The Best Thing I Ate Last Week? Dinner at Upland in New York City. By Andrew Zimmern Justin Smillie’s Upland is as impressive a dining experience as New York offers. Here, serious food intersects with a rambunctious and spirited environment in a thoughtfully designed and beautifully lit space. Credit: Corry Arnold The five lettuce Caesar salad… Read More →
Mind-Bending Combinations of Flavors & Textures By Bob & Sue Now in expanded space off First Street in the East Village, Momofuku Ko has been one of New York City’s most challenging reservations for the past eight years. With a cook centric open kitchen where diners face each other at a U-shaped counter, Chef David… Read More →
The Best Thing I Ate This Week By Andrew Zimmern In celebration of his latest book, Derek Dammann came down from Montreal to cook a special dinner with Jamie Bissonnette in Toro’s private dining room in New York City. The food was eclectic and lumberjack chic, with a foie gras course incorporating some devilishly delicious apple and maple… Read More →
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week By Andrew Zimmern When I was about to start recording The Moment podcast with my friend Brian Koppelman last week, he whipped out a box of The Doughnut Project doughnuts for me to try. TDP is a new shop in NYC, and the beet and ricotta donuts are insane, as… Read More →
Rustic Perfection Chef Jonathan Waxman’s 13-year-old West Village restaurant is as casual and gorgeous as he is… no joke. My pal of many decades is in his prime, swarthy, and greyed out like a sexy Gandalf. In fact, Waxman just won a Beard Award for Best Chef NYC thanks to his culinary wizardry—you see what… Read More →
If Queens, NY was its own city it could lay claim to being the greatest food city on Earth. As it stands now, it’s the largest of New York City’s five boroughs, has a population of almost 2.5 million residents, half of whom are foreign-born. Queens County itself is one of the top five most… Read More →
Feeding the Fire When Joe Carroll opened Brooklyn’s Fette Sau in 2007, he was among the very first pioneers to bring legit barbecue to New York City. A couple years ago, the New Jersey-native expanded his operation to Philadelphia, adding a second Fette Sau to his roster of restaurants (which also includes the neighborhood steakhouse… Read More →
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 Modern Approach to Mexican Tradition There’s no doubt that Pujol, Enrique Olvera’s flagship restaurant in Mexico City, is one of the most important eateries in the Americas. Open since 2000 and currently ranked among the world’s best restaurants, Pujol showcases Mexico’s pre-colonial and indigenous foods shot through a fine dining prism. Last year, the… 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 →
Nose-to-Tail Icon Chef Jamie Bissonnette gained notoriety for his soulful food, innovative style and pork proficiency at his Boston restaurants, Coppa and Toro. Last fall, Bissonnette brought his incredible tapas menu to Manhattan when he opened a second Toro with business partner and fellow empire builder Ken Oringer. As we predicted, New Yorkers are just as infatuated as Bostonians with… Read More →
Japanese Soul Cooking When you think of Japanese food, staples from your local sushi bar might come to mind. But that’s just one itty-bitty fragment of Japan’s culinary traditions. Tadashi Ono, a chef and New York-based author, and Harris Salat, food writer and owner of Ganso in Brooklyn, have set out to give Japanese comfort food… Read More →
Koreatown Barbecue This stretch of 32nd Street in Manhattan is known for round the clock Korean-style revelry, with great and often gritty restaurants, karaoke bars, lots of flashing neon lights and 24hr spas of all types. When it comes to the Korean food in this animated neighborhood, one of my regular spots is New Wonjo.… Read More →
Celebrating the Life of a Legendary Chef I have known Shin Tsujimura since his early days at Hatsuhana in New York City. He had come from Hatsuhana in Tokyo and after a brief run in the NYC outpost, he joined up with Nobu Matsuhisa and has been a part of that world class group for… Read More →
Eating Queens Queens-based food writer Joe DiStefano has been covering the borough’s ethnic food beat for more than a decade. When it comes to ethnic diversity, some estimates name Queens as number one in the world – it’s so rich that DiStefano has made exploring the borough his life’s work. He’s our go-to guide for… 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 →
A New York City Classic J. G. Melon is my favorite bar burger, bar none. All the fancy stuff can come and go, but this is the burger I grew up on, and it holds a special place in my heart. The restaurant may be adorned in watermelon decor and the service can be iffy,… Read More →
The Big Apple I’ve partnered up with Thrillist to bring you my behind-the-scenes tips on where to eat, where to stay, and what to do when you are traveling across the globe. I love discovering hidden gems in my hometown, New York City. From amazing restaurants in Koreatown to the best bagel in the city, check out my… Read More →
The Man Behind the World’s Best Burger Josh Capon, the executive chef and partner of New York City’s Lure Fishbar, B&B Winepub and El Toro Blanco, talks about the importance of consistency and quality in the restaurant biz, how to make a great burger and his favorite Manhattan eats. AndrewZimmern.com: You’ve worked in several esteemed kitchens… 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 →
Budding Restaurateur Celebrates His Roots Harold Dieterle, executive chef/co-owner of three outstanding New York City restaurants, Kin Shop, Perilla and The Marrow and champion of Top Chef season one, talks about his love of Thai food, how his heritage inspired the menu at his new restaurant and his favorite NYC eats. AndrewZimmern.com: You studied Thai cuisine… Read More →
Uncommon Honesty When Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed 30-seat bistro Prune in New York’s East Village in 1999, she had worked in the catering biz for more than 20 years, but she had never been a restaurant chef, nor could she imagine that her winding culinary path would lead to successful restaurateur. Fast forward a… Read More →
Comfort Food Redefined By Bob & Sue Located in a refurbished Nabisco factory, New York City’s new gastrobar features creative comfort food by executive chef Todd Macdonald, who ran the kitchens at Cru and Villa Pacri. Among his many specialty dishes are spicy lamb burgers with a cilantro and sumac aioli, mac and parmesan cheese… Read More →
Comfort Food Redefined By Bob & Sue Located in a refurbished Nabisco factory, New York City’s new gastrobar features creative comfort food by executive chef Todd Macdonald, who ran the kitchens at Cru and Villa Pacri. Among his many specialty dishes are spicy lamb burgers with a cilantro and sumac aioli, mac and parmesan cheese… Read More →
She likes her animals whole. April Bloomfield once dreamt of policing the streets of her native Birmingham. Lucky for us, that fell through. April resorted to culinary school, moving on to work in such lauded restaurants as the River Cafe and Chez Panisse, before she strolled into the spotlight as the chef/owner of NYC’s original… Read More →
She likes her animals whole. April Bloomfield once dreamt of policing the streets of her native Birmingham. Lucky for us, that fell through. April resorted to culinary school, moving on to work in such lauded restaurants as the River Cafe and Chez Panisse, before she strolled into the spotlight as the chef/owner of NYC’s original… Read More →
Upper East Side Bistro By Bob & Sue James-Beard-winning Rising-Star Chef Gavin Kaysen (native Minnesotan) cooked a special seven-course meal for us (fellow Minnesotans) that included 1) cauliflower veloute with osetra caviar, 2) lobster with Thai flavors, mango, and lemongrass in a coconut broth, 3) black squid ink spaghetti with rock shrimp, razor clams, and… Read More →
Upper East Side Bistro By Bob & Sue James-Beard-winning Rising-Star Chef Gavin Kaysen (native Minnesotan) cooked a special seven-course meal for us (fellow Minnesotans) that included 1) cauliflower veloute with osetra caviar, 2) lobster with Thai flavors, mango, and lemongrass in a coconut broth, 3) black squid ink spaghetti with rock shrimp, razor clams, and… Read More →
Upper East Side Haven My favorite place to escape the chaos of NYC has to be The Surrey. Originally built in 1926 as a residence hotel, this 190-room Upper East Side haven emerged from a 2009 top-to-bottom renovation boasting modern luxury, an award-winning dining program (headed up by James Beard Award-winning chef, Gavin Kaysen) and… Read More →
Upper East Side Haven My favorite place to escape the chaos of NYC has to be The Surrey. Originally built in 1926 as a residence hotel, this 190-room Upper East Side haven emerged from a 2009 top-to-bottom renovation boasting modern luxury, an award-winning dining program (headed up by James Beard Award-winning chef, Gavin Kaysen) and… Read More →
