Writing about food since 2004.
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Lobsterdeath and Broken Bernaise (Foodie Rites of Passage)
Killing a lobster, as a concept, never much bothered me. Lisa, who you know and love, became a vegetarian at 13 because her parents took her to a Red Lobster and had her choose out a lobster from the tank and moments later it was steaming before her on a plate. She hasn’t eaten meat…
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Bathing in Butter: Pasta with Butter, Nutmeg and Parmesan AND Buttery, Oniony Peas
“When you get back to New York,” said my mother on the cruise, “We’re getting your cholesterol checked.” “Ha!” I scoffed. “I am a gourmet! I don’t have cholesterol!” I put that theory to the test tonight with the butteriest dinner ever. (Don’t you like the word “butteriest”?) What happened was I had a plan…
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Oh Who Makes The Pizza in My Neighborhood? Waldy’s Does!
As I flipped through New York Magazine’s “Eat Cheap” issue (which you can read here) I was surprised–actually shocked–to see listed a pizza joint called Waldy’s. Why was I shocked? Because the street address was right in my neighborhood and I’d never seen this place before. Waldy’s? There’s no such place! This is a lie!…
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Lolita Likes Adam Water
Sometimes in the morning when I’m checking my e-mail or reading the comments on the blog, I hear the sound of drinking over my shoulder. Strange, I think, and then I turn and see this: Lolita likes to drink the water on my nightstand from the night before. It’s like I’m her taster: “He drank…
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Podcast #2: The Coffee Episode
You know how the early episodes of “The Simpsons” are all grainy and the characters are drawn all weird and the voices aren’t really set yet? Well think of last week’s podcast that way and this week’s like “Simpsons” Season 3. Because this podcast totally rocks. It’s a theme episode–that theme being “coffee”–and it includes…
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Sometimes A Great Notion, Sometimes Not: Boiled Asparagus with Anchovy Spread and Tomato Basil Bruscetta
I had a strange craving the other night, a craving based on a picture. The picture’s in my River Cafe cookbook and it’s a picture of boiled asparagus with anchovy spread and garnished with Parmesan shavings. It looked something like this: That’s a picture of my version, a version I made based on the very…
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A Brunchy Return to New York: Brunch with Lisa at Prune
My first official meal when I returned to New York last week was brunch at Prune in the East Village. (The first unofficial meal was Chinese food I ordered, half-delirious, the Saturday night of my return. I had major jetlag.) I’d been hearing all about Prune from lots of brunch-happy people (and, also, dinner happy…
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Hell’s Kitchen
Last night I watched the season finale of the Fox kitchen reality show “Hell’s Kitchen,” the show that features a fiery nasty explosive Gordon Ramsay. Gordon was on good behavior last night which made the show much more watchable: I could barely sit through some of the other episodes I’d seen (he throws dishes at…
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All Trips End in Rome (Or: Rome Can’t Be Et in a Day)
I’ve been back for a week now (it’s hard to believe, but true) and only now to we come to my final trip post–the last city we visited and arguably the most important: Rome. Unfortunately, the way our trip worked out we only had an afternoon and a night to experience Rome. Our boat pulled…
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Cooking My Trip Part Two: Rigatoni with Cherry Tomato Sauce
As you’ll read in the post beneath this, the Monaco post, my favorite dish from the entire trip was the simplest thing in the world: rigatoni in a cherry tomato sauce. This would prove slightly difficult to recreate since my tomatoes came from a supermarket bin and the tomatoes at Il Terrazzino (where we ate…
