(Food + Drinks)
Food + Drinks
How to Drink Punch (with Recipe) by Charles Dickens
Today marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth. While the English novelist is best known for the invention of such memorable (and memorably named) characters such as Ebenezer Scrooge, Oliver Twist, and Miss Havisham, the literary giant was almost as famous in his day for another creative talent: punch making. He served punch at the countless parties he hosted, taught guests proper punch concoction technique, and frequently invoked the punch bowl in his books. With punch in vogue today, and popping up on the menus of pedigreed cocktail bars across the country, we're honoring the memory of Dickens
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Weird News
Missing Links: Supervillain Gingrich and 5 Things Not to Wear
Quiz: Supervillain or Newt? (supervillainornewt.com) This surprisingly tricky multiple choice test compares the presidential candidate's ideas with those of fictional supervillains. We got a lot wrong. Video: 10 Misconceptions Disproved by C.G.P. Grey (C.G.P. Grey Blog) Amusing video-montage blogger C.G.P. Grey finds out if the Great Wall of China is visible from space, if cracking your knuckles really gives you arthritis and more. Starbucks to Sell Beer, Wine in Atlanta, Southern California (Reuters) Starbucks implements phase two in its campaign for world domination: booze. Web Addicts Have Brain Changes, Says Research (BBC) Turns out the hours you wasted on
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Food + Drinks
Gourmet Bar Snacks You'd Pay For If They Weren't Free
You no longer have to choose between pretzels and nuts—gratis bar snacks have gone upscale. On Mondays at New York City's Anfora, chef Gabe Thompson trots out all-you-can-eat melted raclette with cured meat and potatoes. At San Francisco's Commonwealth, chef Jason Fox makes the chips himself and dusts them with nori salt and piment d'espelette. They're then served with malt-vinegar mousse. At the Il Moro gastropub in Los Angeles, the complimentary finger foods range from seafood ceviche to eggplant lasagna. Boiled eggs with mesquite-smoked salt are getting rave reviews at James Beard winner John Besh's Lüke San Antonio. —Jay Cheshes
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Tech
Download This: Cor.kz Wine App
For years, wine fans have been sharing their thoughts on a site—and a highly sortable database with more than 1 million wines and 2 million reviews—called CellarTracker. Now the database is portable, assuming you have an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Android. Better still, Cor.kz lets you scan a bottle's bar code to read about it and get comparisons with other wines. A glossary decodes regions and grape names. A "wish list" keeps track of the wines you want to try next. A "consumption history" feature remember the wine you loved last week; no more hoping you'll recognize the
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Food + Drinks
Rosolio: The After-Dinner Drink of the Moment
Forget limoncello—bars across the country are cooking up their own variations of the (usually rose-petal-derived) Italian liqueur. Ripple Washington, D.C. The bartenders soak apples in grain alcohol, add sugar, and combine with olive-oil-infused vodka, rosemary, and honey syrup. Bibiana Washington, D.C. A 27-spice blend that includes cloves and fennel seeds is served over ice with Blackwell Fine Jamaican rum and Lazzaroni amaretto. Pazzo Portland, Oregon Chef John Eisenhart simmers jars of figs, alcohol, and sugar in water for a rosolio he describes as "unctuous, rich, and fruity." Culina Los Angeles Wine director Brick Loomis imports small-batch, traditional rosoli and serves
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Food + Drinks
Download This: Chefs Feed App
The creators of this free app (available for the iPhone) spent the better part of a year polling the country's top chefs, then cataloging their favorite restaurants and dishes to eat when off-duty. A selection: Mario Batali, Babbo, NYC The fried oysters at Pearl Oyster Bar Paul Kahan, Blackbird, Chicago The Margherita pizza at Great Lake Roy Choi, Kogi, Los Angeles The soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung —Jay Cheshes Also on Details.com Meet America's 5 Best Young Chefs Chef David Chang's Top 5 Most Annoying Things Customers Do Meet the Chefs Who Are Lighting Up Paris
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Food + Drinks
Vegan Hot Spots Are the New Celebrity Hangouts
A handful of innovative vegan eateries are thriving in Los Angeles, attracting health-conscious celebrities in flip-flops and studio execs in suits and replacing old power-lunch locales like the Ivy. These are the new gathering places for the meat-and-dairy-averse glitterati and the paparazzi who stalk them. Cru Its menu is a global veggie melange. Regulars: Russell Brand, Kirsten Dunst. crusilverlake.com Café Gratitude Favorite dishes include I Am Great and I Am Graceful. Regulars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Orlando Bloom. cafegratitude.com Seed Bistro Offers a four-to-six-course menu. Regulars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire. seedbistro.com SunCafe Organic Cuisine A raw-foods joint across from the Universal lot.
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Food + Drinks
PDT's Jim Meehan on How to Mix Cocktails With the Country's Greatest Unsung Liquors
Bartender Jim Meehan, owner of the inventive New York City watering hole PDT and author of the new PDT Cocktail Book (Sterling Epicure), introduces you to a few homegrown spirits you've never heard of. SPIRIT: Berkshire Mountain Distillers Ragged Mountain Rum from Great Barrington, Massachusetts COCKTAIL: Mountain Medicine IN MEEHAN'S WORDS: "A cocktail may not be the first form of treatment you consider, but this rum was distilled by a former physician's assistant. Not to mention, lime juice saved thousands of sailors from scurvy, Bénédictine was first dispensed as an elixir by monks, and Angostura was originally formulated by
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Art
Best of the Week: New Restaurant Rows, the London Design Festival, and Jeffrey Eugenides' Cultural Diet
Best New Restaurant Rows—Whether it's drinks or dinner, these eateries are the best the country has to offer. The 8 Luxury Cars You Should Rent—When Price Is No Object—With a fleet of the hottest rides—and full amenities—these high-end agencies put the national chains to shame. Seasoning Secrets of the Elite Chefs—Spice up your kitchen with the flavors preferred by America's culinary masters. Novelist Jeffrey Eugenides' Cultural Diet—The Pulitzer Prize winner shares his omnivorous tastes. The New "It" Sparkling Wine—Toast to crémant with one of these bottles of bubbly. An Insider's Guide to the Best of the London Design Festival—Omer
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Food + Drinks
The Pros' Go-To Spice Markets
The best chefs turn to two shops for superlative seasonings. New York City's La Boite a Epice (laboiteny.com) creates spice blends used by Lyon's Chris Leahy and Le Bernardin's Eric Ripert, whose favorite is the Salvador, a mix of pimenton, saffron, and seafood essence. San Francisco's Le Sanctuaire (le-sanctuaire.com) is stocked with berries, barks, peppers, and pods. Comme Ca's David Myers and Thomas Keller's pastry chef, Courtney Schmidig, are regulars. The French Laundry uses the store's Tahitian vanilla beans to flavor desserts and the saffron-and-vanilla sauce it serves with butter-poached lobster. Also on Details.com: Spice Market The World's 5
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The Daily Details Continues
