I'll admit it. We didn't go out this past Saturday night, so I found myself watching the Bon Appétit Best American Restaurants special hosted by Alton Brown on the Food Network. The show itself was reasonably entertaining, though no one would call it suspenseful. Brown is perhaps my favorite Food Network personality, but he looked totally bored and disengaged on this particular show. Andrew Knowlton and Barbara Fairchild of Bon Appétit were knowledgeable and credible as the magazine's on-camera experts, but they kept talking about passion without exhibiting very much themselves.... More

When you love fried chicken as much as I do you get really bugged when Bon Appétit announces its three finalists in its search for the best fried chicken in the U.S. and Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken is not on the list. Not that the other three contenders, Blackberry Farm (Walland, Tennessee), Price's Chicken Coop (Charlotte, North Carolina), and Willa Mae's Scotch House (New Orleans) are not worthy of serious consideration. I have written lovingly of Willa Mae Seaton's wondrous fried chicken in GQ and Business Week. (Those stories don't appear to be online or else I'd link to them.) My friend John T. Edge, whom I trust implicitly in these matters (he did write the book on fried... More

I'm not ashamed to admit to being a fan of Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits, but is it really the best fried chicken in Boston? Bostonians, please set the record straight.... More

"Here's how much people love the fried chicken at Greyhound Tavern: On Mondays and Tuesdays, when most restaurants are stone cold dead, it's fried chicken night at the Greyhound and guests without reservations have to wait 30 minutes for a table. The fish is so good Greyhound has been "retired" from most of those Lenten fish fry competitions because it won so often." According to the Cincinnati Enquirer's Jim Knippenberg, Fort Mitchell's Greyhound Tavern is the longest continuously operating restaurant in Northern Kentucky, having first opened its doors in 1921 during Prohibition as an ice-cream parlor called the Dixie Tea Room.... More

Regina Schrambling, on tricks to cooking for two: "The best thing about dinner for two is that you can brave dishes that would be too labor-intensive and time-consuming for a crowd. You can fry up little corn cakes to top with smoked salmon and crème fraîche, or skillet-roast a whole duck cut in half, or sauté two skate wings that can go from skillet to plate without waiting for four or six more to be cooked. But when you want a night to remember, you can pull out more stops and spend a little more money. In polling coupled friends on their ideal menu with wine but no cliché roses, I found the ingredients and dishes always differed, but the... More

Sizzling hot: Bay Area chefs and diners rediscover the irresistible appeal of fried chicken by Amanda Byrne: "The weird thing about chicken at Town Hall is that I couldn't sell it before," says chef-partner Mitchell Rosenthal. "Then I put this fried chicken on the menu, and now I sell upwards of 35 orders a night." Really thorough article that manages to also be mouth-watering—I'm having fried chicken for lunch today as a result! There are great tips at the end on frying chicken plus four recipes, in case you'd like to make your own, and also a selected listing of SF Bay Area restaurants that serve fried chicken. Other highlights: Marlene Sorosky Gray, on how real maple syrup isn't just... More

The New York Times introduces a new column today: A Good Appetite by Melissa Clark. Its first installment is A Morning Meal Begs to Stay Up Late, exploring polenta's potential as a dinner item (it of course being the first cousin of grits): "It’s a perfect first recipe for this column devoted to foods I’m hankering to eat and proud to feed to anyone willing to pull up a chair ... or a couch. These are foods that are easy to cook and that speak to everyone, either stirring a memory or creating one." Other highlights: Marian Burros discovers the unexpected delight of unlaid eggs, which are eggs in varying stages of development that haven't been laid and are harvested... More

The New York Times food section was full of interesting, fun and thought-provoking stuff this morning, but for me the most mouthwatering (and poignant) story was on page 3. There Kim Severson reported on the Edna Lewis memorial dinner, held this past Sunday in Atlanta. Edna Lewis was, as Kim described her, "an icon of Southern cooking." Although she was born in Virginia and lived out her life in Atlanta, New Yorkers were graced by her presence and cooking skill for many years, first at Cafe Nicholson and then at Gage and Tollner. I recall eating her food many times, first at Gage and Tollner and later at the City Meals on Wheels benefits at the skating rink at... More