Writing about food since 2004.
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How To Store Strawberries
Strawberry season may be over in most parts of the country, but here in L.A. the strawberries are still bright red and fragrant and sweet as could be. On Monday, last week, I brought home two cartons of strawberries from the farmer’s market that I planned to use for a shortcake the next night. The…
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Rodded & Ramen Jinya
A funny thing about L.A.: you can drive past a place over and over again, not think anything of it, and then–out of the blue–have a food friend tell you to meet them there on a Thursday afternoon, at which point you discover that this place you’ve been driving past and ignoring has really excellent…
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A Food Q&A with “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Screenwriter, Lucy Alibar
Long time readers of the blog probably know my friend Lucy Alibar best as the creator of these incredibly easy, incredibly delicious chocolate peanut butter cookies. Now she’s gone and created something slightly more ambitious: a little movie she wrote called “Beasts of the Southern Wild” that’s taking the world by storm. It won the…
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Sweet Potato Chipotle Hash
Get your pans hot, ladies and gentleman… we’re making hash! To be honest, I’d never made hash before I made it a few weekends ago. But the idea of it really appealed to me: dump out the contents of your fridge, put a pan on high heat, cook everything together and serve some eggs on…
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“The Finest Hot Pastrami Sandwich in the World” (Lunch at Langer’s)
I remember reading the New Yorker in 2002 when Nora Ephron declared the pastrami sandwich at Langer’s in Los Angeles “the finest hot pastrami sandwich in the world.” As a New Yorker who grew up on the east coast (both in New York and Florida, major pastrami territories) I found this hard to believe. When…
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Granola, Yogurt, and Peach Parfaits in Mason Jars
You are looking at the most popular picture I’ve ever posted on Instagram. 123 people liked it (so far). Amanda Hesser liked it, The Pioneer Woman liked it. It’s the same yogurt parfait I’ve been making for a while–granola, yogurt, fruit–only one thing was different: I served it in Mason jars. Suddenly something that’s not…
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Dinner at Rick and Chuck’s (A Memory)
The letter was in an envelope in my pocket, folded in half. Even though I knew this would produce a crease, I figured a crease was better than walking into my professor’s house holding a mysterious envelope, especially with three other classmates arriving with me. “What’s that letter?” they would probably ask and what would…
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Blackberry Buttermilk Snacking Cake
Here in L.A. it’s harder to get in touch with my old New York self, the self who used to make an afternoon snacking cake. If you say the words “afternoon snacking cake” here in L.A. you will be shot by the body police, buried in a mountain of silicone, and never heard from again.…
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One Bag of Beans, Three Meals (Balsamic Pork Chops, Chorizo Dinner Tacos & Breakfast Tacos)
If I’m lucky enough to write another cookbook, I’d like to write one about using pantry staples. That’s how you separate a cook from a recipe follower: the recipe follower makes a list, buys what they need for that recipe, cooks it and repeats that process again the next day. A cook opens the refrigerator,…
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Shaken Dosirak at Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong
Mad at myself, I flung open–as much as you can virtually fling something open–Jonathan Gold’s epic article “60 Korean Dishes Every Angeleno Should Know” and said to myself, “You big jerk! You’ve been in L.A. almost a year and you’ve barely scratched the surface of Koreatown. You’ve never eaten any of this food. Eat some…
