Email Author Robert Sietsema

Awards

• 2011 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published June 23, 2010

  "An Open Letter to Josh Ozersky"

• 2011 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published December 1, 2010

  "May We Interest You in Some Egg Fetus?"

• 2011 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published December 8, 2010

  "Siam I Am"

• 2011 - Association of Food Journalists Awards, published June 23, 2010

  "An Open Letter to Josh Ozersky"

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2001 Stories by Robert Sietsema

• Some Like It Hotter II

  published December 25, 2001

  As we sheepishly asked for forks, the motherly waitress smirked: "In Honduras, we eat those with our hands." She was referring to the enchiladas... More >>

• Some Like It Hotter

  published December 11, 2001

  The name originally comes from the Babylonian word for fire, but similar Turkish, Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian words have been used for millennia... More >>

• Chow Choices: A Holiday Food Miscellany

  published November 27, 2001

  In colonial times, British New Englanders often gave fowl pies to their friends at Christmas, filled with a combination of goose, chicken, and... More >>

• Rome, Romance, Romano

  published November 27, 2001

  Though the dining public remains preoccupied with Tuscan, Brooklyn's ancient red-sauce palaces still beckon. Hunkered down in remote... More >>

• Lucky Hit

  published November 13, 2001

  Though 118 Lucky is the most formidable of the Fuzhou cafés that have spread across the Lower East Side over the last five... More >>

• Pasta con Chile

  published October 30, 2001

  It was our luck to arrive as the independence celebration was in full swing, commemorating the day in 1818 when a guy with the unlikely name of... More >>

• Tuscan Tribeca

  published October 9, 2001

  Can the word "rustic" be applied to an establishment just steps south of Canal Street? To a townhouse squeezed between an Irish bar and a plumbing... More >>

• Brains and Brawn

  published September 25, 2001

  Now that the Times has finally discovered that many Arthur Avenue Italian restaurants are being run by Albanians, the real story is that... More >>

• Keeping the Home Fires Burning

  published September 18, 2001

  In the aftermath of last Tuesday's tragedy, Manhattan was cordoned off from 14th Street southward, and official sources reported that all routes... More >>

• Slimed!

  published September 4, 2001

  Okra—love it or hate it. While some recipes strive to obscure its mucilaginous properties, others hose you with slime. Khartoum delights in... More >>

• Mo’ Better Pho

  published August 21, 2001

  A decade ago, Vietnamese cafés were springing up everywhere in Manhattan's Chinatown, offering over-rice meals cheaper than anyone else's.... More >>

• Some Like It Hot

  published August 7, 2001

  The setting couldn't be less promising—a strip mall dwarfed by a jumbo Kmart that presents its backside to the street. Hair swept up in a... More >>

• True Grits

  published July 24, 2001

  Sandwiched tightly between Indian restaurants just off 6th Street, La Madrastra is difficult to spot. Though the name means "stepmother" in... More >>

• Bosnian Burgers

  published July 10, 2001

  Mirza Huskic could be James Beard's twin brother. Framed in the carry-out window of Bosna-Express, he surveys his domain aproned and smiling: a... More >>

• Trading Taters

  published June 26, 2001

  Who invented freeze-drying? Some scientist at Kraft or General Foods, you think? Wrong! This seemingly high-tech endeavor was perfected millennia... More >>

• Big Cheese

  published June 12, 2001

  The Swinging '60s were right about one thing—fondue rocks. Originating in Switzerland as a method of recycling cheese rinds and stale bread... More >>

• Secret Society

  published May 29, 2001

  Obscurely berthed in the Bronx's Belmont section, Roberto's boasts a facade that looks like a ship's prow, with a row of eager customers extending... More >>

• Scarlet Fingers

  published May 15, 2001

  Ethiopian immigrants must be among the nation's canniest restaurateurs. Though numbering only 33,000 nationwide, they've assembled an impressive... More >>

• Crunchy Enchiladas

  published May 1, 2001

  By early evening, the stretch of Jamaica Avenue that bisects Richmond Hill has the eerie look of a deserted movie set. The overhead J train... More >>

• Cheap Chow Now

  published April 24, 2001

  ROMANCE It depends on your idea of romance. If it's a candlelit dinner in an old-fashioned Italian hideaway, with... More >>

• Cheap Chow Now

  published April 24, 2001

  Now that the stock market is "correcting" itself, and bringing the entire economy down with it, you don't have to be a welfare mom or a laid-off... More >>

• Orbiting Yum

  published April 17, 2001

  You've never tasted yum this good before. Planted on a bed of unblemished Boston lettuce, the other ingredients of this amazing salad (yum hnam... More >>

• Pass the Mashed

  published April 3, 2001

  It's only cold mashed potatoes laced with olive oil, lemon, and tons of raw garlic, but scordalia ($4) is one of humanity's greatest inventions.... More >>

• Night in Tunisia

  published March 20, 2001

  Swagged from the ceiling, 34 Berber lamps fling tentacles of light. Their collective candlepower is insufficient for the hapless diner to detect... More >>

• Dumpakht on the Strip

  published March 6, 2001

  The sitar's metallic sizzle and the tabla's frantic thwap assail us as we slosh our way into Banjara. Occupying a double storefront decorated with... More >>