Destination: United States

favorite desserts of 2019…

Is it me, or is pastryland slowly coming back down to earth? After years of frenetic experimentation and exploration, it seems like pastry chefs are finally getting back in touch with reality. There are still plenty of exciting and unexpected (and, yes, sometimes bizarre) ideas coming out of pastry kitchens. And sadly, one of the […]

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favorite desserts of 2019…

Is it me, or is pastryland slowly coming back down to earth? After years of frenetic experimentation and exploration, it seems like pastry chefs are finally getting back in touch with reality. There are still plenty of exciting and unexpected (and, yes, sometimes bizarre) ideas coming out of pastry kitchens. And sadly, one of the […]

Continue

favorite dishes of 2019…

– As you’ve probably noticed, this blog went silent over the summer. During that time, a wonderful team of smart people at WordPress and Automattic were working hard behind the scenes, giving this site a desperately needed makeover. While there are loose ends that still need tidying, I encourage you to start clicking around and […]

Continue

favorite dishes of 2019…

– As you’ve probably noticed, this blog went silent over the summer. During that time, a wonderful team of smart people at WordPress and Automattic were working hard behind the scenes, giving this site a desperately needed makeover. While there are loose ends that still need tidying, I encourage you to start clicking around and […]

Continue

travel: in dazzling relief… (2019)

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travel: in dazzling relief… (2019)

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12 days of christmas: kostow (2019)

The last day of the Twelve Days of Christmas is a tangle of excitement and exhaustion that is well-documented in previous years on this blog (a complete, hyperlinked list of every single dinner since 2012 can be found at the bottom of this post).  For the cooks there’s the afterglow of having hosted eleven guest […]

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12 days of christmas: kostow (2019)

The last day of the Twelve Days of Christmas is a tangle of excitement and exhaustion that is well-documented in previous years on this blog (a complete, hyperlinked list of every single dinner since 2012 can be found at the bottom of this post).  For the cooks there’s the afterglow of having hosted eleven guest […]

Continue

12 days of christmas: cantu… (2019)

– It seems only a short while ago that Val Cantu was hosting a pop-up in San Francisco.  Those early previews of Cantu’s modern, but studied approach to Mexican cooking generated considerable excitement.  Before I knew it, he had opened a small restaurant in the Mission and earned a Michelin star.  It was in those early […]

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12 days of christmas: cantu… (2019)

– It seems only a short while ago that Val Cantu was hosting a pop-up in San Francisco.  Those early previews of Cantu’s modern, but studied approach to Mexican cooking generated considerable excitement.  Before I knew it, he had opened a small restaurant in the Mission and earned a Michelin star.  It was in those early […]

Continue

12 days of christmas: lee… (2019)

– On the recommendation of a friend during a three-day layover in Singapore, I had the pleasure of eating at Candlenut.  That was the summer of 2016, just before the Michelin Guide arrived in Singapore, where it would award chef Malcolm Lee and his Peranakan cooking a worthy star later that year. Lee brought his […]

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12 days of christmas: lee… (2019)

– On the recommendation of a friend during a three-day layover in Singapore, I had the pleasure of eating at Candlenut.  That was the summer of 2016, just before the Michelin Guide arrived in Singapore, where it would award chef Malcolm Lee and his Peranakan cooking a worthy star later that year. Lee brought his […]

Continue

12 days of christmas: williams… (2019)

– I first heard of Brady Williams when he was hired to become the head chef at Canlis in spring of 2015.  And since then, he has catapulted into the national spotlight as a rising star (twice a finalist in the Rising Star category for the James Beard Foundation Awards, and winning the James Beard […]

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12 days of christmas: williams… (2019)

– I first heard of Brady Williams when he was hired to become the head chef at Canlis in spring of 2015.  And since then, he has catapulted into the national spotlight as a rising star (twice a finalist in the Rising Star category for the James Beard Foundation Awards, and winning the James Beard […]

Continue

12 days of christmas: nørregaard… (2019)

– I first ate at kadeau in Copenhagen in early 2013.  What I loved about it then was how simple, delicious, and straightforward the food was compared to the New Nordic zeitgeist at the time.  Chef Nicolai Nørregaard showcased the flora and fauna of Scandinavia without veering into the bizarre. Although I haven’t followed chef […]

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12 days of christmas: nørregaard… (2019)

– I first ate at kadeau in Copenhagen in early 2013.  What I loved about it then was how simple, delicious, and straightforward the food was compared to the New Nordic zeitgeist at the time.  Chef Nicolai Nørregaard showcased the flora and fauna of Scandinavia without veering into the bizarre. Although I haven’t followed chef […]

Continue

12 days of christmas: park… (2019)

– If there was one guest chef who seemed to draw the most enthusiastic diners this year, it was the affable Junghyun Park.  Born and raised in South Korea, Park arrived in New York in 2012 to work at the then newly opened Jungsik before splitting off to open his own restaurants. Now he’s the […]

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12 days of christmas: park… (2019)

– If there was one guest chef who seemed to draw the most enthusiastic diners this year, it was the affable Junghyun Park.  Born and raised in South Korea, Park arrived in New York in 2012 to work at the then newly opened Jungsik before splitting off to open his own restaurants. Now he’s the […]

Continue

12 days of christmas: avillez… (2019)

– The Portuguese empire spanned the globe, from Brazil through southern Africa all the way to the warm waters of the South China Sea, where it held the last European colony in Asia until 1999, when it relinquished Macau to China.  To understand Portuguese cuisine today, is to understand the trading routes that made the […]

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12 days of christmas: avillez… (2019)

– The Portuguese empire spanned the globe, from Brazil through southern Africa all the way to the warm waters of the South China Sea, where it held the last European colony in Asia until 1999, when it relinquished Macau to China.  To understand Portuguese cuisine today, is to understand the trading routes that made the […]

Continue