Sweet, Sour, Salty, What?

Americans have historically hated bitter tastes, while other cultures loved them. Until now. Chefs are playing with bitter in new ways, and U.S. diners are finally appreciating it.

Dinner Parties on the (Ultra) Cheap

Three multicourse bashes for eight.

Fork on the Left, Knife on the Floor

Designers reinvent the table setting.

The Taste of an Oyster

Plus a dozen oysters you should know.

The Year in Food 2008

What we ate, what the candidates ate, what the Olympians ate.

The CHOW Guide to Eating and Drinking in Austin, SXSW edition

From Tex-Mex to high-end, CHOW brings you the best eating and drinking locations in Austin.

Smoked beer adds fiery depth to a classic.

Everything’s been coming up kugel lately. Kugel (literally “potato pudding”) is sort of a baked potato pancake. Its ingredients are simple: grated (using hand or meat grinder, never a food processor) potato...

Stout gives these chocolate cupcakes a distinctive flavor.

The Minneapolis opening party of the W Hotel goes disastrously awry, at least from one writer’s perspective.

this bottle of rioja, so please cut me some slack on any grammatical or spelling errors. That is all. Peace and grub y’all.

Rosas Only complaint we had was the sommelier steered us towards a wine that was the opposite of what we described as liking but we fixed it on the second bottle

bottles and great chili on the dogs. I still must recommend Stamey’s. I could and have just eaten the hush puppies for a meal. I sometimes have a troublesome stomach. Linger as you walk in and cast your eyes left to watch...

Alice, Brasserie on 53rd between Park and Lex has wonderful french brasserie food in a very “manhattan” setting. The dining room is very minimalist and futuristic with lots of wood and opaque glass. The bottles behind...

you need?), and a wooden tray of sweet slaw, mac salad, cold spinach, steamed dumplings and a slab of lovely, crusty grilled mackeral (or pike if you prefer), with a bowl of rice. Mr. Smith and I split a couple of itty bitty...