NYT Articles on Food, Drink, Cooking, and Culinary Culture (2005–2011)

[Feedbag]

You have to use the word travel "writer" as loose as change when

referring to the NYT. The paper staunchly refuses to use any pro writer

who's ever accepted a freebie -- from the time they were born. Doesn't

matter if the story they're pitching was not funded. If they EVER accepted

a free trip/meal/hotel, theyre blacklisted for eternity. And zay have vays

of finding ziss out...

And since the NYT -- and every other newspaper -- pays next to nil for

stories, the only people who can afford to "write" for it are wealthy

retirees on safari in Africa. I don't want to open a whole juicy can

of ethical worms here re press trips, but without them, and without

papers and mags that cover expenses (count those on one hand),

you get the kinds of articles you see in the NYT.

Now, the fact this particular Times writer was "hosted" by Neil's neighbours begs

some questions...

[nwyles]

I will go over, have a massage, and re-check my facts. I will report back to the panal later today.

N

[Andy Lynes]

Only one comment though (and this is pretty general in all tourist mags): where's the map for Vancouver's eateries? Too bad, it would be a great addition to the article. Nice to see that there was one for Istanbul...

←

The simple answer is I guess that they don't want a magazine full of maps! The Food Paradise feature is picture heavy and nice to look at whereas the rip out map feature is more utilitarian. It would have made the article more user friendly I suppose, but there are contact details for all the places mentioned.

I'm glad you thought the piece hit the mark. Its always difficult to know what to include and what to leave out. I think the only way to approach these sort of things for an international audience is to make sure you include the must do's and balance that out with some less obvious places. Leaving out West or Lumiere from a general diners guide to Vancouver would be a bit like omitting Gordon Ramsay from a London overview, it would distort the article. Including the likes of Parkside (not exactly a secret in Vancouver, but lacking the profile of the aforementioned restaurants) adds at least some balance.

It skims the surface thats for sure; there was a lot of ground to cover in too few words. Asian restaurants certainly get short shrift, but then that could be a whole article all by itself. At least its put Vancouver on the map as a potential food destination for olive readers.

[jamiemaw]

Am I allowed to plug my Food Paradise Vancouver article that appears in the August edition of olive magazine that should be available in Vancouver soon (I know you guys are a month or two behind the UK)? I know Babera Jo's stocks the magazine so keep a look out for it and you can tell me why I got it all wrong!

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Andy,

Finally scooped your article on Vancouver--terrific job. I thought that you hit all the marks. I picked up my copy at Barbara-jo's and was told that she has a fair supply.

Best,

Jamie

[Andy Lynes]

Jamie, thanks very much for the kind words, high praise indeed!

[SobaAddict70]

New York Times Weekly Update

Wednesday, 28 September 2005

(This weekend's update will be posted tomorrow. --Soba)

======================================

Dining In/Dining Out Section

All articles can be found on the NYTimes Dining In/Dining Out web page.

For many American Jews, kugel is the taste of childhood. They want exactly the kind of kugel their mother made, whether it is a weekly Sabbath treat or served only on holidays like Rosh Hashana, which starts on Monday night.

All About Kugel (Joan Nathan)

Recipes:

1. Killer Kugel

2. Jerusalem Kugel

3. Broccoli-Potato Kugel

In the early 1930's, Rabbi Tobias Geffen of Congregation Shearith Israel in Atlanta received inquiries from Orthodox rabbis across the nation about the kosher status of Atlanta-based Coca-Cola. Was this internationally popular soft drink kosher for Passover? There was much at stake here for observant Southern Jews. They wanted to enjoy cold, refreshing drinks as much as any other Southerner. More important, to refuse to drink a Coke because it was not kosher shut Jews off from a Southern ritual as sacred as fried chicken and watermelon.

Tales of Kashrut Folklore (Marcie Cohen Ferris)

The Pour (Eric Asimov)

"The Giants are playing the Cardinals, so we have to make red birds, don't you think?" he said.

All of this food would be served at a tailgate party in a Giants Stadium parking lot for the team's home opener against the Arizona Cardinals.

Right after Mr. Thompson and his team at the restaurant served a hundred dinners featuring foie gras, truffles and caviar, he set out for the Phoenix airport.

Armed with the pork shoulders, the pico de gallo, the guacamole, the chickens and some homemade pickled onions, pickled jalapeños and bread-and-butter pickles, he boarded a flight for New York.

When Tailgating Goes Gourmet (Ed Levine)

"I try to cut all vegetables the way the vegetable tells me to cut it," she said, using a leek as an example. "Whenever most people prepare a leek, they automatically chop off the whole green top, but you don't need to," she said, cutting the stiff outer leaves away from the leek's center.

The Chef (Melissa Clark)

Recipes:

1. Sweet Onion Braise with Fingerling Potatoes

2. Pan-Grilled Onion and Chive Relish

Ready-to-Eat as Ready-to-Wear (Luke Jerod Kummer)

The Minimalist (Mark Bittman)

Recipe:

1. Chili Shrimp

Many diners think only of Japanese when they think of Nobu. But that paste, that ceviche and the recurrence of cilantro and jalapeño (as in another Nobu classic, yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño) were reminders that Mr. Matsuhisa is a fusion artist. He brokered a partnership between Japan and Latin America.

Nobu 57 adds only minor developments to that arrangement. It has a wood-burning oven, used for recurring nightly specials, including a pleasant Arctic char. A new king crab tempura dish came with an amazu sweet vinegar sauce.

Nobu 57 (Frank Bruni)

Click here to discuss the restaurant or contribute your experiences.

Discussion regarding Nobu can be found here.

Related discussion regarding Mr. Bruni's style of reviewing and the New York Times star system can be found here.

The Time Warner Center is a city within the city, a vertical world reached by elevators or escalators. When it opened in February 2004 with a party that attracted everyone from Cindy Crawford to Gov. George E. Pataki, some partygoers wondered how soon crowds would find things beyond the first and second floors, where the stores are. The restaurants are on the third and fourth floors.

Out: Charlie Trotter; In: ???? (James Barron)

Click here to post your opinions on this article.

Bits and Pieces

It's becoming a required position for busy chefs," said Jennifer Baum, president of Bullfrog & Baum, a public relations, marketing and consulting company. She helped the chef Laurent Tourondel hire an assistant to schedule meetings and handle recipe requests. "Until he had one, he was using us in that role," she said.

Mr. Bourdain said he never considered hiring an assistant until after the publication of his book "Kitchen Confidential."

"I'd come home and have 30, 40 e-mails that sent me into panic mode," Mr. Bourdain said. "I needed someone to hand my phone to and take over my life."

Assistants to Star Chefs (Dana Bowen)

But anyone with the change to spare and an interest in heightened cholesterol levels should go for the Mo burger ($11), a beef burger smeared with chopped chicken liver and topped with a fried egg and fried onions. It is twice as filling, and only half as sloppy as it sounds.

That could also describe the deep-fried macaroni and cheese ($6), an entree-size side dish that is required eating as long as there are four or more participants willing to help take it down. It is a firm brick of elbow macaroni and cheese, crumbed and fried crisp and served in a moat of Cheez Whiz spiked with Manchego and white Cheddar cheese. It is much better than it should be.

Mo' Pitkin's House of Satisfaction (Peter Meehan)

The operation here by the National Institute for Agronomic Research is meant to demonstrate that transgenic plants can cure one of grape growing's most nettlesome ills: the fan-leaf virus, which turns leaves yellow and kills the flowers before they can form fruit, reducing vineyard yields. The virus is present in as many as a third of French vineyards.

But in a land where winemaking is a sacred art and genetic modification is blasphemy to many people, selling the idea to the public has been slow.

Coming Soon: Frankenwine (Craig G. Smith)

Correction

[SobaAddict70]

New York Times Weekend Update

Friday, 30 September 2005 -- Monday, 3 October 2005

All articles in section A can be found on the NYTimes Dining In/Dining Out home page.

All articles in section B can be found on the New York Times web site.

=======================================

A. Dining In/Dining Out and the Sunday Magazine

Al Sharpton, the reverend, politician and social agitator, is the kind of New York City fixture who would not quite fit in anywhere else. He's a little like a disco ball - great for the dance floor but awkward in the living room or the diner. On the streets, he is as familiar a sight as a yellow taxi or the naked cowboy in Times Square. And when it comes to dining, he gives off the air of someone who is as happy eating pasta at Rao's as he is chomping on a hot dog at Shea Stadium.

A Day of Food with Al Sharpton (Amanda Hesser)

Recipe:

1. Smothered Chicken

2. Sauteed Cabbage

It was one of the best ideas yet hatched in the still-young history of blogging: in the space of one year, try to execute each and every recipe in Julia Child's landmark 1961 cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1," and write about it. Julie Powell, a bright young woman frittering away her late 20's as a low-level drone at a government agency in New York, hit upon this concept in the summer of 2002, when she was racked with anxiety about turning 30 and desperate for some distraction "to pull myself out of a tailspin of secretarial ennui," as she later put it.

The Julie/Julia Project (David Kamp)

Click here to read an excerpt from Ms. Powell's book.

Click here to discuss the article.

There's a foie gras terrine, poached leeks with a mustard and shallot vinaigrette, pan-seared skate with an artichoke purée, roasted cod, grilled veal kidney and plenty of beef options, including a hanger steak, a sirloin and a rib-eye for two.

Cercle Rouge (Frank Bruni)

Click here to discuss the article or contribute your experiences.

Related discussion regarding Mr. Bruni's style of reviewing and the star system can be found here.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that it would ban the import of caviar from beluga sturgeon in the Caspian Sea, after caviar-exporting countries in the region failed to provide details of their plans to conserve the fish.

Caspian Beluga? Nyet, Comrade (Felicity Barringer and Florence Fabricant)

Good Eating

Wine Under $20 (Howard G. Goldberg)

B. Elsewhere in this weekend's Times...

In a nation where school cafeterias routinely offer five-course meals that include cassoulet and Camembert along with daily dinner menu tips, nutrition is emerging as a bittersweet issue of liberté to indulge.

France is preparing to become the first country to impose mandatory health messages on all television and radio advertisements that promote processed food next year - to the consternation of a complex circle of advertisers, manufacturers and media companies.

Freedom to Indulge (Doreen Carvajal)

If there is such a thing as a celebrity oyster shucker, Mr. Broadway is one. He has trained the 11 other shuckers at the Acme. He is preparing a how-to-shuck DVD for Louisiana's restaurant association. And he has appeared so often on television - on the Travel Channel, the A&E network, the Food Network, and the entertainment channel E!- that his friends have nicknamed him "Hollywood."

The Art of Shucking (Anthony Ramirez)

[ludja]

Langbein has a 10 month old blog called "The Bruni Digest" which spoofs, week by week the writing of NY Times restaurant reviewer, Frank Bruni. click

"This blog is predicated on the suggestion that every Wednesday, in the Times Dining Out section, Frank lays a huge Faberge egg of hilarity," Langbein tells readers. She imagines Bruni as a "Venetian count in a huge ruffled collar," doling out stars from "the inside breast pocket of his brocaded chamber robe."

and

Part of what makes Langbein's musings unusual is her devotion to — or some might say obsession with — Bruni. For years, sites such as egullet.org, chowhound.com, and more recently mouthfulsfood.com, have held online forums where people can rail against or praise those holding the perceived and real power.

William Grimes, the former Times restaurant critic who until 2004 decided the fate of many restaurants, said Langbein has raised the blogging stakes. Restaurant critics beware, Grimes said. Stay off the Internet. It can be unsettling.

"In the past, it was random pop shots," Grimes said. "Now, it seems that you're in grave danger of being stalked on the Internet by a philosophical assassin. The idea of having a lifetime project dedicated to analyzing your every facial tic is frightening."

Interesting in light of some of our recent discussions re: anonymity and online reviews and criticism.

[*Deborah*]

Pop shots? is that where they throw a can of pop at you?

[Cucina]

I thought the blog was hilarious, although she's a bit overly obsessed with disecting every bit of it. But she hits a home run in making fun of his descriptive language which is so confusing at times, it's hard to believe he's talking about food. And the pictures she uses to illustrate the blog - god knows where she finds them - are over the top funny.

[Rebecca263]

A dictionary at hand, add in a belief that snobbery equals correctness, and I've described the horror that is Bruni. This lady has my affection.

[Fat Guy]

There's a fine line between literary criticism and literary stalking. As one of Frank Bruni's most outspoken critics, I appreciate some of the content of the blog, and we're clearly looking at the work of a highly intelligent, quick-witted, funny woman. But as a human being, I think it's a bit scary -- a demonstration of the dark side of blogging. I hope it doesn't become a widespread phenomenon.

[Bux]

There's a fine line between literary criticism and literary stalking. As one of Frank Bruni's most outspoken critics, I appreciate some of the content of the blog, and we're clearly looking at the work of a highly intelligent, quick-witted, funny woman. But as a human being, I think it's a bit scary -- a demonstration of the dark side of blogging. I hope it doesn't become a widespread phenomenon.

←

Coming on the heels of what Grimes has said: ". . . The idea of having a lifetime project dedicated to analyzing your every facial tic is frightening," and what Ruth Reichl has said "They would have done that to me," I think Fat Guy's concerns are legitimate. It's all too easy to find some fault wherever you look. When a person, or a web site, becomes obsessed with denigrating others, or just another person, it usually seems unbalanced and a bit perverse to me. I shouldn't limit my comment to the web, although vanity blogging is a cheap way to take shots at others. Running down others who have crossed your path is a poor premise for an autobiography. That's just one of the problems I've had with a book much discussed elsewhere on the site. It's a poor premise for a web discussion site as well and it's the problem I have with certain discussion sites. eGullet.org came of a certain age when it was able to fairly quickly drop its obsession with the site that drove many of its founders to create a new forum. The more balance I find in an individual's output, the greater the credibility I see most of the time.

I'm not a fan of Bruni's and truthfully, I was less a fan of Grimes. In fact, it was during Grimes' tenure that I stopped reading the NY Times restaurant reviews carefully or regularly. I respect good criticism, but I don't want to get caught up in anyone's destructive obsessions.

[Pan]

[...]I'm not a fan of Bruni's and truthfully, I was less a fan of Grimes.[...]

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Interesting, Bux. Would you like to elaborate (here or in another thread) on how you compare the two?

[herbacidal]

There's a fine line between literary criticism and literary stalking. As one of Frank Bruni's most outspoken critics, I appreciate some of the content of the blog, and we're clearly looking at the work of a highly intelligent, quick-witted, funny woman. But as a human being, I think it's a bit scary -- a demonstration of the dark side of blogging. I hope it doesn't become a widespread phenomenon.

←

Coming on the heels of what Grimes has said: ". . . The idea of having a lifetime project dedicated to analyzing your every facial tic is frightening," and what Ruth Reichl has said "They would have done that to me," I think Fat Guy's concerns are legitimate. It's all too easy to find some fault wherever you look. When a person, or a web site, becomes obsessed with denigrating others, or just another person, it usually seems unbalanced and a bit perverse to me. I shouldn't limit my comment to the web, although vanity blogging is a cheap way to take shots at others. Running down others who have crossed your path is a poor premise for an autobiography. That's just one of the problems I've had with a book much discussed elsewhere on the site. It's a poor premise for a web discussion site as well and it's the problem I have with certain discussion sites. eGullet.org came of a certain age when it was able to fairly quickly drop its obsession with the site that drove many of its founders to create a new forum. The more balance I find in an individual's output, the greater the credibility I see most of the time.

I'm not a fan of Bruni's and truthfully, I was less a fan of Grimes. In fact, it was during Grimes' tenure that I stopped reading the NY Times restaurant reviews carefully or regularly. I respect good criticism, but I don't want to get caught up in anyone's destructive obsessions.

←

I would agree. It's very easy to criticize anyone, and if you want to focus on one particular person's quirks, minutiae, and slightest faults, then you're bound to find some negative.

That said, it does remind me of the Daily Show and Colbert.

[Bux]

[...]I'm not a fan of Bruni's and truthfully, I was less a fan of Grimes.[...]

←

Interesting, Bux. Would you like to elaborate (here or in another thread) on how you compare the two?

←

I've gone into some detail in the past regarding Grimes' first review of Daniel and the disparaging comments he's made in print about chefs and their profession as well as my sense that his reviews rarely conveyed any joy in eating and less in dining out. During his tenure I began to pay less attention to restaurant reviews in general unless I was particularly interested in the reviewer or the restaurant. I really don't have a lot to say about Bruni's reviews and don't really read them regularly or thoroughly.

[Pan]

Fair enough, Bux. I didn't like Grimes that much, either, but I suppose I may trust Bruni's opinions less. I just feel like he has less knowledge about Asian cuisines, for example. But maybe his reviews were worse than I remember...

Edited November 15, 2005 by Pan (log)

[FistFullaRoux]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/11/1...g.ap/index.html

The blogger critiques the critic.... Interesting.

eGullet mentioned in article

Edited November 16, 2005 by FistFullaRoux (log)

[Bux]

Fair enough, Bux. I didn't like Grimes that much, either, but I suppose I may trust Bruni's opinions less. I just feel like he has less knowledge about Asian cuisines, for example. But maybe his reviews were worse than I remember...

←

My knowledge of Asian cuisines is very sketchy outside of Chinese and Japanese. I've never been in any other Asian country and those are the two countries whose cuisines I am also most familiar with here in NY restaurants. Of course I live in NY and therefore it can be safely assumed that I have sampled the foods of a number of other Asian countries, but my knowledge is relatively slight. I wonder if Bruni is less familiar with Asian cuisines simply because he's been based in Rome and not NY. I was just in Rome for the first time in many years, but spent less than 48 hours there and wasn't really lookiing for Asian restaurants while I was there. I'm kind of reaching for answers, but it's far easier, I think, to pick up knowledge of Asian food here in NY, than in most European cities. Then again, it may depend on what part of Asia we're talking about, or what part of Europe. There are plenty of Vietnamese restaurants in Paris, Indonesian restaurants in Amsterdam and in the southeast corner of Spain, a vacation spot for Spaniards and other Europeans, it seemed as if every other restaurant was a Chinese restaurant. I withdraw my speculation.

[Pan]

I actually agree with your speculation, but I guess since we're both speculating at this point, maybe we should leave it there.

[BigboyDan]

The whole idea that NYers read NYT restaurant reviews to have their choosings made, silly to us Provincials.

Edited November 16, 2005 by BigboyDan (log)

[Bux]

I actually agree with your speculation, but I guess since we're both speculating at this point, maybe we should leave it there.

←

I don't know. Honest speculation made in good faith with one's prejudices laid out to be reinforced or rebuffed as factual could make for a positive discussion. Maybe it's grist for another topic. In one form or another we've already discussed how much we think a restaurant reviewer should know about food and restaurants. Some believe all he can, while others believe certain kinds of knowledge will unduly influence his opinion and make it less valuable to readers. In a cosmopolitan market such as NYC, we might ask how important is it for the reviewer to have lived in the city and be familiar with its resources and how useful/harmful is it to have a reviewer who's imported from outside the region. It might well be a discussion that parallels the one about the new NYC Michelin guide. Nevertheless, it's germane to a discussion about Grimes and Bruni.

-

Bigboy,

What's silly to us sophisticates is that anyone reads moving reviews before deciding what to see or reads Consumer Reports before buyng a toaster. Of course, if you're saying that the NY Times reviews are particularly less dependable than others, I may or may not want to debate the point. Then again, I don't believe the local restaurant reviews show up in the Provincial editions of the NY Times. Is that true?

[Rebecca263]

Bigboy,

What's silly to us sophisticates is that anyone reads moving reviews before deciding what to see or reads Consumer Reports before buyng a toaster. Of course, if you're saying that the NY Times reviews are particularly less dependable than others, I may or may not want to debate the point. Then again, I don't believe the local restaurant reviews show up in the Provincial editions of the NY Times. Is that true?

←

ROFL!

[BigboyDan]

Bux,

Out here in the Provinces we read the NYT on the internet, I do every morning. One recent article noted that there is an estimated 11 million rats in Manhattan. Wow!

As for reviews, the whole point of Jules' satirical blog is that Bruni is not only offering a review of a restaurant, he's pretentious about it - fine line that, between sophistication and pretentiousness, and all.

[Rebecca263]

What... Bux was not being satirical? He was making a joke, dry humor, no? C'mon Bux, tell us, I thought you were being witty, not serious, right? Maybe in the provinces we can't all tell. Maybe I'm wrong, but please, say it isn't so! (Rebecca263 goes back to her 78 record cataloguing with a befuddled expression on her face.)