Home espresso machines are sort of like personal computers. Just when you get comfortable with one, another model comes out. Then another. And another. Pretty soon you’re feeling like an espresso machine Luddite. So, should you get the new Starbucks Sirena. Or the equally new Nespresso Lattissima? Or should you …
you have ever watched a Samurai epic, you know that Japanese warriors paid a great deal of attention to their swords. That same attention has gone into the making of Japanese kitchen knives, whose sales have skyrocketed in the past 10 to 15 years. The popularity of Japanese-style knives has …
Superbowl Sunday will soon be upon us and it’s time for major snacking while we watch the big game. When I was food editor of the San Jose Mercury News, I often tied the foods for the Super Bowl to the teams participating or the cities in which the games …
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve written about American food products catching up to (and sometimes surpassing) the benchmarks from Europe. The most recent American big dog is triple-cream cheeses, which is a group as rich and decadent as it sounds. It comes as no surprise that …
Jose Garces made his culinary splash in Philadelphia on the strength of the roast suckling at his Spanish restaurant Amada. Now he has taken the pig on the road to Mercat a la Planxa Chicago. But he’s not alone. Spanish and non-Spanish chefs alike are preparing this sweet, succulent and …
As many out of towners (even from New York!) have found out, Philadelphia, the city where I live, is a great food town. And I’m not just talking cheesesteaks, hoagies and soft pretzels. One of the foremost additions to the restaurant scene in City of Brotherly Love has been Jose …
