My first bites of bánh cuốn were hardly intentional — they came from a banh mi shop tucked in Houston’s Third Ward. I’d been working at a day care, and also a stadium’s parking company, and most of what I ate came from this tiny Vietnamese spot. It stood between a print shop and a…
Roland Mesnier, the inventive White House pastry chef whose ambrosial and whimsical desserts briefly shifted the weight of office from the minds to the stomachs of beleaguered presidents, recalcitrant congressmen and balky diplomats, died on Friday at an assisted living home in Burke, Va. He was 78. The cause was complications of cancer, his son,…
Hello, it’s Becky again, filling in for our fearless leader, Nikita. (Come home, Nikita, we miss you.) Few dining occasions feel as high stakes as your birthday party. What if nobody comes? Is everyone happy with the venue? Are the vibes correct? Are we having fun yet? After working through the above concerns with my…
Headliner Flex Mussels After 15 years in the East 80s, Flex Mussels has moved. A Feb. 14 fire and the availability of a nearby space, which the owners of Flex Mussels, Bobby Shapiro; his wife, Laura; and daughter Alexandra, had been eyeing for some time, generated the change. “We’re a neighborhood restaurant, and we wanted…
Anyone who witnessed the rise of fine dining in New York City during the 1980s and ’90s would hardly have bet that Danny Meyer — whose personal touch, food sensibility and laser focus on hospitality has influenced a generation of American restaurants — would pick a Red Lobster executive to replace him as the head…
In August 2020, a tiny, seafoam-green, electric-powered coffee cart opened in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, advertising local pastries and bagels and coffee beans. On Wythe Avenue, in the heart of one of New York City’s most coffee-saturated neighborhoods, another cute spot to buy an iced latte wasn’t cause for commotion. But looming behind that friendly little vehicle,…
With a nod to vermouth and other bitter Italian drinks, Bittersweet Aperitivo, a new contender from Wilderton, a nonalcoholic spirits company in Portland, Ore., is a cocktail hour success. It’s the company’s third such product in its two-year history and its best by a long shot. The reddish drink, long on the botanical components with…
Founded in 2010, Brooklyn Cured, a local charcuterie producer, has remained true to its mission of using only pasture-raised meats from family farms. It recently introduced a line of pâtés under the Gilbert & Bernard label, and has now added an earthy black truffle salami, cured beef bresaola spiked with Calabrian chiles and a rich…
It’s back to school at DeGustibus, the cooking and dining sessions with professional chefs held for more than 40 years at Macy’s and, more recently, in restaurants. Among the options on this fall’s lineup is a class covering the cooking of the Greek island of Crete, taught by Nick Poulmentis on Sept. 24 at 9:30…
Avery Ruzicka, the co-founder and a partner in Manresa Bread, the sister bakeries to the Michelin three-star restaurant, Manresa, in Los Gatos, Calif., has assembled a kit for baking baguettes at home. The results, eight modestly sized loaves with properly crackling crusts, nice crumb and good flavor, are worth the two days of effort, much…