09/29/11

It's a Slippery Slope

I like Mark Bittman. He tends to simplify recipes for the sake of simplification, but unlike many other folks in the food media world, he actually cooks. And I tend to agree with a lot of what he says about the politics of food and about our food culture in the United States. Over the last few years, however, Bittman has amped his rhetoric up to alarming levels, and I'm finding myself just a bit concerned that the flawed logic he's using to compare fast food restaurants to cigarette manufacturers might just gain some traction. 

The most recent bit of alarmism appeared in the op-ed pages of the New...

Posted at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

09/22/11

We're Number One

Travel + Leisure Magazine recently released the result of its reader poll for "America's Best Cities for Foodies." New Orleans claimed the top spot. This did not sit well with certain other cities. The San Francisco wing of the Huffington Post snarked, “In San Francisco, the food community was hurt. Then, confused. New Orleans? In Travel and Leisure’s [sic] 'America’s Best Cities for Foodies' readers poll, San Francisco was beat out by New Orleans?” The  author goes on to write that while...

Posted at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

09/15/11

New Tricks for Old Dogs?

Galatoire's has named Michael Sichel as its next executive chef. Here's the release:

“We are honored to welcome such an esteemed chef into our Galatoire’s family,” said Galatoire’s Chairman Todd Trosclair. “Galatoire’s prides itself in upholding its storied tradition and serving the highest quality French Creole cuisine that customers have enjoyed and others have envied for more than 106 years. We are excited that Michael will be part of the next successful chapter in Galatoire’s history.”

In his new role at Galatoire’s, Sichel will manage one of the largest and busiest fine dining kitchens in New Orleans, overseeing a staff...

Posted at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

09/08/11

Sláinte!

I got to know chef Matt Murphy when my friend, coincidentally also named Matt, lived in one half of the chef's home post-Katrina. He's a big, ebullient man whose enthusiasm for cooking is apparent to anyone who meets him. (By "he" I mean Murphy, not the other Matt, who bears a marked resemblance to Lex Luthor.) Not long before he left the Ritz-Carlton's M Bistro, which was named for him in March of 2010, Murphy took me on a tour of the kitchen, talking excitedly about his developing relationships with local farmers. He was working on a “greening” of the Ritz's kitchens, recycling  everything from plastic strawberry containers to the vegetable peelings and scraps the kitchen produced.

I didn't hear from Murphy for a few weeks after he left the Ritz....

Posted at 05:52 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1

09/01/11

Desert Solitaire and Questions

Let me start off by saying that I am glad to be back. I  received many emails from at least one reader asking about my absence, and I am grateful. I don't know what you've heard, but I would like to assure you that most of the rumors are exaggerations.

Yes, I was in Libya, and yes, I was employed as personal food writer to Col. Gadhafi. Yes, I ate endangered species off of golden plates while being waited upon by highly trained baboons. Yes, I bathed in milk and honey – which I would not recommend. It's sticky. I can neither confirm nor deny that I engaged in a slap fight with Liza Minelli during a 14-hour, orgiastic meal at Col. Gadhafi's palace in Tripoli. I was too drunk to say one way or the other. It is possible that I simply daydreamed about engaging in a slap...

Posted at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments: 3