'Fesser of The Gurgling Cod received this flyer in the mail. Talk about the crass commercialization of Christmas. JESUS [The Gurgling Cod]... More

Could you eat an entire 20-inch pizza by yourself? With two toppings? What if it guaranteed you free pizza for a year? Blogger Bear Silber reaches for the eye of the tiger: The Pizza and Pipes Belly Buster challenge was a success. A few men set out to make history, two became boys while one became a legend. What exactly is the Belly Buster challenge you ask. Simple, it’s a 20” pizza that must be consumed in one hour or less by one individual. To date many have tried but none have been victorious. The Hall of Shame is filled with Polaroids of individuals who’ve attempted to conquer the Belly Buster while the Hall of Fame lay bare. Did... More

Four days of eating on Martha's Vineyard and what did I discover: The best local soda I've ever tasted: Cape Cod Diet Cranberry Ginger Ale: Simultaneously sweet and tart, plenty of cranberry flavor, could go a little heavier on the ginger. I know about Cheerwine and the like, but are there other great local sodas most people don't know about? A very fine Little Rock Farms blueberry pie made with wild Maine blueberries. An excellent Mrs. Blake's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with her usual moist and flaky crust and filling that could have been less sweet. Fried clams from John's Fish Market in Vineyard Haven that were crunchy, clammy, and yummy. Wispy, thin onion rings that were battered to order (as... More

Lots of new pizza places opening all across America by chefs and pizzaiolos serious about ingredients and crust and fire and all the things that go into great pizza. My friend Tom Douglas is opening Serious Pie in Seattle sometime late this summer. In many ways Tom is the founding father of the Seattle food scene. His restaurants include the Dahlia Lounge, the Palace Kitchen, Lola, and Etta's. Tom is one of the country's great chefs. He's also a longtime eating buddy of mine. The man can flat out eat. Full disclosure: I co-wrote one of Tom's cookbooks, Tom's Big Dinners. Tom has loved pizza for a long time, and he has often talked about opening a pizzeria. I guess... More

Today was not a good food day. I went to visit Roadfood pioneers and great writers Jane and Michael Stern at their house in Connecticut. I brought them a box of schnecken (pecan sticky buns) and a black and white cookie from Greenberg's, a classic New York Jewish bakery that is simply not very good anymore except for the schnecken and the black and white cookies. We had a blast hanging out and swapping writer war stories. When I left, Michael told me I had to go to their latest discovery, Wave Hill, a bakery that made great rustic bread. Michael said it was on the way to my final lunch destination, the new Fairfield location of the seminal New... More