Napa

Introducing the Chinger

Believe it or not, this chinger is vegetarian. The idea was popularized by Momofuku Ssam Bar and by Xi'an Famous Foods--sandwiches featuring lamb or pork in a steamed or baked bao with pickled vegetables and a thick, sweet soy sauce. The idea might have occurred spontaneously in several places, be ... More >>

If You Play Your Cards Right, You Can Have a Great Meal at Full House

Vegetarian Mock Duck - Made of tofu skin tightly rolled up with minced mushrooms inside, the recipe associated with Buddhist monks resembles sliced duck breast more than a little, right? Full House is one of the new generation of Shanghai restaurants gradually materializing around town, places tha ... More >>

5 Ramens to Love, Plus Tribeca's Secret Ramen

It's been over a year since Fork ranked the best bowls of ramen in New York, and plenty of new ramenyas have opened up in the city since then. In fact, we can hardly keep up with the ramen news, what with Yuji Haraguchi graduating from Smorgasburg, and Ivan Orkin working on opening a place on the Lo ... More >>

Vegetable Literacy Author Deborah Madison Loved Vegetables Before It Was Cool

Deborah Madison lives in Galisteo, a tiny adobe village just south of Santa Fe. It was in her backyard there -- an eighth of an acre of beds raised above New Mexico's clay soil -- that she noticed the similarities among vegetable blossoms and fell into studying botany. Years before we collectively ... More >>

Red Hook Winery Makes a Triumphant Return

Despite losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in wine and equipment to Hurricane Sandy last year, Red Hook Winery reopened last Friday on Pier 41. How? The storm spared stocks of bottled wine stored in an off-site warehouse and, pulling from that inventory, the winery is now pouring and selling al ... More >>

Japanese Breakfast at Panya in the East Village

The Japanese breakfast is a wild farrago of taste and textures, but where to start? If you're tired of brunching on the usual eggs benedict, french toast with fruit, or basket of muffins, consider the traditional Japanese breakfast at Panya Bakery on Stuyvesant Street in the middle of the East Vil ... More >>

Your Guide to Brooklyn's Wine Country

Can't make it to Napa this week 'cause Jay-Z hitched a ride in your Gulfstream to his Barclays show? No worries, hit up Brooklyn, Hova's favorite borough, for an idyllic afternoon on the subway wine trail. Your chariots, the 5/G/L trains, let you have the drink without the drive -- can you name anot ... More >>

GO Burger's Olympic Menu: Tempura Samurai Burger Fish and Chips Sandwich

In honor of the Olympics, GO Burger is launching an eclectic globally inspired menu. Each burger is going for $16 a pop. Here's the menu: The Gold Medal (USA) Burger, BBQ sauce, frizzled onions Poutine Burger (Canada) Parker House bun, beef patty, french fries, GO Burger sauce, shredded cheddar c ... More >>

Mission Chinese's New Menu Additions

Catfish a la Sichuan swims in a soupy swamp that adds Old Bay seasoning to a spicing scheme that includes cilantro, chile oil, and dried red chiles. One of the pleasures of dining in Mission Chinese during its first two months has been the menu tinkering that's gone on, with fundamental ingredient ... More >>

Our 10 Best Lamb Dishes in NYC

At Boukies: What could be better than a rack of grilled lamb chops bolstered with lemon potatoes? Lamb is the new beef, and Brooklyn is its greatest borough. Whether cooked well-done or rare; barbecued, roasted, boiled, or merely seared; well-spiced or left au naturale; the flavor bursts in your m ... More >>

The Noble Rot Returns, Now a Little More Californian

Courtesy Jonny CigarJonny Cigar gets some Napa learning in him.​ He's baaack. For the past six months, Noble Rot founder Jonny Cigar has been sowing his oats (grapes) over in Napa Valley. He did a stint working in the cellar at Alpha Omega Winery, spent a little time pouring wines at Swanson V ... More >>

Ask the Critics: The Sweet Spot

Calvin Godfrey​ Everyone I Know asks: Do you know where I can the find a restaurant that serves inventive, exceptionally prepared food at dirt-cheap prices with a fun atmosphere and plentiful booze? Dear Everyone I Know: I am not a magician. I cannot conjure up a restaurant with the food of P ... More >>

Mark Lugo, Who Stole a Picasso, Had Another Stolen Picasso Hanging on His Wall

Saddest mugshot ever?​Mark Lugo, the Hoboken man recently busted in a hotel in Napa for the theft of Picasso's 1965 "Tete de Femme" drawing, which he had snatched from San Francisco's Weinstein Gallery and then fled by taxi, is really more of a Thomas Crown than we had originally hoped for. Th ... More >>

Mark Lugo of Hoboken Arrested in Theft of Picasso Sketch

WikipediaPablo is not happy. ​Oh art thieves, your crime of choice sure does seem like a glamorous business when you're envisioning yourself as Pierce Brosnan in The Thomas Crown Affair remake. But then you get caught like Mark Lugo, a 31-year-old from Hoboken, who was arrested in a hotel in N ... More >>

Carmen Quagliata of the Union Square Cafe on His Favorite Cookbooks and the Advice He Gives to His Chefs: Interview Part 2

Photo courtesy Carmen QuagliataCarmen Quagliata always checks the oven temperature now​Yesterday we spoke with the Union Square Cafe's chef, Carmen Quagliata, about his favorite and most hated foods, and learned all about his bean trellis hobby. Today we switch the focus to learn more about h ... More >>

Donald Trump Buys a Winery; Potential 'Drinking Gene' Isolated

​A small winemaking cooperative in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina is working with six Croats and a Serb to revive ancient regional wine traditions -- and put the horrors of the Bosnian war to rest. [Reuters] Francis Ford Coppola has lured rockstar winemaker Phillipe Bascaules from Château M ... More >>

Nine Things You Probably Wouldn't Want to Eat At Guy Fieri's Restaurant Tex Wasabi's

sfgate.com​We're sick of Guy Fieri (real name: Guy Ramsay Ferry). The television personality manufactured on the second season of "The Next Food Network Star" might double as a Barnum & Bailey clown. Yet he is now one of the country's most recognizable celebrity chefs. If you want to see how ... More >>

Yellow Tail Sues Little Roo For Marsupial Label; Aussies Create First Space Beer

​The producer of Yellow Tail, the country's best-selling imported wine, is suing the maker of Little Roo for trademark infringement. Apparently, Little Roo's kangaroo logo is too similar to Yellow Tail's wallaby. [Wall Street Journal] Ireland's struggling economy has devastated sales of Guinn ... More >>

Park Slope Moms Choose Herb

​It is via our friends at Fucked in Park Slope that we come by this fragrant nugget, so to speak: When not sending their nannies off to fulfill "family hours" at the Co-op or teaching baby yoga or complaining about hat-gender-stereotyping, Park Slope moms are smoking the doooooobie!

Barbara Fairchild's Website Will 'Probably' Launch Next Month

Barbara Fairchild​Barbara Fairchild may have ceded Bon Appétit's reigns to Adam Rapoport, but she's got still plenty to occupy her appetites. In an interview with LA Weekly's Squid Ink blog, the former ed-in-chief discusses the food site she's planning to launch "probably right after th ... More >>

Szechuan Chalet Does Uptown Chinese Darn Well

We slalom the menu with Dr. John

Best of NYC: Our Critics List Their 10 Favorite Dishes

Robert Sietsema, Sarah DeGregorio, and Rebecca Marx recap their respective years in food

Chef James Kent Talks Bocuse d'Or

Keith Ferris, CIA​Mimi Sheraton has a "Talk of the Town" piece in this week's New Yorker about chef James Kent's preparations for January's Bocuse d'Or. Kent, who is a sous-chef at Eleven Madison Park, will head up the American team for the renowned culinary competition. Monkfish and lamb are ... More >>

Vyne's Inez Bon Talks Riesling Week, Seasonal Drinking & the Effing Merlot

Inez Bon​There are wine bars that specialize in French wines, Italian wines, Spanish wines, even organic wines, but in all these cases the focus is usually red. Inez Bon wanted to create a wine bar specializing in the kinds of wines she likes to drink: in a word, whites. In more words, crisp, ... More >>

What's Happening This Week: Celebrate Herring & Discuss Restaurant Design

As many of you know, our weekly dining and drinking newsletter features all the coolest epicurean events in the city. Sign up for it here! Herring Festival Aquavit June 14-19 & 21-26 Jewish delis aren't the only one who get excited about herring this time of year. Aquavit's annual Herring Festival ... More >>

How to Insult a Mexican

Regional slurs, as promised!

The Fuss Over Foie Gras: Thomas Keller Accused of Animal Cruelty

daveness_98/flickrDe-liver me.​The question of whether or not foie gras is torture earned our own Sarah DiGregorio a James Beard Award nomination. But her writing chops would probably be lost on the folks from the Animal Protection & Rescue League. The organization and several other animal rig ... More >>

Saxelby Cheese and MIL Kimchi Will Make Beautiful Fermented Music Together

Say cheese.​Mother in Law's Kimchi's Lauryn Chun is not shy about pairing her fiery fermented cabbage with unexpected partners -- last November, she did a wine and kimchi tasting, and tomorrow, she'll collaborate with Anne Saxelby to pair kimchi and cheese.

Beard Awards Media and Journalism Finalists Are Announced

The man himself.​The James Beard Foundation is announcing its James Beard Awards finalists via Twitter this morning. The list of chefs has just started rolling out (currently, regional finalists are being named), but the list of final nominees for the foundation's Media and Journalism Awards a ... More >>

Patrick Watson on the New Brooklyn Wine Exchange, the Best Wines to Bring to a Party, and Going Biodynamic

​Patrick Watson and his wife Michele Pravda have built a mini empire on wine and cheese--they own the cheese shop Stinky Bklyn, the wine bar JakeWalk, and the wine shop Smith and Vine, all within a few blocks of each other on Smith Street in Brooklyn. This week, they opened a second, larger wi ... More >>

Top Chef: "Tender or Not, That Motherfu*ker is Headed to the Table"

Bravo​ Finally, it's the beginning of the end. After a long, existentially arduous slog, The Top Chef gravy train pulled into Napa last night, new haircuts and hubris in tow. Jen opted for a blow-out; Kevin opted for longer locks that, combined with his turtle neck, made him look like an earne ... More >>

Top Chef, We Hardly Knew Ye

​ All good things must come to an end. And so too must Top Chef. Tonight marks the first of the two-part season finale, filmed in Napa and featuring brand-new haircuts. Eater National has a preview of what's in store this evening; tune in tomorrow to read our recap.

Top Chef: His Protein Was Perfect. His Garnish Was Weak.

Bravo​ Last night's deadly serious episode was the last to take place in Vegas, and it was about time. How many more shots of the McRanch at sunrise can viewers take?

Top Chef Will Get the Hell out of Vegas for Its Finale

​Members of the Top Chef cast were recently spotted swanning around Napa, prompting rumors that the show's producers were shooting its finale in California's wine country. Now, Bravo has confirmed that the final episode will indeed take place there. So what happens in Vegas will happen in Napa ... More >>

Chatting With David Burke About the New Townhouse, Bar Menu, and Tiresome Food Trends

​ Today, Fork in the Road caught up with David Burke, whose restaurant, David Burke Townhouse reopened last week after an overhaul of the interior, and tweaking of the menu. Burke has eight restaurants around the country, three in New York--Townhouse, Fishtail and David Burke at Bloomingdale' ... More >>

Cookbook Tester: Hudson Valley Mediterranean by Laura Pensiero

Watermelon fennel salad with bluefish dijonnaise​ Hudson Valley Mediterranean is written by Laura Pensiero, the chef/owner of Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck, NY, and Gigi Market in Red Hook (not Brooklyn), NY. Pensiero presents the Hudson Valley as the "Napa of the East," and the book's recipes, ... More >>

Yellow Blue(=Green)--We Sample the Latest Tetra-Pak Wines

Boxed wine has been making headlines lately for its ability to keep wine fresh and its overall eco-friendliness. The gas emissions associated with transporting wine are a huge part of the industry's carbon footprint, a footprint that isn't so simple to calculate. For example, a Bordeaux drunk in Ne ... More >>

Good Things: Canned Fish, Beet Kimchi

Two snacks that I have eaten lately and loved: This is wild-caught, Portuguese mackerel (skinless, boneless) packed in a zesty Portuguese piri-piri sauce. When you lift up the fillets, you see a couple of red chiles floating in there, as well as carrot, cucumber and clove. This is for fishy fish lov ... More >>

Dr. John and Our Critic Embark on a Chile-Pepper Eating Contest

Our man Sietsema and the Night Tripper duke it out at Brooklyn Sichuan

Sex and the City Spoilers: A Sneak Preview of What Really Happens to Carrie and the Girls

Plus Samantha, Miranda, Charlotte, and the rest

Regional Chinese Fare Hits Flushing Like a Ton of Bricks

Lower East Side Fujianese Joints Becoming More Refined

Floundering

Sunset Park's most remarkable Cantonese justifies its reputation

Little Dieterle

The skinny on the first Top Chef restaurant

Curse of the Kimchi

Inside a crippling addiction to Korean pickled cabbage

Punch-Drunk Love

Filmmaker-sommelier Jonathan Nossiter uncorks a vintage wine-industry exposé

Message in a Bottle

Rustic eccentrics wax philosophical and 'terroirists' denounce globalizers in wine doc

Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina, Just Fry

Hey Joe, Where Ya Goin’ With That Noodle in Your Hand?

'Barbwire

Postcards from the edge of NASCAR's infield