Writing about food since 2004.
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How To Always Get A Seat at a Crowded Coffee Shop
Every day I go to a coffee shop to work on my book. And every day I witness the same phenomenon: people poke their heads through the door, look at all the crowded tables, sigh a heavy sigh and leave. I want to yell out: “Don’t leave! You’re giving up too easily!” But since most…
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Eating With Food Bloggers in California
Food Blogs Featured in This Post: Midtown Lunch / Midtown Lunch L.A. Mattatouille Mattbites Foodwoolf What’s Gaby Cooking In Praise of Sardines Give Me Some Food Chez Pim 101Cookbooks
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Brunch at Red Rooster & Craig’s Birthday Dinner at Soto
Some new restaurants deserve their buzz, others not so much. Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster in Harlem deserves its buzz. It’s not really about the food, though the food is very good; it’s about the concept, the location, the community-mindedness of the enterprise.
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How Did I Lose 15 Pounds Writing a Cookbook?
Last week I thought I was dying. No really: it was Craig’s birthday and I took him out to Soto where we ordered the tasting menu (this is after taking him to a taping of The Daily Show.) The food started to come–a tiny amuse bouche, then a bowl of miso soup–and after the soup,…
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Dorie Greenspan’s Mustard Bottle Vinaigrette
When food icons have food blogs, you need to read them. That’s certainly true of Dorie Greenspan’s blog. Her posts, like Dorie herself, are wise, witty and warm. And they’re full of good advice–like where to get pastries in Paris or how to whip up begger’s linguine–but the advice that’s stuck with the most was…
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A Sour Cherry Coffee Cake In Winter
Most food blog posts are meant to inspire, but this one is meant to mock. Yes I am mocking you! When sour cherry season rolled around last June, did I, like you, stuff myself silly, popping every last sour cherry into my mouth until I had none left? No, sir, I did not. Like a…
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A Chinese New Year Banner
Come February, Lindy the Banner Designer and I usually go romantic, with a Valentine’s Day Theme. But this year was different. “What about Chinese New Year?” Lindy proposed and I said, “Sure thing!” As you can see, her banner is a veritable feast for the eyes. So thanks to her and thanks to Raphael Brion…
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Stewed Borlotti Beans with Polenta
My favorite way to cook, the cooking that makes me happiest, is the kind of cooking you do on the fly: no planning, no prepping. You just see what you have already on hand and you make dinner. And often that dinner is way better than the dinner you spend a week prepping for, shopping…
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The Best Biscuits in Atlanta
Is there such a thing as biscuit terroir? In wine, as in coffee, we can talk about the soil and growing conditions of the grapes or beans and how that affects the end product. But with biscuits, there are so many variables–the butter, the flour, the baking powder and the buttermilk–you can’t explicitly tie the…
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Toast Your Oatmeal
It’s such a simple idea, the kind of idea that makes you wonder why you didn’t think of it before. I got the idea from Kim Boyce’s marvelous baking book, “Good To The Grain” (the winner of Food52’s Piglet tournament of cookbooks.) From the title of this post, I think you’ve sussed it out; the…
