travel: superpowers and force fields… (paris, 2017)

_ My first few trips to Paris lap at the borders of my memory. In those nascent corners, images of pigeons and fountains flicker faintly, and the hollow shuffling and shushing in the gilded halls of kings echo, where the austere and grand stare down from the canopies above. Etched deeper are the emotions: the […]

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travel: superpowers and force fields… (paris, 2017)

_ My first few trips to Paris lap at the borders of my memory. In those nascent corners, images of pigeons and fountains flicker faintly, and the hollow shuffling and shushing in the gilded halls of kings echo, where the austere and grand stare down from the canopies above. Etched deeper are the emotions: the […]

Continue

le cinq: tragic triptych… (2017)

~ The British restaurant critic may be one of the few species that deserved to board Noah’s ark. Equipped with endless wit and flare for hyperbole, they have gifted the world with some of the best food writing I have ever read.* However, their reports provide little evidence of discriminating taste, and rarely, if ever, a serious analysis of […]

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le cinq: tragic triptych… (2017)

~ The British restaurant critic may be one of the few species that deserved to board Noah’s ark. Equipped with endless wit and flare for hyperbole, they have gifted the world with some of the best food writing I have ever read.* However, their reports provide little evidence of discriminating taste, and rarely, if ever, a serious analysis of […]

Continue

favorite desserts of 2016…

– What is happening in pastryland? In 2015, I described a slow-down and a top-off, as the energy and excitement that I first noticed propelling dessert-making into a new era half a decade ago began to level.  And as that unbridled sprint into the unknown, which had charted new and exciting territory, suddenly slowed, the language and form of pastry in this new era seemed to […]

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favorite desserts of 2016…

– What is happening in pastryland? In 2015, I described a slow-down and a top-off, as the energy and excitement that I first noticed propelling dessert-making into a new era half a decade ago began to level.  And as that unbridled sprint into the unknown, which had charted new and exciting territory, suddenly slowed, the language and form of pastry in this new era seemed to […]

Continue

travel: hemispheres and horizons…

– The calendar has turned for the twelfth time on this blog, and once again, I find myself nearly immobilized by the daunting task of gathering the previous year in one post.  What has proven perennially to be one of my most challenging exercises, pausing to regroup, reflect, and record at year-end has turned out to be one of the most […]

Continue

travel: hemispheres and horizons…

– The calendar has turned for the twelfth time on this blog, and once again, I find myself nearly immobilized by the daunting task of gathering the previous year in one post.  What has proven perennially to be one of my most challenging exercises, pausing to regroup, reflect, and record at year-end has turned out to be one of the most […]

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 […]

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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

travel: crossing back over the puddle…

Lyon on Christmas Night I’ve been playing hooky. Jumping the Puddle, I recently struck out on my ugliest streak of gluttony to date. In fourteen days I pocketed 30 Michelin stars, cleared well over a hundred plates of food, consumed enough cheese to keep half of France employed, and sampled so many macarons that the […]

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travel: crossing back over the puddle…

Lyon on Christmas Night I’ve been playing hooky. Jumping the Puddle, I recently struck out on my ugliest streak of gluttony to date. In fourteen days I pocketed 30 Michelin stars, cleared well over a hundred plates of food, consumed enough cheese to keep half of France employed, and sampled so many macarons that the […]

Continue

review: heads would be rolling…

Le Cinq (one visit, October 2005) Click here for the photo set. Le Cinq Four Seasons, Paris Holding court on the avenue George V just off of the posh designer bagatelle-pedaling boutiques along the Champs Elysees, is the Paris’ Fours Seasons Hotel. Inside, is a fabulously light and airy dining room in which resides the […]

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review: heads would be rolling…

Le Cinq (one visit, October 2005) Click here for the photo set. Le Cinq Four Seasons, Paris Holding court on the avenue George V just off of the posh designer bagatelle-pedaling boutiques along the Champs Elysees, is the Paris’ Fours Seasons Hotel. Inside, is a fabulously light and airy dining room in which resides the […]

Continue