A little over a week ago, I found myself in the meager barroom lobby of Hill Country Barbecue, nursing a smoked pork chop and wading through a tidal pool of chatter at the wrap dinner for 93 Plates. Hagan, our host, was growing irate. Something like 40 bloggers had gathered to help close out his [...]

My first and strongest impression of Mill Valley, CA can be found in television reruns. Captain B.J. Hunnicutt of the 4077th proudly hailed from the up-and-coming Marin County township, and for years he was my sole example by which to measure it. Thanks to M*A*S*H, my mental picture of Mill Valley teemed with laid-back, wise-cracking, [...]

Over the past two months, the New York food press has buzzed intermittently around Dos Toros, lower Manhattan’s newest burrito joint. Most stories running on Dos Toros sprout from some combination of the words “burrito,” “San Francisco,” “Mission” and “California,” framing reviews with California ex-pats’ scorn for New York’s Mexican food in general and New [...]

Zach Brooks, founder of one of the most successful food blogs in the world, left New York on Saturday, January 30. Since Zach will no doubt make fun of me for every remotely poetic word in this post, I’ll keep this shoutout on point. Zach is a man who cuts through bullshit without getting his [...]