The Winter Gimlet | Province Restaurant, Chicago

A Variation on a Classic That Goes Down a Little Easier

Ah, gimlets. I've always been too much of a wuss to enjoy them. The gimlet is all harsh lime and bracing alcohol, befitting to manlier men like the British seaman who invented it, at some point in the 19th century, halfway across the Atlantic. They were looking for their allotment of vitamin C (scurvy sucks), had Rose's lime juice , and they were drinking a lot of gin. How's that for a cockt...

Two Cocktails to Celebrate New Years Eve in Style

With one secret ingredient

For the third year in a row, Nick and I will be spending our New Years Eve with friends eating tacos and drinking cocktails. It's become something of a tradition, fondly known as Cocktails and Carnitas , and I can hardly wait.

It's a given that the food is good. But we also believe in drinking very, very good cocktails. Cocktail. Rather than conjuring up images of sugary vodka-laced conco...

Birth of the Martini: The Turf Club

The Turf Club is an ancestor to the martini: less shockingly dry, and a little more vivacious

Do you remember your first Martini? Mine came while I was still working as a waiter. After a long, hard shift, all of us would sit around a table and get one free drink before heading home. Usually I went for the coldest beer I could fine, but that day I held my head high and ordered a Martini. It felt good to say it out loud, and it arrived all handsome and clean with a single olive in it. It...

The Young Man and the Cocktail

The perfection introduction to mixed drinks.

Over the past year or so, Nick and I have developed a kind of unhealthy obsession with cocktails -- some could argue literally.  We've quietly stocked our cabinets with liquers, liquors, bitters; our fridge doors are weighed down with vermouths (yes, they should be refrigerated ) and simple syrups; a regular supply of rye whiskey, bourbon and gin comes and goes, mixed with a recurring stoc...

Gorgefest Saturday

Manhattan. 1 day. 9 Restaurants.

I hadn’t been to New York since my exodus in July and I returned with a plan.  I wasn’t going to waste any moment visiting attractions, or seeing a Broadway play.  I lived there for two years, so it felt right to walk back in and get to what I spent most of my time doing: eating.  And with the Paupered Chefs reunited for the first time in half a year, it really wasn't that hard for ou...

A Paupered Week in Flatiron Day 5: Real Pizza

_ Check out Day 1 to figure out why Nick is spending so much time on lunch spots in Manhattan . _

Of all the foods I could nosh on in NYC for a quick, cheap lunch, nothing was as obvious as pizza.  The capital of that tasty dish, New York should have had interesting pizza places pouring out of its alleyways, with enough springy crusts, milky cheeses, and bright sauces to keep me filled...

A Paupered Week in Flatiron Day 4: New Lands

_ Check out Day 1 to figure out why Nick is spending so much time on lunch spots in Manhattan . _

After a few months, even the finds of Flatiron become slightly boring for no other reason than repitition.  I began looking farther afield for something tasty.  With the subway less than a block away, I dreampt of being able to zoom up to any restaurant I pleased.  The whole of Manhattan...

A Paupered Week in Flatiron Day 3: Embarrassingly Poor

_ Check out Day 1 to figure out why Nick is spending so much time on lunch spots in Manhattan . _

While the $5 limit I usually impose on lunch might seem low by some standards, there are times when even that is a little too high. Whether it's close to payday or after a long expensive weekend, sometimes you need to go lower.  That's when you have to dive deep into the belly of the city t...

A Paupered Week in Flatiron Day 2: In Search of India

_ Check out Day 1 to figure out why Nick is spending so much time on lunch spots in Manhattan . _

Good, cheap Indian food should be a relatively easy find.  Some 10 minute walk away is Murray Hill, a neighborhood that is also affectionately known as Curry Hill.  During lunch, a stretch along Lexington Avenue becomes packed with yellow taxis attempting to find a parking spot.  The idli...

A Paupered Week in Flatiron Day 1: The Great Burrito

It didn't start off as a quest.  I had a job in the Flatiron section of Manhattan and I needed to eat cheaply.  I'm not much of a brown bagger, and soups don't always interest me, so I began to search for the best places to find a meal for around $5.  It became an obsession.  See, Flatiron and the eastern part of Chelsea have some of the finest restaurants in the world, but they are far fr...