The Jetsetter

By Chef Charlie Kleinman Four pounds of foie gras. That, according to the best estimates of the three of us (all chefs with ample experience working with foie) is how much we consumed of the lipidinous substance in our two-hour dinner at Au Pied De Cochon. Certainly after a goring…

Gluttony, thy name is Au Pied De Cochon (536 rue Duluth, Montreal, 514-281-1114). Okay, I guess that's not fair. A better name for gluttony would be Charlie Kleinman, Jake Des Voignes, and Ryan Farr. You see, the three of us have eaten enough in the last week to…

The three words every guy wants to hear… You know what I'm talking about: "pickled lamb's tongue." Lucky me, I got to hear those words just two courses into my meal at ~BLUE HILL AT STONE BARNS~ (630 Bedford Hills, Pocantico Hills, NY, 914-366-9600)…

This year was my sixth at ~BURNING MAN~, and boy, have my dining habits changed after my first year back in 1996, when I was “cooking” Tasty Bites from Trader Joe’s on a single Coleman burner, with no kitchen to speak of and eating out of the same bowl…

Man, my New York jetsetter pieces just keep coming. I was way too aggressive with my tablehopping while I was there, oops. This one is going to cover some of my fave Lower East Side discoveries, and some of the underground spots I made my way into as well. Aw…

Since I grew up in San Mateo, I'm no stranger to the ocean-side charms of ~HALF MOON BAY~. I remember olallieberry u-picks when I was a kid, weekends with my family tide pooling or playing on the beach at Pescadero, summers at Girl Scout camp on the coast,…

When in Chicago for only one night and with maybe three hours to spare, where do you eat din din? SF chef pals gave me a chorus of ~AVEC~! Avec! Avec! (Not to be confused with Tora! Tora! Tora!) Blackbird, Avec's more refined and mod older sister, which…

Since it had been at least a couple years (two years too long) since I'd been in New York, my list of places to hit had become, shall we say, major? With ten days and far too many restaurants to visit, I had to come up with some…

It's funny, everyone usually says Sydney is the can't-miss city in Australia, and while I found it beautiful, fun, charming, and unique, I didn't feel like I'd want to live there. It reminded me of a gourmet and slightly more scenic San…

Destination: Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe is very near and dear to my heart. Not only did my parents have their honeymoon there, but soon thereafter purchased a cabin in Tahoma (smart move, ‘rents, seriously), where I’ve been coming since I was literally in diapers. It’s truly a second…