Restaurants

At the end of 2006, I had my first meal at Joel Robuchon's establishment and this happened to take place at his fine dining restaurant in Macau called Robuchon a Galera. Actually I was not too impressed with the meal even though I was still at the early stage of gastronomy experience. The food was alright with the only spectacular dish was oscetra caviar with smooth cauliflower in gelee. The

Congratulations to the Eater Young Guns Class of 2013, 15 of the most impressive up-and-comers in the restaurant industry, nationwide. These are the junior statesmen of the culinary world who have most distinguished themselves this year, and who are its next stars. The class of 15 is comprised of four women and 11 men; seven chefs, three beverage pros, two pastry chefs, and three front-of-house leaders. The youngest on the list just turned 25 (Jayce McConnell). The oldest, with just four years in the business, is 38 (Ryan Lachaine). They represent myriad styles and 15 cities: Austin, Boston, Alexandria, Houston, Nashville, Chicago, Charleston, Oxford, Madison, Seattle, New York, Houston, Los Angeles, and the areas outside San Francisco and Minneapolis. The Eater Young Guns Class of 2013 will be celebrated at a gala event in Los Angeles on Monday, June 24. Young Guns Eve, a public tasting event featuring many of the winning chefs, goes down the night before on June 23. Tickets are still available. Here is the entire class of Young Guns: · Shion Aikawa, Director of Operations, Ramen Tatsu-Ya, Austin, TX · Mike Brown, Chef/Co-owner, Travail and Pig Ate My Pizza, Robbinsdale, MN · Alyssa DiPasquale, Manager and Advanced Sake Professional, O Ya, Boston, MA · Jeremy Hoffman, Chef de Cuisine, Restaurant Eve, Alexandria, VA · Ryan Lachaine, Sous Chef, Underbelly, Houston, TX · Matt Lackey, Executive Chef, Flyte World Dining and Wine, Nashville, TN · Jessica Largey, Chef de Cuisine, Manresa, Los Gatos, CA · Mitch Lienhard, Sous Chef, Grace, Chicago, IL · Jayce McConnell, Bar Program Manager, Snackbar, Oxford, MS · Brooks Reitz, General Manager, The Ordinary, Charleston, SC · Alissa Rozos, Pastry Chef, St. Jack, Portland, OR · Hourie Sahakian, Pastry Chef, Short Cake, Los Angeles, CA · Mark Schieber, Cook and Kitchen Manager, Forequarter, Madison, WI · Henri Schock, Proprietor and Wine Director, Bottlehouse, Seattle, WA · Jason Wang, President, Xi'an Famous Foods, New York, NY Each Eater Young Gun made it through three rounds of selections, beginning with a public call for nominations in February, which yielded over 2,700 nominations; then a vetting by Eater editors and the official selection committee comprised of some of the most well respected chefs and restaurateurs in the country to reduce the group to 50 semi-finalists; and finally, a second round of voting by the editorial staff to select the final class of 15. Head over to Eater National to learn more about each of the winners. · The Eater Young Guns Class of 2013 REVEALED [ ~EN~ ] · All Coverage of Eater Young Guns [ ~EMIA~ ]

Want to experience the birthplace of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc firsthand? Now is your chance. Brancott Estate is giving two lucky wine lovers a chance to win a trip to New Zealand, including flights, accommodation for four nights, and a five-day car rental. Click here to enter and to learn more about the full portfolio of Brancott Estate wines, made from the finest winemaking regions across New Zealand.

In the never-ending quest to encourage the enthusiastic consumption of spirits, another National "Something" Day is upon us. Today, June 19, is officially National Martini Day, which in the gra...

Street food is connected to place. An al pastor vendor releasing porky perfume on a Mexico City street corner. Salt-crusted sweet potatoes from a cart next to a temple in rural Japan. You ca...

I spend a good deal of time wishing I were a morning person. Ideally, I need to wake up, make myself coffee, sit, think, walk, dream, and write before I’m a fully functional human being ready to start my work day. This would be a lot easier if I actually woke up at 6 a.m., but as it usually goes, I’m all too tempted to stay curled under the covers for another thirty minutes, and then my morning ends up being a tad rushed. Rushed or not, the days of breakfast-less living are over, and by day break, I’m hungry. Sometimes I start with some eggs, or leftovers from dinner topped with an egg, or a lately a green juice with chia depending on my mood. More and more, I’ve been grabbing something at the coffee shop because I’ve not planned well. On the weekend I try to make something special, but truthfully I’ve been in a rut with my mornings, so I’m not always so good at putting anything fancy together. Today I woke up earlier than normal, and prepared a little bowl of Marge granola with blueberries and cream top whole milk. And then I sat for ten whole minutes just staring out the window at the cars and the lush green foliage from a few days worth of rain. It was what a morning should be like. I mentioned that I was taking the Chookooloonks Pathfinder course on journaling – one of the best parts of the course is that we start the day with morning pages – twenty minutes or so to write freely, about anything that comes to mind, anything we want, without editing or censoring ourselves. Each morning, I pull out my pocket size moleskin, and write. It’s hard. I have to put my phone out of my line of site, because these days my attention wanders and searching on IMDB or Wikipedia in the middle of a sentence is habit. “Can’t… let…thought…escape.” But during my morning pages, I just break whatever sentence I’m writing, and make a note of the thing I’d like to look up, and keep on writing. I can address it later, I won’t forget, I won’t miss out. Having my journal with me throughout the day, I’ve been trying to extend this practice, and have noticed that I’m significantly less stressed that I’ll forget something. Speaking about that, have you heard of ‘FOMO’? Without heading to Google? Neither had I. Well, every friend who has attended business school in the past decade knows this term, and maybe you do too, but for the rest of us: ‘FOMO’ stands for ‘Fear of missing out’ – and I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. For me, this anxiety leads to two distinct and opposite responses – either I overextend myself, say yes too often, and exhaust myself, or I go the opposite route and say no to everything, purposefully avoiding life experiences so that I don’t get too used to adventure. It’s a bad habit, and one that I’ve been actively trying to change. I think, the key for me, is finding balance, choosing to say yes to the things that are more meaningful, making more time for the things that matter, and actually doing the things that I dream of doing. Megan’s granola company, Marge, is wonderful. Find it here: http://margegranola.com So here’s what I’ve been thinking about lately, while I try to find my own path. It’s crucial in this life to identify others with those dreams of doing, and support them in their pursuits. If you have friends who are creative, who make something with their hands, who write cookbooks, or sell baked goods at farmers markets, support them. Buy their book. Visit their store. Eat their granola. Help them build their project. These friends have succeeded in taking a dream and acting on it. Even if that company is small, or maybe if they’ve found success and are pushing to take things to the next level – this behavior is worth rewarding. For me, it’s also a little bit selfish, and I’m okay with that – every

Few fast-casual chains are making the kind of strides in ethical practices like Chipotle. On the heels of their announcement that they'll be labeling ingredients with genetically modified orga...

Hip Chick Farms travel: Jennifer Johnson and Serafina Palandech at the Expo West tradeshow in March, 2013. Photo courtesy of Hip Chick Farms Jennifer Johnson & Serafina Palandech are partners in life and business: the duo co-founded Hip Chick Farms, a small batch company that fills a real need: chicken fingers, meatballs and wings that are quick-frozen minus hormones and fillers. Anyone who’s ever felt guilty over the “I’m a busy parent, here’s another quesadilla” dinner routine may find relief and surprisingly good—even for adults–flavor in Hip Chick’s products. The company’s Kickstarter campaign says it well: “Our goal is to raise, process, and distribute our chicken products and manage the process from beginning to end. There are no preservatives, hormones, antibiotics, or filler in our products, and by freezing them, we can ensure their quality and purity. With your help, we can fulfill our goal of providing families with products kids will love that are lovingly made — from the way the chicken is raised to the way we cook them.” Chef Jen Johnson’s current full-time gig is cooking for the Getty family in San Francisco while Palandech manages many of the operational aspects of Hip Chick Farms. While it is a Bay Area start up, the couple are also gearing up for the next round of growth that may likely include funding from investors. June is LGBT Pride Month and there is so much energy focused on equal rights for the LGBT community right now, especially in California. The Supreme Court is set to rule on Prop 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban this month as well as DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), the federal law that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. Regarding employment, professions that have been slow to open the closet doors are gradually yielding to the pressure and challenging homophobia within their systems. With that in mind, I asked Johnson and Palandech about their experiences. Their comments have been edited for length and clarity. Bay Area Bites: Chef Jen recently met President Obama via her work as a private chef in San Francisco. What was that like? Palandech: President Obama came to a fundraiser at the home Jen cooks at a couple of months ago. Jen was invited to meet the President and have her picture taken with him, and carefully considered what she wanted to say to him. We love the President and his family, and are happy that he supports pro-gay marriage. When she met him, she said “Mr. President, my wife and my daughter and I love you and your family.” She had her photo taken with him, and as she was leaving, he pulled her back in and said “Hey, you tell your wife and daughter, ‘hi’ from the President.” He got it! President Obama with Chef Jennifer Johnson. Photo courtesy of Hip Chick Farms Bay Area Bites: How did you two meet? Palandech: Jen and I met at a fundraiser in San Francisco over five years ago. Three months prior to our meeting, my best friend came over to my house, and told me all about this amazing woman she had met the night before at the Lexington Club. My friend was convinced that this women was “the One” for me. At the time, I was in a relationship and was unwilling to hear anymore about it. A few months later, this same friend and I went to a fundraiser and met Jen. Jen and I immediately connected in an intense way. At the end of the night, my friend remembered where she had met Jen before — and we realized that Jen was “the One” she had met months ago. My friend was right — she was the One for me. I went home from that night, broke up with the person I was with, and we were engaged three months later. We have been married for four years and had our daughter, Rubyrose, almost three years ago. After we moved from San Francisco to our lovely little farm in Sebastopol, we started Hip Chick Farms. We wanted to live our beliefs about sustainable food systems and make a line of products from Jen’s amazing recipes made with impeccable ingr

[All Photos Courtesy of Cortney Cates] Here's a look around B & S, Dadeland's newest addition. After weeks of family and friends previews and tastings, B & S Gastropub ( a.k.a. Barley & Swine craft food & drink) is officially opening its doors this Saturday, June 22. Behind the new restaurant are father and son team Jorge Ramos and Jorge Ramos Sr. (previously of The Joint Bar & Grill) and friend Alexis Undorfer and they're all about American comfort food, pork, pork and more pork. They don't use traditional cuts of meat either so expect pig ears, tails, and cheeks to be coming out of that open kitchen; all at an affordable price. In the drink department, over 36 hand selected boutique wines, 29 craft beers on tap, about ten bottled, and mixologist David Ortiz on hand for all your cocktail needs. For now B & S will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 4 p.m. to close (10-ish) with plans to start serving Sunday brunch sometime in the near future. Check out the menu all the way at the bottom too. Jorge Sr. says once they open it'll still be a work in progress based on how people respond to items. In addition to this menu, they'll also be offering two to three new plates (not on the menu) on Fridays and Saturdays. Think blood sausages, pig feet, tripe and veal heart tartare. B&S Menu · All Coverage of B & S on Eater [ ~EMIA~ ]

Big news for W.I.P., as the Soho nightclub was victorious in its legal battle with the State Liquor Authority to keep its liquor license. W.I.P. had its license revoked following last year's bottle throwing bonanza between hip hop moguls Drake and Chris Brown over their mutual love of Rihanna, but the club challenged the ruling, saying the punishment did not fit the crime. The Court of Appeals agreed with the club's argument, and now owner Barry Mullineaux can feel secure knowing his nightmare that "New York will lose a bright night light in its entertainment crown" if W.I.P. had to close will not come true. We can already feel our stress levels dropping. Just because the club can stay open doesn't mean they are out of the woods yet. There are many other civil lawsuits remaining over the bottle brawl, including NBA star Tony Parker suing the club for $20 million and the two instigators suing each other. Sue you, sue me, sue everybody! · SoHo Club Where Chris Brown & Drake Brawled Can Keep Liquor License [NYP] · W.I.P. Coverage [~ENY~]