Kim Kohatsu judges the quality of her relationships on the ability to share food. If she can't split an appetizer with you, in her eyes, you are pretty much worthless. Kim's current food adventures revolve around ramen, sushi, Indian curries, Sichuan food, and fried chicken. Oh, and cheeseburgers. Kim loves a good cheeseburger.
Photo by herrnanditovsk
Valentine’s Day is upon us, and for many, that means love is in the air. But if you don’t already have a special someone in your life, this is also the time when online profiles get created, edited, re-edited, and re-re-edited, and when many of us go on first dates.
Picking the perfect first date restaurant is something of an art. You’re working with limited information about the other person, and you want to make sure (at the very least) to set the right conditions for both of you to have a good time. (more…)
With the finale of Season 11 of Top Chef quickly approaching, we at Menuism thought it was the perfect time to check in on all our favorite past cheftestants. This list isn’t exhaustive (Season 11 isn’t here at all, and we skipped a lot of catering companies), but it’s probably the most extensive one out there. Sort by season or city and state. Feel free to report additions or corrections in the comments. And don’t forget to tell us, who’s your favorite Top Chef? (more…)
Seared beef heart with salsa verde and cripsy taro frites. Photo by Lucas Richarz
Wondering if kale is over, standing in line for Cronuts, and rolling our eyes at yet another gastropub opening is so last year. Today, food has gotten even more rustic, nose-to-tail, and responsibly sourced. Where will it go from here? Some predictions: (more…)
by Else10
It’s been another great year at Menuism! We added Los Angeles, Chicago, Richmond, and Santa Fe City Guides to our blog, as well as some new voices covering chocolate, Kosher foods, and Korean foods.
We’d like to take this chance to thank all our readers who have enjoyed, shared, and commented on our posts! Here’s to a great 2014.
And now, the 15 most popular posts on the Menuism Blog this year: (more…)
Photo by Christina Campisi
Restaurants are a very personal experience — tastes are subjective, personalities and egos are involved, and as much as every eatery strives for consistency, sometimes things go wrong. We polled our users to see where their restaurant pain points were. (more…)
Course 1 at Next, when the theme was Paris, 1906. Photo by ryan pikkel
With a name like Menuism, it’s pretty obvious we love our restaurant menus. But in the age of Subway and Chipotle, where you pick everything you want, some restaurants are taking the opposite approach: getting rid of menus altogether. Or perhaps more accurately, presenting a set menu — my way or the highway, bub. (more…)
Not everyone is an adventurous eater. Those who are discover new food likes and dislikes all the time; those who aren’t gawk and are at least temporarily entertained, albeit sometimes disgusted. My Vietnamese mother used to brush off the question, “what is this?” whenever she served me something, and as I grew older I learned to stop asking. In my opinion, it’s better to ask what’s in processed and prepackaged foods more, and what’s in exotic and ethnic dishes less. But that’s me. So, behold, some scary-ish foods for you to try or grow a new aversion for!
Photo by Duncan Brown
What it is:
Haggis is Scotland’s national dish, made of sheep “pluck” — heart, liver, and lungs — oats, suet, onion, and spices, cooked in a sheep’s stomach. In 1787, poet Robert Burns penned “Address to a Haggis,” an ode to what he called the “great chieftain o’ the puddin’ race.” Every January 25 (Burns’s birthday), Scots, including Scottish-Americans, celebrate Burns Night, feasting on Scottish food and whiskey, with the haggis paraded into the room to the music of a bagpiper, and kicked off with a recital of Burns’s poem. (more…)
Photo by Rizka Budiati
When your stomach aches, your mom may have offered you saltines or plain toast — something light that wouldn’t aggravate your tummy. In Italy, this same principle applies, but with pasta.
In 1914, one particular upset stomach originated what we now know as fettuccine alfredo. Alfredo di Lelio ran a restaurant on the Via della Scrofa in Rome. His wife Ines was pregnant with their second child, and the pregnancy caused her terrible nausea. Unable to keep much down, Alfredo made Ines a dish of plain pasta, pasta in bianco, or white pasta. He tossed the fresh-made pasta with butter and Parmesan. (more…)
Ketchup is both our most popular condiment and arguably, our most divisive. To some, the sweet, tangy tomato sauce seems synonymous with hamburgers and hot dogs; others will tell you ketchup has no place on either.
Americans love the sweet flavor of ketchup; sugar or other sweeteners play a huge role in evening out the acidity of the tomatoes. It’s hardly any wonder that children consume more than 50 percent of the ketchup sold in the U.S.
But these five places are fighting back. Time to pick a side!
Photo by Headlines & Heroes
Since the launch of the Cronut™ on May 10, 2013, a social media craze, a black market, and support site have all cropped up. Is this half croissant, half doughnut treat the next big thing? Or will Dominique Ansel’s creation go the way of the Magnolia gourmet cupcake and Pinkberry frozen yogurt, spawning numerous imitators until becoming almost ubiquitous?
One thing’s for sure: the imitators are already here. So if you’re not nearby the New York City original (or don’t have the wherewithal to stand in the hours-long line), here are a few other places where you can try the crusty cronut, or at least something similar to it: (more…)
