best of 2015: the restaurant edition…

~ In 2015, quite a few tracks upon which I had been running slowly began to converge.  While my destination remains unclear, my direction has become much more so.  Rapidly disappearing is my desire to keep apace with the restaurant industry, as I watch food media disintegrating into a pile of clickbait and shallow memes, the overwhelming weight […]

Continue

best of 2015: the restaurant edition…

~ In 2015, quite a few tracks upon which I had been running slowly began to converge.  While my destination remains unclear, my direction has become much more so.  Rapidly disappearing is my desire to keep apace with the restaurant industry, as I watch food media disintegrating into a pile of clickbait and shallow memes, the overwhelming weight […]

Continue

review: cooking is back… (kong hans kælder)

– It used to be that people talked about dishes.  Now, they talk about names. Those of you who read this blog or follow me on social media know that I have been fairly critical of the way the restaurant industry has shifted the focus away from the diner, and has, in general, devolved into a […]

Continue

review: cooking is back… (kong hans kælder)

– It used to be that people talked about dishes.  Now, they talk about names. Those of you who read this blog or follow me on social media know that I have been fairly critical of the way the restaurant industry has shifted the focus away from the diner, and has, in general, devolved into a […]

Continue

dinner: the show must go on…

~ As the nation watched Hurricane Sandy plow into the Eastern seaboard, submerging subway trains and flooding the field at LaGuardia airport, I sat at home on the phone with Debbie Gold, executive chef of The American Restaurant, drawing up Plan B. Three of the six guest chefs for this year’s Friends of James Beard […]

Continue

dinner: the show must go on…

~ As the nation watched Hurricane Sandy plow into the Eastern seaboard, submerging subway trains and flooding the field at LaGuardia airport, I sat at home on the phone with Debbie Gold, executive chef of The American Restaurant, drawing up Plan B. Three of the six guest chefs for this year’s Friends of James Beard […]

Continue

review: cab ride to crazy town…

~ It’s not every day that one gets kidnapped on the way to dinner, as I was on my way to Jungsik. Afterwards, I read Pete Wells’s review of that restaurant in the New York Times and realized that my strange, “cab ride to crazy town” was foretold (fourth graph, last sentence). Thankfully, with some quick […]

Continue

review: cab ride to crazy town…

~ It’s not every day that one gets kidnapped on the way to dinner, as I was on my way to Jungsik. Afterwards, I read Pete Wells’s review of that restaurant in the New York Times and realized that my strange, “cab ride to crazy town” was foretold (fourth graph, last sentence). Thankfully, with some quick […]

Continue

review: telescope… (pujol)

– It’s a revisionist’s world these days, especially in the kitchen. To he (or she) who can retell the past anew, all glory and honor. Spain, of course, has not only updated its own culinary culture, but inspired a refacing of cuisines around the world. In the Distrito Federal, Enrique Olvera is leading the way […]

Continue

review: telescope… (pujol)

– It’s a revisionist’s world these days, especially in the kitchen. To he (or she) who can retell the past anew, all glory and honor. Spain, of course, has not only updated its own culinary culture, but inspired a refacing of cuisines around the world. In the Distrito Federal, Enrique Olvera is leading the way […]

Continue

review: context… (osteria francescana)

Someone with grand wit once quipped that the problem with dining on the cutting edge is that you’re oft left bleeding. How true. It grieves me to report that my dinner at Osteria Francescana, perhaps one of the most spotlit restaurants in the world right now, was disappointing.

Continue

review: context… (osteria francescana)

Someone with grand wit once quipped that the problem with dining on the cutting edge is that you’re oft left bleeding. How true. It grieves me to report that my dinner at Osteria Francescana, perhaps one of the most spotlit restaurants in the world right now, was disappointing.

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

Continue

review: provenance… (husk)

He’s a farmer, horticulturalist, anthropologist, historian, and preservationist.* He’s an author, inventor, husband, cocktailian, comedian, and restaurateur. He’s a peacemaker – advocating for cornbread, not war. He’s a James Beard Award-winner and, undoubtedly, one of the best chefs in America right now. And he’s only seventeen days older than I. But most importantly, he’s a […]

Continue

review: provenance… (husk)

He’s a farmer, horticulturalist, anthropologist, historian, and preservationist.* He’s an author, inventor, husband, cocktailian, comedian, and restaurateur. He’s a peacemaker – advocating for cornbread, not war. He’s a James Beard Award-winner and, undoubtedly, one of the best chefs in America right now. And he’s only seventeen days older than I. But most importantly, he’s a […]

Continue