Los Angeles Times
Maybe it was one Rachael Ray cookbook too many, but when a memoir called “Last Chance to Eat” by an author I had never heard of landed on my desk, I picked it up and didn’t stop reading until I had finished two more food books with more writing than recipes. (more…)
Los Angeles Times
Cookbooks I buy on the road have always been my idea of trips that keep on giving. (more…)
Saveur (published in altered form)
Sometime after I got out of restaurant school and started writing about food, my next-older sister unexpectedly sent me the closest thing to an heirloom from my bleak childhood: my mom’s 1956 “Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book.” (more…)
Los Angeles Times
Every few years a dish seems to come out of nowhere and spread like kudzu. (more…)
Los Angeles Times
Don’t ask Pierre Gagnaire how many ounces of bittersweet chocolate go into one of his desserts, let alone how long to bake it. The notoriously imaginative Paris chef has more important insights to impart. (more…)