Writing about food since 2004.
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Dijon and Cognac Beef Stew
Cooking out of season is a little more acceptable on the west coast, where seasons are peripheral. Yes, it got a little chilly out here in L.A. in January and February; I was wearing long sleeves in March, but life didn’t change the way life changes so dramatically when it gets cold back east. So…
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Secrets of Great Chefs (My Cookbook’s Finally Here!)
At long last my cookbook, SECRETS OF GREAT CHEFS, is here! I am over-the-moon excited–exhilarated!–to finally share this 400-page labor-of-love with you. As many of you know, I’ve been working on this project since May 2010 when I announced the book to you all. Since then I’ve cooked with over 50 of the best chefs…
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Braised Endive
It was just a small rectangle on the cheese plate at The French Laundry; a single bite of braised endive to complement the other elements on the plate (apricot, a square of pistachio cake, a sour ale gastrique). But that single bite stayed with me. It was memorable because endive, which is normally bitter, becomes…
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Checking In with Eric Wolitzky from Top Chef Just Desserts (Plus: His Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Recipe)
Many of you will remember my friend Eric Wolitzky from Season One of Top Chef Just Desserts. Back then, Eric was the pastry chef at Baked in Brooklyn where Eric and I once did a live video podcast, answering your questions; he also shared his top secret recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Now Eric lives…
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Night + Market
A food writer friend is coming to L.A. this week and asked for my tips on where to eat (specifically, Mexican and Thai restaurants). For Mexican, I expressed my love for Loteria and my admiration for La Casita Mexicana; for Thai, I brought up Jitlada and Saap and Pa-Ord but finished my sentence by recommending…
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Vanilla Bean Pudding
Let’s talk pudding. It doesn’t sound sexy like “panna cotta” or sophisticated like “pot de crem.” It sounds like the kind of thing you eat out of a plastic container with an aluminum peel on top which, for many people who grew up with Billy Cosby shilling for it on TV, it very much is.…
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Purple Lunchtime Salad & Cherry Tomato Quinoa Tabbouleh
Last week something unprecedented happened. I was having a new friend over for dinner and, after shopping at 3 o’clock and starting to cook at 4 o’clock, I found myself at 8 o’clock holding my cellphone and a text message from this new friend saying that he had a work emergency and wouldn’t be able…
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A Nifty New Banner
I’m putting this month’s banner in my Top 5 Favorite Banners of All Time (see the banner gallery) because it just looks so cool. I’m not even sure what the concept is (it’s kinda retro, 60s, World-of-Color-ish), but it proves that Lindy Groening, my banner illustrator, is a real visionary and I’m super lucky to…
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Wine Tastings, Picnics and More…Our Trip to Napa
If we hadn’t gone to The French Laundry and we’d just gone to Napa we still would’ve had a most memorable trip. The place is just obnoxiously beautiful. If you could bottle beauty and sell it, you could do a lot worse than to bottle Napa: with its lush hills and crisp, clear blue skies…
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Chicken Adobo
This is it, kids. This has to be the last recipe I share from April Bloomfield’s new book, A Girl and Her Pig, or pretty soon I’ll look like that pig slung over her shoulder on the book’s cover (slaughtered for divulging too many cookbook recipes). If you’ve tried any of the recipes I’ve posted…
