A Pro Kitchen Store for the Amateur Home Cook
Dave McCormick is one of those food enthusiasts with whom you can get lost in an hour-long conversation about everything from the proper sweetness-to-acidity ratio of balsamic vinegar to his personal love of cookware. His store, Pro Kitchen Gear, is located in tony Greenville—just minutes from Wilmington and is equivalent to foodie nirvana. Geared toward the discerning home cook, the store’s carefully curated shelves are stocked with renowned brands like Emile Henry and Mauviel—brands that send any gastronome’s heart into overdrive. Like most creative entrepreneurs, Dave is a...
Read MoreOn the Road Again: A Weekend at Fairville Inn
As I mentioned in an earlier post, this weekend was about food, food and more food. I was in town for the MidAtlantic Wine and Food Festival and had the opportunity to stay at Fairville Inn in Chadds Ford, PA not far from Delaware’s border. In the true spirit of confessing, I must admit I am a bit obsessed with B&Bs; I much prefer them over standard hotels. It may be a combination of the intimate service and the often times interesting backstories of the properties themselves that make me swoon. Whatever it is, I have found a new favorite B&B right in the heart of the...
Read MoreIn Poor ‘Taste’: ABC’s New Culinary Crapfest
I hope Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre, Brian Malarkey (what an appropriate surname), and Anthony Bourdain are proud of themselves. The rather accomplished quartet is just the latest group of culinary pros to conspire with a major television network to craft undoubtedly one of the most insipid reality/game shows in history. With what could be called an abysmal choice of programming, last night ABC aired its premiere episode of The Taste–a weird, confounding culinary game show in which a panel of esteemed judges blind taste contestants’ one-bite concoctions and decide whether...
Read MoreOn the ‘Mein’ Line: Dining at Nectar
Underneath a crisp sheath of pomegranate-glazed tempura pumpkin, a mélange of roasted pumpkin, avocado, and sushi rice come together in this seasonal roll. Nectar–the Main Line’s French-Asian fusion monolith–is just as much about numbers as it is about food. From the billowy 18-foot silkscreen Buddha tapestry that towers over the cavernous 200-seat dining room to the $5 million David Rockwell-designed interior, the restaurant evokes a sexy, cosmopolitan air sorely missing from the suburban dining landscape–especially that of the Main Line’s. It is...
Read MoreMy British Brekkie: Soldiers & Eggs
Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day; I really could eat it any time of the day. Brunch at noon, brinner (breakfast for dinner), or sometimes at 3 AM–you name it. Like famed molecular gastronomy chef Wylie Dufresne, I seriously love eggs. It’s a borderline obsession; a breakfast without eggs is a sad one indeed. One of the greatest egg dishes of all time is arguably one of the simplest and it comes to us from our brekkie-loving friends across the pond. In Britain, soldiers and eggs refers to a runny, softly boiled egg and strips of toasted bread that are...
Read MoreIn the Cocina: Cooking in Mexico
Can you think of a better way to start off a cooking class than with a (virgin) hibiscus margarita? My love of Mexican food runs deep and the pretty substantial group of Hispanic friends I had growing up is partially to blame. The remaining blame falls squarely on the shoulders of their abuelas whose homemade tortillas and hand-formed sopes were a mainstay in my adolescent diet. Over the years, I have visited Mexico many times and sampled everything from sugary, straight-from-the-fryer churros and bowls of piping hot menudo to pibil pollo and the acquired-taste huitlacoche. In...
Read MoreWho is The Palate Princess?
Iris McCarthy is a food writer and author of the popular book Food Lovers' Guide to Philadelphia. This website is where she gets to sound off on all things culinary.