Tag: 2011

dinner: collaboration…

The last time I pushed back from the table at a collaboration dinner, I vowed I’d never attend another. They’re just so tricky.  You take a group of random chefs, put them in a random kitchen with random cooks, all of them trying to orchestrate their random plates of food, and, somehow, it’s supposed to […]

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dinner: collaboration…

The last time I pushed back from the table at a collaboration dinner, I vowed I’d never attend another. They’re just so tricky.  You take a group of random chefs, put them in a random kitchen with random cooks, all of them trying to orchestrate their random plates of food, and, somehow, it’s supposed to […]

Continue

review: gilt… (louis xv)

I had always thought that Louis XV was an odd name for Alain Ducasse’s temple in Monaco. And then I ate there. Louis XV wasn’t exactly the most popular monarch by the end of his reign, when he left his throne, gilded in excess at the expense of his subjects, to his successor, whose head […]

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review: gilt… (louis xv)

I had always thought that Louis XV was an odd name for Alain Ducasse’s temple in Monaco. And then I ate there. Louis XV wasn’t exactly the most popular monarch by the end of his reign, when he left his throne, gilded in excess at the expense of his subjects, to his successor, whose head […]

Continue

review: ever after… (sant pau)

Good chefs tell stories. They convey a sense of time and place. Great chefs tell fairytales. They create time and place. Carme Ruscalleda is a great chef. And at her restaurant by the sea, a meal unfolds like a storybook, full of romance and wonder. It is a capsule, a world unto itself, Sant Pau […]

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review: ever after… (sant pau)

Good chefs tell stories. They convey a sense of time and place. Great chefs tell fairytales. They create time and place. Carme Ruscalleda is a great chef. And at her restaurant by the sea, a meal unfolds like a storybook, full of romance and wonder. It is a capsule, a world unto itself, Sant Pau […]

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travel: a bay of plenty…

Stanford, an old college buddy, emailed me while I was in Europe. My intrepid friend was about to launch his new company, a car-sharing network called Wheelz, based in Palo Alto.  He wanted to know if I’d fly out to California to help him celebrate his new start. This was the guy with whom I almost […]

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travel: a bay of plenty…

Stanford, an old college buddy, emailed me while I was in Europe. My intrepid friend was about to launch his new company, a car-sharing network called Wheelz, based in Palo Alto.  He wanted to know if I’d fly out to California to help him celebrate his new start. This was the guy with whom I almost […]

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. […]

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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

travel: big sky…

When I was wee, in the summers, I would pack up the tackle box and sit by the front door, rods in hand, and wait for my dad to get home from work.  We’d head to the shoreline and cast out until the sun set. I love fishing. But sadly, I haven’t done much of […]

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travel: big sky…

When I was wee, in the summers, I would pack up the tackle box and sit by the front door, rods in hand, and wait for my dad to get home from work.  We’d head to the shoreline and cast out until the sun set. I love fishing. But sadly, I haven’t done much of […]

Continue

review: glutting… (m. wells)

Can there ever be too much foie gras? Debatable. I mean, surely there’s a point of diminishing returns, right? I wasn’t about to test the limits. But, I had heard that everything at M. Wells, the “Quebeco-American diner” in Long Island City brought to you by a former chef of Au Pied de Cochon in […]

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review: glutting… (m. wells)

Can there ever be too much foie gras? Debatable. I mean, surely there’s a point of diminishing returns, right? I wasn’t about to test the limits. But, I had heard that everything at M. Wells, the “Quebeco-American diner” in Long Island City brought to you by a former chef of Au Pied de Cochon in […]

Continue

review: splendor anew… (jean georges)

Given a choice, I’ll rarely order the same dish twice. And yet, I keep going back to Jean Georges, where, for the past few years, the lunch menu had barely budged an inch (or, so it seemed). Why? I love the dining room, a light box that makes lunch on Columbus Circle the bright centerpiece […]

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review: splendor anew… (jean georges)

Given a choice, I’ll rarely order the same dish twice. And yet, I keep going back to Jean Georges, where, for the past few years, the lunch menu had barely budged an inch (or, so it seemed). Why? I love the dining room, a light box that makes lunch on Columbus Circle the bright centerpiece […]

Continue

review: table 3…

Some places are closer to paradise than others. Table 3 is one of them. Directly outside the window is the ocean, where fishing boats bob deep into the night.  Up the road is Chino Farms, whence arrives corn and melon, sweet as candy, and a rainbow of vegetables, crisp and perfect.  And in the kitchen […]

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review: table 3…

Some places are closer to paradise than others. Table 3 is one of them. Directly outside the window is the ocean, where fishing boats bob deep into the night.  Up the road is Chino Farms, whence arrives corn and melon, sweet as candy, and a rainbow of vegetables, crisp and perfect.  And in the kitchen […]

Continue

photo of the week 36: mucho appreciated…

While the food truck frenzy has long gripped, and even passed through many cities around our country, that mobile eating culture is just now arriving in my hometown of Kansas City. Late last night, I dropped by Port Fonda, Patrick Ryan’s shiny postcard from Mexico parked in the lot adjacent to the Rieger Grill & […]

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photo of the week 36: mucho appreciated…

While the food truck frenzy has long gripped, and even passed through many cities around our country, that mobile eating culture is just now arriving in my hometown of Kansas City. Late last night, I dropped by Port Fonda, Patrick Ryan’s shiny postcard from Mexico parked in the lot adjacent to the Rieger Grill & […]

Continue