Autumn is my favorite time of year. Add the beauty of the harvest to deep-blue skies, brilliant foliage, and crisp, cool mornings, and you have the perfect eating season. Throw open the windows, crank up the oven, throw some cinnamon about, and life is perfect. Except Sundays. On autumnal Sundays, as I focus on the … Read more
The barn at Deer Lake Orchards. Suddenly, the weekends belong to the apple orchards. They’ve figured out it’s quite a business, luring familys with hot cider, mini-donuts, jumping goats and corn mazes. My cynical side bemoans the crowds and trampled fields and toddlers with farm cats in a love-strangle. But I am renewed when, during … Read more
Dear Crappy Restaurants, I know you probably don’t care, but just in case you are having a moment of self-reflection, please go out and buy the current copy of FastCompany magazine. The cover features the ragerific comedian Lewis Black, whom you should recognize as your typical customer: frustrated, agitated, walking away and screaming his story … Read more
here puppy, puppy I’m surprisingly OK with the upscaling/gourmandizing/Starbucking of the hot dog. Because once we get through lauding the foie dog, the salmon dog, the wasabi coated tuna dog, the kobe dog, the tofu dog or whatever they decide to come up with, there will be a backlash. All of a sudden classic hot … Read more
Dig through your family collections, ladies and gentlemen. Pull the best dish from your repertoire and steel your nerves. You, yes you Betty Lou, could win fame and acclaim in the Great Mill City Farmers Market Taste-Off! I know you are hiding a killer dish of some sort (scalloped potatoes? creamed corn? broasted chicken? Granny’s … Read more
This is pretty. I didn’t bake this, no sir. This weekend, the weather was perfect for eating. It was chilly enough to inspire a stoking of the stove and grey enough to keep me happily inside without guilt. Seriously, I cooked all weekend. Saturday the kids and I spent most of the day conspiring how … Read more
Two Things I Love 1. The nasty, grungy, dank, gossipy side of the restaurant industry. (Remember, while the rest of the world plays, we work. Then, while the rest of the world sleeps, we drink a lot and smoke a lot and dish.) 2. A crack in the facade of a food icon.
Gramercy Tavern is the site of one of my favorite New York moments. It has everything to do with crisp, professional service and celery root soup. I am sad to see that owner Danny Meyer and chef Tom Colicchio have parted ways on the venerable establishment. Mr. Colicchio has decided to focus his efforts on … Read more
I want this for my birthday. Terms For Money That Are Food Related Dough Bread Nest Egg Greens Sugar Cabbage Lettuce Beans Bones Clams Coconuts Fish Nugget Squid Crispies Rutabaga
There are certain fights I have with The Hub that won’t go away: milk vs. water in the scrambled eggs, searing meat does/does not seal in the juices, etc. Just because someone went to chef school, doesn’t mean he’s the universal God of kitchen knowledge. Besides, the majority of a cook’s education comes from the … Read more