Writing about food since 2004.
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Down With Communal Tables!
[Image via I’m Only Here For The Food] At long last, after weeks of waiting, we’re going to that great restaurant everyone’s been talking up. We’ve pinched pennies, we’ve cleared calendars, we’ve read the reviews online and the menu and strategized endlessly about how and what we’ll order. Only: this place doesn’t take reservations, so…
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How I Keep Going To The Gym
There was a tiny period, at the end of 2011 and the start of 2012, when, upon joining a gym for the 300th time, I blogged about this latest attempt at exercise on my Not Food Blog. I wrote about the advantages of a treadmill vs. an elliptical machine (the treadmill forces you to run),…
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Stone Fruit Salads
This summer, if I were the sort of person who named their summers, might be called “The Summer of Stone Fruit.” That’s because, for a good part of it, I’d bring home lots of stone fruit (mostly peaches, but also nectarines and plums) from the West Hollywood Farmer’s Market. I’d put these stone fruits into…
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Food is the New Rock
I had a blast with my friend Zach Brooks and his co-host Chuck P. last week on their podcast, “Food is the New Rock.” (Click those words to go to the podcast.) We talk about my 5th grade performance in “Cats,” my job at Food Network, Giada’s accent, and my classic series Great Moments in…
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Quinoa with Leftover Chicken, Roasted Broccoli & Balsamic Vinaigrette
You may not believe me when I tell you this, but I made a quinoa dish two weeks ago that had us smacking our lips in delight. It started, as most great dishes do, with leftovers. Just a leftover roast chicken wrapped in aluminum foil. I had Craig do the ceremonial shredding, because he’s an…
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That Joke We All Make At Restaurants
I’ve been thinking a lot about that joke we all make at restaurants. You know the one. We finish everything on our plate and then the server comes over and asks, “How was everything?” and we say, “Oh it was terrible, we really hated it” while smiling mischievously and gesturing towards the empty dish. I…
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A Year of Lunches at Forage
Yesterday I crowned Forage my #4 favorite place to eat in Los Angeles. Even if you don’t live in L.A. or don’t plan to visit any time soon, this is relevant, I think, because what I’m praising here isn’t just a restaurant that makes good restaurant food. I’m praising a place that does something instructive:…
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My 10 Favorite Places to Eat in L.A. (So Far)
Imagine a giant hour glass filled not with sand but with calories. That’s pretty much a perfect visual for this first year of living in and exploring L.A., eating my way from ocean to desert, hopping from cuisine to cuisine. As I said in my post yesterday, for my budget and interest-level, L.A. has more…
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One Year in L.A. (A Reflection)
I came to L.A. with the most open of open minds. As New Yorkers twisted up their faces at the news (“L.A.? You’re moving to L.A.?”) I held my head high with secret knowledge. My secret knowledge was mostly food-based. I knew about Jonathan Gold, one of our nation’s greatest food writers, who, in writing…
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Vanilla Bean Oatmeal
If you’ve never purchased a vanilla bean, sliced it open with a paring knife, scraped the seeds out and dropped them, with the pod, into a pot of milk or cream which you then heat for an ice cream base or a custard or a pudding, you’re missing out on a great food moment. The…
