The reopening date for Chez Panisse has been postponed following the discovery that damage was more substantial than thought. Fire broke out at the famous Berkeley restaurant early in the morning of March 8 but thanks to the automatic sprinkler system, much of the damage was contained to the exterior. Founder and chef Alice...
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The setting: A balmy January night at a top-flight resort on the Mayan Riviera. The occasion: An ultra-chic dinner honoring up-and-coming-chef Rene Redzepi, a guest at the hotel. Camera zooms in on subject, a woman of a certain age (as in I’m certain she won’t see 48 again) who is gazing with trepidation at...
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Friends, I have come up with the perfect Christmas gift for you to get me. A chocolate printer. Yes, it’s true. There are new products out known as 3D printers, or Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM), which make physical objects from CAD data sources. For the chocolate printer, you put chocolate in, it melts, is...
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To: The Job Market
From: Me
Re: Dream Job Search
Date: Today
Dear Job Market,
I am writing today to express my extreme disappointment that you have decided to award my dream job to someone else. To wit, Read more »
Since today is National Caviar Day this seems as good a time as any to update you on what’s been happening since California’s foie gras ban took effect two weeks ago. So far, it’s a tale of loopholes, a lawsuit and _ damn, I cannot find a word beginning with “l” that means boycott, so I...
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It takes a lot to horrify a British person when it comes to fatty breakfast foods. I hail from a nation that happily sits down to fried bacon, fried sausages, fried bread, fried eggs, fried tomatoes, fried kidneys (unless you’re classy and grill them _ one guess how we had them at our house)...
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French producers of foie gras are striking out at California’s ban on the delicacy. Philippe Martin, president of the general council of Gers, a region in Southwest France known for its foie gras, is calling for a boycott of California wines in protest. I cannot say that I’m aware of a huge French market...
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Fair warning, foodies. Look away now for today we are going to talk about committing a gastronomical gaffe of the first order. Yes, this is the I-went-to-Paris-and-ate-at-McDonald’s post. What can I say? I was standing on the Champs-Elysees, taking in the Arc de Triomphe, when suddenly my eye was caught by an arch of...
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Starting July 1 it will be illegal to forcefeed fowl to produce foie gras in California, and a lot of top chefs aren’t at all happy about that. A number of high-end restaurants have held elaborate, all-foie-gras dinners in the months leading up to the ban to express their dissatisfaction. The process was banned...
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You know what would be great after a day toiling away in the freelance writer salt mines? Having Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen swoop into my kitchen to cook dinner for us. They’d crack a few jokes, uncork a couple of good bottles, Jeff would tell his “that time I took a wheel of...
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