Recipes and food adventures with Adam Roberts

  • Ruta Oaxaca Mexican Cuisine

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    Ruta Oaxaca Mexican Cuisine

    I don’t root for sports teams, but I do root for restaurants. When Ruta Oaxaca Mexican Cuisine opened in our neighborhood (Boerum Hill) a few months ago, I was jazzed that we were getting not just a widely-praised Mexican restaurant, but one that specialized in Oaxacan cuisine. We were in Oaxaca last year and the…

  • Sour Cream Pancakes with a Concord Grape Compote

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    Sour Cream Pancakes with a Concord Grape Compote

    If you’ve never had a Concord grape, imagine the flavor from a purple lollipop or purple gum, then imagine nature producing that flavor instead of a factory, and you’ll get the idea. A Concord grape tastes like the cartoon version of a grape; the flavor of a grape that we all have in our head…

  • Spicy Fennel and Squash Soup with Candied Pepitas and Balsamic Pears

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    Spicy Fennel and Squash Soup with Candied Pepitas and Balsamic Pears

    Garnishes are a game-changer when it comes to a pureed soup. What could pass easily as baby food, becomes something much more substantial and more interesting to eat when you add lots of little bobs and bits. I’ve noticed, when I’ve gone out to fancier meals, that pureed soups are almost always presented as a…

  • French Cabbage and Onion Soup

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    French Cabbage and Onion Soup

    There are certain ingredients that food people adore that make normal people cringe. Take cabbage, for example. Last week, I told Craig I was going to cook a cabbage for dinner and it was as if I’d said, “Instead of going out for cocktails, let’s get our flu shots!”

  • Bar Bête

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    Bar Bête

    When I went on Watch What Happens Live to promote my novel Food Person, I was told that Andy would be asking me one and only one question: “What’s the book about?”

  • Mustardy Chicken Thighs with Farro, Brown Butter Squash, Kale, and Bacon

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    Mustardy Chicken Thighs with Farro, Brown Butter Squash, Kale, and Bacon

    Last night I was in the weeds: it was five o’clock, we had dinner guests coming at seven, and I had eight chicken thighs, a bag of farro, two Delicata squash, kale, and some bacon. Two Google searches later — one that landed me on a Thomas Keller recipe for Farro and Black Rice with…

  • Thai Diner

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    Thai Diner

    Since I moved back to New York two years ago, there’s one restaurant that comes up again and again as one of the most beloved restaurants in the city and that’s Thai Diner. Located on a highly-trafficked block in the Lower East Side (especially on a Friday night), Thai Diner looks a bit like a…

  • Kellogg’s Diner

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    Kellogg’s Diner

    There’s something very appealing about a diner with unnecessarily good food. I grew up going to diners — specifically the East Bay Diner (RIP) in Oceanside, Long Island — and the Denver omelettes and French toast were almost besides the point. You go to diners for the convenience, the lack of pretentiousness, the camaraderie. A…

  • Banoffee Pie

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    Banoffee Pie

    British baking wasn’t something I thought much about until I started watching The Great British Baking Show (or “Bake-Off” as it’s known in its mother country). Now all I think about is Swiss rolls and Hobnobs and soggy bottoms. Also I spend time wondering if the show’s stylist dresses everyone, including the contestants.

  • F&F Restaurant and Bar

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    F&F Restaurant and Bar

    Would you believe me if I told you that one of my favorite restaurants in New York is a pizzeria? In the city that brought us Franny’s (RIP) and Roberta’s (still going), it shouldn’t be such a revelation. But for outsiders visiting the Big Apple, it may be hard to comprehend that a place that…