Writing about food since 2004.
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Espagnole Sauce: My Culinary Everest
[My friend Diana Fithian–playwright and home cook extraordinaire–kicks off Day 2 of Sauce Week with this epic post about one of the world’s most difficult and important sauces. Take it away, Diana!] When Adam asked if Iʼd like to contribute to Sauce Week, and sent a list of sauces to choose from, there was one…
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Rib-Eye Steak with Sauce Béarnaise
A few months ago, when I first conceived of Sauce Week, I set out to make a dinner for myself that promised to be so outrageously decadent, I’d have to close my blinds before eating the first forkful. The premise was pretty basic–steak and potatoes–with one key difference. I was going to drench the whole…
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Welcome To Sauce Week
A few months ago, I had an idea. “What if I devoted a whole week on my blog to sauces? Just posts about all different kinds of sauces and I enlisted my friends to make some sauces and I also made some sauces and, you know, it was just a whole week of sauces.” So…
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Soup Dumplings at Din Tai Fung
My shame was very great indeed. Din Tai Fung, the world famous emporium of soup dumplings, had opened up at the Americana Mall literally ten minutes from where we live in Atwater Village. I’d seen the sign go up when I was Christmas shopping, and–a few weeks later–I saw life through the windows. But any…
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A French Feast for Craig’s Birthday (And The Best Soup I’ve Ever Made)
This year, on Craig’s birthday, I had a revelation. My usual instinct to take him out to a fancy dinner on the big day (a tradition that began with an epic meal at Per Se back in 2008) really has nothing to do with Craig’s interests or wants and everything to do with my own.…
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Lemony Greens on Garlicky Beans
Trader Joe’s has always been a mystery to me. People love the place, they start to cheer when one opens up in their neighborhood, but I’ve always been stumped by what to buy there. I’ve done well with trail mix (because it tastes more like candy), and it’s nice to get a decent bottle of…
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Gone to Greenville: Pomegranate, Swamp Rabbit Cafe, Makin’ Moonshine, Fried Green Tomatoes, Henry’s Smokehouse, Brewery 85 and High Cotton
In case you were driving from Columbia, South Carolina to Greenville last Tuesday, that was me blasting the original Broadway cast recording of RENT and singing along at the top of my lungs. It was really a mismatched pairing of sound and scenery–gospel churches, religious bumper stickers–but that juxtaposition was what made it so delightful.…
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Skipping Across South Carolina: Hominy Grill, Terra, City Roots and Southern Belly BBQ
Last we spoke, I was living it up in Charleston, pigging out at FIG and Husk and Butcher and Bee. The next morning, I was supposed to leave right away for Columbia but felt the pull of the one place I hadn’t managed to squeeze in over the previous 48 hours: Hominy Grill. And Hominy…
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Chowing Down in Charleston, South Carolina: FIG, The Lowcountry Oyster Festival, Butcher & Bee and Husk
“Things like that happen in Charleston.” That’s what a woman working at a kitchen store said to me after something extraordinary happened to me right in front of her. It was one of two extraordinary events that I’m going to tell you about in this post all about my time here in one of America’s…
