Tag: 2012

travel: hot booter an awl…

– My latest trip to Chicago almost didn’t happen. Originally, I was supposed to go in late February, on business. But that trip got canceled. Thankfully, my prepaid hotel and airline reservations were moveable. So, I emailed a few of my friends to see if they could meet me in Chicago in March for an […]

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travel: hot booter an awl…

– My latest trip to Chicago almost didn’t happen. Originally, I was supposed to go in late February, on business. But that trip got canceled. Thankfully, my prepaid hotel and airline reservations were moveable. So, I emailed a few of my friends to see if they could meet me in Chicago in March for an […]

Continue

review: each leg a length… (jean georges)

– Faced with a shelf of meals, waiting to be transcribed, Jean Georges is always an easy reach. Writing about a meal here always seems effortless. The food is straightforward and simple, but always spectacular. The experience is clear and crisp, like a starched stretch of high thread-count. It’s a concise affair, practically punctuating itself […]

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review: each leg a length… (jean georges)

– Faced with a shelf of meals, waiting to be transcribed, Jean Georges is always an easy reach. Writing about a meal here always seems effortless. The food is straightforward and simple, but always spectacular. The experience is clear and crisp, like a starched stretch of high thread-count. It’s a concise affair, practically punctuating itself […]

Continue

review: candles and cranes… (yusho)

– When Matthias Merges, who left Charlie Trotter’s last year after a decade and a half as its executive chef, opened Yusho in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood (just north of Logan Square), I wasn’t surprised to see his peers flood social media outlets with congratulatory cheer. The enthusiasm for his new restaurant was unanimous, the compliments […]

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review: candles and cranes… (yusho)

– When Matthias Merges, who left Charlie Trotter’s last year after a decade and a half as its executive chef, opened Yusho in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood (just north of Logan Square), I wasn’t surprised to see his peers flood social media outlets with congratulatory cheer. The enthusiasm for his new restaurant was unanimous, the compliments […]

Continue

rumination 21: à la carte…

– I had been behind on organizing my menu collection.  A pile of them had formed from my last few trips, unfiled. So this week, I pulled out all of my binders, bulging with restaurant cards, menus, and other momentos that I had collected over the years. I also pulled out a tub of oversized […]

Continue

rumination 21: à la carte…

– I had been behind on organizing my menu collection.  A pile of them had formed from my last few trips, unfiled. So this week, I pulled out all of my binders, bulging with restaurant cards, menus, and other momentos that I had collected over the years. I also pulled out a tub of oversized […]

Continue

review: quietude of excellence… (the modern)

– It’s rare that I have an uncommitted meal when I travel. But since I was in New York for three weeks, I left a couple of pockets open, here and there, to play by ear. So, it was dumb luck that I was free for dinner the day that my friend Belinda Chang called. […]

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review: quietude of excellence… (the modern)

– It’s rare that I have an uncommitted meal when I travel. But since I was in New York for three weeks, I left a couple of pockets open, here and there, to play by ear. So, it was dumb luck that I was free for dinner the day that my friend Belinda Chang called. […]

Continue

travel: hipster safari…

– Hyde Park, New York really is as beautiful as they say it is. Even with the trees stripped bare against those bald, russet hills in winter, the Hudson River Valley is breathtaking. To Greystone I’ve been twice, but never to The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). So, when I was asked to photograph the […]

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travel: hipster safari…

– Hyde Park, New York really is as beautiful as they say it is. Even with the trees stripped bare against those bald, russet hills in winter, the Hudson River Valley is breathtaking. To Greystone I’ve been twice, but never to The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). So, when I was asked to photograph the […]

Continue

review: baby back… (pappy’s bbq)

~ There aren’t many on my list of musts.  But, this past weekend, Pappy’s Smokehouse in St. Louis earned a line on it. Gerard Craft, chef-owner of niche (and the attendant Taste and Brasserie), had commended Mike Emerson’s barbecue too many times to be ignored. So, to the smokehouse we went for lunch. We arrived […]

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review: baby back… (pappy’s bbq)

~ There aren’t many on my list of musts.  But, this past weekend, Pappy’s Smokehouse in St. Louis earned a line on it. Gerard Craft, chef-owner of niche (and the attendant Taste and Brasserie), had commended Mike Emerson’s barbecue too many times to be ignored. So, to the smokehouse we went for lunch. We arrived […]

Continue

travel: meet me in st. louis…

~ Although I’ve spent countless hours at Lambert Field (I’ve flown through it more than any other airport in the world, by far) my time in St. Louis has been slight, a half-dozen one-nighters over the past three decades: school field trips, business trips, and a quick eating trip three years ago. So, when Gerard […]

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travel: meet me in st. louis…

~ Although I’ve spent countless hours at Lambert Field (I’ve flown through it more than any other airport in the world, by far) my time in St. Louis has been slight, a half-dozen one-nighters over the past three decades: school field trips, business trips, and a quick eating trip three years ago. So, when Gerard […]

Continue

rumination 20: spoof…

RANDY: There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie. For instance: One: You can never have sex. The minute you get a little nookie-you’re as good as gone. Sex always equals death. Two: Never drink or do drugs. The sin factor. It’s an extension of number […]

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rumination 20: spoof…

RANDY: There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie. For instance: One: You can never have sex. The minute you get a little nookie-you’re as good as gone. Sex always equals death. Two: Never drink or do drugs. The sin factor. It’s an extension of number […]

Continue