Congratulations JBF Award Winners! As always, I had a fantastic time at the annual James Beard Foundation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious awards ceremony honoring professionals in the food and beverage biz. I’m so proud to be a part of this amazing organization that works hard on education, agriculture issues, food insecurity and hunger relief. You… Read More →
A Technical Wizard Corey Lee is one of the most talented chefs in America. He’s a master technician and a creative wunderkind, cooking on a different level than almost anyone else in the country. Dinner at his three Michelin star San Francisco restaurant Benu is an unrivaled experience—a tasting menu comprised of a cuisine unique… Read More →
America’s Leading Pitmaster Aaron Franklin cooked his first brisket in 2002. After seven years of practice, he opened a food truck with his wife Stacy, though a few glowing reviews resulted in long lines and a move to a brick-and-mortar location on Austin’s east side just a year later. Today, Franklin and his crew serve… Read More →
Taipei’s Best Xiao Long Bao The Shanghai-style soup dumplings, or xiao long bao, at Din Tai Fung have a cult following like no other. A refugee of China’s civil war, Yang Bing-yi opened the original location on Taipei’s east side in the 70s. A couple decades later, the New York Times named the dumpling house as… Read More →
Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta By Janet Fletcher I like to serve this panna cotta parfait-style, in clear glasses, with the ruby-red fruit puree on the bottom. Diners plunge their spoon down through the creamy layer and bring up a smidgen of sauce with each spoonful, no inverting required. However, you can also prepare the panna… Read More →
Minnesota Restaurants Supporting Local Farms I love all four seasons, but there are few greater things in life than the first days of a Minnesota spring. We love celebrating another winter survived, and if you’re anything like me, food plays a huge role. I can’t wait until restaurants unveil their spring menus, teeming with fresh… Read More →
Minneapolis’ Young Chef in the Spotlight Mike DeCamp, the incredibly talented and creative chef de cuisine at Minneapolis’ award winning La Belle Vie, just announced he’s leaving his longtime mentor Tim McKee to open a new restaurant with Jester Concepts (the team behind Borough and Coup d’etat). They’ll be taking over Hotel Ivy’s first floor restaurant, formerly Porter &… Read More →
Where to Eat in Paris’ Montmartre Neighborhood By Devan Grimsrud Montmartre, in the north of Paris, has a long history of attracting artists and musicians. Famous painters like Van Gogh, Picasso, and Toulouse-Lautrec flocked to this neighborhood, still a refuge for Parisian bohemians. The area is flooded with a variety of accessible galleries and ateliers… Read More →
An Impressive Debut After working in some of Chicago’s most prestigious kitchens—Charlie Trotter’s, Alinea and Schwa—chef Jake Bickelhaupt started an underground supper club, or “guestaurant,” called Sous Rising. With his wife Alexa Welsh, Bickelhaupt hosted Michelin-quality meals with a casual, dinner party feel in their Chicago apartment for nearly two years. In early 2014, Bickelhaupt and Welsh opened… Read More →
7 Knives & Accessories You Want When it comes to gift giving, you can never go wrong with beautiful, useful kitchen tools. Here are a few of my favorites. For the avid entertainer: Forget the electric carving knife, this set is where it’s at. Great for carving a turkey, Christmas ham, a big brisket,… Read More →
Marcus Off Duty In Marcus Off Duty, chef, award-winning author and TV host Marcus Samuelsson steps out of the restaurant and into his home kitchen, where he teaches readers to cook global, flavorful and approachable recipes. It’s a beautiful book, filled with funky illustrations, stories, personalized playlists, and his tips and tricks for tackling ethnic… Read More →
Cookbook Gurus Brothers Matt and Ted Lee grew up in Charleston, South Carolina but attended colleges in Massachusetts. They so missed the foods from back home that they founded The Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue, a mail-order Southern food company. When an editor of Travel + Leisure magazine asked them to write a story about road-tripping their home state… Read More →
Roast Crown of Goose By Giana & Clovisse Ferguson Goose will always be a celebration dish – the bird itself is large and its meat is very rich, so it lends itself to feeding a big table full of family. The reason for removing the legs is that they always overcook and dry out; here… Read More →
Oxtail with Bread Dumplings This is a rich and hearty dish – the juices from the oxtail make the gravy unique and if there is any left after your dinner on day one, you can certainly make a soup the following day when the richness will have done that wonderful ‘next day’ thing. Recipe from Gubbeen… Read More →
The Best Farmhouse Cooking on the Planet What’s happening in and around Cork food wise is nothing short of magical. I haven’t seen an artisanal food community with as much diversity and as high a level of quality anywhere in the world. From hyssop and elderberry infused juices to handmade sausages, from smoked fish to… Read More →
Dana Cowin’s Little Secret As the editor-in-chief of Food & Wine since 1995, Dana Cowin has her finger on the pulse of the food world, harnessing this country’s obsession with food and celebrity chefs, while setting the bar for quality, relevant journalism. Yet she harbored a secret: while she loved to entertain, she lacked confidence in… Read More →
The Food-Obsessed World of Edward Lee A native New Yorker turned Louisville culinary ambassador, chef Edward Lee stars in the brand new third season of Mind of a Chef—the Emmy-winning PBS series, narrated by executive producer Anthony Bourdain, that delves deep into the inspirations and philosophies of renowned chefs. Lee’s brilliant cooking at his acclaimed… Read More →
Whole Animal Butchery Without the Self-Congratulatory B.S. Tom Mylan is a butcher. Not because it’s trending, but because no one else in his company wanted to do it. Seven years after launching Marlow & Sons’ local meat program, the largely self-taught meat man is running one of the best butcher shops—The Meat Hook—in New York,… Read More →
Where to Eat at the Great Minnesota Get-Together I love the Minnesota State Fair so much that I try to go all 12 days. Every year there’s a list of new food booths, serving every type of novelty deep-fried and on-a-stick creations, but when it comes down to it, half of the food sales comes… Read More →
Good Genes Pound for pound, Austin’s culinary gravitas rivals the best food cities in the nation. And it’s folks like Bryce Gilmore—a second generation Austin chef, a two-time James Beard award nominee and a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2011—who make the city’s food scene what it is. At his restaurants Barley Swine and… Read More →
Adventures in Sustainable Eating A two-time James Beard Award-winning online documentary series, The Perennial Plate explores socially responsible eating in the United States and abroad. The beautifully shot weekly series was created by Daniel Klein, an activist and chef, and Mirra Fine, a graphic designer, writer and now filmmaker, who impressively research, film, edit, and produce each piece… Read More →
Not to Miss in Portland A Food & Wine Best New Chef and Top Chef Masters contestant, Jenn Louis is a champion of Pacific Northwest cuisine and one of Oregon’s most beloved chefs. At her restaurants Lincoln and the more casual Sunshine Tavern, Louis strikes the ideal balance between rustic and refined with a less-is-more approach… Read More →
Redefining Scandinavian Cooking A former Navy Officer who opted for a chef’s life, Paul Berglund has made a name for himself as the executive chef of Minneapolis’ Bachelor Farmer, where he’s cooking trend-setting modernist Nordic cuisine. We talk with Berglund about the resurgence of Scandinavian food, taking risks and note-worthy chefs in the Twin Cities.… 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 →
Eat Clean. Live Loud. Melissa Joulwan is a badass. A retired Texas Rollergirl, Mel J has a serious thing for friendly competition, the band Social Disortion and cooking up a storm. In 2008, she launched her blog, Clothes Make the Girl, which kinda started out as a lifestyle/style site and eventually became one of the… 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 →
#JBFA Every year a new crop of Bizarre Foods alums win Journalism and Media awards. This year Tim Byres led the charge for his book Smoke. Buy it. It’s a great one. Amy Thielen is loved by all, she cleaned up this year and her son Hank and husband Aaron were by her side all weekend.… 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 →
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 →
Creole Comfort Food, Paleo-style By Andrew Zimmern This chicken and andouille dish is chock full of bold Creole flavors and only a few minor changes make it Whole30 compliant. Served with sweet-and-spicy cauliflower rice (adapted from Melissa Joulwan’s delicious rice pilaf recipe) that’s loaded with coconut, jalapeños, pistachios (or almonds—you pick) and raisins, the rich Southern… Read More →
