Posted in appetizer, Bourdain, cabbage, caldo, cheap meal, chicken stock, Chorizo, cocido, dining, hearty, kale, Philadelphia, Portuguese, Potato, soup, thyme on May 9th, 2012
Right before it was yesterday’s news and tossed on the cultural junk pile as passé, everything was the next big thing. Devotees of Anthony Bourdain will know that as of two weeks ago, Croatian cuisine is the new black. Prior to all this, somewhere between Spanish food blowing up into our collective consciousness and the [...]
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Posted in America, Beach, Caribbean, cilantro, fish, fried, fritters, history, octopus, patriotism, Puerto Rican, pulpo, restaurant, Restaurant Review, South America, tourism, tradition, travel on Mar 20th, 2012
Conventional wisdom dictates that one should never eat at an empty restaurant, especially early in the week, but if there is absolutely nowhere else open and you have no choice, do yourself a favor and avoid the seafood. Happily, Vieques, a 55-square mile island off the east end of Puerto Rico, and former bombing range [...]
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Posted in adobo, alcaparrado, Argentina, avocado, beans, Brooklyn, chicharron, chicken, cilantro, crispy, culture, diversity, fried, New York City, oil, plantains, Puerto Rican, restaurant, Restaurant Review, rice, spices, tostones, unhealthy on May 25th, 2011
While Queens may have the reputation for being the most ethnically diverse area in the United States, our very own borough of Brooklyn is certainly not bereft of global flavors. From the side-by-side Mexican and Chinese neighborhoods of Sunset Park to the century-old Italian areas of Carroll Gardens and Bay Ridge, to the more recently [...]
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Posted in America, Brooklyn, cafe, history, Italian, Italian-American, meatballs, octopus, offal, Park Slope, pulpo, restaurant, Restaurant Review, ricotta, tradition on Mar 18th, 2011
When you think of old-style Italian-American restaurants does red sauce spring to mind? Red check wax table cloths, family-style servings, a free salad with your entree, rotund red-faced guys with their sleeves rolled-up, going “ey!” and slapping each other on the back? Sure, it’s a cliché, but it’s also close to the truth in a [...]
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Posted in chicken, Coco Lezzone, egg, Florence, Genoa, ham, herbs, holiday, Italian, Italy, Liguria, Meat, Olive Oil, pancetta, prosciutto, rabbit, travel, Tuscan, tuscany on Oct 3rd, 2010
In the very infancy of this blog, back when we had no appreciation for plating, lighting or anything else remotely aesthetic, my wife wrote about the first course of a truly memorable dinner we shared in the famous Florentine trattoria, Coco Lezzone. What she didn’t mention was that even though we were getting towards the end [...]
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Posted in British, celery, cheap meal, chicken stock, curry, easy, England, Indian, lentils, lime, soup, spices, yogurt on Feb 13th, 2010
One finds mulligatawny soup on an Indian restaurant menu the same way one always finds buffalo wings or nachos on a bar menu. It just has to be there – if it wasn’t on the menu you just know there’s something wrong with the place. But how many of you have ever ordered it over [...]
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Posted in Argentina, barbecue, beef, Buenos Aires, Food Commentary, french fries, Garlic, grilled, grilling, holiday, Meat, parsley, Restaurant Review, Steak, tongue, tourism, travel on May 15th, 2009
No, friends, let me reassure you that you have not accidentally stumbled upon some weird, faux-rustic “pron” site. For good or bad, the only p0rn you’ll find here is daring, ultra-close-up pics of the juicy, young flesh of pasture-fed Argentine cattle. And the only things being roasted (or stripping for that matter) are long strips [...]
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A few years ago, my local favorite Thai take-out royally f’ed me. Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit. Have you ever had a restaurant you used to love and then horrible customer service just made you reconsider your obsession with them? Did you feel personally offended because over the course of many, many years of patronage [...]
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Posted in America, arepas, caldo, chicharron, Chorizo, Colombian, diversity, eating, empanadas, indulgent meal, podcast, red beans, restaurant, Restaurant Review, rice on Feb 5th, 2009
This podcast is an interview with our friend and native Colombian Juan Camilo Osorio covering not just the Colombian restaurant – Cositas Ricas – we visited together, but also some background on Colombian food and how it is eaten.
Some readers may remember back in the early fall when we posted about Bandeja Paisa, [...]
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Posted in Brooklyn, chops, Coco Lezzone, easy, Europe, Florence, Garlic, herbs, Italian, Italy, Olive Oil, pork, Recipe, Recipes, rosemary, sage, thyme, travel, Tuscan, tuscany on Dec 11th, 2008
I feel kinda cheesy. I admit it, I feel cool about using a butcher. I understand this is lame and that butchers have been around for ages, but, truthfully, in the recent year, we’ve really gotten to know our neighborhood butchers. Growing up in the ‘burbs, meat was only bought pre-cut and pre-packaged. Yes, every [...]
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Posted in animals, British, dining, duck, eating, England, family, Fergus Henderson, Food Commentary, Gabrielle Hamilton, holiday, London, lunch, mutton, parsley, pigs, podcast, Prune, restaurant, Restaurant Review, tourism, travel, trotter on Dec 3rd, 2008
Since Amy and I have been together I think we’ve only spent two Thanksgivings in America – not because we don’t enjoy turkey, but because it is often the cheapest time of the year to leave the country as many expat Americans are returning home. And true to form, this year, despite a sizable delay [...]
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Posted in restaurant, Restaurant Review on Sep 22nd, 2008
Last month, on August 21st to be exact, we were surprised by our family with the best anniversary present ever – a trip to the beautiful, fabulous, famous and highly-priced restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California (near Napa). Here we enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime-meal (although we hope to make it at least a twice-in-a-lifetime meal), [...]
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