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When I posted my first version of this sandwich on my blog, I knew it was something I was crazy about, but I didn't expect the popularity of that post. After all, there's a lot of online scoffing about the proliferation of fast, easy, few-ingredient recipes.
Heck, I'm one of the people who scoffs at those recipes. I'm perfectly happy to empty out the spice cabinet and pantry and spend the day in the kitchen. On the other hand, when I made this sandwich, I knew it was just about perfect the way it was. It didn't need any more than its five simple ingredients.
Well, okay, I made the bread from scratch, so it's technically more than five ingredients, but you don't have to do that.
Of course, nothing I make ever stays the same. I'm constantly tweaking. So now there's a second version of this sandwich. Better? Perhaps. You decide.
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Everytime my wife and I visit Sapporo, Japan we visit Le Musee -- a restaurant that blew my mind the first time I visited. Then I saw Bourdain's series on El Bulli and, bingo!, I saw the underpinnings of the creativity at Le Musee. Chef Makoto Ishii studied in Spain and France, but bases his cuisine on the incredible sea food of this very northern Island and its equally fresh, local produce. But the whimsy and sheer technical skill has been matched ONLY by what I've seen of El Bulli. Did Chef Ishii study at El Bulli? It sure feels like he did. El Bulli's influence is obvious and he is using it as a springboard to take local ingredients and Japanese sensibilities to craft an entirely interesting, stimulating and amazing cuisine of his own. Very tiny restaurant at the northern end of a park in Sapporo, Japan. El Bulli lives on -- albiet in a smaller, local and Japanese manner.]]>
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As I was browsing the aisles at the grocery store looking for something cheap to make, I came across the ground beef section. I found a good deal on the 85/15 ground beef, so I decided to buy a pound or so. Tonight on the menu: cheeseburgers. Simple. How complicated can a good ole burger be? A few spices, some cheese, produce, and a few condiments...BAM! You've got yourself an American classic! Ok let me go measure out some spices and make you my recipe for "What Is Cooking Now?" <--shameless plug! Recipe follows:]]>
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I believe, Alton brown said it best that if we are to taste a "real" pizza then, we must take back the reins of control from those "delivery chains" that have squandered away "taste" and "quality" for a 30 minute delivery clause and turn to our very own kitchens to claim a piece of that oooey gooey cheesy goodness that we have taken for granted.]]>
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Cooking the perfect egg may sound like such a simple order, yet this task harbors a wealth of culinary import. Cooking the perfect egg, be it hard-cooked or coddled, is a bit of a culinary feather in one's cap. However anyone who has taken advanced cooking classes or even gotten an online PhD in one of the sciences knows that the reasons for this are myriad and relate primarily to the egg's chemistry.]]>
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I am 31 years old. And I have eaten pizza the world over. I've had deep dish in Chicago. I've had Ray's in New York: Famous and Original. I've had Pissaladiere in France. I've had it with anchovies, eggs, duck sausage, cheeseburgers, and gherkin pickles (on different occasions of course). I've had it with stuffed crust, no crust, and breakaway dipping crusts. It's safe to say that I'm as much a pizza expert as I can be without getting all pathological about it.
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I just ended a two-week bout with antibiotics. I don't like taking medicine in the first place, so this was like toxic overload! I have been taking probiotics like crazy ever since to replenish the friendly bacteria in my body. My incredible health coach, Melissa suggested adding miso into my diet which is a great natural source of probiotics.
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I used to work at a nonprofit which, to help pay our salaries and other overhead, operated a thrift store. Our offices were upstairs from the store, which made for great coffee/tea/computer eyestrain breaks. Because it meant shopping! At a thrift store! While you were working!]]>
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When I used to work in New York City, I loved the area around my company which is located near the United Nations. The company was on a street that was surrounded by some of the best Indian restaurants in town. So every week, I dined at a new place and ate my heart out. That is why it was heart breaking when I had to move back to my hometown in Jersey. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of Indian restaurants in Jersey but it just isn't the same.
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You can have your flat flounders, your haddock, your fancy smancy sea bass... it's just fish to me.
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Don't you just love Bugs Bunny for his famous line, "What's up Doc?" And if you've seen the show, you know that he loves carrots. He will do anything for a bite of his carrot. Well, I always wondered how he would react to carrot halwa. Halwa is a type of Indian sweet or dessert. This type of halwa is made with simple ingredients; the main ingredient being carrots. I bet he would love a bowl of it. In fact, I can just imagine him savoring every last morsel of the halwa and then breaking out into a Bollywood song and dance. 
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So you are driving along New Jersey's infamous Route 1 in Iselin and are starving. Sure you have gone to the lobster shack, the Irish pub spinoff and the rib joint but you want something different, something fresh. Your taste buds are dying for some flavor and some life. You happen upon this huge sign, standing erect at 40 feet tall and wider than the largest SUV saying "EAT" with an arrow pointing at this seemingly sketchy shack. This "shack" is known as "Jose Tejas": a Tex-Mex/Cajun restaurant serving up authentic "Good Eats".
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In the bustling, yet quaint Central New Jersey town of Metuchen stands a historic restaurant, which over the past five years has received a melange of poor reviews. Amidst a shrinking number of dinner guests and overall lull in business, a fire broke out about one year ago. Though the fire was contained to the bar area, there was significant smoke damage done to the rest of the 200 year old mansion. In the beginning of February of 2011, The Metuchen Inn reopened for lunch and dinner service. From the outside, one can see that the once historic restaurant underwent an extensive facelift. My dinner guest and I proceeded inside to see quite a sporadic collection of sconces, paintings and conflicting designs. When owner, Constantine Papanicolaou was asked about the decor, he proceeded to explain there is "a combination of Classicist and Contemporary throughout". It lacked continuity in my opinion.]]>
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OK, I'll admit it: when a friend emailed and asked if I wanted to have dinner at the James Beard House, I had never actually heard of the James Beard House. Now, before you revoke all my credentials, let me add this: of course I had heard of James Beard and the eponymous Foundation, with its heralded awards. And, I would have assumed that when he was alive, James Beard lived in a house. But did I know the Foundation now owns his fabulous mansion in Greenwich Village, and that it holds events most nights a week where rising and already-celebrity chefs cook prix fixe meals for foodies in the know? No! But when given the offer, I brushed up on the facts, and jumped at the chance.]]>
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