BITE will keep you in touch with what I’m eating and what I love and what I left on my plate. I’ll share dialogues I have with heroes and divas, princes and barracudas and what I overhear from the next table. Not every day will I have a meal worth writing about, I suspect, not good enough, not bad enough. Dear friends have asked me if I could try to be meaner so I fit in better on the net. I intend to try. As any man who has lived with me will tell you, I was born to be a critic. Of course, isn’t it the critic who has the thinnest skin of all? I must admit to a certain anxiety. It’s been a long time since I wrote without an editor, a fact checker and a copy-reader to catch my errors, misspellings and typos. I apologize in advance. I’m left-handed and that can sometimes be confusing. I might have stopped reviewing restaurants twenty-five years ago when my first novel, Blue Skies, No Candy lingered on the best seller list. But I am addicted to instant gratification. So I’m still here. On my death bed, I am sure my last words will echo those of the sister of Brillat Savarin:
“Bring on dessert.”
June 18, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
The Grand Affair
It’s a rally of chefs from the grand hotels of...
June 11, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Suicide Regrets
Suicide, the headlines not the inclination, distract me..
June 4, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Woodpecker At Play
Years pass and chefs mature, but there’s no need to fret that David Burke might grow stodgy…
May 21, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Little Frog
The old-fashioned need for an old-fashioned…
May 14, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Tartina
Eat well and you will live 100 years… Mangia Bene che vivi 100 anni…
May 7, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Boqueria West 40th
There’s no longer a need to explain tapas to innocents from the western slope, the glaciers or small Texas towns…
April 30, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Frenchette
Two of us must have the brouillade, soft…
April 23, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Coco Pazzo Reboot
We’re packed into the modest Tribeca canteen and sandwich shop alongside clutches of youngsters from the neighborhood who probably never heard of The Dark Prince of Italian Dining…
April 16, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Simon & the Whale
We ask why it’s Simon, not Gabriel & the Whale...
April 8, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Zuma Encore
The space is even more stunning then I recall...
April 2, 2018 | About Gael
Don Angie
I’m haunted by memories of the chrysanthemum…
March 26, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
My Nights Off
Most of my evenings are spent exploring what’s...
March 19, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Oxbow Tavern
“What am I doing here?” Tom Valenti asks himself…
March 12, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
La Goulue
I figured it was one of those snooty East Side places I needed to brave with a regular…
February 26, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Sushi by Bae
She enumerated the thrills: the imported fish...
February 19, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Farewell Andre Surmain
Andre would have been deeply offended by the inelegance of the word Luxe...
February 12, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Opry City Stage
I've certainly had better fried green tomatoes…
February 5, 2018 | BITE: My Journal
Bouley at Home
A small collection of young men in newsboy caps stands duty…