to open a cave à vin and […]

Continue

12 days of christmas: cogley & moran… (2018)

– I first attended the Twelve Days of Christmas in 2012.  A few months later, in March of 2013, Justin Cogley, chef of Aubergine at the l’Auberge Carmel in Carmel-by-the-Sea, asked me to photograph an event he called Rediscovering Coastal Cuisine. In the years since, I have returned annually to photograph both events. In February […]

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12 days of christmas: cogley & moran… (2018)

– I first attended the Twelve Days of Christmas in 2012.  A few months later, in March of 2013, Justin Cogley, chef of Aubergine at the l’Auberge Carmel in Carmel-by-the-Sea, asked me to photograph an event he called Rediscovering Coastal Cuisine. In the years since, I have returned annually to photograph both events. In February […]

Continue