Best/Favorite Food Magazines

[joler]

joler, I don't think Steve's just saying that it comes down to money. Take a closer look, you might find something different.

No, I got that Hop. I understand you can't sit back and wait for the fame to come to you, but I also think that a lot depends on your connections, and yes, how much $$ you are willing to put forth. Maybe it doesn't make sense to do that here. Maybe that's why we get so little recognition. Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, not exactly destinations where "culinarians" are going to be coming and seeking out those special spots (not like New Orleans or even South Beach). So maybe the responsibility does lie in our local media.

And no, I do not know what kind of effort has been made by the chefs at the establishments I mentioned previously. But I can say that the effort is certainly being put forth in their kitchens - isn't that what it's all about anyway?

[Hopleaf]

No, I got that Hop.  I understand you can't sit back and wait for the fame to come to you, but I also think that a lot depends on your connections, and yes, how much $$ you are willing to put forth.  Maybe it doesn't make sense to do that here.  Maybe that's why we get so little recognition.  Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, not exactly destinations where "culinarians" are going to be coming and seeking out those special spots (not like New Orleans or even South Beach).  So maybe the responsibility does lie in our local media. 

And no, I do not know what kind of effort has been made by the chefs at the establishments I mentioned previously.  But I can say that the effort is certainly being put forth in their kitchens - isn't that what it's all about anyway?

Yeah, that's what it's all about. Except in light of this conversation we're having about due exposure, the food takes a back seat to the message. If you don't get the message in front of the right eyes, how will they even know. It doesn't take much to get a press release into the right hands. Or at the very least a simple invitation. If these places you're talking about kick the right amount of ass at the ranges and on the prep tables, they could conceivably send an invitation to an editor (local) to come eat there at any given time and be reasonably confident that they will be impressed.

The thing is, if a chef that is impressive enough for someone like you to want him in a big glossy, don't you have to ask yourself what he's doing there and not in NY? And before you lose it on me, let me explain what I mean (I certainly don't mean to imply that your area is less than desirable). There is burnout in the industry. People might love cooking but end up wanting to be in a lower-key environment where they are the top dog. know what I mean? Maybe they're sort of running under the radar so their blood pressure doesn't escalate or something. Or maybe they just don't WANT to work where a publicist is taking them out of a kitchen and in front of a rude restaurant critic asking them pointed, difficult questions.

[Aurora]

You and I have never agreed on this point; which I actually like, by the way. So much so, that I find it difficult to believe that we actually read the same papers (the Sun-Times is great for food when I'm cleaning out my refrigerator).

I find that the local papers are not nearly as aggressive or as thorough as they should be given the quality and variety of all things culinary in this town. There are things going on constantly that they seem to either find out about late, under report, or miss all together, and it happens all the time. The food sections carry more "one-dish" recipes, ads and mimicry of "Dining In/Out" than I would like to see. To me, that is not food writing.

When we do have the good fortune to see articles about local chefs, they don't go into any real depth. Just this week, the Trib's "Good Eating" section leads with a story by Andrea Vayda on savory dishes that incorporate chocolate. The article quotes Carrie Nahabedian, Eric Aubriot, Anselmo Ruiz and Tracy Vowell--good, fantastic chefs all from several wonderful places in town--great, but wait a minute. Show me the chefs. At the very least, show me some of the dishes and ideas that they are talking about. Even when the chefs quotes about the dishes seem to gloss over what they are talking about. The article reads like an elongated snippet. At the very least, give me even a test kitchen version of the recipies that the chefs are talking about. Nope, sorry. I just find it disappointing. I didn't miss it, the article missed the mark, and that is more of the rule than it is the exeption, and not just in the Chicago Tribune.

Some events and happenings have passed so quietly that we've used posts to inquire if a member of the press took any intrest at all. For the writers in town that are really good at what they do, not enough of their writing is being published.

I think our food writers should be taking more chances and saying more--much more. William Rice, Phil Vettel, and Kristin Eddy can only be spread so far. There's certainly enough to warrant a Chicago-based magazine.

One consistent exception is a free bi-monthly called The Local Palate. It is co-edited by Alice VanHousen. It seems to pick up the slack in the areas that I mention, and it covers a broad base. It covers Chicago heavily, but it tries to go thoroughout the Midwest. It doesn't just stick to the big names. The publication explores many areas of town to find culinary gems and actually write about them along with the occasional recipe and review.

[joler]

The thing is, if a chef that is impressive enough for someone like you to want him in a big glossy, don't you have to ask yourself what he's doing there and not in NY? And before you lose it on me, let me explain what I mean (I certainly don't mean to imply that your area is less than desirable). There is burnout in the industry. People might love cooking but end up wanting to be in a lower-key environment where they are the top dog. know what I mean? Maybe they're sort of running under the radar so their blood pressure doesn't escalate or something. Or maybe they just don't WANT to work where a publicist is taking them out of a kitchen and in front of a rude restaurant critic asking them pointed, difficult questions.

Don't worry, I'm not going to lose it. In fact, I was born and raised in Chicago and lived and worked several years in Manhattan. Why does a chef come here? For a couple of reasons probably, some that you mentioned, burn-out, stress, there is certainly less competition here, and it is definitely less expensive to go into (or out of) business. Sometimes, it is just because this is just a very nice place to live. So we enjoy our beaches, our mountains, our cars, our slow-paced leisurely lifestyle and then we all get together and bitch that there are not enough good restaurants to choose from... So once in a while, we hop on a plane to NY or LA and and eat at the places we see in those fan-cy food magazines.

[Hopleaf]

Well, we can definitely agree about that article (the chocolate in savory dishes one from this yesterday's Good Eating). I have a feeling that it was edited pretty bad, chopped down. It seemed to end right when it should've been getting started. And you're right on about the chefs; in particular, I was hoping to hear more from Carrie. My chief complaint about Good Eating is the scale of the spreads. It's like they want to do more art elements than the bread and butter...ahem, punny ...of the newspaper industry, the content (I know, I know, everyone's gonna say the b-n-b of newspapers is actually the advertisements, but you know what I mean!). One place I really make a point to check out every week is the Cheap Eats in Good Eating. They always seem to hit the nail on the head. Also, I think Steve Dolinksky does a bang up job on CLTV (via Good Eating), which is much more palatable than it's print sister mainly because they cover things more in depth.

A colleague of mine writes for the Local Palate. Good pub.

Hey, I have an idea, let's start a local glossy pub!

[Steve Klc]

Newspapers are very different animals from national glossy mags.

But one thing that I think has been established definitively--you can become a very big fish in a small pond, and attract all sorts of media attention, without working in NY or any other perceived superior food city. People in the know have stopped asking "if someone is so good why isn't he in NY" or some derivative of that line. There's talent everywhere and creative, good, interesting cooking everywhere.

But I just found this thread on interesting dining in Charlotte and it might be useful to pull some of this out of Chicago:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...&t=14474&hl=&s=

with an amazing post by Kathleen Purvis, who just happens to be food editor of the local newspaper there. Would we ever read such a savvy, in depth assessment like that in Gourmet or Food & Wine? No, not ever. It would be cut and edited and simplified into a few bullets maybe once in a 5 year span. But we did have it here on eGullet which we can all take some measure of pride in helping to foster. By extension, you can't report on news or developments there unless you have a contact like this to write it or steer you in the right direction, agreed?

Now multiply this by how many cities and sources? And then imagine how much space would just have to be set aside for restaurant reviews and coverage? What kind of attention span would readers have to have to process all of this and would this even make interesting reading?

In her post Kathleen mentioned 5 or 6 fine dining restaurants--Zebra, Pewter Rose, Upstream, CiBi, Blue and Luce. These would have the best bet for national glossy coverage. What I don't know is how good, how creative and how interesting these are in comparison with the national scene. What I don't know yet is what makes these restaurants special or worthy of national glossy media coverage. So someone like Kathleen (or joler or Varmint) would have to make this case for coverage--or the chef or publicist would have to--and attract the attention of someone on the regional (Southern Living) or national level. And yes joler, there is money involved in this--it's just a function of how and where you spend it. Travel, support, out of house events, networking on the chef, restaurateur or publicist level.

If I were an editor on the glossy mag scene reading Kathleen's post, what else might warrant a story for Charlotte? Clearly soul food--perhaps in Saveur. I'd like to read that. The key, I guess, is networking--getting someone to reach out to Kathleen to find out there's even soul food in Charlotte and to get her to place those fine dining restaurants into some context that the national media people could understand or get behind. Or some talented writer "reads" Kathleen, finds this out for themselves, pitches someone and gets an article published. None of this happens easily or quickly. There's just not that much space.

And it's certainly not isolated to Chicago that foodies and the professionals on the food scene in a given city often feel their newspaper food sections don't cover them adequately. Jeanne McManus in her eGullet Q&A touched on this as well--newspaper food section editors have to serve many interests, in her case that's 1.2 million readers, many of whom are more interested in cooking at home than what's up on the fine dining scene. It's a wonder anyone is ever happy with newspaper food sections or magazines.

[hjshorter]

And I'll save my last reaction for DC--where I live and cook and have lived and cooked for 20 years--you have to be kidding?  For 15-20 years, DC's chefs and restaurant scene, its brilliance and creativity and value and genius and ethnic diversity has been over-covered by national media--out of proportion to the skills and talent on display in say NYC and out of proportion to the actual level of really good, really interesting and creative cooking going on here.

But I guess all this points to a larger question--do you look to these national cooking magazines for national restaurant information? 

OK, OK, so we're a little light on the genius here.

Seriously, I spoke reflexively, and after some consideration, I have to agree that you're right about the coverage. This is my adopted home town and I am constantly defending it to those in other places. Guess my defensiveness spilled over to the food scene.

And when traveling, yes, I do look to the national mags as a source of info about where to eat. Of course, now that the fabulous resource known as egullet has made itself known to me I will probably use it instead.

[Aurora]

Hey, I have an idea, let's start a local glossy pub!

Hmmm our own mag? You mean build a better mousetrap?

Hop, that's a great idea! I think it's worth a shot! All Chicago food great, small and everything in between. We don't sound like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, do we?

[maggiethecat]

We don't sound like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, do we?

It would be a swell idea! And we could put on a show!

I think the Micky Rooney part is a natural for one of our Chicago members!

[hjshorter]

I submit national media is becoming aware NY is not the epicenter it once was. I don't want to be cynical here, but as a chef, if there was innovation going on in Charlotte, we'd hear about it.  Chefs would be telling other chefs about it.  It ain't happening.  There's no Grant Achatz, Laurent Gras or Jose Andres in Charlotte.

As a very frequent visitor to Charlotte, I can second your assessment. However, it would be nice to have a resource to tell me where the "good, honest" cooking is. That's the information I want. I love New York, and am really interested in what goes on there, but we go to other places too, and so often have very little information about the worthwhile places in Kansas City, or Denver, or Charlotte, or wherever we happen to be.

Steve, just saw the thread re Charlotte that you posted earlier - great stuff. Thanks for pointing it out.

Edited February 6, 2003 by hjshorter (log)

[ferdlisky]

Hey, I have an idea, let's start a local glossy pub!

Hmmm our own mag? You mean build a better mousetrap?

Hop, that's a great idea! I think it's worth a shot! All Chicago food great, small and everything in between. We don't sound like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, do we?

How about a network of local food mags--administered/underwritten by one big company, but run by small local operations (economies of scale...)

Edited February 6, 2003 by ferdlisky (log)

[Steve Klc]

Heather--I think we cross-posted--see my link above to Kathleen Purvis above--and I'd be interested in your reactions since you know Charlotte. I bet there is good stuff there it's just a question of how to get the word out--and the old media process mitigates against that happening.

[Varmint]

Steve makes a very legitimate point about promotion. It's often a chicken and egg notion, but marketing is often the inertia required to get the attention of the media. As an example, Ben and Karen Barker, owners and chefs of Durham's Magnolia Grill, have garnered lots of attention in the national glossies. Heck, the restaurant was named Gourmet's 11th best restaurant in the US. Eleventh best? In the country???? Not on your life (the food is quite wonderful, but the service can't compare with that at the top rooms in the country). However, Ben and Karen are great promoters. They're incredibly active with the Beard House, with Ben having won a Beard regional chef award and Karen being the Susan Lucci for pastry chef nominees (always nominated, never a winner). Ben got his reputation from, what?, Fearrington House, which in the 80s was a driving force behind contemporary Southern cuisine. Many top chefs cut their teeth there.

Today, you'll find Ben and Karen on television, writing cookbooks (impractical as they might be), attending functions in the big cities, and other forms of self-promotion. The restaurant remains a critical and commercial success, which is the ultimate objective. And it still garners attention.

[hjshorter]

Heather--I think we cross-posted--see my link above to Kathleen Purvis above--and I'd be interested in your reactions since you know Charlotte.  I bet there is good stuff there it's just a question of how to get the word out--and the old media process mitigates against that happening.

Thanks Steve, I did see it. I now have a whole list of places to try next month.

[beanpod]

 

And finally, the Maine honeymoon...I'm gonna have to dig through our stuff for that.  We ended up trying as many little places as we could find.  We were driving up the coast from Manchester, NH to Bar Harbor, so there was much to choose from.  One place that particularly stands out was in Bar Harbor, I forget the name, but what wonderful blueberry pancakes!  I'll see if I can find the name and post it for all to try.  They did sell a dry mix of their pancakes that we took home and whipped up one cold Sunday in Chicago when we were missing Maine.

Names are not really a thing to remember. It was highway 1, mostly, for the little diners and seaside cafes. Where lobster fishermen were coming in for a light but tasty lunch (and, of corse, a beer or three) and the fab blueberry pancakes were up in the town of Bar Harbor (with Acadia National Park). Yum, like I can taste them yesterday

[toto2]

I am very lucky because the convinience store in the building where I work carries tons of cooking magazine...and I cannot stop buying them. It seems that there is a new one every week.

Here are those I buy:

Delicious ( australian)

Fresh ( British)

La cucina Italia (USA)

Saveur (France)

Saveur (USA)

Donna Hay Magazine ( Australia)

Régal ( France)

Cuisine Actuelle( France)

Fine Cooking ( USA)

Country Cook ( USA)

Chow ( USA)

Ricardo ( Québec)

Everyday Cooking (USA)

Food ( British)

My favorite among them iare probably Delicious , but there Chrismas issue id ther " It strawberry season !issue , so sometime difficult to cook in season with , The french Saveur is very nice as well with more cooking/recipies than the american version. Régal is beautifull and very informative.

What magazines do you buy and enjoy !

Edited March 3, 2006 by toto2 (log)

[Paul L]

Rather pedestrian, but I subscribe to Gourmet, Saveur and Cooks Illustrated. Go ahead, laugh at me and then tell me what I *should* be reading...

[tejon]

Rather pedestrian, but I subscribe to Gourmet, Saveur and Cooks Illustrated. Go ahead, laugh at me  and then tell me what I *should* be reading...

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I'll listen right along with you, since that's my cooking magazine list as well .

[toto2]

Rather pedestrian, but I subscribe to Gourmet, Saveur and Cooks Illustrated. Go ahead, laugh at me  and then tell me what I *should* be reading...

←

Noting pedestrian about it ! If it makes you cook stuff thay you like ! Did you like you Montréal issue ? Since I am from Montéal , I can tell you they are right on the money !

Just to add a bit about the magazines I've listed , : Donna hay is getting a bit repetitive. If you have a few of her cook books , it will seem like a bit of a re-packaging. The American Saveur is a bit like the old French Saveur: more food articles with a few recipies. The French one keep the food article , but added a lot of receoi segment.

Fresh make you drool with what is aavailable in British supermarkets ! ( I never thought I would say that !) It has a clear , farmers market slant on everything. But after a few issue , I get the feeling they are starting to repeat themself.

Régal from France makes me crazy . It is a fresh product driven magazine and for that , I guess France cannot be beaten. I always finish being really hungry after reading it and I want to fly to France right away !

Country Cook is the "comfort food magazine for me , and no publicity ! And for me , a french canadian, I learn alot about "traditional" american cooking. Very interesting !

Chow is on hiatus , but I hope it will come back. It is fun food for the 25/35 crowd...and I am 42... I walways feel like I want to throw a party after reading Chow. And there food article are always very entertaining .

[Rebecca263]

Ah, here is a subject that I am grappling with at home. Food magazines!

My little one is becoming interested in cooking, and she has been collecting old issues of Gourmet magazine. Recently I have subscribed her to Gourmet, Saveur and Bon Appetit (you wouldn't believe me if I told you how little these cost on eBay, around US$3 per annum).

Now, comes the dilemma! She is acquiring many, many volumes of these magazines! I have invested in magazine file holders, and still, she is becoming inundated! And, she already has literally thousands of books in her room, and in our library/living room! I don't know what to do! She is not wont to get rid of any magazines, great for eBaying when she is in her 50's, I know, but right now, Mummy and kiddle need to have a clean home!

I should mention, after I have found a few old Gourmet annuals in my boxes, she sold off her issues from those years. Still, a wash, spacewise. And, of course, she is a teenager, and she has her other magazines and comics and such! I just found a box of old comics in the master bath, under the sink! Did she really think I would not mind that storage solution?

Now, she has discovered Delicious and wants THAT. Where will it end? We get over 40 magazines monthly as it is, with the music, science, fashion, politics, literary and etc.! I am beside myself thinking about this lately. I have been feeding her addiction to the written word and now I am feeling the sting of repercussion! Any suggestions on how to get her to trim the collections without feeling deprived?

[toto2]

Ah, here is a subject that I am grappling with at home. Food magazines! 

My little one is becoming interested in cooking, and she has been collecting old issues of Gourmet magazine.  Recently I have subscribed her to Gourmet, Saveur and Bon Appetit (you wouldn't believe me if I told you how little these cost on eBay, around US$3 per annum).

Now, comes the dilemma! She is acquiring many, many volumes of these magazines! I have invested in magazine file holders, and still, she is becoming inundated! And, she already has literally thousands of books in her room, and in our library/living room! I don't know what to do! She is not wont to get rid of any magazines, great for eBaying when she is in her 50's, I know, but right now, Mummy and kiddle need to have a clean home!

I should mention, after I have found a few old Gourmet annuals in my boxes, she sold off her issues from those years. Still, a wash, spacewise. And, of course, she is a teenager, and she has her other magazines and comics and such! I just found a box of old comics in the master bath, under the sink! Did she really think I would not mind that storage solution?

Now, she has discovered Delicious and wants THAT. Where will it end? We get over 40 magazines monthly as it is, with the music, science, fashion, politics, literary and etc.! I am beside myself thinking about this lately. I have been feeding her addiction to the written word and now I am feeling the sting of repercussion! Any suggestions on how to get her to trim the collections without feeling deprived?

←

I am planing on starting to cut the pages where recepies are and putting them in binders. When you take out the publicity and the food writting , those magazines dont have many pages !

[Megan Blocker]

Ah, here is a subject that I am grappling with at home. Food magazines! 

My little one is becoming interested in cooking, and she has been collecting old issues of Gourmet magazine.  Recently I have subscribed her to Gourmet, Saveur and Bon Appetit (you wouldn't believe me if I told you how little these cost on eBay, around US$3 per annum).

Now, comes the dilemma! She is acquiring many, many volumes of these magazines! I have invested in magazine file holders, and still, she is becoming inundated! And, she already has literally thousands of books in her room, and in our library/living room! I don't know what to do! She is not wont to get rid of any magazines, great for eBaying when she is in her 50's, I know, but right now, Mummy and kiddle need to have a clean home!

I should mention, after I have found a few old Gourmet annuals in my boxes, she sold off her issues from those years. Still, a wash, spacewise. And, of course, she is a teenager, and she has her other magazines and comics and such! I just found a box of old comics in the master bath, under the sink! Did she really think I would not mind that storage solution?

Now, she has discovered Delicious and wants THAT. Where will it end? We get over 40 magazines monthly as it is, with the music, science, fashion, politics, literary and etc.! I am beside myself thinking about this lately. I have been feeding her addiction to the written word and now I am feeling the sting of repercussion! Any suggestions on how to get her to trim the collections without feeling deprived?

←

I am planing on starting to cut the pages where recepies are and putting them in binders. When you take out the publicity and the food writting , those magazines dont have many pages !

←

I do something similar, which is to cut out what interests me and toss what doesn't. With something like the Montreal issue of Gourmet, I save the whole thing in a magazine file. Otherwise, I toss most of it and keep what I want. Like Rebecca, I have thousands of books, and when you live in a studio apartment, magazines are low on the totem pole.

[toto2]

[Paul L]

I do have the Montreal issue and it makes me jealous..

I adopt similar strategies, keep what I want toss the rest (this works for most issues of Gourmet). For Cooks, I tend to keep the issues until I buy the bound hardcover annual, and then i will flip through and cut up the individual issues.

[jturn00]

I subscribe to the following magazines.

Fine Cooking

CIA's Kitchen & Cook

Art Culinare

Cuisine at Home

Bon Appetit.

I find my favorites are Fine Cooking and Art Culinare. I only get bon appetit becasue it is cheap. I save fine cooking and have given it as a subscription to my father who proceeds to call me the day after he gets it having made 2-3 recipes from the issue. I find that Gourmet, Saveur and Bon Appetit have way too much advertising and just hype what they think would be cool. I find that fine cooking is one of the best out there balancing good recipes (using original techniques) and having articles that describe good techniques. I also used to subscribe to cook's illustrated but find that they over complicated things by trying over and over to test the best methods. Everytime that the I tried to cook one of their recipes if I didn't use their "best" technique the dish came out ok but not great.

Currently I am looking into subscribing to The Art of Eating and Gastronomica as literary looks into food.