Can I have my salad on the side, but I’d like the tomatoes separate. I still want the tomatoes, I just don’t want them touching the greens. Great. And what’s in the salad dressing? OK. Oh pumpkin seed, pomegranate. Fabulous. Sounds so yum. Could you do me a favor, and just coat the plate with ...

Oh my, shame and embarrassment and dishonor fall on my head. Day 4, a Sunday, of Tous au Restaurant week, there weren't a lot of choices (stop apologizing), and we'd not been to Le Grand B since the Freres Blanc revamped it earlier this year to mild acclaim as Paris's (and perhaps the world's) ...

“I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.” –Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin. My camera went on the fritz and had to go to the hospital. I found I didn’t want to blog without my camera; it’s as if I’ve lost my ability to see. The camera isn’t rea...

My mother always said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” And ordinarily if we go to a restaurant and we don’t like it, we don’t blog it. But, this one got to me. We had gone to Il Clandestino in Porto Novo a few years ago and had an astonishing, memorable, ...

What does ‘authentic’ mean? People exult in finding an authentic Indian restaurant, or Chinese or Mexican or Italian, but what does that mean? Bufalo mozzarella, shipped to the US, is absolutely made in Italy, but by the time it gets to the States..it’s old mozzarella. Wouldn’t it be more true...

The dog days of summer are upon us. "When the seas boiled, wine turned sour, Quinto raged in anger, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" according to Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813. Is it any wonder, when the world feels ...

They’re in season, so why not take advantage of this abundance? Besides, I’ve had enough people ask me, “How do you clean an artichoke?” and “What can I make with an artichoke?” that I finally took the hint. So here’s to a week of celebrating the ‘choke! I didn’t grow up eating artichokes...

I’ve got at least 20 years of experience under my belt, or in my ski boots, whatever the case may be, but I still think high altitude cooking is a royal pain. The Lodge at Snowbird is 8100 ft above sea level, which means water boils at around 185F. It means the little white Zolfino beans th...

Everyone by knows my biase towards Ze Kitchen Galerie and its chef-owner and staff. It is always such a pleasure to dine there. The first courses today included from top to bottom, a Thai bouillabaisse, a celery-bean soup with sweetbreads, a selection of oysters, clams, etc., also ...

Life gets hectic this time of year so it’s time to rely on quick, easy, satisfying and easy to clean. If it’s going to be dinner, then it needs to satisfy 1 Pear, a firm pear, not over ripe Salad greens for two, a mild green like baby romaine works well Vinaigrette (olive oil, vinegar and mu...