Comida

I reviewed Old Forester’s (a brand I like) Birthday Bourbon (a label I’ve always wanted to try) release for 2024 and hooooo boy. It wasn’t bad, but lord, it wasn’t great. I think the regular stuff is better. I felt bad, but I’ve gotta be honest, and the other early reviews I’ve read look like … Read more

Tasting Table tasked me with trying two new twists on classic Kraft mac and cheese. I found both enjoyable, but less of an upgrade and more of a reskin with minor variations: Ken to Ryu. Which means it’s good, but don’t go expecting a totally different taste. It’s still pretty much the mac and cheese … Read more

Tasting Table asked me to review the latest installment of Jack Daniel’s Distillery Selection Series, and I found #13 to be commendable for the price. If you hesitate on rye and can get this near label price, it might just weave around your usual apprehensions on the normally peppery whiskey.

Previously on my adventures with Vox Media, I wrote up the 10 Bars That Will Rock Around Your Christmas Tree. Prior to, we checked in with Bombay about bars that are doing their best to protect the planet as we get responsibly blotto, possibly to tune out all that we’re doing to the planet in … Read more

I’ve loved Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor whiskey since it was cheap and I was a whiskey idiot. Now it’s expensive and I’m a whiskey idiot, but I can still summon some great reasons why you should get your hands on a bottle of Buffalo Trace’s newest addition to the Taylor family, the Barrel Proof Rye. … Read more

Starbucks released a new menu today, and Tasting Table dispatched me to taste its new summer menu items that are, actually, wait, hold up, permanent additions to the Starbucks menu. And while it’s all pretty good, I’ve got the two in hand that you will actually want to order when you’re getting breakfast at 3 … Read more

Are you a fan of me getting paid to eat breakfast? Sure, we all are. That’s why I took this Tasting Table assignment to review the two new flavors of…let me just take a deep breath before I try to say all this, even though we’re in the medium of print…Costco’s Kirkland Signature Sous Vide … Read more

You’ve got questions about the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, ranging from “What is it?” to “Where do I get some?” I can only help you with the first one and many of the questions in between, unless I really, really like you and share some of my limited press taster samples. But until that glorious … Read more

I love me some Weller, but I can’t recommend this new Weller Millennium release–certainly not at this price point, at any rate. That said, I did have a wonderful time sampling it in the company of superior whiskey reviewers. My thoughts on where Weller Millennium fails (but also succeeds) are up on Tasting Table.

I originally reviewed this for Tasting Table, but it was such a long walk from speaking with Beyond about a taste test and getting into an office to do so that I did my taxes, and realized that I, in fact, had tossed a hundred bucks at Beyond stock a few years ago (at present, … Read more

What exactly tastes like spring in brown sugar & cinnamon or toasted coconut, I ask you? Other than getting a winter release out the door late and then averaging the calendar with a clear summer flavor? I’m going to save you a click and tell you to skip the flavored coffees in the 2024 Starbucks … Read more

New Tasting Table piece! Everything you should try to make your beef ribs (not just barbecue, but plenty of that) taste better, according to professional chefs and beef experts. We might not have come to a solid conclusion about dry rub and removing the silverskin membrane, but we definitely established the cases for either side … Read more

Tasting Table sent me down to Herald Square to nosh on Panera’s entire new batch of sandwiches, salads, and one mac & cheese in a sourdough bowl. Some were great. Some were not great but also you wouldn’t be sad that you’d eaten them. All of them were well composed and somewhat subject to heat … Read more

I drank the new Starbucks Reserve Spicy Hot Honey Espresso Martini and Hot Honey Affogato, but you know what? They’re fine. I wouldn’t pay $23 for one, but $14 might be okay. Depending whether you’re in New York, Chicago, or Seattle, that’s the span you’re looking at. Full thoughts and specifications are in my review … Read more

Last week I sampled and reviewed the Iced Lavender Cream Oatmilk Matcha and the Iced Lavender Oatmilk Latte, both of which come out today at every Starbucks in…America? The planet? You tell me. I just sip the drinks and take photos for Tasting Table. The scene above is the lovely floral tasting space they set … Read more

Tasting Table commissioned something a little different from me recently. My editor tasked me with finding the weirdest stock photos about food and cracking wise on them: something I am well-versed at doing from four years at the helm of CBS Local’s Man Cave Daily. I can tell you from a half-decade of experience, we’re … Read more

Happy New Year! I got you fancy chocolate. Or rather, Tasting Table got me all the new and limited-time fancy Lindor chocolates on offer at Lindt, and I ranked them in an update to the previous version of that post by Lauren Beach. I tell you, it might not be quite the same level as … Read more

The start of December found me in Denver after a long while of longing to visit, where I not only dipped my toe into the commerce state, but took in the sights of perhaps my first favorite whiskey brand, now coming fully into its own with the TTB recognizing American Single Malt as a distinct … Read more

I spoke with Peter Luger’s Daniel Turtel about how the famed steakhouse makes its incredible hamburgers, and he said quite openly that they have no secrets. It’s a blend of dry-aged beef trimmings, prime beef with the right kind of fat, and broilers that can sear a patty at temperatures even your grill won’t reach … Read more

Over at Tasting Table, I put a lot, and I mean a LOT, of Smashburger sandwiches and sides in my mouth to assess their Scorchin’ Hot menu. And if you want me to save you a click, it’s not very spicy? I’m reminded of the recent Truff collab over at Popeye’s, where the premium hot … Read more

Election Day is behind us, meaning it’s officially the family holidays season! Following up on my previous rum roundup over at Eater, we’ve updated the list with a nutmeggy bent in 10 New York Bars Where You Can Drink Holiday Rum Cocktails. No wonder they hired a Nutmegger to do it. But there’s also sorrel … Read more

Teremana tequila is pretty good stuff! I happen to have a bottle handy that preceded my assignment from Eater to catalogue the NYC bars participating in the spirit’s Mana for a Cause campaign, aimed at boosting the hospitality industry in these “everyone’s broke except for 12 billionaires” times. In fact, that’s kind of been the … Read more

Do you like gin and sustainability? You can go to hell if it’s neither. But if you only like one, choose sustainability. Anyway, Bombay Gin asked Eater to ask me to write up sustainability focused bars that also make kickass Bombay Sapphire cocktails, which I was happy to do because I like both of those … Read more

It’s National Rum Month, because you can declare any time period the official anything of anything. Look, I’ll do it right now: The third week of December is officially the feast of the Mithras. See? Easy. Now we all have to go do traditional activities that commemorate the Roman messiah, like….uh, like…wow, seems like we … Read more

Probably the only uplifting heat map you’re going to see in 2023, it’s my Eater debut with a roundup of NYC bars where you can watch the Women’s World Cup, a.k.a. the Big Soccer Game We Can’t Name, because trademark law is written by lawyers, and therefore antithetical to natural human behavior. While I’m not … Read more