Anewman102

"As it happens, the lover was Coleman Andrews..." ← That's what I meant to imply. But I was being subtle. For once.

Looks like he and Ruth Reichl finally renewed their friendship.

Hi! Here are some of the things I love about Saveur: Pictures of real people (short, tall, fat, thin, old, young) with real names (usually credited) eating real food and dripping or chewing with mouths open or talking to each other close ups of what a finished recipe might look like if you are NOT working with a food stylist and a PR rep in your kitchen Articles which reflect both geography and culture--not everyone in New England or Dallas or Toronto eats the same thing in the same way at the same time Really good writers who are also interested in food--not just big names who simply aren't food-oriented Interesting and quirky short articles Fully-researched and really helpful Source listings. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!! (And, unless Tony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman have exclusive contracts with that other magazine, bring them over!)

I resented Saveur at first--who was this arriviste, threatening to knock over my beloved Gourmet magazine? Not to mention photographs showing crusted-on food, dribbles of ice cream or sauce, a half-empty pan of pasta forno? But I came to love both the magazine itself and its influence on the food writing scene. When the Ruth Reichl era at Gourmet started, I saw reflections of the more literary, more freewheeling influence of Saveur, and I liked it very much. Now, it seems that every month brings a little less Saveur. Fewer articles, of less interest. Less in-depth reporting. More mis-prints, typos, disconnects between editorial and production. And always a slimmer magazine, with less advertising pages. Please, Food Establishment, don't let Saveur die! It was a seismic change in its time and it is still a necessary antidote--lest all food journalism become prettified and Ladies-Home-Journal like. And you know, it could happen...

Hi Chris, and congratulations! I am interested in the old dairy restaurants of New York City. These were restaurants for Jewish people (generally men, as it would be shameful for a woman to be seen dining alone,) who kept kosher in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in New York. The modern kosher gourmet seems to be more interested in imitating food which is usually non-kosher...seafood, barbecue, Chinese food...and producing rough equivalents of this kind of food. Generally, it isn't very good! But our grandparents and great-grandparents didn't want to imitate, they wanted the same foods they had had in the shtetls, the Jewish villages of Eastern Europe. Sour cream and canned fruit or dried fruit. Smoked fish and cream sauce or wine sauce. Cheese that could be made with the milk from one underfed cow and eaten almost immediately. It was somewhat bland (the heat came from radishes, onions, scallions) and very comforting. Noodles, rice and potatoes were the starches of choice. Nothing was served al dente--the texture was supposed to be gedempte, which means soft and overcooked. Babies and grandparents shold be able to eat this food--everyone should be welcome at the table. If one isn't eating "dairy" food, as a kosher Jew, one is eating "fleischig" or meat cuisine. The original delis of Manhattan, Katz's and all the others, were all about "fleischig", including pot roast, brisket, pastrami, salami. You didn't ask for a glass of milk to go with that, or cream in your coffee! This is a very small slice of the ethnic foodways of New York, but I wanted you to know about it.

Because he's incredibly hot, lad. INCREDIBLY hot.

Not that I know anything about it, and not to start any rumors, but one of the sweetest things in the episode was the way Tony was looking at her...I got the feeling there might be something between them. I've never seen him smile so much on any show. Anyway she IS adorable. If Rachel Ray should ever fall under a bus--I mean, decide to retire--Nari would be a great replacement. And how many women can be cute and businesslike while wearing that fur hat in the scene near the DMZ?

He was an extraordinary author, even when he wasn't writing about food. A Czechoslovakian Jew born in 1910 or so, he had a life both fabulous and terrifying; his ability to cope and continue both living and enjoying life are a lesson to everyone about how a human being can go on, keep going on, and why some do and some don't. However--he was a little clubby in his restaurant criticism, which wasn't all that critical. He wrote a long and somewhat effusive essay about Ferdinand Point, the legendary chef of La Pyramid, and it is clear that, if Wechsberg had not been referred by a friend, Point would have treated him very shabbily and maybe not honored his request for a reservation at all. Which begs the question, how can a restauranteur be good at his work if he denies access to his restaurant? Or is that what makes him good? It's an interesting point, but Wechsberg doesn't address it. Too busy eating Point's specialities du maison, which he only prepares for his very dearest friends... Compare this essay to one written by Ludwig Bemelmans at roughly the same time about Point and La Pyramid. It was hard to fool Mr. Bemelmans, who loved good food as much as Wechsberg did, but knew a phony when he saw one.

Yes. I meant Wechsberg. My aplogies to him and to you.

Ohh, real blintzes...I don't know where I could taste such things nowadays. I love Audtrian cooking. Visited Vienna as a young girl and thought the fruit jams, baked goods, etc. etc. were just heaven. Now I eat at Cafe Sabarsky in Manhattan when I can--a modern rarification of cosmopolitan Viennese cuisine. And I read Joseph Wechsler. Such a different voice from today's food writers, but fascinating.

I miss the Eastern European-Jewish foods of my childhood in the 1960's. My mother hated this kind of cooking--she found her best cuisine when Hunanese and Szechuan cooking came into favor in the 1970's--but my best friend's mother knew how to dish up kasha varnishkes, stuffed derma (the thought of which sends some people gagging from the room), stuffed chicken neck. My father loved an odd Ukrainian dish called Kottyetin--patties of ground beef mixed with spices and bread crumbs, the hotter the better and served very, very well-done. I also miss the way we used to eat steak at home, always with sour pickles sliced and eaten bite-for-bite. It seems very unlikely that the starchy, vegetable-light, cholesterol-heavy cooking of the shtetl will ever come back in this country... Also, I used to love the fare at kosher "dairy" restaurants. Kosher food gets a bad reputation because the trend is towards kosher fakes of trafe dishes--and fake shrimp, fake bacon, fake pork fred rice are never going to be pleasant things. Take it on its own terms, and kosher can be wonderful. Like chilled soups with sour cream, or rich cottage cheese with fresh fruit, or smoked and spiced fish with creamy accompaniment. Again, the fat--the calories--it's outrageous! My people have outgrown the need for such things. But I truly miss them.