Destination: Pennsylvania

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

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

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

kansas city: save the date… (harvesters chefs classic 2015)

~ This is my fifth year serving on the planning committee for the Chefs Classic, a charity dinner hosted annually at The American Restaurant that raises money for Harvesters, a food bank that serves the greater Kansas City area.  Because I obsess over documenting and recording things, I asked Harvesters to send me a complete roster […]

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kansas city: save the date… (harvesters chefs classic 2015)

~ This is my fifth year serving on the planning committee for the Chefs Classic, a charity dinner hosted annually at The American Restaurant that raises money for Harvesters, a food bank that serves the greater Kansas City area.  Because I obsess over documenting and recording things, I asked Harvesters to send me a complete roster […]

Continue

suitcase party…

Eleven months ago, I took a tremendous leap of faith. I quit my job. Life will catch you, my friends reassured. I wasn’t so convinced. I went to Europe soon thereafter, to think, to eat, to explore, and to spectate. Certain that it was my last hurrah for a while, I was thankful for the […]

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suitcase party…

Eleven months ago, I took a tremendous leap of faith. I quit my job. Life will catch you, my friends reassured. I wasn’t so convinced. I went to Europe soon thereafter, to think, to eat, to explore, and to spectate. Certain that it was my last hurrah for a while, I was thankful for the […]

Continue

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: 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

best of 2008, the restaurant edition…

Milk Chocolate Tree Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road Boy, people sure do love lists. Since publishing the “best dishes of 2008,” I’ve received numerous emails inquiring about my best restaurant meals of 2008. As I said in that post, this year I have been blessed with many very good meals. But a few float to […]

Continue

best of 2008, the restaurant edition…

Milk Chocolate Tree Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road Boy, people sure do love lists. Since publishing the “best dishes of 2008,” I’ve received numerous emails inquiring about my best restaurant meals of 2008. As I said in that post, this year I have been blessed with many very good meals. But a few float to […]

Continue

best dishes of 2008…

Softball-Size White Truffle l’Ambroisie, Paris, France Gastronomic self one-upsmanship was not my intention when 2008 began. But it happened quite unexpectedly. For the past three years, I’ve recapped the top 25 dishes in a year-end review (click here for 2005, here for 2006, and here for 2007). Annually, I announce with certainty that my lucky […]

Continue

best dishes of 2008…

Softball-Size White Truffle l’Ambroisie, Paris, France Gastronomic self one-upsmanship was not my intention when 2008 began. But it happened quite unexpectedly. For the past three years, I’ve recapped the top 25 dishes in a year-end review (click here for 2005, here for 2006, and here for 2007). Annually, I announce with certainty that my lucky […]

Continue

review: subtle innovation…

Amada Philadelphia, Pennsylvania You know you’re going to have a good time at a restaurant when you’re greeted by a half-ton bronze pig. At the whiff of good food, my name becomes Achilles and a fine selection of cheeses, especially, goes straight for my heels. That’s how Jose Garces got me in a gluttonous bind […]

Continue

review: subtle innovation…

Amada Philadelphia, Pennsylvania You know you’re going to have a good time at a restaurant when you’re greeted by a half-ton bronze pig. At the whiff of good food, my name becomes Achilles and a fine selection of cheeses, especially, goes straight for my heels. That’s how Jose Garces got me in a gluttonous bind […]

Continue

review: the perfect plate of pasta…

Vetri, Philadelphia Is there anything more pleasing than a perfect plate of pasta? Perhaps. But not much. I can pinpoint the day and hour of my last plate of perfect pasta. It was corzetti, and it was more of a taste, rather than a plate. I ate this standing up, negotiating armfuls of *stuff* – […]

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review: the perfect plate of pasta…

Vetri, Philadelphia Is there anything more pleasing than a perfect plate of pasta? Perhaps. But not much. I can pinpoint the day and hour of my last plate of perfect pasta. It was corzetti, and it was more of a taste, rather than a plate. I ate this standing up, negotiating armfuls of *stuff* – […]

Continue

best dishes of 2006…

#10: Hot Potato at alinea Originally uploaded by ulteriorepicure. From a second visit to the newly named number one restaurant in the U.S., Alinea (according to Gourmet Magazine), to snacking from street vendors in China, I’ve had a pretty amazing year of eating.  I visited Jean Georges on two continents, Thomas Keller on both coasts, […]

Continue

best dishes of 2006…

#10: Hot Potato at alinea Originally uploaded by ulteriorepicure. From a second visit to the newly named number one restaurant in the U.S., Alinea (according to Gourmet Magazine), to snacking from street vendors in China, I’ve had a pretty amazing year of eating.  I visited Jean Georges on two continents, Thomas Keller on both coasts, […]

Continue