Food Glossies Trumped by a "T" I'm a compulsive reader of the food glossies: Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and Saveur. Aren't you? Each has its virtues, though I can't say that any one of them really speaks to me. I like Gourmet's food politics stories and some of its writers (Jane and Michael Stern, John T. Edge, Calvin Trillin), but I don't share Ruth Reichl's enthusiasm for hiring as many novelists as she can to write stories for her. I used to look forward to reading Pete Wells' column in Food & Wine, but now that he's gone I'm sure I'm going to find Food & Wine's penchant for celebritizing everything (It's the In Style of food magazines)...
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In this month's Food & Wine Anya Von Bremzen interviewed Francois Simon, Le Figaro's Grand Reporter, who according to Vom Bremzen is a "provocateur who uses his whimsically poisonous prose to shake up the ossified world of French haute cuisine, and the ferocious expense and acrid snobbery that goes with it." My friend Steingarten knows and respects Simon very much, so I tend to trust his judgment as well. Here are a few of his picks: Gaya: 44 rue du Bac, 7th Arr.: 011-33-1-45-44-73-73: Three star chef's inventive, casual new fish restaurant. Le Bistrot Paul Bert: 18 Rue Paul Bert, 11th Arr.: 011-33-1-43-72-24-01. Great insider's bistro. Bakery: Boulangerie Julien (75 Rue St. Honore, 1st Arr., 011-33-1-42-36-24-83. Baguettes and croissants. For...
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I hate to keep mining yesterday's New York times for my posts, but there were lots of thought-provoking food stories worth commenting on. Michael Pollen's Times Magazine cover story on hunting for his dinner was well-written but ultimately unsurprising. Pollen concluded after shooting a pig and serving it to his dinner guests that that killing the flesh he served made the food on his table more meaningful. I guess the only other conclusion he could have come to was that he and every other carnivore should become a vegetarian or even worse, a vegan....
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