Category: Chefs

The Last Time I Saw Alsace – Part 1

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It is impossible not to fall in love with Alsace. Once you see it for the first time, resistance is futile. Once you taste and drink its many delights, stroll its cobblestone streets and walk amongst the candy-colored, half-timbered houses, you might as well resign yourself to a life-long love affair with Franco-German France. Alsace is a region, but it is also a culture; a battle-born civilization of freedoms hard won, peoples cross-pollinated and gastronomic traditions firmly entrenched. It also happens to be one of the most delicious places to eat and drink on the planet.

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What’s NIU-GU With You?

Niu-Gu is an experiment of sorts. In the few months it has been open, it has gone from a simple noodle parlor, with a limited menu of Chinese soups and starches, to a full service restaurant serving everything from the formal farm-to-cup Chinese tea service to the best, freshest friggin’ fish we’ve ever had in Chinatown:

(Silky, rich, true Pacific black cod)

How well they succeed is going to tell us a lot about just how sophisticated people want their Asian food to be.

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Waiter, There’s a HERRINGBONE Stuck in My Throat

Sometimes, you just know too much.

There comes a time when there have been too many meals in too many restaurants over too many decades. So many, in fact, that you can take the measure of a place within minutes of sitting down.

You get to where you can see the wheels turning and hear the exact conversations that went into the concept, the menu, and the cooking.

You get to the point where you spot the corporate calculation in every corner, and all you can do is sigh.

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