I had a great time last weekend during my three days at Capclave, and I plan to tell you all about it after I upload the videos of the panels and two readings I recorded. But since bandwidth here is such that tossing those gigabytes up on YouTube will prevent me from doing a single other thing online for 24-48 hours, that probably won’t happen until the weekend is out. Meanwhile, you’ll have to be satisfied with a Capclave highlight that was Capclave without really being part of Capclave—

Pig face!

A couple of weeks back, Range—which I’ve been raving about here for quite awhile—added pig face to its menu. Only on Fridays and Saturdays, and only a few per night. Which meant, of course, I had to get there. Luckily, Capclave was coming.

Some of my friends were too queasy to look at a meal that looked back, but two who were as eager to dig into a pig face as I was were Mike and Beth Zipser, who you can see above, with the 18-hour sous vide pig face lovingly prepared by Chefs Mattie McGhee and Romeo Tivoli on a small platform between us.

We loved it, and quickly stripped it clean, as you can see from the before and after pics below. (For those who are into that sort of thing.) (more…)

Well, here it is, the second week of October, and I still have one final meal to tell you about from my London trip, a restaurant I visited all the way back during the second week of August. What’s up with that?

One reason is that the food at St. John Bread and Wine was just that good. The fact life threw so much at me during the past two months that I was delayed in getting to this shouldn’t prevent me from sharing the experience with you.

But the other reason to write this up even after all that time has passed is to once more praise the serendipitous power of Twitter.

Lisa Gemino, whom I’d somehow managed never to meet before even though we both have many years of parallel convention-going, reached out to me on Twitter (my foodie frenzy had caught her eye, I guess) to ask if I wanted to join her and her merry band of eaters for a trip to St. John, the Fergus Henderson restaurant known for its nose-to-tail menu. And I thought … why not?

It’s far too easy in our field to stick with the known, create cliques, insulate ourselves among our friends, and never make new ones. So I’ve often broken bread with total strangers at conventions. Though if we’ve both come to the same place out of our shared love of science fiction or fantasy or horror (depending on the con), are we really strangers?

So the Friday of Loncon3, nine of us headed to St. John Bread and Wine. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get to the originally planned St. John due to a mix-up—that entire restaurant was closed for a private party, and our reservation had been taken in error.

The dish I’d earlier seen on the menu that I was lusting after the most was ox cheek pie—a dish which was unfortunately being crossed out on the chalkboard just as our server reached us, because another party had moments before ordered the last one!

But don’t worry. What we had was amazing. (more…)

Wasn’t it just three days ago that I bemoaned the absence of any online video or photos from James Beard’s famous TV commercial for Heckers flour? Well, it might not have existed then, but it exists now.

That’s because Elizabeth Federici and Kathleen Squires have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their documentary America’s First Foodie: The Incredible Life of James Beard, and their fundraising video includes footage from that ad, starting at :31 below.

You might ask, why is Beard holding a bag of Ceresota flour there, when the other day I showed you a screen grab of him holding a bag of Heckers flour? Turns out it’s a regional thing, and according the the Heckers/Ceresota FAQ—

Heckers Flour is sold in upstate New Jersey, New York and the New England states. Ceresota is sold in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, lower New Jersey, greater Philadelphia and Wisconsin.

—so two different commercials must have been shot for the same company.

Whether Beard pitched for Ceresota or Heckers, what matters is—this is a worthy Kickstarter campaign. And for the next 28 days, you can donate here.

Internet, you have disappointed me.

Wait … let me back that up a bit.

I’m not sure exactly when I fell in love with James Beard. Perhaps it was in the early ’70s while reading his wonderful American Cookery, in which he went off on a rant about how today’s chickens (well, the chickens of 40 years ago) just weren’t what they used to be—

Few have the delicate, delicious flavor of the old barnyard chicken, which may not have been raised so pristinely and plucked so cleanly but tasted of chicken and had excellent texture. … They come to the market uniform in size, uniform in color, and uniform in lack of real flavor. They require a good deal of seasoning to give them any character, and they fail to produce a rich broth.

I loved that curmudgeonliness! Beard’s commentary surrounding the recipes were (and continue to be) as interesting as the recipes themselves.

But that’s not what brings me here today. (more…)

You’d think that lunch at The Fat Duck and dinner at Dinner would be enough Heston Blumenthal for one trip to London … but you would be wrong.

Because as we headed for home, we had time for a final Heston Blumenthal meal—in Terminal 2 at Heathrow.

I hate what you’re forced to put up with in airports. Bad Chinese food. Pizza that’s pizza in name only. BBQ that makes me cry … but in the wrong way.

So when I heard back in June that Blumenthal had opened The Perfectionists’ Café at Heathrow, with a wood-fired oven and liquid nitrogen ice cream, I knew that’s where we had to have our last meal in London. (more…)

Here it is, nearly October, and I’m about to recap a meal I had in the middle of August. Normally I’d let it go, but not when we’re talking about Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, currently ranked as the #5 restaurant in the world. We had lunch at Blumenthal’s other restaurant, The Fat Duck—currently #47 on that same list—a few days before this year’s London Worldcon, and this dinner at Dinner a few days after meant that we bookmarking our trip with Blumenthal.

The way the two restaurants differ is that the Fat Duck is like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, filled with tricks and over-the-top presentations, such as a mock turtle soup prepared by dissolving a gold watch in front of you, or a seafood course eaten to beach sounds piped in from an iPod-stuffed shell. But though Dinner also displays culinary magic, it’s instead in the way it serves homages to dishes throughout history, everything from Frumenty (circa 1390) to Tipsy Cake (circa 1810).

Here was my view from the six-person Chef’s Table, which I shared with Graham Sleight, David Shaw, and Diane Martin on my right, and Shana Worthen and my wife on my left.

Visible to my left through a long narrow window was the cold room in which dishes such as the famous meat fruit were prepared. These—not ours—were in the kitchen awaiting final plating as we took our seats. A series of them being brought to others tantalized us, for we wouldn’t receive ours until three dishes in. (more…)

I’ve often told you that I’m never quite sure these days whether the highlight of the many conventions I attend is the conventions themselves or the destination restaurants I arrange to visit at the same time. Such was the case with Loncon3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention. (Though it was only my personal 27th … and the 40th anniversary of my first, at that!)

Which means I’d arranged to visit The Fat Duck before Loncon3 was to begin. Sadly, United Airlines lost my luggage for two days, which meant that I was unable to wear my purple boating blazer as planned, and was stuck with the casual jacket and jeans I’d worn over on the flight. This caused a bit of anxiety at first, because surely one of the best restaurants in the world deserved a bit of dressing up, but a quick read of The Fat Duck FAQ calmed me down, as it reads:

We do not have a dress code policy at the restaurant – please come along however you feel comfortable.

And so, after picking up a new shirt, socks and underwear (TMI, I know) at a men’s shop near our hotel, Irene and I met David Shaw, Diane Martin, their son, and Graham Sleight at Paddington Station for a train to Maidenhead, followed by a short cab ride to the village of Bray.

We arrived slightly early for our 1:30 lunch, and so wandered the picturesque village for a bit until we could bear to wait no longer. (more…)

While I was down in Florida last week visiting my mother, I spotted a box of Manischewitz matzoh which celebrated the creators of Superman, those two Jewish kids from Cleveland, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. My first thought was, how cool is that?

My second thought was … well … take a look at the back of the box and see whether you can guess.

Did you spot it? (more…)

Via Eater, the latest list of Latin Americas’s 50 Best Restaurants has been announced … and I’ve been to three of them. Check out the full list below, and click through to posts about my visits to #2, #5, and #30.

1. Central Lima, Peru
2. Astrid y Gastón Lima, Peru
3. D.O.M. São Paulo, Brazil
4. Maní São Paulo, Brazil
5. Boragó Santiago, Chile
6. Pujol Mexico City, Mexico
7. Maido Lima, Peru
8. Biko Mexico City, Mexico
9. Tegui Buenos Aires, Argentina
10. Quintonil Mexico City, Mexico
11. Malabar Lima, Peru
12. Mocoto São Paulo, Brazil
13. Roberta Sudbrack Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
14. Aramburu Buenos Aires, Argentina
15. La Mar Lima, Peru
16. Tarquino Buenos Aires, Argentina
17. Parador La Huella José Ignacio, Uruguay
18. El Baqueano Buenos Aires, Argentina
19. Pangea Monterrey, Mexico
20. Fiesta Lima, Peru
21. Chila Buenos Aires, Argentina
22. La Cabrera Buenos Aires, Argentina
23. Tomo 1 Buenos Aires, Argentina
24. Sud 777 Mexico City, Mexico
25. Manzanilla Ensenada, Mexico
26. MeroToro Mexico City, Mexico
27. Rafael Lima, Peru
28. Alto Caracas, Venezuela
29. Oviedo Buenos Aires, Argentina
30. Osaka Santiago, Chile
31. La Picanteria Lima, Peru
32. Gustu La Paz, Bolivia
33. Rosetta Mexico City, Mexico
34. Remanso Do Bosque Belém, Brazil
35. Olympe Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
36. Epice São Paulo, Brazil
37. Ambrosía Santiago, Chile
38. Attimo São Paulo, Brazil
39. Criterión Bogotá, Colombia
40. Francis Mallman 1884 Mendoza, Argentina
41. Amaranta Toluca, Mexico
42. Corazón de Tierra Ensenada, Mexico
43. Harry Sasson Bogotá, Colombia
44. Fasano São Paulo, Brazil
45. La Bourgogne Punta del Este, Uruguay
46. El Cielo Bogotá, Colombia
47. Sucre Buenos Aires, Argentina
48. Elena Buenos Aires, Argentina
49. Leo Cocina y Cava Bogotá, Colombia
50. Pura Tierra Buenos Aires, Argentina

Looking at this list, all I can think is … how soon can I get to South America again?

I’m at the London Worldcon right now. If you are too, then why not drop by the Exhibit Hall to see photographs and descriptions of my 10 favorite dishes?

And if you’re not at Loncon3, don’t worry. I’ve got you covered. You can check it all out below.

Get ready to drool … (more…)