"What we didn't expect was the response - customers were coming by, messaging us, and sharing stories about what the restaurant meant to them. It made us realize this wasn't just a place to eat - it had become part of people's routines and memories."
Griot is considered a national dish of Haiti and all it takes is a taste to understand why. Adored by José Andrés, this dish is a wonderful mix of cooking techniques; marinated pork shoulder is slowly braised and then fried, leaving the meat tender and flavorful.
In the latest issue of Bon Appétit magazine, we're traveling far and wide. To Mexico City in search of the best gorditas, to Hong Kong to explore cha chaan tengs, and to a truck stop in Wyoming that's turning out first-rate blistered naan, biryani, and more.
The Crispy Potato Corn Dogs contain bonus ingredients folded into the batter, which means each bite is speckled with cubed potatoes. This is the kind of snack that delivers both flavor and texture.
Fusion food has historically had a bit of a bad rap, with overly gimmicky dishes and unnecessary combinations turning diners off. However, when you drill down into what fusion actually is - blending together flavours, ingredients and techniques from different cuisines - it's something that a lot of chefs are doing all the time.
In 1924, Lionel Sternberger, at just 16 years old, first put cheese on a hamburger and served it to a customer at the Rite Spot in Pasadena. This simple act changed the course of American food history, leading to the creation of the cheeseburger, a dish that billions of people have enjoyed since.
"THE BEST pierogi me and my fiancé have tried ever in NY. Me and him are both Ukrainian and have lived in Poland, and out of all the places we have tried, these taste exactly like homemade traditional Polish pierogis."
The barbecue shrimp arrive swimming in Cajun-spiced butter, with slivered shallots for gentle sweetness and sliced radishes for necessary sharpness. It calls to mind a seafood boil, without as much work.
The spices are merely a vessel for culture, community, storytelling, and politics. The recipes were so fresh, simple, and seasonal. That's not the version of South Asian food that most people know.
Though they were only serving in town for one night, the chefs and staff behind the Mexico City supernova Masala y Maíz managed to cause what felt like a temporary ripple in L.A. dining during their pop-up last week. It reminded this diner that despite the era's current dedication to culinary and cultural boundaries - you should only cook what you know, write what you know - a spirit of mixture and melding can actually lead to something extraordinary, and not cringey, in practice.
Walking through the narrow bylanes of Mylapore neighbourhood at dusk is like watching a sepia-tinted postcard of Madras coming to life and gently reasserting itself over the Chennai of today. The 7th-century Kapaleeshwarar Temple, the fulcrum of commerce and culture, draws the devout into its timeless force field, and on nearby Pitchu Pillai Lane, a small crowd gathers around the Raghul Kuzhi Paniyaram street stall to buy kuzhi paniyarams: spongy orbs of pan-fried batter speckled with mustard seeds.
Christmas is lovely, but my kids think Chinese new year is by far the best holiday. I might be biased, but, unusually, I am inclined to agree with them. As my eldest puts it, New clothes, cash, booze and food what's not to love? There's the added bonus that cash is absolutely more than acceptable in fact, it's de rigueur, so there's no shopping for mundane socks and smelly candles. Chinese new year is full of rituals and, just as at Christmas, every family has its own, but they are all variations on a theme. Symbolism looms large in Chinese culture, and at new year it centres around messages of prosperity, luck and family.
