One shortcut to following the global coffee scene is to track the movements of Tim Styles, such is the Australian barista’s knack for turning up at seminal shops at the right time. He’s worked stints at Ray Cafe in Melbourne, Joe the Art of Coffee in New York, Flat White in London, Intelligentsia in Venice (California) [...]

A truly great burger, whatever its proportions and however tidy its construction, is a perilous proposition. That this sandwich-in-the-round sits not only on a bun but also on the brink of greasy collapse is fundamental to its gratification. ___________________ The photo was taken by Andrea Chu Takeoka at the Lazy Ox Canteen in LA’s Little [...]

How much heat did I, a native New Yorker and food critic for the hometown Daily News, take for insisting that the pastrami at the LA delicatessen Langer’s was superior to anything in New York?  My sanity, as much as my judgment, was called into question when LA Times critic S. Irene Virbila nominated Langer’s [...]