• My Top 10 Restaurant Dishes of 2008

    My Top 10 Restaurant Dishes of 2008

    There are 15 days to go in 2008, so there’s definitely a chance I’m being too hasty with this list of my favorite restaurant dishes of 2008. But reading through my archives, these were the dishes that popped out immediately, that triggered specific synapses in my brain to fire darts into my salivary glands, making…

  • Tali’s Cookies

    Tali’s Cookies

    First of all, apologies for the slow posting (or, rather, no posting) this week: I was in Georgia doing research for a top secret project that may or may not go anywhere–you’ll have to wait and see. But now I’m back and do you know the first thing I ate after walking back into my…

  • The Ultimate Reservation

    For the past four years, every since I knew about it, really, I’ve been e-mailing El Bulli–frequently cited as the best restaurant in the world–for a reservation. And almost like clockwork, I get an e-mail back a few months later stating that because of intense demand (800,000 people applying for 8,000 possible reservations, according to…

  • Cuban Food in Miami (A Tour)

    Cuban Food in Miami (A Tour)

    Nick Calzada is Craig’s film school friend who lives in Miami. Anytime we go to Florida, Craig says: “Let’s go visit my friend Nick in Miami” and inevitably we never have the time. This trip, though, we made a point to schedule a day with Nick; not only to hang out (he and Craig had…

  • The Egg Onion Bagel

    The Egg Onion Bagel

    The bagel you see in the picture above is the result of Twitter. To wit: I announced on my Twitter feed that I was in Boca Raton for Thanksgiving (that’s where my family lives) and Shuna of eggbeater responded: “You’re in Boca?! Will you make a stop at Way Beyond Bagels? Have an egg onion…

  • Rigatoni Bolognese

    Rigatoni Bolognese

    December marks the transition from the sweet confections of Thanksgiving to the more complex, rewarding foods of winter. Sure, there’s still Hanukkah with its fried latkes and apple sauce (an easy thrill) and Christmas with its sticky, gooey ham (which could fit comfortably on the Thanksgiving table) but, for the most part, when the weather…

  • My Thanksgiving Plate 2008

    My Thanksgiving Plate 2008

    For those of you desperate to see my Thanksgiving plate, here she is in all her glory. We were at a fancy buffet in Boca Raton and most parties agreed that as fancy as a Thanksgiving buffet might be, it’s still not quite as good as a home-cooked meal–it just doesn’t taste like Thanksgiving. That…

  • Lunch With Steven Shaw at Ippudo & Momofuku Milk Bar

    Lunch With Steven Shaw at Ippudo & Momofuku Milk Bar

    On October 3rd, 2003, I shared my very first piece of food writing ever on a forum called eGullet. The post was called Charlie Trotter Superdud and it set off a storm of comments from hundreds of subscribers, some of whom were well known entities in the food world (Anthony Bourdain among them.) After that…

  • Improvised Stuffing

    Improvised Stuffing

    The plan was to roast a chicken the way I normally roast chicken (which is to say, the best way in the world!) on a cold winter’s night in November. And then, flipping through the channels, I stopped on the Food Network (surprise, surprise) and there was Rachael Ray making a stuffing. Normally, I wouldn’t…

  • A Thanksgiving Confession (with Two Recipe Suggestions)

    A Thanksgiving Confession (with Two Recipe Suggestions)

    One week from today is Thanksgiving, and it’s time to tell you the truth: I’m not cooking dinner this year! No, after cooking last year (see here) and the year before (see here) I’m giving myself a break this year, and enjoying time with my family instead. So there will be no frantic posting, no…

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