Fenocchio Ice Cream

French ice cream in Provence, at Fenocchio, a visit to the factory of this famous Provencal with David Lebovitz author of The Perfect Scoop guide to ice cream.

American Chocolate Hazelnut Paste

Super delicious chocolate hazelnut spread from Askinosie, a bean-to-bar American chocolate maker. From David Lebovitz author of The Great Book of Chocolate.

Matsuri Sustainable Sushi

A sushi bar serving sustainable seafood and fish in Paris, a visit to Matsuri with chef David Lebovitz author of The Sweet Life in Paris.

Frozen Melon Margaritas

Frosty-cold frozen margaritas with melon and fresh lime juice-perfect cocktails & completely refreshing, a wonderful way to enjoy summer.

Farro Salad with Tomatoes, Mushrooms and Basil

Hearty farro salad recipe with fresh tomatoes & vegetables make a delicious meal-a recipe from chef David Lebovitz in Paris.

New York City Dining and Travel Notes

A tasty trip to places to eat in New York City from chef & cookbook author from the food & travel blog of David Lebovitz.

Les Tomates

Buying fresh tomatoes in Paris, a story of shopping at a French market from author David Lebvoitz

Tech Issues

As mentioned a bit back, we’re doing some work behind-the-scenes here on the site. Consequently, there are the inevitable glitches; RSS feed issues, comment log-in situations, server problems, and on occasion, the site being unreachable by your browser. You may need to reload the page if you’re not getting access (if you’re on a Mac, [...]

Salted Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I worked in the restaurant business, if you happened to walk in during staff meal, you could always tell who were the pastry people: we were the ones dousing our food with vinegar and salt. That is, when we had time to sit down and eat. I like sweets, but I like them tempered with something not-necessarily sweet, which is why sometimes you'll see a squeeze of lemon juice added to a fruit

Baking Ingredients and Substitutions

Because the question comes up from time to time, I thought I'd answer some questions about making substitutions in my recipes and swapping out ingredients. The short answer is: When you substitute or swap out ingredients, results will vary and won't be the same as mine. Some will work, and others won't. The most common is folks who want to reduce the sugar or fat in a recipe, but in most insta

How to Find and Use Free Wi-Fi in Paris

Tips on how to get connected for free using Wi-Fi in Paris, France.

Salted Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Baking Ingredients and Substitutions

Babycakes NYC

The first place I had on my list of places to go in New York City was BabycakesNYC. Ever since I saw the video of the staff having a blast, I was transfixed on going there to participate in the fun and frolic. Babycakes NYC is owned by Erin McKenna, and features vegan desserts made without gluten or refined sugar. There's also treats for people who keep kosher, and those on soy, egg, and

Babycakes NYC

Economy Candy

I'll spare you any quips about feeling like kids in a candy store, but from the squeals of delight all around us (and there was no one under eighteen in Economy Candy), there we were, a roomful of adults, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling displays of candy—from the new to the long-forgotten. And I could hear every few moments someone saying, "Oh my God!" or "I LOVE these!" from people reconn

Economy Candy

Kyochon

Of course, I never heard of Kyochon. But when I was walking by it with my pal Matt, he said, "Oh...Kyochon!" To me, it looked like another fast-food restaurant. And normally, I'm not a fan of fast-food, but Asian fast-food? Sign me up! So much of their food lends itself to quick service: noodles, fried chicken, sushi, and croquettes. Fast-food, or course, has taken on a somewhat differ

Kyochon

Hill Country Barbecue

I woke up this morning, and could not even make it through to the second half of my flagel. My stomach was stuffed from yesterday, which began at Baked in Brooklyn, then extended through to a burger and fries at Shake Shack, across the border to Connecticut for steamed lobster, then back into New York City with a quick detour through the Apple store, then home to polish off the box of cook

Hill Country Barbecue

Doughnut Plant, NYC

Could the Doughnut Plant be the best place in the world? I'm sorry, but I don't remember the name of each and every doughnut we had at Doughnut Plant in New York City. Frankly, I was so caught up in ordering doughnuts, passing them around, trying to take a few snaps, while going berserk over each and every flavor of doughnut we tried, my sanity took a temporary leave and I just let the overwh

Doughnut Plant, NYC

Momofuku Milk Bar

I sometimes think about stepping back into the restaurant world. I miss being around all that energy and cooking alongside others instead of toiling in the kitchen all by my lonesome (...and with you, of course). But it's nice to bounce ideas off of others and do more involved presentations, plus I'll admit, I miss having a team of dishwashers on staff just as much—or even more. I love w

Momofuku Milk Bar

Porchetta

It felt a little funny heading over to Porchetta for lunch. I mean, I live right next to Italy and had amazing porchetta there just recently. So why am I taking a lengthy subway trip down to the East Village for lunch? And I was tempted even further when I was on the way to meet my friend Shira (who I met on a boat trip on the Côte d'Azur last year) for lunch, and I passed a 'San Francisco-st

Porchetta

Flat Bagels

Tradition schmadition. Something I've noticed every time I come to New York is that the bagels keep getting puffier and puffier. (Which happened before everything started going 3D.) When I eat a bagel, I want a chewy exterior with lot of seeds on it and enough dough inside to support a swipe of cream cheese. I don't want a whole loaf of bread in there. Is that too much to ask? Roaming around t

Flat Bagels

...and that was the RUB

We came for the burnt ends. But to be fair, when we called the day before to see if RUB Barbeque took reservations, we were told that they sometimes run out of certain items because they take days to smoke. So, of course—with my luck, we arrived at RUB, aka, Righteous Urban Barbeque, to... I think that sign is the VA (version Américain) of the infamous Fermeture exceptionnelle I've

Zucchini Cake with Crunchy Lemon Glaze

A few years ago, I was extremely fortunate to meet Gina DePalma, the pastry chef at Babbo in New York City, thanks to the matchmaking efforts of Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. Being bakers, we struck up a friendship and she gave me a copy of her gorgeous book, Dolce Italiano. And after we had dessert and coffee together, we ambled the streets of New York City a little and made plans to me

Blog Notes

Appearances I have a few appearances coming up, and if you're around, please come by and say hi... -August 5: Borders Books, New York City - 7pm (That's this week!) -September 25: La Cocotte, Paris - 3 to 5pm You can find more information about them on my Schedule page. That's all I have planned so if I'm not coming to where you are, hop on the plane and I'll see you here—or there!

Design*Sponge Video and Raspberry Sorbet Recipe

The fashionable team over at Design*Sponge came by to make a video with me here in Paris... I hit the market with Anne Ditmeyer of Prêt à Voyager, who is part of the Design*Sponge creative team, to do a little shopping. (Plus we got a little lesson of how far a seller will go not to sell something to you.) Continue reading "Design*Sponge Video and Raspberry Sorbet Recipe" »

Eggplant Caviar

I'd not heard of Eggplant Caviar (caviar d'aubergine), until I moved to France. I'm not sure why that was—perhaps in the states it's called something different when I was served it? Could it be labeling laws, so I wouldn't confuse eggplant seeds for fish eggs? Or did I just have my head in the sand for too many years and only saw the light when I moved away? Whenever I had eggplants lyin

Cornmeal Cookies (Zaletti)

If I had to name one food that I couldn't live without, chocolate would be right up there. Salted butter is on that short list, too. Seeded bagels, California dried apricots, black and white cookies, osetra caviar (if money, and sustainability, were no object), lobster rolls, French fries, and really good fried chicken would also be on that list. Not as fancy as some of those things, but just

Le Garde Robe and Spring

After my recent lament about the state of bistros in Paris, where I noted that the wine bars in Paris often had the best food, when my friend Rochelle who owns Chefwear was in town this week, I wanted to go somewhere casual, where we'd be assured of good, honest food. So we agreed to meet at Le Garde Robe, one of my favorite wine bars in Paris, which serves mostly natural wines. Another pl

Classic Salade Niçoise

There were various responses on my Strawberry ice cream recipe, requesting a retraction of the moniker ice "cream" since it didn't have cream in it. And a respected food writer pointed out that pumpkin was obligatory in Soupe au Pistou. I, too, know that folks will sometimes call something hot 'chocolate' even though it was made with cocoa powder instead of chocolate. And have been served fried

Bistro Bummer

Always on the lookout for classic French bistros, a friend and I recently stopped at Au Petit Riche. I'd eaten there before and found the food decent, but I remember the company a little better than the food. I was dazzled by the stunning interior and the conversation, which should have been a tip off since I rarely forget anything I eat that's good. Many Americans have become more astute abo

Doing an Internship in France

Many people who embark on professional cooking careers, or just interested in having an experience in an French kitchen, are interested in coming to France to do an internship, called a stage. I posted on Twitter, to find out how people got their stages in France. Here are some of their responses: "I walked in and asked." "...sent in a cover letter, followed up, and had a contact."

le Week-end

I always seem to have the supreme misfortune to draw the letter W when playing Scrabble in French, as there's barely one-quarter of a page in the French dictionary devoted to words that begin with that letter. People use "Wu" for Chinese money; although I allow them, it's not in the French dictionary so I'm not sure that's in the official rules. In spite of their high-value, I always am irked w

The Hottest Restaurant in Paris

A lot of us étrangers (and there are some pretty étrange étrangers here..) bemoan the lack of heat and spiciness in the ethnic fare served up, because a good number of the locals have a hard time dealing with the heavily-spiced dishes that our all-American constitutions have no trouble handling. We, The People, have cast-iron stomachs and have become a nation of full-tilt eaters, relishing and

Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream

I was thinking of having "If you change the ingredients in a recipe, results will vary" tattooed on my forehead, but there wasn't enough room. (Although if my hairline keeps receding at this rapid pace, it may happen sooner than you think.) When I used to teach classes, folks were always wanting to tinker with recipes, especially ice cream, replacing the cream with what-have-you. Or to replace

Soupe au Pistou

It's no secret that I'm not a fan of soup. (Well, if it was, it's not anymore.) I just feel odd ordering it in a restaurant, since I'm paying for a bowl of glorified liquid. And I rarely eat it at home, since when I want to eat, I want something more substantial as a meal. And if I eat it as a first course, then it takes up valuable real estate in my stomach for something more interesting. (

Cherries in Red Wine Syrup

Where did the time go? I wanted to get one quick cherry recipe in before the season ended because I'm always scouting for ways to extend the unfairly short fresh cherry season. Plus I had some red wine leftover from another cooking project, a bulging sack of ripe cherries that the vendors were practically begging me to take off their hands (I know...it was kind of freaking me out, too), and a

Caramelized White Chocolate Cakes

Laura Adrian is half of the team behind Hidden Kitchen, a private supper club in Paris that she hosts in Paris with her partner Braden. With a little help from am adorable Boston Terrier that pops his head into the action every once in a while. Laura worked for one of my favorite bean-to-bar chocolate makers in America, Theo chocolate in Seattle, before moving to Paris. Due to word-of-mouth,

Djerba

The sky in North Africa isn't clear blue. It's subdued and hazy. One might say it's laiteuse; blue with a touch of milk, or yogurt. Unlike the beaches of the Pacific, you're not stunned by the sky as much as you are aware that it's relentlessly bearing down on you. The heat can be intense and unlike Paris, where folks scramble to sit in any patch of sunshine that they can find even during the

Chicken Mango Slaw

During the summer months, when the temperature in Paris shoots up to nearly unbelievable heights, it turns my up-on-the-rooftop apartment into a furnace, and many nights dinner will be enjoyed on the roof, overlooking the city, watching the rest of it cool down after a broiling day. Somehow, my apartment doesn't enjoy the same cool-down period, perhaps its the price I pay for being closer to t

Merce and the Muse, and Mary

One of the curious things that's happening right now in the Paris food scene is a spate of what I consider 'anglo'-style cafés opening up in various smaller neighborhoods. There are a few that have been around for a while. But in the past year, casual restaurants that sell leafy salads, made with just-cooked fresh vegetables and greens, house made soups, hand-held desserts like individual car

Les Jars

I hope for your sake that you're nothing like me. If you are, you've probably saved every single glass jar that's ever crossed your path. (Don't even get me started on reusable plastic containers, which merit a whole separate post.) Once something lands in my apartment, it's there for the duration. Someone once attempted to give me a smackdown for advising my favorite people in the world, my re

Almond Cake

Seeing as I don't get out as much as I'd like to, I've never really thought about what would be my "desert island" cake. Or should I say "dessert island" cake? As in, what is the one cake that I would want with me if I couldn't have any other kind. Chocolate figures largely into the equation, but as much as I love Chocolate Orbit Cake or a custard-filled Coconut Cake, I'd have to say that this