Minnesota Food Truck Fair It’s that time of year again, so get out of the house, soak up some rays and head to the Minnesota Food Truck Fair in Uptown for great food and live music. Now in its third year, they’ve really expanded the festival with dozens of trucks offering cuisines from all over… Read More →
Heritage Hog Renaissance As the founder of the pork-centric culinary competition Cochon 555, Brady Lowe is on a mission to remind us what true pork tastes like. In each of the 10 cities on the annual tour, Cochon 555 showcases five chefs, five heritage breed pigs and five winemakers to promote breed diversity and whole animal… Read More →
Sin City Recommendations Las Vegas is wholly intoxicating, a city dedicated to sensory overload that’s all about being the biggest and the best. And while chefs from all over the country are generating a lot of great food in glamorous settings on the Strip, you won’t be sorry if you venture off the main drag… Read More →
How to Cook & Entertain for a Crowd By Andrew Zimmern Ben Ford is a true gem of the culinary world. His new book, Taming the Feast, is a departure from your run-of-the-mill cookbook. I am not looking for another way to make a Caesar salad. I want to know how to make wood-fired paella and roast… Read More →
Knife Care 101 Every chef says the same thing, “If I had to pick one tool I couldn’t live without, it’d have to be my knife.” Guess what, it’s a cliché… but it’s true. When it comes to gadgetry, I am all about the latest and greatest new phone, tablet, watch and camera. But in… Read More →
Rust Belt Revival After years spent working in some of the best restaurants in New York City, chef Jonathon Sawyer is back in his hometown, raising his family and Cleveland’s food profile. He’s become an incredible son of Ohio, who has changed this town’s culinary landscape with his restaurants Noodlecat, Sawyer’s Street Frites, SeeSaw Pretzel… Read More →
Congratulations JBF Award Winners! I had a fantastic weekend at the James Beard Foundation Awards in NYC, the nation’s most prestigious awards ceremony honoring professionals in the food and beverage biz. Winners of the Foundation’s annual Book, Broadcast, and Journalism Awards were presented on May 2, at Gotham Hall in New York City, during a… Read More →
Ben Ford Taming the Feast Andrew and Molly are joined by chef and author Ben Ford to talk about his new book, Taming the Feast, being a craftsman (influenced by his father, Harrison Ford), and cooking a salmon in the dishwasher. Plus, Andrew and Molly talk about their weekend at Austin Food & Wine, and how to improve… Read More →
Like Father, Like Son Marc Forgione, the Michelin-starred mohawked chef who won Food Network’s Next Iron Chef in 2010, began his culinary career working for his father, beloved chef Larry Forgione. After cooking in kitchens in France, he joined Laurent Tourondel’s BLT Prime empire as corporate sous chef, before opening his eponymous NYC restaurant in… Read More →
#OnlyinMN I’m constantly traveling around the world, but there is no place I would rather be than my home state, Minnesota. What makes the land of 10,000 lakes so great? Check out just some of my favorites things to do only in Minnesota. MINNESOTA STATE FAIR I love the Minnesota State Fair so much that I try… Read More →
Authentic Michoacán Cuisine Owned and operated by the Rojas family, Revolver Taco Lounge in Fort Worth serves some of best Michoacán food you can find outside of Mexico. As immigrants continue to arrive, open restaurants and sadly often over-adapt flavors to gringo palates, it becomes surprisingly difficult to find traditional and authentic Mexican food…even in Texas. Pride,… Read More →
Stylish, Affordable & Performs Beautifully Shun Cutlery has named James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, food writer, and teacher Andrew Zimmern as a digital partner for their fine Japanese cutlery. Zimmern will assist in promoting the Shun brand through his social media network and personal industry contacts. He will also be helping teach knife skills… Read More →
And the winners are… Hosted by yours truly and an expert panel of 40 in-the-know culinary experts, the 2014 Munchies: People’s Choice Food Awards recognize the best-of-the-best in the food biz, from terrific tastemakers to top food destinations. It’s been exciting to ignite a passionate food debate and encourage people to support their favorite restaurants, media, and chefs… Read More →
Madtown Recommendations By Molly Mogren Wisconsin’s capital city is also its biggest college town. While Badgers are known to party hard, this hippy-dippy town also offers up amazing ethnic restaurants, classic German bars and locally-driven fine dining. Without further ado… The Classics Tornado Steak House An old-school steak house serving up classic cuts (T-bones, ribeyes… Read More →
Hacking Fine Dining Chefs/co-owners of Travail and the Rookery, Mike Brown, Bob Gerken and James Winberg are a trio to be reckoned with. In the past year, they closed the original Travail opening Pig Ate My Pizza in its place, created a dim sum pop-up in North Minneapolis, launched an epic Kickstarter campaign and reopened Travail… Read More →
Congrats to the Nominees! Yesterday, the James Beard Foundation announced the finalists for the 2014 JBF awards. Congratulations to all of the nominees, what a talented pool of culinary greatness. If you didn’t catch the nominee announcement, the full list is below. The winners for the Book, Broadcast and Journalism Awards will be announced at… Read More →
The Publican’s Signature Dish By Paul Kahan and Brian Huston The James Beard Foundation Award nominees are announced today, so we asked last year’s recipient of the Outstanding Chef award, Paul Kahan, to share one of his favorite recipes. From modernist fine dining to a beer-focused gastropub, chef Paul Kahan’s multifaceted restaurant empire is a… Read More →
John McKenna’s Top Picks Ireland’s leading food critic and one of the country’s most authoritative voices in food journalism, John McKenna has been writing about the burgeoning Irish food scene for 25 years. Before your next trip to Ireland, be sure to check out McKennas’ Guides, a series of guide books by John and his longtime… Read More →
Where to Eat & Drink in the Big Easy By Donald Link New Orleans has countless classic bars and restaurants. One of my favorite things about this city is how these old classics work with some of the newer classics and interesting aspects of the scene that make New Orleans such a fascinating place to… Read More →
Memphis on the Rise As born and bred Memphians who grew up in large Italian families, it only makes sense that chefs Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman cook a soulful fusion of Southern and Italian cuisines at their restaurants Hog & Hominy and Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen. This happy mash-up has garnered lots of rave… Read More →
Quebecois Sugar Shack of Your Dreams Just 30 minutes outside of Montréal you’ll find Cabane à Sucre, a brilliant eatery where Martin Picard is reinterpreting maple-sugar-shack cuisine. Chef Picard is considered the greatest of the great in this neck of the woods, with a handful of restaurant that serve some of the best and most… Read More →
Spit Soup Every once in a while I stumble upon a food and think, “What sick mind came up with this idea in the first place?” Bird’s nest soup falls into that category. I’d like to meet whoever first decided to soak a bird’s nest in water overnight, then pick feathers and feces out of the… Read More →
Celebrating Family and Food A multiple James Beard Award winning writer, chef and pioneer of American food, Judith Choate’s impressive culinary career spans more than 50 years and 100 cookbooks. Choate’s latest book, An American Family Cooks, is a prolific volume of recipes and kitchen memories from the Choate family archive. Below, Choate talks about… Read More →
Artisan Chinese Tea A recent addition to Minneapolis’ Seward neighborhood, Verdant Tea Tasting Room & Tea Bar offers a curated selection of artisan, seasonal Chinese teas from small family farms. Owners Lily and David Duckler are obsessed with tea and the hospitality culture that revolves around it. They spend a lot of time in China each year… Read More →
Thai-Style Carrot Soup By Andrew Zimmern Carrots and curry were made for each other. Michael Voltaggio’s cold carrot salad with Thai flavors at Ink., in Los Angeles, is so superbly crafted that I thought about it for days after trying it. At home I don’t do anything with liquid nitrogen or as many bells and… Read More →
Home Sweet Home I was born and raised in New York City. I love going back to my hometown. There is an energy in the city like no other, and it is home to the best food scene in the world. I could list amazing places to check out in NYC for days, but here… Read More →
PDX’s Leading Lady She gained street cred from her placement on Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs list in 2012, a stint on the current season of Top Chef Masters and a couple James Beard nominations, but Jenn Louis’ incredible farmhouse fare need only be tasted to win you over. The chef/owner of two of… Read More →
Devoted to Sustainable Seafood Jamie Malone prepares incredible seafood at Minneapolis’ acclaimed Sea Change, located on the Mississippi River in the contemporary Guthrie Theater complex. Her artfully curated menu showcases a variety of well-researched sustainable species, so delicious that Food & Wine recognized her on this year’s list of Best New Chefs. We chat with… Read More →
San Francisco’s Pastry Star Melissa Chou has presided over pastries at San Francisco’s Michelin-starred Aziza for the past five years, creating impressive desserts that wowed the folks at the James Beard Foundation (she was a finalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef in 2012 and 2013) and San Francisco Magazine, which named her Pastry Chef of the Year… Read More →
Celebrating a Time-Honored Classic Mindy Fox, cookbook author, food writer and food editor at La Cucina Italiana magazine, shares her tips for the perfectly roasted chicken, ways to reinvent the iconic dish and her favorite picnic-ready recipes. AndrewZimmern.com: As the food editor of La Cucina Italiana and author of several cookbooks, you obviously have a… Read More →
