Category

restaurants

  • Pasta Night

    Pasta Night

    I first met Renato Poliafito on April 22nd, 2009. I know that because I wrote a post about it when my friend Josh and I trekked out to Red Hook to visit the beloved bakery, Baked, that he ran with his pal Matt Lewis. We immediately hit it off: not just because we both love…

  • Where to Eat in Copenhagen

    Where to Eat in Copenhagen

    We come to this place for magic. No, not AMC movie theaters, I’m talking about Copenhagen. Ever since Noma opened its doors in 2003, Copenhagen has become the preeminent culinary destination for food-savvy travelers, even those lucky enough not to get a reservation (I kid). The city is so rich with culinary destinations, you could…

  • Escape From Noma

    Escape From Noma

    This is not the post that I thought I was going to write about Noma, the massively influential Copenhagen restaurant that’s been declared “The Best Restaurant in the World” five different times. In fact, I didn’t even think I’d ever get to eat at Noma, especially when they recently announced that they’re closing the restaurant…

  • Inga’s Bar, Gertrude’s, and Foul Witch

    Inga’s Bar, Gertrude’s, and Foul Witch

    Carrie Bradsaw used her oven to store sweaters and took every dinner as an opportunity to put on a slinky new dress, slide into her Jimmy Choos, and step out into the glamorous New York City restaurant scene. And though I actually use my oven for cooking and mostly wear Vans, sometimes the pull of…

  • The 10 Best Things That I’ve Eaten Recently That I Forgot To Tell You About

    The 10 Best Things That I’ve Eaten Recently That I Forgot To Tell You About

    Loyal Amateur Gourmet readers, it’s time to come clean: I’ve been a bad blogger lately. It’s been a busy time for me here in L.A. but the hard part is that I really can’t get into why it’s so busy, just trust me that I haven’t really had time to devote to the blog. Can…

  • Restaurants That Do The Right Thing

    Restaurants That Do The Right Thing

    That sandwich you see towering above you is called the Stella Hero from Stella Barra Pizza, where Craig and I went for lunch before seeing Gone Girl this past Sunday. The question isn’t “what’s in that thing?”, the question is: “What isn’t in that thing?” It’s got smoked ham, turkey, capicola (cured pork shoulder), tomato,…

  • Lunches at Good Girl Dinette & Son of a Gun

    Lunches at Good Girl Dinette & Son of a Gun

    Even though I’ve lived on the east side of Los Angeles for almost a year and I spend a good amount of time in both Eagle Rock and Pasadena, Highland Park–an up-and-coming neighborhood and home to my favorite podcaster, Marc Maron–has eluded me. That is until two weeks ago when I met my food writing…

  • Birthday at Bestia, Dinners at Chez Emily, The Hart and the Hunter & The Coconut Club

    Birthday at Bestia, Dinners at Chez Emily, The Hart and the Hunter & The Coconut Club

    When you look at these pictures, you’re not going to believe me when I tell you I’ve been on a bit of a health and fitness kick lately. That’s right: five days a week at the gym, salads, chicken breasts, the works. My strategy, though, is to reward myself on weekends and birthdays and at…

  • The Top Ten Dishes That I Ate in 2013

    The Top Ten Dishes That I Ate in 2013

    The dish that you see above (Tiger Prawn Salami from Movida in Sydney, Australia) is not one of the Top Ten Dishes That I Ate in 2013. I put it there, though, to illustrate how well I ate this year and how difficult it was to narrow everything down to the ten best dishes. My…

  • Dinner with Cara and Dara at La Vara

    Dinner with Cara and Dara at La Vara

    One time in grad school for dramatic writing, a teacher tore into me and called the play I was working on “sophomoric” and “juvenile.” Classmates called me afterwards to console me, and though I’m pretty much over it, sometimes I look back at that moment and wonder if she was right. In all of my…