GIVE ME A MENU AND GET THAT QR CODE OFF MY RESTAURANT TABLE
There’s an elegance about a restaurant menu. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Michelin-starred, white tablecloth spot or a neighborhood burger joint. You’re greeted, led to a table and handed a menu. It may be styled in brilliant red with gold embossed lettering. Or it may... Read More
WHAT’S THE ONE THING YOU WOULDN’T EAT? / A simple question that grew
Is there something you wouldn’t eat unless it was the last thing between you and starvation? And even then you would gag as it crossed your lips. That’s the kind of question one asks if one is a food writer with too much free time. Like when sitting in the noon-time... Read More
I Never Go Grocery Shopping Alone / or let a supermarket surrogate shop for me
They’re like a swarm of bees as they buzz through the supermarket. They race from one display to the next, hurriedly plucking items to drop in their carts. In one hand they hold a cell phone or a shopping list with a fancy full-color letterhead. They consult it after... Read More
OLIVE OIL, BALSAMIC VINEGAR AND WINE / WHERE PRICE OFTEN EQUALS QUALITY
By Larry Levine – I was in the kitchen a few nights ago, making the dressing for a tomato salad (recipe below) when something jumped to mind: when it comes to extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar price usually equals quality. I’ve known this for a long time but... Read More
CULINARY ADVENTURES IN A STRANGE KITCHEN
By Larry Levine – On the last night of my 82nd year I did two things I never had done before. 1) I grilled hot dogs on a barbeque. 2) I ate Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs with a knife and fork. On the first night of my 83rd year I did two more things I never had done... Read More
WHILE WE WAIT TO SMILE AGAIN / a food writer rides out the pandemic
By Larry Levine – I wonder where they are, the four men whose combined years may total one-third of a millennium. They were there so many days, regulars at a table in the back corner of Angelini Osteria on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. With the cork extracted and the... Read More
A SLICE OF LIFE / DINING IN A TIME OF PANDEMIC
I doubt it’s a world record. It probably isn’t among the longest current streaks. But it’s a personal high of which I am proud. A few nights ago, Jennifer and I ate our 300th consecutive pandemic-inspired home-cooked dinner, pot roast with potatoes and carrots. During... Read More
AS MORE RESTAURANTS CLOSE, LET US NEVER FORGET THIS DIDN’T HAVE TO HAPPEN
By Larry Levine – Measured on a scale of more than 165,000 dead, the loss of some of our favorite restaurants doesn’t seem like much. Until we remember the people whose lives are invested in those restaurants. The owners who operate on slim profit margins. The... Read More
A RESTAURANT LOVER’S LAMENT / WHY I WON’T BE THERE WHEN THEY REOPEN
By Larry Levine – When government officials said restaurants can re-open, they didn’t say I had to go out to dinner. And I won’t. After more than 75 years of relishing the food and social pleasures of dining out and 10 years of publishing a restaurant website and an... Read More
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