Truffles: The Mozart of Mushrooms: The truffle has been prized for millennia, lauded by those lucky enough to encounter the rare and capricious jewel. The Roman philosopher and historian Pliny wrote how they were ‘born spontaneously and live without roots, in an aura of mystery’. His fellow Italian, the composer Rossini, called them ‘The Mozart of mushrooms’ 1800 years later, while the English Romantic poet Lord Byron seemingly had one sit on his desk as the unique, musky perfume inspired his creativity. Rosanna Marziale: the queen of mozzarella: Pasta and pizza are two Italian dishes that many chefs strive to master over decades of their careers. Discovering how to make that perfect crust or knowing just the right amount of pasta water to add to a sauce so it emulsifies to give it the perfect consistency are skills reserved for only the highest level of chefs. But for the Michelin-starred chef Rosanna Marziale, it’s not specific dishes she’s dedicated her life to, but a specific … [Read more...]

The worst mistake everybody makes when cooking steak, according to Anthony Bourdain: World-famous food guy Anthony Bourdain has a new book out called "Appetites," and he recently appeared on the Marc Maron "WTF" podcastto talk about it. During his conversation with Maron, Bourdain talks about how a lot of people just don't know how to cook, and he offers some tips. At one point he describes how people get cooking steak all wrong. "No one knows how to grill a backyard steak in this country," Bourdain says. A foodie tour of Iran: it's poetry on a plate: Imagine a verdant, landscape filled with rice paddies, tea plantations and olive groves. A land where you can hike up mountains in the thick mist of the morning and picnic by waterfalls on sun-weathered rocks in the afternoon. A land filled with golden apricots that taste like honey, peaches so succulent you barely notice the sweet juice that runs down your chin, and small black figs, firm and velvety to the touch, that erupt with jammy … [Read more...]

Mastering the Art of French Dining: From childhood, the French are raised to appreciate the art of dining, and the many rituals that accompany it—even public school lunches include a cheese course. Part of the reason you’re traveling to France is, presumably, to tap into that gastronomic reverence. But knowing how to do it right is tricky, particularly if you don’t speak the language. Here’s everything you need to know about Parisian restaurant etiquette, including some helpful phrases. Do as the French do, and you’ll have a much better experience in Paris. How migration has enriched the UK’s booming food culture: The subject has become a key issue in the Brexit debate: who gets in and who has to stay out. And what will Britain look like if we put up insurmountable barriers to people from other countries and cultures who want to live and work here? The Conservative government has already been tightening up immigration controls for the very people British industries say are … [Read more...]

The restaurant that employs grandmas instead of chefs: What’s better than grandma’s cooking? Well, nothing. Which is the raison d'etre of Staten Island's Enoteca Maria. The brilliant brainstorm belongs to owner Jody Scaravella, who started out a decade ago with just Italian nonnas but has branched out to include 30 grandmas from around the world; think Argentina, Algeria, Syria, the Dominican Republic, Poland, Liberia, and Nigeria. Every night there is one Italian grandma in the kitchen, joined by another nonna with a different culinary tradition. Milan leads fight against food waste – with ugly fruit and Michelin-starred soup kitchens: On a Saturday afternoon, as soon as the market is drawing to a close, traders bring their boxes of unsold fruit and vegetables to a corner of Viale Papiniano in Milan. They are welcomed by Rebecca, a 25-year-old student who’s behind Recup, a project that distributes leftover food to people in need in the local neighbourhood. Along with 20 fellow … [Read more...]

The World's 20 Best Restaurants 2050: DA’ SOLO – Italian Chef Giuseppe Ciabolongo’s remote one-seat restaurant, nestled away in the hills of the Marché, has the distinction of being this year’s top restaurant. Reservations must be made ten years in advance since Da’ Solo only serves a single diner per night—a solitary feast which often lasts over fifteen hours. Eager gastrophiles must be patient since the restaurant is only open four days a year, on the Summer and Winter Solstice and the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox. Michelin: A Friendship That Went Sour: “Hi Rogelio (Rogelio Enriquez), my wife and I are going to spend five days in Asturias.  Any restaurant we should not miss?” It does not have to be Asturias, of course. Substitute Loire Valley, San Francisco, Galicia, Puglia, Piemonte and what not. My wife and I always rely on our trusted friends, such as Rogelio; on the chefs of restaurants we value; on the native and discerning palates whom we meet accidentally while dining in … [Read more...]

How Tech Companies Disrupted Silicon Valley’s Restaurant Scene: It wasn’t so long ago that the aroma of Moroccan spiced prawns and wood-oven pizzas wafted out to a downtown street here from the open-air patio of a once popular eatery called Zibibbo. Today that patio is behind locked doors, obscured by frosted glass. The pizza oven is gone. The formerly crowded bar has been converted into a sparsely populated start-up space of a dozen engineers, their bikes and whiteboards. After 17 years in operation, the restaurant closed in 2014. The space is now an American Express venture capital office and a start-up incubator. The building blocks of Japanese cuisine:  When it comes to Japanese food, we’ve reached beyond the fifties-era soy sauce, sukiyaki, and tempura and the seventies-era sushi, sashimi, and miso. Now, in this fermentation-crazed time, we are ready to step up our understanding of the building blocks of Japanese cuisine on our way to appreciate how the sauces used in Japanese … [Read more...]

Why Are So Many Great NYC Restaurants Closing? It’s Not Just The Rent: It’s happening all over New York City, to restaurants big and small, from acclaimed pioneers, like WD-50, Union Square Café, Telepan, the Campbell Apartment and the Four Seasons, to more humble and beloved spots, like Bianca, Hamilton’s and Brooklyn Fish Camp. All shuttered or packing up because the rent is due and it’s too damn high. How high? The Seagram Building’s owner, RFR Holding, is said to have wanted to raise the Four Seasons’ annual rent to a market rate of $3.7 million from $784,000. Mark Grossich, who took over the Campbell Apartment space 17 years ago, was paying $350,000 a year and offered to pay his landlord, the MTA, $800,000 per year to save his bar. Not enough. Nightlife guru Scott Gerber made a bid for $1.1 million a year, and after a contentious lawsuit with the MTA, Gerber got the deal. Union Square Café’s rent was tripled. No credit for making the neighborhood great in the first … [Read more...]

A Food Crawl Through San Sebastián With One of the World’s Top Chefs: About an hour’s drive east of Bilbao, and just 12 miles west of the French border, lies San Sebastián, a coastal Northern Spain gem of a resort town located in the country’s Basque region. Reputed for its turquoise waters, palm tree–lined streets, and—most of all—its cuisine, San Sebastián which also goes by its Basque name, Donostia—is the area’s culinary capital and counts two of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, in addition to one of the highest concentrations of Michelin stars anywhere. But when in town, the best plates aren’t found on white tablecloths. Heston Blumenthal interview: the Fat Duck flies again: Memories are important to Heston Blumenthal. They are the raw material of his wildly imaginative creations at the Fat Duck, and the experience of eating there is designed to stir up powerful feelings of nostalgia, right down to the name of each dish. Current examples include, “Can I have some money for the … [Read more...]

How to rain proof your barbecue: Planning a barbecue but worried about the weather? Don’t be put off: follow these tips for great grilling come rain or shine. Plus: recipes you can cook in the oven or over coals. Picking up the baton as the world’s best chef: There’s a persistent clicking sound inside the kitchen of the Hôtel de Ville. It takes a while to locate it and then, I realise… it’s coming from the chef, Franck Giovannini. The at-times frantic clicking on and off of a pen is the only sign of the adrenaline below the surface in this boyish-looking 42-year-old. He’s leading a lunch service at the restaurant in the Lausanne suburbs, which is adorned with three Michelin stars and 19 Gault&Millau points. Last year it was also named best in the world in a new French ranking. But what must it be like to take on the mantle as the world’s top chef at a restaurant where the previous two star cooks died prematurely? Five Star mayor of Turin to create Italy’s first ‘vegetarian … [Read more...]