At the risk of sounding like a yuppie or a hipster, I was at the farmers’ market yesterday and bought some gorgeous artichokes. This was the first time I had ever tried cooking artichokes, and I tried to recreate the amazing grilled artichokes served at Houston’s. What I realized is that artichokes are sharp and will stab you, but they are easier to prepare than I thought. These make a great appetizer, and you will put the mustard aioli on everything you eat that evening. Continue reading
food
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In the first scenes of the movie El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, Ferran Adrià, the master behind the famous Catalonian restaurant, is sucking on a fluorescent lollipop. Immersed in darkness, he opens his mouth and closes it, opens, then closes, each time exposing the inside of his mouth which glows with the same eerie light. The scene continues long enough that one is left wondering, what the hell is that? Adrià is considered to be one of the founding fathers of molecular gastronomy, using science to create modern works of haute cuisine art. So, one waits as if trying to find out how a magic trick is performed. The answer: proteins from a Japanese fluorescent fish.
The Central Coast area of California runs roughly from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz giving sweeping ocean views, vast areas of open grasslands, rolling hills and little secreted away hideouts where you can find the best that California has to offer. The Range is just such a place. It does not have a website, is located in Santa Margarita which is between San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles, a town of less than 1,300 residents and Google Maps will misdirect you if you’re not careful. But it’s the food that make people find it despite all of that. Continue reading
I only lived in downtown Burlington for about 6 years, but it’s one of those small cities where even if you move a little bit north or a little bit south, once you hit the intersection of North Winooski and College Street, you know you’re home.
A friend of mine once summed up the reason that he lived in Burlington like this: “It’s the only town I’ve ever seen that has two sunsets. One over the lake, and one reflected over the mountains.”
There aren’t many things I brag about – except the fact that, back in 1997, I learned how to play pool well enough not to embarrass myself.
And I stopped bragging about that in the early aughts.
But I do make the world’s best BLT. It’s not bragging if it’s true, right? Continue reading
The pounding headache, the stomach full of bile. The sweats, the farts, the poops. All across the world, Saturday morning comes and the cry of “Never again!” shouts from bathroom stalls everywhere as we hug our toilets, retching out another successful night.
Well, most of us don’t drink until we puke every weekend, so what’s the next best thing after getting rid of all the alcohol you put in your stomach? Putting greasy food in there to counteract the hours-old fermented beer! Sometimes this works to your advantage and you feel like a million bucks, and other times, well – see the first paragraph. It was going to happen anyway, so might as well have some substance to the puke, right? Continue reading
Watch the first Kalbi Burger Challenge and listen to me read the rules.
On Sunday, July 24th, I was drafted to be the host of the first annual Kalbi Burger Challenge. Six competitors at my favorite Koreatown burger place were going to try to eat 4 Kalbi burgers in ten minutes for glory and the potential to be in a plaque on a wall. Since I was the Foursquare mayor of this fine establishment (seriously guys, I love food) I was asked to be the emcee and judge. Continue reading
The Lower East Side has always been food-centric with its pickles and bialys and kosher bakeries. But only in the past few years has it become foodie-centric.
The biggest changes to the neighborhood have occurred below Delancey Street, which used to be a ghost town but is rapidly becoming a destination. Below are a few places that I recommend your taste buds get better acquainted with: Continue reading
Forget the debt ceiling! You know what’s really going to have global repercussions? Germany’s hatred of foie gras. The French™ are enraged like a Montmarte whore who’s missed her period now that some German food fair has banned their most precious foodstuff. Why, it’s like banning German sausage in France, they say! It’s a scandal! Le shock! Le awe! E tu Bardot? Porquois!? Porquois!?
Why is this such an economic blow? Germany eats 170 tons of bird liver a year. Wow. We don’t even know what to say to that.
Photo: 123rf
Speak of a tourist visit to Japan, and inevitably people will ask about places like Tokyo (for mine, the most amazing city in the world), Kyoto (gorgeous, worth as much time as you can afford to spend there) or Hiroshima (haven’t been, but there’s definitely more to it than its nuclear scars). Perhaps Kobe (great beef, and the earthquake museum is a must-see), Osaka (boringly industrial), Sapporo (cold) or Nara (doe, a deer, LOTS of deer). But some of the best places to visit in Japan are a little away from the usual sights. One such is Kanazawa, the highlight of my own time in Japan.