Food Writer's Symposium at The Greenbrier

May 12

I'm spending most of the week at the historic Greenbrier Resort, home to the 19th annual Symposium for Professional Food Writers.  I'm one of the speakers this year, talking about writing for TV, the web and podcasting.  I'll be demonstrating how to shoot and upload video at my presentation tomorrow, so look for the results here.  This afternoon, we heard about how to self-publish your own book, as well as finding the inner voice for food writing, from such heavyweights as Russ Parsons from the L.A. Times and prolific author Michael Ruhlman.

Some of the other seminars this week include: Creating and Modifying Your Writing Voice, Proposals and Manuscripts, Query Writing and How To Sell Your Food Book Idea With or Without An Agent.

2009 James Beard Awards Recap

May 5

A couple of years ago, Chicago was completely shut out of these "Oscars" of the food world.  This year, all of us who made the trip to New York were thinking, hell, there are 17 nominations from Chicago this year, and surely, there will be more than a handful of winners.  Boy were we surprised last night, when there were just two awards handed out to Chicago projects: the Alinea cookbook won for best cookbook from a professional point of view, while Thomas Schlesser won the best restaurant design award for The Publican.  We knew Paul Kahan (Blackbird, Avec, The Publican) was going to have a hard time beating out the competition for outstanding chef in the country, and we thought Richard Melman might have a hard time beating out his colleagues for outstanding restaurateur, but we were downright shocked Mindy Segal didn't take home best pastry chef honors. 

On Sunday night, at the Journalism Awards, Chicago went 0-for-5, (yours truly included) in a complete shutout.  Oh well, there's always next year.

While I was in New York, I had a couple of stellar eating experiences, including  a trip on the number 7 train to Flushing, the last stop on the line.  Stepping out onto Roosevelt and Main, you feel as if you've been dropped down into the middle of a busy street in China.  There is very little English spoken, and block upon block of delicious-looking food: from hand-pulled noodle joints to street-level Peking duck sandwiches and cooked-to-order skewers of tripe, fish and beef.  Thanks to my colleague Monica Eng from the Chicago Tribune, we stumbled onto all sorts of tasty things, including a lamb sandwich from the Xian province of China: cumin-rubbed lamb is grilled and stuffed into what looks like baked pita; the Northern Chinese consume as much bread as anything, including rice.

We also popped into an amazing soup dumpling joint, enjoyed the scallion fried rice at Spicy & Tasty and chowed on some chile-laced tripe and homemade noodles in a subterranean food mall.  I can't recommend an eating trip to Flushing more - you have to go explore!

  
handmade noodles with pork                                             Front window at Corner 28

  
cumin-rubbed lamb "burger"                                              soup dumplings at Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao

I also made a return trip to Momofuku Ssam Bar for kimchi apples and fried brussels sprouts; had a casual brunch at The John Dory, a quick (but disappointing) nosh at Katz's Deli, and a tasty dose of piscine pleasure at Russ & Daughters for smoked sturgeon, smoked ahi tuna and a killer whitefish-salmon salad with crispy bagel chips.  The food highlight of the weekend was Monday, when I had the chance to dine with Alan Richman, a two-time Beard winner this year (that makes 14 if you're scoring at home) who was feeling rather tipsy with joy when he agreed to buy me lunch at Le Bernardin.  Sure, it didn't hurt that they recognized him and sent out a few extra courses, but the wines to match were just exquisite.  I've never had seafood so fresh, unadulterated and yet delicate in preparation.  Eric Ripert is a master, and his reputation is well-deserved.  If I could afford it, I would eat there once a week.  One more highlight, right before the Beard Awards started, I had a glass of wine and some pate and shaved ham across the street at Bar Boulud.  Daniel Boulud's latest project combines his love of Lyon and his grandparent's cooking, in a very modern space.  The pate grand pere contained not only pork, but luscious foie gras lobes as well.

 
smoked sturgeon at Russ & Daughters                            salads and herring at Russ & Daughters

  
wild salmon with spring favas & peas at Le Bernardin     pate with foie and shaved ham at Bar Boulud