Email Author Robert Sietsema

Awards

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

  "An Open Letter to Josh Ozersky"

• 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"

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2003 Stories by Robert Sietsema

• Riverboat Race

  published December 30, 2003

  Natchez sounds like a screwy name for a New Orleans-style Creole restaurant—especially since Natchez is in Mississippi. But one glance at the... More >>

• Dip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

  published December 30, 2003

  Everyone agrees that the soggy beef sandwich called French dip first appeared in downtown Los Angeles nearly a century ago. What causes... More >>

• Restaurants

  published December 30, 2003

  Now that you've had your chestnuts roasted by an open fire, it's time to savor a different kind of chestnut. I'm talking about our most durable... More >>

• Gift of the Maggi

  published December 23, 2003

  The national dish of Senegal was inspired by paella, which was brought to the west coast of Africa by Iberian traders in the 16th century. Made... More >>

• Shore Dinner

  published December 16, 2003

  Shore, which bills itself as an oyster bar and seafood tavern, is a critic's nightmare—a place that shows flashes of brilliance, but with... More >>

• Lagoons and Monsoons

  published December 9, 2003

  The fare of Kerala is probably unlike any Indian food you've ever eaten. Located on the extreme southwestern verge of the subcontinent, facing the... More >>

• Getting Hooked

  published December 2, 2003

  A mainstay of the city's restaurant scene over the last decade has been the French bistro. You could recite the menu in your sleep: steak frites,... More >>

• Hot for Santa

  published November 25, 2003

  When Santa first came to town, brought by Dutch settlers in the 18th century, he was a skinny mournful dude riding a white horse. Alongside... More >>

• Brave Heart (and Lungs)

  published November 25, 2003

  As we perch on the high-backed bar stools, burly cable-knit sweaters, tam-o'-shanters, and navy blazers with gold embroidered crests stroll by.... More >>

• Hot Chile Love

  published November 18, 2003

  A little over a year ago, I reviewed an unusual Sichuan restaurant aimed at Taiwanese patrons. Spicy & Tasty was located on the outskirts of... More >>

• The Augury

  published November 11, 2003

  Hellenic regional fare has gotten short shrift in New York, as Greek restaurateurs have settled on a crowd-pleasing and nearly uniform menu of... More >>

• Saint and Harlot

  published November 4, 2003

  When Saint Cono was a small boy, he prayed constantly and mortified his flesh, striving to become more devout. One day he ran away from his home... More >>

• Sex Change Down Under

  published October 28, 2003

  Sunburnt Cow is the worst name for a restaurant I can recall—though a now defunct place on East 6th Street called Anar Bagh gave the Cow a... More >>

• Marooned

  published October 21, 2003

  Loaded with Scotch bonnet peppers, the searing green hot sauce might be Haitian or Trinidadian, while the tortillas ($1 each) mimic Colombian... More >>

• Boiling the Bird

  published October 14, 2003

  Among the regional cuisines of China, Chiu Chow is the hardest to explain. Originating around the Guangdong port of Shantou, 150 miles northeast... More >>

• One Great Dish

  published October 7, 2003

  The modern science of restaurant reviewing has several unproved theorems that might become laws if enough supporting evidence could be amassed.... More >>

• Specimens for Dissection

  published September 30, 2003

  The restaurant success story of the new millennium is the Italian wine bar. By my count, we now have nearly 30 to choose from, mainly in downtown... More >>

• All Rolled Into One

  published September 23, 2003

  It was a decade ago that Madras Palace first began dealing dosas out of a narrow storefront on lower Lexington Avenue. These delectable vegetarian... More >>

• Who Stole the Chiles?

  published September 16, 2003

  There's no question that El Maguey y la Tuna was a low dive. Located on a seemingly ungentrifiable block of Williamsburg's Grand Street, it... More >>

• Marco! Polo!

  published September 9, 2003

  Xinjiang is China's most remote province, a majestic land of mountains and deserts through which the Silk Road meanders past salt lakes and dry... More >>

• Dismantle And Devour

  published September 2, 2003

  The dish dubbed "huge curry bun" ($5.95) arrives concealed in aluminum foil, steam curling out the top. Tear off the foil and find a round loaf of... More >>

• Student Pizza Primer

  published August 26, 2003

  Pizza as we know it was invented in 1905 down on Spring Street, when Neapolitan immigrant Gennaro Lombardi fired up his coal oven to nearly 900... More >>

• Mission of Burma

  published August 26, 2003

  New York has trouble hanging onto its Burmese restaurants. Eight years ago, there were 10 in town, four south of 14th Street. The number has sadly... More >>

• Meatball Hero Worship

  published August 19, 2003

  Ask somebody on the street, "Who invented the hero?" and chances are the respondent will credit Italian American immigrants, who modified a... More >>

• Face-Lift for an Old-Timer

  published August 12, 2003

  "It's better than french fries," my date exclaimed, launching another crisp shoestring of fried zucchini mouthward. Indeed, the immense haystack... More >>