I fell for Ischia well before I ever visited it in person. In the 1999 film “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” the scene where Tom, the main character, “happens” upon Marge and Dickie, the couple he is pursuing, was filmed beneath the island’s Aragonese castle on its golden beach (the Spiaggia dei Pescatori, the beach of […]
Read MoreTag: Restaurants
Remembering Andrew Bellucci, an N.Y.C. Pizza Pioneer
Some people are born into royalty. Andrew Bellucci’s admission to a royal family came a little later. On Tuesday, in the long parlor of Farenga Funeral Home in Astoria, stood a collection of restaurant industry bigwigs who had gathered to pay their respects to Mr. Bellucci, a one-time federal prisoner who became a New York […]
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A Cavernous Cantina Returns to Denver, Cliff Divers and All
Colorado’s defining features include glorious mountain peaks, vivid seasonal colors, skiing and a widespread compulsion to exercise and eat well. But for generations of Colorado children, arguably the most commonly shared experience involved Casa Bonita, a vast, filthy, poorly-lit, underground restaurant with food that many diners deemed barely edible. Casa Bonita — sprawling over 52,000 square […]
Read More A Cavernous Cantina Returns to Denver, Cliff Divers and All
Colorado’s defining features include glorious mountain peaks, vivid seasonal colors, skiing and a widespread compulsion to exercise and eat well. But for generations of Colorado children, arguably the most commonly shared experience involved Casa Bonita, a vast, filthy, poorly-lit, underground restaurant with food that many diners deemed barely edible. Casa Bonita — sprawling over 52,000 square […]
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James Beard Awards 2023 Winners: The Complete List
The James Beard Foundation presented its coveted culinary awards for 2023 in Chicago on Monday night, with the top awards going to Rob Rubba of Oyster Oyster in Washington, D.C., as outstanding chef and to Friday Saturday Sunday in Philadelphia as outstanding restaurant. Reflecting the awards’ growing clout, Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago and Gov. […]
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Andrew Bellucci, Pizza Visionary With a Troubled Past, Dies at 59
Andrew Bellucci, who in the 1990s became one of the first chefs in New York City to achieve fame for pizza, then lost his job and reputation when an old crime caught up with him, only to return more than two decades later to a city full of pizzaioli inspired by his artisanal, traditionalist approach, […]
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The James Beard Awards Are Now Investigating Restaurants
The chef Sam Fore received an ominous voice mail message this month from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as a private investigator working for the James Beard Foundation. Later that day, Ms. Fore found herself on a Zoom call, answering questions from him and another man. “They said to me, ‘We have an […]
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Jaeki Cho’s Righteous Eats Has a Mission: Supporting New York Restaurants
More Than Likes is a series about social media personalities trying to do positive things for their communities. On a gloomy April afternoon, Jaeki Cho arrived at Renee’s Kitchenette in Woodside, Queens — the borough where he was raised — ready to work. He wore a loosefitting navy blue suit, with an off-white beret and […]
Read More Jaeki Cho’s Righteous Eats Has a Mission: Supporting New York Restaurants
More Than Likes is a series about social media personalities trying to do positive things for their communities. On a gloomy April afternoon, Jaeki Cho arrived at Renee’s Kitchenette in Woodside, Queens — the borough where he was raised — ready to work. He wore a loosefitting navy blue suit, with an off-white beret and […]
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For a Chile Con Queso Like No Other, Head to Southern New Mexico
The chile con queso you know best may be a jar of tomato- and chile-flecked processed cheese. But it can also be a thing of unparalleled beauty, a deliciously messy, fiery, thin salsa capped with molten cheese meant to be pinched with fresh tortillas. You may not learn about this version until you visit southern […]
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Dallas Attracts a Flock of Luxury Restaurants
The crowds streaming into Highland Park Village are hungry for luxury. At this open-air shopping center in suburban Dallas, they valet-park their Porsches, sport Yves Saint Laurent handbags, flit in and out of Audemars Piguet and pause for brunch at Sadelle’s, the fancy new deli from Major Food Group in New York. Sadelle’s has been […]
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Michelle Wu, Boston’s New Mayor, Seeks Big Change. Old Power Brokers Push Back.
When Mayor Michelle Wu cracked down on outdoor dining in Boston’s congested North End neighborhood last year, appeasing residents beleaguered by crowds, trash and blocked sidewalks, restaurant owners made their displeasure known, protesting at City Hall and filing a lawsuit. In another era, their pressure campaign might have worked. For decades, the city’s mayors were […]
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Lin-Manuel Miranda’s San Juan, Puerto Rico
“When I was a kid, my bond was really with my grandparents,” said Lin-Manuel Miranda, the songwriter, actor, director and producer. “I would go to Puerto Rico with my family for a month every year. As my sister and I got older, I guess you could say we got sent there for a month a […]
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Outdoor Dining in New York City Is Here to Stay. (Just Not in Winter.)
Why It Matters Restaurant owners and diners had been waiting for guidance about what outdoor dining would look like in the future. The new rules are likely to reduce the current footprint of outdoor dining, which soared to include more than 12,000 restaurants since early in the pandemic. But it is expected to allow for […]
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Couple Behind Los Angeles Restaurant Horses Trade Charges of Violence
The chefs Liz Johnson and Will Aghajanian, partners in business and marriage, have attracted nationwide attention and a celebrity following for their informal, sophisticated cuisine at the Catbird Seat in Nashville, Mimi in New York City and Horses in Los Angeles. But that notice has spilled over into notoriety this week as sensational and intensely […]
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To Fight Rats, NYC Restaurants Will Have to Put Trash in Containers
In the latest front in New York City’s fight against the proliferation of trash and rats, city officials plan to require restaurants and bodegas to set out trash in containers instead of bags. The rule, which will be formally proposed on Thursday, could apply to 40,000 food-related businesses — roughly 20 percent of businesses in […]
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What Are Restaurant Service Charges For?
Here’s a familiar restaurant scene: Dinner is over, the plates have been cleared and the server discreetly drops the bill on the table. But there’s something less familiar at the bottom of the check — a service charge, tacked on with little explanation. Questions immediately swirl. Is this a tip? Does it go to the […]
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How Ana Ros, One of the World’s Best Chefs, Put Slovenia on the Culinary Map
“Transforming Spaces” is a series about women driving change in sometimes unexpected places. When Ana Ros became the head chef at Hisa Franko, a restaurant in the Slovenian countryside, she had no experience cooking professionally or running a restaurant. She had never gone to culinary school, nor had she dreamed of being a chef as […]
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A New Jersey Mystery: Who Dumped Hundreds of Pounds of Pasta, and Why?
Ever since she met thousands of her neighbors while running for local office a few years ago, Nina Jochnowitz said, she has been fielding complaints from fellow residents of Old Bridge, N.J., a suburban town about 30 miles northeast of Trenton. Typically, they call her hoping she can persuade the town to crack down on […]
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The U.K. Economy Needs a Pick-Me-Up. Is the Coronation Enough?
Dawn Anchor, who runs a pub in the village of Kings Worthy, about 60 miles southwest of London, has everything she needs: reams of red, white and blue bunting, mini Union Jack flags and a life-size cardboard cutout of King Charles III. This weekend’s coronation of Britain’s new monarch has been a gift for her […]
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The South Korean Chefs Redefining the Art of Pastry
At the Park Hyatt hotel in Paris, Narae Kim combines the Nashi pear she grew up eating in Dangjin, South Korea, and the Williams pear often used in eau de vie into an eye-catching dessert: a fan of Williams wedges, some marinated in jasmine tea and others cooked in bergamot oil, alongside quenelles of pear-and-cassava […]
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Goodbye to the Bread Basket. Hello to the Bread Course.
At Nura, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, it’s two fresh rounds of butter-drenched naan, nestling a pair of warm Parker House rolls. At Dauphine’s, in Washington, D.C., it’s fat slices of sweet potato brioche with buttermilk biscuits and a demi-baguette. Bird Dog, in Palo Alto, Calif., serves everything-togarashi challah — a Jewish-Japanese hybrid — and at Audrey, […]
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Higher Food Prices Bring Bigger Profits, but Consumers Start to Resist
Brenetta Smith used to buy brand-name foods like Oreos and Doritos without thinking twice. But when she noticed that food prices at her local supermarket, Aldi, were soaring, she realized she had to do something different: “I have to change the way I shop,” she said. So Ms. Smith, 40, a stay-at-home parent in Memphis, […]
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Los Angeles Is a Doughnut Town
The dough is built from a base of poi — a sticky, starchy paste of boiled taro corm and water. Taro isn’t a traditional doughnut base, but it is a pillar of Hawaii’s native culture and diet — an ingredient that farmers are slowly working to bring back to Hawaiian farmland. The business buys taro […]
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At Restaurants, Dog Menus Are the New Kid Menus
To celebrate the 10-month anniversary of the successful spinal surgery on Jagger, her goldendoodle, Cat Torrejon-Nisbet didn’t buy him the traditional rawhide dog bone. Instead, she paid $15 for a light pink, rose-shaped dog pastry made with antelope heart from Dogue, a canine restaurant in San Francisco. “They’re not going to love you more for […]
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Barbara Lynch, a Leading Boston Restaurateur, Is Accused of Workplace Abuse
During her 25 years as one of Boston’s most acclaimed chefs and one of the most renowned restaurateurs in the country, Barbara Lynch has told and retold her origin story: how she rose above her poor and violent childhood in South Boston, and fought sexism as a line cook to reach the top of her […]
Read More Barbara Lynch, a Leading Boston Restaurateur, Is Accused of Workplace Abuse
During her 25 years as one of Boston’s most acclaimed chefs and one of the most renowned restaurateurs in the country, Barbara Lynch has told and retold her origin story: how she rose above her poor and violent childhood in South Boston, and fought sexism as a line cook to reach the top of her […]
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The Secret to Ordering the Best Thing on the Menu
Restaurant meals have always been celebration meals for me, but a celebration doesn’t have to mean a birthday. When I was a graduate student, before big exam days, I would hole up in my apartment subsisting on Frosted Flakes and Cheez-Its, then emerge from the shadows to treat myself to what I called Brain Dinner […]
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Are Crumbl Cookies the Best or the Worst? It Doesn’t Matter.
On a sunny Sunday afternoon, dozens of cookie lovers descended on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They crowded into a small Crumbl storefront, which looked like an Apple store but smelled of Funfetti. They placed their orders on white tablets and snapped photos of their millennial-pink boxes of cookies. Down the street at the […]
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How African Restaurant Baobab Fare Found Success in Detroit
He also had a big dream: to bring the food of their home country to Detroit. He competed in a local entrepreneurship program in 2017, and the couple won the $50,000 prize to help them get their restaurant started. They finally opened the doors to their airy restaurant, Baobab Fare, in early 2021 — in […]
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How the Broadway Community Is Trying to Block a Times Square Casino
Some New Yorkers may love Times Square; some definitely hate it. That also goes for a casino that may be headed there. Caesars Entertainment and SL Green Realty Corporation, New York City’s largest commercial landlord, say that Times Square — with its neon lights and jostling tourists — is tailor-made for their Jay-Z-backed bid for […]
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