Where They Ate: Food Writers’ Favorite Eating Experiences Of 2012

by David Farley on

I get annoyed with myself when I eat a bad meal – especially at a restaurant. And even more so when I’m traveling. Such a waste of time and money and calories, I think. Yes, these are first-world problems but frustrating nonetheless.

Rather than meditate on the meals we’d prefer to forget, let’s remember the ones we want to stick with us; the ones we wish wouldn’t end; the one’s we’d travel halfway around the globe to savor again.

This is the third year in a row I’ve asked chefs and food writers to compile their favorite meals of the previous year. (Read 2011 part 1 and part II and 2010 part I and part II.) I had such an overwhelming response this year, I broke the post into two. First chefs and now food writers.

Here are some of my favorite food writers’ most memorable meals of 2012 (in alphabetical order).
SARA BOGUSH
Snackish

In 2012 I had the first of many doughnuts from Dough in Bed-Stuy. Dough makes yeast doughnuts – crisp, pillowy wonders that cool from their fryer bath for mere minutes before you hold them in your hands. They’re dusted with cinnamon and sugar, or dipped in delectably tart glazes made with crushed berries, hibiscus flowers, blood oranges or lemon and poppy seeds. I’m still amazed that this much happiness costs just two dollars and change.

Although I’ve been enjoying the artisanal food truck boom in my hometown of New York, the finest lunch I’ve had from a kitchen on wheels was in Orange County, CA. at Taco Maria. The menu takes a sophisticated spin on tacos and burritos, making it possible to enjoy a three-course meal in a parking lot. Everything we had was amazing, from the arrachera taco with tender hanger steak, caramelized onions, applewood bacon and a charred shishito pepper; to the jardineros burrito with roasted pumpkin, black beans and cotija; down to the salad, agua fresca and the heavenly flan.

I haven’t yet braved the wait for dinner at Mission Chinese Food on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, but the lunch service is relatively speedy whenever I’m craving a midday flavor bomb. The thrice-cooked bacon with rice cakes, tofu skin and bitter melon will leave you in quite a state – numb lips, sweaty brow and a poorly-timed food coma coming on fast. I should add that it’s totally worth it.

GABRIELLA GERSHENSON
Senior Editor at Saveur magazine

My most memorable meal this year was the bacchanal that extended from New Year’s Eve until New Year’s day, 2011/12. I was with my friends Dan and Tom in London, and we had made plans to see in the New Year at a rental cottage in Dorset with their friends, a couple named Issy and Toby. We met them at a train station outside of the city, and when Issy, with her mouth full of some snack from Marks & Spencers, said “Y’want some?” through a bolus of chocolate, I knew we would be good friends.

It turns out Issy had grand designs for New Year’s dinner, which also happened to be the eve of Dan’s birthday. She was going to make Julia Child’s boeuf bourgignon, and start off with a prawn cocktail. A prawn cocktail in British English, it turns out, are shrimp cloaked in French salad dressing served over lettuce, not a steakhouse style shrimp cocktail at all. As they say in England, it was lovely. I offered to make a trifle for dessert, one that had recently appeared on the cover of Saveur, because it was made with syllabub and seemed British. We went shopping for provisions at Waitrose, one of the greatest supermarkets on Earth, and Issy again won me over by digging into a packet of smoked sausages before we got to the register, asking, between chews, “Y’want some?”

For my trifle, I bought British things that I had never bought before: Lyle’s Golden Syrup for the ginger sponge layers, ready-made Waitrose brand custard (which was really more like a crème anglaise and thus the wrong consistency for a trifle – oops), and everything else that I needed for the other baking I had planned, including “wholemeal flour” (British for whole wheat) for the jammy dodgers (British for jam thumbprints) that I would make the next day for Dan.

When we got back to the cottage after going to four liquor stores in search of sherry for the syllabub, Issy, whose mission it seemed was to ensure that our mouths were never empty for more than ten minutes at a time, toasted some crumpets in the oven and topped them with loads of butter and aged cheddar cheese. I will never forget how that crumpet seeped butter onto the paper towel she gave it to me on. It was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted, and I still long for another. Nothing holds, and releases, butter quite like a crumpet.

While Issy napped in the afternoon, I made the components of the trifle. When she awoke, she put Julia Child on YouTube and made the boeuf bourgignon according to her instructions. Like Julia, she made fast and boisterous work of the dish.

Then we ate. As I write this, as good as the food was, I realize it was the activity around the meal that was really the best part. The next morning, we ate fresh scones that I had made the dough for the night before, and nibbled jammy dodgers in honor of Dan while watching Mildred Pierce and Sherlock on BBC. If I ever felt like I was living in “Bridget Jones’s Diary” or “Four Weddings and Funeral,” those two days were it. Only these people were real, and during that brief period, I had made a wonderful new friend. What’s more, I was relieved that, for once, someone thought more about food than I did. With Issy around, I knew I’d always be fed.

GREG MORABITO
Editor at Eater NY

My single best meal of 2012 was at Legend in Chelsea with about 13 other people last February. We consumed maybe 35 plates that evening, plus about five rounds of Tsing Tao. The food just did not stop coming out. Eggplant with garlic was a huge favorite, and the comforting “fish soup” was the star of the show. Outstanding. With a big tip, dinner cost us $40 each.

My second best meal of 2012 was at Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria just last month. Chef Justin Smillie knows how to create totally original dishes out of classic Italian ingredients and techniques, and his menu has a lot of variety. Make sure to try the panna cotta with aged balsamic.

MATT RODBARD
Contributing Editor, Food Republic

2012 was a big travel year, so I fell off on following the NYC opening scene at bit. Though, Seersucker in Brooklyn is always doing exciting things with seafood. I went there a lot.

In January, I was in Melbourne and blown away with the degustation lunch at Vue de Monde (wagyu beef, rose petal, anchovy dust, booyah) and the cumin cauliflower at Huxtable in Fitzroy. Down the road in Sydney, Momofuku Seiōbo felt nothing like a David Chang restaurant. The fried egg, presented as egg custard, was one cool trick.

In London, the Young Turks plied us with blood orange Negronis and dry-aged beef rib tartare dotted with oyster aioli. Pop-ups aren’t supposed to be this polished. On a similar tip, the nice guys at Catbird Seat in Nashville plied us with Fernet and cooked their asses off. Think deconstructed cheese plate. Deconstructed hot chicken.

I got to spend a couple hours at Noma in Copenhagen and had a couple of bites of staff meal. Simple vegetable pasta and chocolate-covered frozen bananas. René and Nils run one of the friendliest, warmest kitchens around.

I just finished writing a guidebook for Korean restaurants in New York City, which took me all over the place (60 in total). The best, hands down, was Myung San in the Auburndale section of Queens. I found a great cheonggukjang jjigae – a fermented bean curd soup that makes the restaurant smell like a cat shelter. It’s wonderful.

DAN SALTZSTEIN
Assistant Editor, New York Times travel section

Recette, NYC – This cozy spot in the West Village was a terrific surprise. I expected a nice meal and got a pretty flawless tasting menu of great character from chef Jesse Schenker. It was late summer, so no surprise that the highlight was a very summery corn soup with crab-stuffed squash tempura.

Mission Chinese Food, NYC – Surprise! Just kidding. Everyone loves this place, and rightly so. Yes, the wait is ridiculous and yes, they pack diners in like sardines, but Danny Bowien isn’t screwing around. The best of many good dishes was the brisket with sesame-flavored Chinese broccoli. The funny thing is that I had forgotten we had ordered the brisket and the dish arrives as a big pile of Chinese broccoli. So I looked up at my dining companion and said something like “this is great Chinese broccoli.” “Look under it,” he said. Glistening pieces of brisket were revealed – best brisket, in fact, I think I’ve ever had. (Sorry, Mom.)

The Grove, Toronto – A really fun hyper-Anglophile spot that opened this year. Our meal was, as they say across the pond, awesomesauce. Our favorite dishes were probably the parsley root (!) soup with snails and bacon, and a lovely plate of celeriac dumplings, hen of the wood mushrooms, garnished with truffle, duck egg and watercress.

ALYSSA SHELASKY
Author of “Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs in and out of the Kitchen“

I had the pleasure of eating and drinking my way through Burgundy this fall. The most memorable meal – of many – was at the 3-Michelin starred Relais Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu. The chef who took over for the late Loiseau, Patrick Bertron, swept me away. The meal was lavish, yet light, and the Burgundian cheese plate – staring Époisses, of course – is something I will truly never forget. Absolute enchantment.

I was in Rome alone. My food writer friend suggested I try a chic roman wine bar called Ai Tre Scalini in Monti because I was staying in a 70-euro room/coffin across the street. A little drowsy and disoriented, I planted myself at the bar around 5 p.m. with a Negroni. Needless to say, I stayed there for ten hours. I made friends, fell in love, inhaled the carbonara and later, the polpette in sugo, drank a lot of red wine and cold Italian beer … I never wanted that night to end.

When I’m nervous, I cannot eat. So the days leading up to my book launch were anything but satiating. However, the day after the launch, I felt like I could breath again. And I was ferociously STARVING. My friends picked me up in a car (a treat in itself!) and we all went to SriPraPhai for a meal, which turned into an outrageous, over-the-top feast. I let it all go, and completely enjoyed myself. Ahhh!

ANNA WATSON CARL
The Yellow Table

Just when I thought I couldn’t eat one more bite, the pork trotter arrived. Wrapped in bacon, and glistening with a Bourbon maple glaze, the roasted pig’s foot – in all its cloven glory – was ceremoniously presented to us on a white platter. Filled with an earthy foie gras and prune stuffing, the dish could have easily fed eight. There were three of us at the table. The trotter was course number five of the evening, and had been preceded by a host of pork-inspired delicacies: crispy fried pig ears with chili and lime, coffee-and-tobacco rubbed pork belly (served with tender boudin noir and apple beignets), cornmeal-pumpkin waffles topped with mole-smothered pulled pork, a corned pig tongue terrine, thinly sliced pastrami-spiced pork loin, and a surprisingly delicious blood and rye bread pudding. Moderation, as you might gather, was not on the menu.

It was October, and I had traveled to Nantucket for American Seasons‘ annual Hogtoberfest. Though I wouldn’t call myself a glutton, this two-day celebration of pork, beer, and sustainable farming – culminating in a six-course Whole Hog dinner – sounded like a great way to spend a weekend. The brainchild of Chef Michael LaScola of American Seasons, and Chef Matt Jennings of Farmstead in Providence, R.I., Hogtoberfest began four years ago as a boisterous pig-themed feast at LaScola’s restaurant. The festival grew, as the duo added butchering demos and charcuterie-and-beer tastings, and it has given them a platform to share their passion for whole-animal butchering and nose-to-tail eating.

The day before the dinner, I watched LaScola and Jennings break down a 240-pound Nantucket-raised pig using a saw and a boning knife. They explained multiple ways to use nearly every single part of the animal, with the exception of the eyeballs and a few tiny glands in the leg. As they pointed out, farmers don’t raise pork loins, they raise whole animals. Though pig’s brains (or tongues, ears, or feet that matter) had never been on my list of must-try items, LaScola’s and Jenning’s enthusiasm was contagious – I was determined to try everything they put in front of me.

Which brings me back to the roasted trotter. Having met the pig the day before, I felt it would be a disservice to the animal not to at least give this beautiful dish a try. The flesh, far more tender than I could have imagined, had a pinkish hue and a smoky flavor. The glazed bacon and tangy fruit stuffing pushed it into the transcendent category, and I found myself cutting another slice. With the room wrapped in a hazy glow (part candles, part wine), the final course was served: a slice of carrot cake with caramel ice cream and a ginger beer reduction. But one bite told me this wasn’t any ordinary carrot cake. The cake, so moist it was nearly the consistency of fudge, had a salty kick, with frosting that instantly dissolved on my tongue. I later found out it was made with rendered guanciale (pig jowls) and covered with lardo frosting. Amazing.

Though this was not a meal for the faint of heart (or appetite), it was one that will live on in my memory – both for the fantastically creative food, but also for the chance to see two chefs’ common visions come together in edible form.

[Photo taken in Puerto Vallarta by David Farley]

In The Shadow Of Cinque Terre, Discovering The Treasures Of La Spezia

by David Downie on

Will the loved-to-death, storm-martyred Cinque Terre ever see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Which tunnel? There are many, many tunnels between the wave-lashed coves and perched, pastel-painted villages of the over-subscribed, over-reported, and now brutally hobbled Cinque Terre.

Above all there’s a long, dark tunnel not of love but of disdain or disregard in the mind of the global public lying between the little-loved, unsung port city of La Spezia and the tourist mecca of the Cinque Terre 5 miles north.

The latest blow to the Riviera’s breathtakingly picturesque suspended villages came last September, with yet another flash flood and killer landslide.

While the world’s attention was focused on Sandy, smaller but similarly devastating storms hit the eastern Italian Riviera. Four people were seriously injured. Hillsides and hiking trails slid into the hungry Mediterranean’s waves. Since September, the authorities have closed not only the roller-coaster hiking trail #2 linking all five Cinque Terre villages, but also the celebrated Via dell’Amore seaside stroll between Riomaggiore and Manarola.Does this mean blissful silence and solitude as in the good old days? Sure, but there’s a price to pay.

The cafes, restaurants and hotels of Monterosso, Vernazza and the other three villages are empty for now. So too are the cash tills of the Cinque Terre National Park, where normally rangers sell tickets to mobs happy to pay to stride among the millions through the land of dreamy dreams.

Meanwhile, south in homely La Spezia, life doesn’t just go on – it’s positively hopping. After a morning of condolences in Monterosso and Vernazza, my wife and I de-trained famished at La Spezia Centrale and hoofed it down a long, wide, pedestrianized street of handsome buildings leading to the palm-lined port. Our nostrils twitched in the air. We were not being snobs: we were following the irresistible scent of fresh-baked farinata chickpea tart.

The scent wafted from La Pia, a cult, century-old, pizzeria-style place in the heart of old La Spezia’s tangled alleyways. Chickpea tart is a local culinary obsession. It’s blistered, yellow, soft and, in La Spezia, also creamy in texture.

Farinata is a favorite of the merchant marine and Italian navy crews that fill La Spezia year round. There aren’t many tourists at La Pia or anywhere else, unless they’re catching trains or ferry boats to the Cinque Terre, or maybe heading to Portovenere and Lerici to see where Shelley drowned.

Much about La Spezia is rough-and-ready. Seated in the centuries-old, raucous maw of La Pia, we wolfed our succulent farinata, devouring it off plastic plates. It was nutty tasting, redolent of olive oil, and it was divine.

Outside towering cranes swung over docklands. Ferries came and went. Fishermen unloaded everything from La Spezia’s famed mussels to flipping-fresh bass and slippery squid. One of the region’s biggest markets is here. It was teeming with humanity.

We’ve been to La Spezia many times; some of its restaurants and specialty food shops are among the favorites listed in my book “Food Wine Italian Riviera & Genoa.”

But in all the times we’ve visited, we’d never climbed the hilly knob in the center of town. From below it seems to merge Genoa, San Francisco and Montmartre, pleated with staircases. A sign pointed to a castle and museum. We’d never heard of them.

Atop a lung-bursting rise we spotted stegosaur-crenellations and scary battlements of the kind seen on better castles. They led to a ramp and gaping gateway. Inside the castle was spot-lit, dust-free, high-tech and artfully filled with display cases. The cases were in turn filled with exquisite antiquities. The only thing that wasn’t filled was the castle itself. We had it to ourselves.

The lonely ticket-seller gave us brochures and told us how to navigate this vast pile built in part in the 1300s but added to again and again, then transformed in the early 2000s into the municipal museum. Our footsteps echoed on stone floors. Beckoning us were local archeological finds from nearby ancient Luni plus other Bronze Age or Iron Age sites.

A finely sculpted horse’s head 2,400 years old might have inspired an Art Deco artist. Delicate painted ceramics of equal antiquity showed wild boars and lions. A mosaic sea goddess rode a monstrous mosaic sea monster, its mouth agape.

Jewelry, weapons, tombstones, plates, jars and architectural motifs; the displays led from one cavernous room to another, up ramps and staircases, higher and higher. At each turn a more gorgeous view appeared through one of the castle’s cannon-hole windows.

My wife spotted a bronze spearhead from 1700 B.C. A bronze hammer next to it was even older.

The beauty of these objects haunted me. The thought that men and women had fashioned them in and around La Spezia and Luni – about 10 miles away – all those millennia ago made my head spin. But it was the half-moon-shaped tombstones that mesmerized me most. And they were 5,000 years old or more.

By the time we clambered onto the uppermost outdoor terrace we needed fresh air. Several things struck me. First, how could such a splendid museum be so utterly unknown? Second, how could neglect by the global mob have been the fate of such a seductive small city? It was homely only if you didn’t take time to look at it, walk through it and eat its divine foods.

The answer was clear. I gazed at the seafront, the huge port facilities, the heavy industry far off in the suburbs, the navy ships, the ungainly high-rise apartment towers. This was real and I liked it. Over the steep, olive-stippled hillsides due west of La Spezia, through that long, dark tunnel, lay the answer: the dreamy, unreal Cinque Terre villages were just 5 miles away. La Spezia was safe. Like Genoa it was a city for the intrepid, individual traveler. I sighed with satisfaction. Alone atop our castle, we wondered if we should tell anybody about our find.

Author and private walking-tour guide David Downie’s latest book is the critically acclaimed “Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light,” soon to be an audiobook. His next adventure-memoir, to be published in April 2013, is “Paris to the Pyrenees: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of Saint James.” His websites are www.davidddownie.com, www.parisparistours.com, http://wanderingfrance.com/blog/paris and http://wanderingliguria.com, dedicated to the
Italian Riviera.

[Photos Credits: Alison Harris or David Downie]

Where They Ate: Chefs’ Favorite Eating Experiences Of 2012

by David Farley on

Two months ago I was at the New York Wine & Food festival. I happened to be walking by the main stage – where star chefs had been giving cooking demos all weekend – when the next chef was announced. When Guy Fieri hit the stage, the 200 or so people in the audience roared. They leapt to their feet. They fist pumped to the southern Rock that was blasting from the PA. And I stood there, my mouth agape, wondering when (if ever) will our veneration of chefs ever slow down.

Not that this reverence for food and the people who make it is necessarily a bad thing. But you have to admit, did anyone see this coming two decades ago? (You’re lying if you say yes.) As someone who, um, eats food and also makes a living writing about it, I’m obviously elated with the phenomenon. And there’s nothing more I like than hearing about where chefs eat when they’re not in the kitchen. And so I recently got out my virtual Rolodex and asked some chefs where in the world they had their favorite eating experiences of 2012.
JAMIE BISSONNETTE –
Chef at Toro and Coppa, Boston

  • Anniversary Dinner at Clio in Boston. Celebrating with friends and family, and the meal was epic. Former Clio chefs came back to cook alongside Ken Oringer – Sam Gelman, Dave Varley, Alex Stupak, and more. So fun.
  • Del Posto, New York City. We ate here on a Friday night before we had to cook a late night event. The tasting menu was seriously amazing. Orechiette with lamb, carrots and harissa, and white truffles, and mind blowing desserts. Brooks, the pastry chef, came to the table to smash Italian cookies into dust all over the table.
  • Street food: Vietnam. While travelling in Southeast Asia, I didn’t expect the hospitality I received in Vietnam. While wandering the side streets in Ha Long Bay, I asked a man what he was eating. He guided me to his home, and his son, or brother, was making fried shrimp cakes. He gave me some in a plastic sandwich bag. No charge, complete language barrier, only communicating through pointing and smiling. We could all take a page out of this dude’s book. It was so welcoming.

RICHARD BLAIS
Chef at The Spence and Flip Burger Boutique, Atlanta

  • Mission Chinese, San Francisco: I got an order “to go” while I was filming in SF. The food has unbelievably bold flavors, and the use of local ingredients, witty verbiage and no pretension just really sets it off. I’m embarrassed I haven’t hit the NYC location.
  • Bar Tartine, San Francisco: Everything is on point about this place. The decor, the quality of ingredients, the refined simplicity – it’s amazing how the craft of bread baking finds its way into the savory food, and even the fermentation of some of the specialty drinks. The country loaf alone is the Wagyu beef of sourdough.
  • The Optimist, Atlanta: The Optimist is a great example of how everything needs to fit in a restaurant. The dining room looks like a well polished, well produced cover page from Southern Living magazine. The seafood-focused menu is simple and exemplifies how the Atlanta dining scene likes to eat. The name, coming from the owners dads boat or something like that… Is perfect.
  • Nam Wah Tea Parlor, New York City: Hidden in NYC Chinatown, Nam Wah is just the perfect place for dim sum. Besides the delicious food, there’s just an amazing old world feel and sense of discovery about the place.
  • Recette, New York City: Recette offers amazingly refined food in a small, bistro setting in the Meatpacking District. The tasting menu makes for a perfect date.

JIMMY BRADLEY
Chef/owner The Red Cat and The Harrison, New York City

  • Baia Benjamin, Italy. It is a gem of a restaurant on the beach on the border of France and Italy. The place is magical. You sit on the beach, watching fisherman bring in the daily catch as you dine on perfectly cooked and conceived dishes. The wine list is extensive and complements the experience in every way.
  • L’Ami Louis, Paris. The roasted chicken and foie gras terrine are second to none. It’s a tiny joint and nearly impossible to get a reservation but it is worth it just to dine there.
  • Bouley Restaurant, New York City. The new incarnation of Bouley on Duane Street is spot-on. David Bouley is back – the restaurant is stunningly beautiful, the food and service are tip-top and it is a great experience from start to finish.

MARIO CARBONE
Chef at Torrisi Italian Specialties, Parm, the Lobster Club, and Carbone, New York City

  • We were asked in February to go to Melbourne Australia for their food and wine festival. On our last night of a wonderful trip David Chang arranged a dinner for us at a restaurant called Attica. The chef is Ben Shewry. As Rich [Torrisi] and I walked in we realized we weren’t the only ones with the idea of dining there that night. I had never in my life seen a who’s who of chefs and food personalities in one small dining room at one time. At my table with us was, Massimo Bottura [of La Francescana], his right hand man, and David [Chang]. Across from us was Andrea Petrini. Next to him was Corey Lee [of Benu}. In the private dining room was Rene Redzepi [of Noma] with his entourage – just to name a few. I began feeling bad for this poor kid who must have been absolutely shitting himself in the kitchen!! But as we sat down and started to eat, we quickly realized he couldn’t have been more ready. Course after course his style began to reveal itself. An extremely elegant, full-flavored, perfectly executed love story to the food and ingredients of his country. Not a single thing was served in vein. It all had a place and a reason. A canape of a single fried local mussel, as simple as could be, was so delicious Massimo stood up walked right into the kitchen and fired another round for our table. The main course was seared wallaby sitting on a puddle of whipped blood sausage. Stunning! This meal stayed with me all year.

FORD FRY
Chef at The Optimist and Oyster Bar, Atlanta

  • Minetta Tavern, New York City: As simple as this may be, the Cote de Boeuf at Minetta Tavern is pretty badass. Not only is it a big slab of bone-in ribeye, but the roasted bone marrow and natural jus are so delicious I sopped them up uncontrollably!
  • Hen of the Wood, Waterbury, Vermont: I went here with a couple of chef buddies and we ordered every single thing on the menu. It was all fantastic. One of my favorites sounds so simple but it was executed perfectly – new potatoes with crème fraîche.
  • Tertulia, New York City: The meal I had here sticks in mind because the flavors of everything we ate were so fresh. One of the best dishes we had was the lamb breast and the Brussels sprouts were phenomenal, too.

DANIEL HOLZMAN
Executive chef at The Meatball Shop, New York City

  • Masa, New York City: This sushi restaurant offers a one-of-a-kind special experience that can’t be found anywhere else. Chef Masa Takayama is a master and it’s a rare treat to have the master’s hand preparing your food for you.
  • State Bird Provisions, San Francisco: Such a cool place! State Bird has figured out how to integrate the kitchen and the dining room with their Western Dim Sum-style restaurant and every bite was inventive and delicious, without being intimidating.
  • Alinea @ Eleven Madison Park, New York City – I never had so much fun spending $1000… Part because I was there with my mother and she has wanted to eat at Alinea forever, and part because everything was just so interactive and fun plus tasty and perfectly prepared.

TIM LOVE

  • Conch Shack: Bahamas My most memorable meal was at the Conch Shack while on vacation with my wife in the Bahamas. The conch salad was incredibly hot and took me and my wife Emilie each a 6 pack of beer to get through it.

BRAD MCDONALD
Chef at Governor, Brooklyn

  • My dining experiences in 2012 went to a new level. Having spent much of my time traveling in western countries in my free time, this year introduced me to more authentic parts of countries considered “discovered” like Mexico and a whole new continent, Australia, as well as a lesson in appreciating what is directly in front of me. Opening Gran Electrica with chef Sam Richman was a challenging experience because of my learning curve with Mexican cuisine. His level of knowledge of Mexican food is far beyond the pedestrian level and deeply rooted in historical research paired with an excellent palate. Traveling with him through Mexico City last January led to the discovery of some truly phenomenal dishes. I could easily compile a top-three list of dishes that he reinterpreted for his menu, but will stick with one that we discovered together at a restaurant in Mexico City that specializes in Guadalajaran cuisine: “Aquachiles Rojos,” fresh shrimp marinated in a puree of red chiles, garlic and onions, and finished with a touch of soy, served on a tostada that tasted of fresh griddled corn. The kicker to this dish is the history lesson. Many Chinese immigrants came to Mexico in the early part of the 20th century, and their ingredients have made their way affirmatively in the cuisine.
  • The kumara sweet potato dish at Ben Shewry’s Attica outside Melbourne blew me away. The whole experience is incredibly refreshing for the fine dining scene. The ‘gooday’ attitude in Oz will have you loving it straight off the airplane, but everyone in this genre of cooking needs to experience the finesse of friendliness and hospitality executed here. Ben and his team are humping it in a cramped space and the payoff is huge! Having grown up in the South I’ve seen my fair share of sweet potato dishes, but this was next level – not unsurprisingly, coming from Shewry. The dish is composed of a tranche of sweet potato roasted in salt paired with a raw egg yolk, almond and garlic crumble, and finished with a Pyengana cheddar sauce. I don’t really have words to describe it further; it’s just one of those “submit” dishes that blow your mind. These types of dishes challenge you to be better at your craft. It has lingered with me for almost 9 months now.
  • My home table. I’m not selling out here for some points with my wife, but she makes my absolute favorite, last meal, meal. As chefs, we are slaves to our work, so much so that we forget to sit down and enjoy a home-cooked meal. This is one of my top three experiences of 2012, whether it happened in February or just last week. It’s just simply cocotte roasted root vegetables and greens over a savory crepe with melted cheddar and a squeeze of lemon juice. I don’t know if it’s the confit garlic that gets me, or the luxury of having her cook for me. It’s always changing shape and is constantly in motion, whether she’s making buckwheat crepes or adding veggies that are more in season here or there. It’s homeopathic and the best meal for emotional and physical rejuvenation. I believe environment influences taste so much, so eating even the most simple meal with someone you love will always be the most rewarding type of dining.

HAROLD MOORE
Chef at Commerce, New York City

  • I love the twice-cooked pork at Grand Sichuan, on 7th Ave South close to Commerce. I crave this dish often. It is the essence of good Sichuan cooking. The finished dish is greater than the sum of its parts. There is a synergy of pork belly, black beans and fiery Sichuan peppers. Good stuff. At $7 it is a bargain for lunch.
  • I frequently find myself thinking about the Ragu Antica at Osteria Morini. Michael White’s pastas are amazing and this dish exemplifies rustic Italian cooking. This version fettuccini Bolognese comes from the soul. I love it.
  • Any doughnut from Dough in Bed-Stuy is worth the trek to Brooklyn. These doughnuts are addicting. I discovered them at Smorgasburg and can’t stop. One flavor is better than the next.
  • My most recent obsession is the crushed egg with potato and Iberico ham or tosta huevo roto y jamon Iberico at Tertulia. Seamus Mullen has captured the spirit of Spanish tradition in this dish. The tapas-like toast makes you want to order another and have some draft cider, a house specialty.

MELISSA MULLER DAKA
Chef at Eolo, New York City

  • Delfina, San Francisco: During a two-day trip to the San Francisco Bay area, my mother and I toured some of the town’s most highly regarded food establishments. On top of my list to try was Delfina, in the Mission district. We saved it for last. It was a chilly autumn Tuesday, and I figured that a table would not be hard to come by. Clearly, I was mistaken. Delfina was a neighborhood favorite and we waited over an hour-and-a-half to be seated. Meanwhile, I observed the simple restaurant decor through a display window from the sidewalk as I wondered if the experience would be worth the wait. The rectangular dining room had a small bar on the right side, tables lined up in a straight line on the left and an open kitchen. The menu at Delfina changes daily, and in line with the other Italian-inspired restaurants I had visited in the area, the offerings included seasonal vegetables such as sunchokes, artichokes and chicory.When the food arrived, it was plated in a rustic style: spiced almonds, brussels sprouts with balsamic and fried garlic chips, bitter puntarelle with an anchovy dressing, a stinging nettle risotto with mushrooms, braised short ribs with creamy polenta and grilled hangar steak with crispy fries. The ingredients were of the utmost freshness and quality, as they were in the other Bay area restaurants we had visited. At Delfina, however, the flavors were combined with such skill that each bite was sublime. A sweet ending came in the form of a luscious vanilla panna cotta served with diced pear and pomegranate. The food was simple, but so carefully prepared and seasoned to perfection. We departed both convinced that the meal was indeed worth the long wait and eager to journey to San Francisco again in a different season, to sample another array of Delfina’s creations.
  • Duzan, Queens: It is an understatement to say that owning a restaurant is a full-time job. The job allows for sparse fee time for dining out and often the only restaurants I eat in are those that are open later than my own place. Every week or so, my husband and I venture out to Astoria, Queens, after Eolo closes, to enjoy a shwarma feast at Duzan. Their food is without a doubt, the best I have tasted outside of the Middle East and only a half-an-hour drive from our home in Chelsea. At Duzan, juicy chicken is shaved from layers of meat on a standing rotisserie grill. I normally prefer my shwarma on a platter with rice and salad, while my husband enjoys the meat stuffed inside a fluffy pocket of homemade pita bread. Either way, the creamy sesame seed tahina and dried mango sauce compliment the warm spices used to flavor the chicken. When eating this dish, I first mix the lettuce, raw onions, citrusy sumac and pickled red cabbage with the chicken and rice. The plate turns into a melange of color that is not only delicious to devour, but beautiful to look at. Another part of the enjoyment comes from the unique toasty aromas of the spices and the meat grilling that flow through the dining room. A meal at Duzan is a true feast for the senses.

MARC MURPHY
Chef at Landmarc and Ditch Plains, New York City

  • I recently went to Rome and checked out Roma Sparita, an amazing restaurant in Trastevere. It’s a beautiful place, located in the corner of a piazza, next to a church. I ordered the tagliolini cacio e pepe. It was the perfect balance of cheese, cracked pepper and butter. And the best part it comes in a baked Parmesan bowl! Pair that with a glass of red wine and I could die happy! It’s what a true Roman evening feels like.
  • Another great dining experience from this year was at Caffe Storico, the restaurant in the New York Historical Society. It’s absolutely beautiful inside. The walls are lined with hundreds of antique plates, golden yellow banquettes, and beaming chandeliers. But the decorations became a backdrop to the food itself. The rabbit porchetta really stole the show. It was creative and absolutely delicious. The flavors were so unique and I can’t wait to go back and order it again.
  • I was in a friend’s wedding in Little Rock this fall, but before the wedding, we took a pit stop in Memphis to visit Rendezvous. Their ribs were life altering! Perfectly seasoned and so tender, alongside some local beer, they were like nothing I’ve ever had before. This place has been a southern institution since 1948 and you can feel the history this place has when you’re there – it’s just incredible.
  • I love the food scene in New Orleans. It’s thriving with fantastic high-end and mom-and-pop places, where the food is equally good. But one of my most memorable meals there was at Cochon. The fried oyster and bacon sandwich is Cajun food at its best. I went home and immediately ordered Donald Link’s cookbook Real Cajun. I had to have this sandwich again and it’s something I love to try and recreate when I’m craving it and cant get down there.

MICHAEL PALEY
Executive chef at Metropole, Cincinnati

  • Casa Mono, New York City: I went to Casa Mono in January and loved the simple food and the bold, clean flavors.
  • Camino, Oakland: I visited Camino in Oakland this past August, and the menu is the epitome of simple food being prepared exactly as it should be. Chef Russell Moore has an extremely refined palette and puts time and passion into each dish that he prepares.

CHRIS SANTOS
Chef at Beauty & Essex and The Stanton Social, New York City.

  • Tar & Roses, Los Angeles: Every time I go to L.A. now, my first stop for dinner is always Tar & Roses. The entire menu is fantastic and since it features many small dishes, each meal always inspires my own cooking. Two of my favorite dishes are the chicken uyster (or sometimes chicken heart) skewers with tamarind and the hamachi collar with a pickled vegetable slaw.
  • Bohemian, New York City: This hidden restaurant, located behind a kobe beef butcher on Bond Street, has become my go-to restaurant in New York. It’s Japanese, but aside from a daily sashimi platter, it’s more in the style of izakaya. I can’t get enough of their Steak Tartare, served with bleu cheese toasts, and their fried satsuma sweet potatoes are out of this world.
  • Jaleo Vegas, Las Vegas: I’ve always been a fan of Jose Andres and his newest location of Jaleo in The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas never disappoints. Aside from the awesome tapas, The ‘Iberico Secreto’ is just out of this world. From the shoulder this eats like a skirt steak but tastes like a mash-up of dry aged ribeye and sweet, smoky bacon.

GABE THOMPSON
Chef at L’Apicio, dell’anima, L’Artusi, and Anfora, New York City

  • Colicchio & Sons, New York City: We have been going there for thanksgiving the past three years and each year it gets better. Turkey with all the trimmings is everything you want it to be and we are always blown away by the pasta mid course.
  • Uchi, Austin, TX: We went to this sushi spot this past spring and it was one of the best meals we had all year. We put ourselves in the hands of the kitchen and ate like kings.
  • Le Philosophe, New York City: A fantastic French bistro on Bond St. between Lafayette and Bowery. We had a fantastic meal with unpretentious but attentive service. I can’t stress enough how good the food is. It’s how all French bistro food should be but is sadly not.

JARED STAFFORD-HILL
Executive chef at Maison Premiere, Brooklyn

  • La Grenouille (NYC): I often feel like everything has been dumbed down in restaurants nowadays. That’s why I love La Grenouille. They have rack of lamb, not neck, or belly. They have Dover sole, not porgy. They have Champagne: Brut or Rose, not prosecco. They have flower arrangements the size of large trees. Everyone speaks French to me. They pour Leroy by the glass. They put down your main course and ask about soufflés. I order a soufflé every time someone asks me, and unfortunately people rarely ask me. I’ve been back three times since, and receive the warmest welcome from Charles, Guillaume, and Brian every time – maybe because I am 30 years younger than every other diner, but I feel at home there.
  • Per Se Salon, New York City: Per Se is probably an obvious choice on these lists. I like the salon, it feels very relaxing, and the table in front of the window, which has one of the best views on NYC, is always free. The food is always nice, the service too, but I was so happy about my experience with the sommelier on this particular visit. I asked about a Comte Armand Pommard Grands Epenots 1990. It was $750. He didn’t recommend it, said it was drinking like a much older wine. Instead, he offered a 1993 Clos Vougeot from Jean Jacques Confuron. It was $360. How often does that happen? I was very impressed.
  • The American Hotel, Sag Harbor, NY: I’m used to eating in NYC. Occasionally Paris, London and San Francisco. I’m used to those prices. I found myself at a table in Long Island, with no idea what to expect. They had pigeon on the menu. I always order pigeon. My friend also always orders pigeon, so when the waiter came back to inform us that they had only 1 left, but could offer us grouse in place, we were thrilled. Who has grouse anymore? We drank extraordinarily well at prices that could only exist outside of big dining towns. A 1983 Vega Silicia Unico for $300, Bonneau de Martray Corton 1999 for $80 and on and on. And you can eat and drink until you pass out, all the way upstairs.

LEVON WALLACE
Chef at Proof on Main, Louisville

  • Holeman and Finch Public House, Atlanta: Probably one of the best meals I’ve had all year was at Holeman and Finch Public House in Atlanta Georgia. I just loved the genuine feel and unobtrusive hospitality of the place. And let’s not forget the food! I must have shared at least 18 courses with a friend! Each course as delicious as the next and some of my favorite combinations (shrimp salad roll with bacon, Veal brains with black butter, whole roasted fish). Chef Linton Hopkins and team really hit all points of a superb dining experience.
  • The Freezer, Old Homosassa, FL: I had heard about this place after asking some locals where the secret spot was. I was guaranteed an epic meal of the freshest seafood in a more than relaxed, backwoods vibe. There was one catch, finding the place. It’s as if my GPS was in on the secrecy as it took me a few attempts to find the old fish-packing house converted into tiki bar/ restaurant. When I finally did find this central Florida gem I knew I had found something quite special! The dining room consists of an old industrial walk in freezer with one wall taken out and a wrap-around patio/ tiki bar put in its place. It sits on the inlets of the gulf of Mexico and you can literally watch your dinner being hauled in. Uber relaxed and more than casual, I ended up visiting the freezer so much during my stay that the owners sent me off with a 5-pound bag of stone crab claws and an invitation to come back as soon as possible. My go-to meals there were: peel and eat shrimp (by the 1.25 or the 2.5 pound!), smoked local mullet dip (served with your own sleeve of saltines and some hot sauce), crawfish and of course Stone crab claws the size of my fist!).

MICHAEL WHITE
Chef at Marea, Nicoletta, Ai Fiori, and Osteria Morini, New York City

  • Roadside stand outside of Nice making poulet roti sandwiches, next to a bread bakery. The sandwich man gets the bread from the bakery. His stand has a rotating spit with roasted chickens turning on it. He dunks the bread into the chicken jus/fat that is collected under the roasting chickens. He also roasts potatoes under the roasting chickens so they are basting in the fat but crisping in the heat. The sandwich is dunked bread, smashed chicken fat roasted potatoes and chopped chicken.
  • Le Louis XV, Monte Carlo: For the 25th anniversary of the restaurant, I had artichoke toast, puree of artichoke, roasted bone marrow, sea salt, crispy artichokes; octopus carpaccio, periwinkles, lemon, fennel brunoise, rucola; and roasted monkfish cheeks, porcini, bordolaise, bone marrow toast.
  • In New York City I enjoyed the ribeye for two at Perla, the shellfish tower at the NoMad, the ribeye at Red Farm, chips with queso fundido con chorizo and guacamole at El Toro Blanco.

[Photo by David Farley]

Video Of The Day: Amazing Ice Sculptures Wow Crowds In Japan

by Libby Zay on

Today’s Video of the Day comes from last year’s Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan. Press “play” and you’ll see why the week-long festival is one of the largest winter events in the country, attracting nearly two million people. Hundreds of snow statues and ice sculptures take over Sapporo‘s expansive Odori Park, as well as Susukino, a shopping and entertainment district, and the Sapporo Community Dome, widely known as Tsudome. If you’re planning to travel to Japan in February, pencil Tuesday, February 5 through Monday, February 11 into your calendar so you don’t miss out on the 2013 festivities.

New Costa Condordia Images Show Scene Of Tragedy

by Chris Owen on




Eleven months after the cruise ship Costa Concordia grounded off the coast of Italy, the ship remains on its side. “60 Minutes” sent a camera crew in that brought out never-before-seen images of the surreal site on this “60 Minutes Overtime” web exclusive.

“You’ve got this giant thing that’s three football fields long sitting on a slanted mountainside underwater,” says “60 Minutes” producer Rich Bonin, whose story on the Costa Concordia salvage project aired on the broadcast this week on the “CBS News” website. “It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”

“CBS News” photographers used a number of unusual photographic techniques to get the shots including a hovering drone flying miniature cameras above the ship, cameras as close to the hulking wreck as possible.

[Video Credit- CBS News]