Writing about food since 2004.
Category
Essays
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People Who Eat In
Yesterday on Grub Street, Josh Ozersky called Bon Appétit magazine “the most boring” of the food rags, “an ad-packed Nembutal calling to mind the ‘women’s pages’ where newspapers used to publish their party recipes.” It was his ultimate conclusion, though, that really caught my attention: “Once a magazine is a repository for recipes, it stops…
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My Dinner with Frank Bruni
The dinner was set for Monday, October 22nd, and the e-mail came on Thursday, October 18th. It said: “We’re going to check out ___… at 8:30 p.m., reservation for four under surname ___.” (E-mail’s been censored for obvious reasons.) Then, on the 21st, another e-mail came with the subject: “Monday night location and slight time…
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Music While You Eat, Music While You Cook
Mario Batali has a video on Serious Eats (click here) in which he talks about the music at his restaurants: he says that during the day he plays opera to keep things relaxed; at night he plays pop music to keep tables moving. This immediately made me think of my local coffee shop.
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My Critical Condition
In the introduction to John Lahr’s 1996 book “Light Fantastic: Adventures in Theatre” he writes, “Criticism, of course, is a kind of performance, but with this difference: the artist puts his life on the line, the critic only his words. This is not to minimize the significance of the activity, but to place criticism…
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Bones
They say charity begins at home. They also say that “no good deed goes unpunished.” But I have a new aphorism that I hope some day catches on: “Donating your clothes to the Salvation Army leads to goat curry.” After a week of cleaning out the closet, making room for Craig, we had four giant…
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Food TV’S Unsung Hero: Mark Bittman
I am not a minimalist: my desk, like my life, overflows with clutter; I like big, loud, campy entertainment; at MoMA I roll my eyes at “White on White” and bow down before Dali, Kandinsky and Magritte (and not just because I like apples.) You’d think that if presented with a TV show by a…
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Soupy Sushi Salads and Ice That Costs $1
Comrades! The restaurant revolution is here. I, your fearless leader, Amateuriov Gourmetovich beg of you to consider the following two cases, both which threaten our peace and prosperity as well-meaning restaurant goers. The first is the case of the soupy sushi salad: Recent visits to two of my local sushi joints have produced salads like…
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It Matters
Frank Bruni told a story on his blog the other day about ordering iced tea at a restaurant only to have the waiter say they’d run out. “How do you run out of iced tea?” he queried. “I ask that question not snidely but earnestly, because I know that this blog has readers in the…
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Top Chef & Underdog Theory
After last night’s episode of “Top Chef,” which Diana and I really enjoyed, I pointed out that C.J.’s team had it coming. C.J., who CHOSE his team, made a classic blunder: he chose the beautiful people, the most likable people, the most popular kids in the class. And as anyone who’s seen an 80s movie…
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Going Back
I’ve defended food blogs many times in the past–I’m practically the Alan Dershowitz of food bloggers–and yet, lately, I’ve become more and more sensitive to a concern that’s often raised about food bloggers and our practices: namely, our tendency to review restaurants after only one visit. Obviously, food bloggers don’t have the resources that professional…
