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There is the kid in all of us and then there is the kid that’s not in all of us. The kid in all of us loves chocolate and Willy Wonka and brightens at the very idea of Jacques Torres’s Chocolate Haven: Located in TriBeCa, this new chocolate factory actually involves the pure production of…

Now here is a recipe worth knowing. Like the Zuni Cafe cookbook, my French Laundry cookbook has sat mostly ignored in the brief time I’ve owned it. The thing is, it’s so humongous and so intimidating that it’s like bringing “Ulysses” to the beach. It just isn’t done. But last night it was done and…

The Zuni Cafe cookbook has been ignored long enough. Silenty it’s sat on my cookbook shelf, batting its eyes as I passed it over for Barefoot contessas and Amanda Hessers. But a few nights ago, while the other cookbooks were out smoking cigarettes, the Zuni Cafe cookbook and I made eye contact. I felt a…

Exactly one year ago tonight I made my first post here at The Amateur Gourmet. The post was titled: The Birth of an Amateur Icon. I wrote: “I’m The Amateur Gourmet: a completely untrained, unaccomplished culinary lout with absolutely no expertise in anything having to do with food. I have an immature palate, an understocked…

I purchased The Saveur 100 yesterday—the yearly masterlist of all things vital in the culinary world. Of course, any list like this is arbitrary (see, for example, People’s Sexiest Man Alive issue—if it weren’t arbitrary, I’d surely be in there along with Don Knotts), and so one must take it with a grain of salt.…

Amateur Gourmet Survivor Champ Andrea urged me in a long-ago e-mail to try F&B. “It’s amazing,” she wrote in her e-mail. “Seriously.” I passed F&B many times on my excursions across 23rd street. It’s across the street from the movie theater. It’s next door to the Krispy Kreme and Ben & Jerry’s. It’s near Starbucks,…

Categories collide in this post. Yesterday, I went to see Michael Frayn’s “Democracy” with Kirk, and James Felder (he of his own category) decided to meet us. We deferred to Jim Leff’s “Gourmet Guide” (that of the present category) and decided to lunch at Sapporo. Here’s James, Kirk and some stranger standing beneath the sign.…

Hey, check it out: Food bloggers chronicle their delicious obsessions. Here’s the bit about us: “Another oft-cited blog is Adam Roberts’s the Amateur Gourmet, this year’s ”humor” winner. It’s easy to see why: Aside from the site’s snappy prose, its ”Saturday Night Live”-worthy comedy sketch mpegs, such as ”Great Moments in Musical Theater Featuring Eggs”…

30 Minutes To Happpiness (1) Buy a bag of Ghiardelli Semi-Sweet chocolate chips. (2) Follow the instructions for Chocolate Chip Bars. (3) Bake them. (4) Smell them. (5) Enjoy them. (6) Ah, happiness.

There are days when, in the morning, while throwing books into my bag and planning my day I decide: “Tonight we shall cook a splendid dinner. Not sure yet what the splendid dinner will be. Therefore, we will put a cookbook in our bag and decide later.” Today was that sort of day. I almost…