Tag: chicago
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 […]
– 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 […]
travel: leapfrogging…
~ Another year is gone, and I’ve barely written about it. This is especially sad to me, since so many wonderful things happened. Every year, I pause at calendar’s end to record and remember the anxieties and adventures that made the preceding months memorable, including an accounting of all the restaurants I visited, and my favorite meals and dishes among […]
~ Another year is gone, and I’ve barely written about it. This is especially sad to me, since so many wonderful things happened. Every year, I pause at calendar’s end to record and remember the anxieties and adventures that made the preceding months memorable, including an accounting of all the restaurants I visited, and my favorite meals and dishes among […]
travel: second city…
~ When I left my twenties, I went to Chicago to mark the passing of that decade, and to welcome the next. In the five years since, I’ve kept the tradition, choosing a different city with each new birthday. In 2009, I celebrated in New York; in 2010, in Washington D.C.; and in 2011, Charleston. […]
~ When I left my twenties, I went to Chicago to mark the passing of that decade, and to welcome the next. In the five years since, I’ve kept the tradition, choosing a different city with each new birthday. In 2009, I celebrated in New York; in 2010, in Washington D.C.; and in 2011, Charleston. […]
best of 2012: the restaurant edition…
~ The title of this blog post is misleading. Superlatives, like the word “best,” are dangerous. They’re almost always misused for profit. I have been critical of lists that claim authority over the designation “the best in the world.” The absurdity of such declarations was captured brilliantly in the movie Elf, when Buddy discovers the “world’s […]
~ The title of this blog post is misleading. Superlatives, like the word “best,” are dangerous. They’re almost always misused for profit. I have been critical of lists that claim authority over the designation “the best in the world.” The absurdity of such declarations was captured brilliantly in the movie Elf, when Buddy discovers the “world’s […]
travel: addendum…
~ My December dining report is more of an addendum than a postscript to the preceding eleven months (which, together, I summarized and surveyed on this blog in an earlier post). Warning: it is voluminous. I spent nearly the entire last month of 2012 away from home, leading an unrealistic, fantasy life of eating Michelin […]
~ My December dining report is more of an addendum than a postscript to the preceding eleven months (which, together, I summarized and surveyed on this blog in an earlier post). Warning: it is voluminous. I spent nearly the entire last month of 2012 away from home, leading an unrealistic, fantasy life of eating Michelin […]
foreign and domestic…
~ Last year, I quit the firm and lept into a brave new world. Landing, unexpectedly, in an amazing suitcase party, I traveled, photographed, and ate around the globe, visiting nearly a dozen countries, and just as many states. I thought I’d never have a year like it again. I was wrong. 2012 has been just as […]
~ Last year, I quit the firm and lept into a brave new world. Landing, unexpectedly, in an amazing suitcase party, I traveled, photographed, and ate around the globe, visiting nearly a dozen countries, and just as many states. I thought I’d never have a year like it again. I was wrong. 2012 has been just as […]
review: cooks turned curators… (next elbulli)
– When I last left our hero, David Beran, he was in Belle Époque Paris rescuing Auguste Escoffier from growing obscurity. I never wrote about that meal at Next Restaurant in late May of 2011, which took my friends and me back to 1906 in a duck press. But I’ll tell you now: it was […]
– When I last left our hero, David Beran, he was in Belle Époque Paris rescuing Auguste Escoffier from growing obscurity. I never wrote about that meal at Next Restaurant in late May of 2011, which took my friends and me back to 1906 in a duck press. But I’ll tell you now: it was […]
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 […]
– 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 […]
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 […]
– 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 […]