Exclusive interviews and Q&As with our favorites in food, drink, travel, and culture.
Growing at mind-boggling rates, mobile vendors have sprung up in cities across America, leaving city and state lawmakers scratching their heads and scrambling to enact new regulations, while traditional restaurateurs are left baffled at how to manage the customer ebb and flow due to this increasingly popular sector of the culinary world.
I’m surprised when chef Scott Conant addresses me by name at our first meeting. For a moment, I’m a little stunned, standing at the base of the event stage with my hand extended, elevator pitch at the ready. Until he notes my rapid fire tweets from the weekend’s events.
One of the busiest weekends of the year in the small town, chef Ryan Hardy is on the go today, preparing for the crown-jewel event of the weekend, Food & Wine’s Publisher’s Party atop the hills of Aspen.
![Chef Tom Colicchio [dailyblender.com]](https://dailyblender.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/tc-330x220.jpg)
Chef Tom Colicchio is more than just a pretty face. Most often recognized due to his stint as judge on Bravo’s Top Chef, Colicchio doesn’t just sit behind a table and critique ill-fated dishes delivered by nerve-wracked cheftestants every day.
Chef Jody Adams proved to be one tough cookie on this season’s Top Chef Masters. Adams, in competition with top chefs like Rick Moonen, Susur Lee, and Marcus Samuelsson, survived a number of battles (including an obscure Quickfire challenge to produce dishes designed to look like characters from The Simpsons) before being eliminated during a recent Exotic Surf and Turf challenge.
When I first met Miami chef Michael Schwartz, he was busy manning the kitchen during a Cayman Cookout dinner this past January. Knee-deep in the fast-paced hubbub of Chef Dean Max’s restaurant, The Brasserie, Schwartz was calm, cool, and collected as plates flew by on the prep table.
What I love about the James Beard Foundation Awards is this – anyone can win….
Where does one even begin when writing about Anthony Bourdain? A chef whose fame has had more to do with sharp wit than kitchen skill, he is outspoken, unapologetic, and controversial.
Even with applause and accolade, Chef Eric Ripert has kept his culinary kingdom rather manageable. With restaurants in only a handful of cities across the East Coast – D.C.’s Westend Bistro, Philly’s 10 Arts, and Blue on Grand Cayman Island…
In a year of restaurant failures and falls, few have maintained their steady climb to greatness. Offering a unique dining experience with spectacular food and service, New York’s Hill Country Barbeque Market is one of those few who have continued their ascension without interruption.
![Chef David Chang at Seattle's Spring Hill [dailyblender.com]](https://dailyblender.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/davidchang_1-330x220.jpg)
Strolling into a West Seattle restaurant on a dreary November afternoon, David Chang himself enters nearly unnoticed. Revered in writeups and showered with food awards, he remains a humble cook, without entourage, without fanfare, and in a friendly state. All despite his culinary rock star status.