The 2021 Holiday Gift Guide
What should you get for all the beloved but quirky, picky, fancy, practical or eccentric people in your life? Let our experts help.
Peking Duck With Added Fire
At its locations in Hong Kong Dubai, Hutong has been serving flaming Peking duck. Now the newly reopened dining room of the lavish restaurant chain’s New York branch also offers the glistening duck licked with blue fire tableside. More than mere floor show, the duck is seasoned with a chile-forward marinade. The flaming is said…
Tiny Bubbles on the Walls
Last year because of the pandemic there was but a single virtual grand tasting for La Fête du Champagne, the annual extravaganza of tastings and dinners organized by Daniel Johnnes. This year from Saturday through Nov. 14 it has a fuller docket: a mix of Zoom tastings, gala dinners and a major new event —…
An Uncommon Rise for Bread
The pandemic gave rise to a passion for sourdough among countless home bakers. But how many of them tackled the possibly more finicky salt-rising technique for bread, an American tradition that dates back to 18th century Appalachia? It’s not too late to learn. A Zoom event organized by the Culinary Historians of New York and…
The Stunning Grandeur of Soviet-Era Metros
It was a cold day in December 2014, and I was waiting for the train at Shchukinskaya, a station on the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Though the subway trains in Moscow are celebrated for their punctuality, this particular train was running late, giving me longer than usual to gaze at the scenery around…
Novavax Covid Vaccine Wins Authorization in Indonesia
Novavax, a Maryland-based company that received $1.75 billion from the United States government to develop a protein-based Covid-19 vaccine, announced Monday it had won emergency authorization for its vaccine in Indonesia. After months of production delays, this is the first authorization for Novavax and its manufacturing partner, the Serum Institute of India. They have also…
Chronic Kidney Disease May Be Over-Diagnosed in Older Adults
If the public has learned anything about medicine during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is that science is constantly evolving. New findings can change how experts define a given illness, as well as how they diagnose, prevent and treat it. Such is the case, a new study suggests, with chronic kidney disease. A growing cadre of…
La Grenouille NYC: Classic Cuisine and the Owner’s Lusty Crooning
Around 9:15 on a recent Wednesday evening, the mood in the full but otherwise serene dining room of La Grenouille suddenly shifted. The lights brightened. A small band began to play loudly. Out of the kitchen emerged a man in sunglasses, sporting a Cheshire cat grin and hips that swayed like a palm tree in…
A Special Steak Dinner
Good morning. I had a lovely meal the other night at Balthazar, in the SoHo district of Manhattan, folded into a booth with an excellent view of scenesters and tourists, arts-adjacent money people, date-night couples and Gucci-clad birthday groups. Central to my enjoyment of the evening was a salad I think you might try to…
Oprah’s Favorite Things 2021 Is Here, And The Fashion Gifts Are Really Good
Stuck in holiday shopping peril? Let Oprah’s Favorite Things 2021 be your guide. The icon herself just released the 110 gifts that caught her eye this year, from covetable loungewear sets to gadgets so high-tech your Dad would be impressed. In short: there’s a gift for everyone on your shopping list. The best part of…