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March 21, 2018

6 best beach bars in America

One of the greatest pleasures in life is sitting at a beach bar, drinking something with a silly name and watching the sun sink into the ocean like a big, fiery sinking thing. That’s why we’ve listed some of our favorite beach bars in the country. Spoiler alert: Not all of them are by the sea…

March 21, 2018

America’s oldest taverns

When we think about really old restaurants, we tend to gravitate toward the ones that are located in big cities and have been around seemingly forever, like Keens Steakhouse in Manhattan. Sure, Keens is one of the city’s oldest restaurants, having opened in 1885, but the oldest restaurants in the country are still not as old as something that’s entirely different: the country's oldest dining rooms, located inside taverns and inns. First, a little bit of history. Restaurants as we know them didn’t really exist in the United States until Delmonico’s opened in New York City in the 1830s. At this time, the whole concept of a "menu" was still pretty foreign, as the vast majority of people still ate at home, or at an inn or tavern, if they happened to be traveling and needed something to eat (or got hungry while out drinking). These stops didn’t have anything remotely resembling a bill of fare; if they happened to be making some beef stew in the kitchen, that’s what you’d be eating that night. And therein lies the difference between restaurants and dining rooms and bar rooms at taverns and inns. Whereas the earliest restaurants (and therefore America’s oldest) tended to be lavish affairs with gigantic menus, private dining rooms galore, and menu options like "palmettes of snipe, Osborn," dining rooms at taverns and inns were a much more modest affair, catering to the cold, weary traveler instead of the well-heeled, Diamond Jim Brady-types. It wasn’t until the later 1800s when more casual restaurants came about, in the form of delicatessens and lunch counters. In our quest to find America’s oldest taverns and inns, we tracked down lots of old Colonial-era houses that were converted into restaurants at some point in time, but many of them have only housed restaurants for less than 100 years. The taverns and inns on our list have fed the hungry for nearly as long as these buildings have been around, which in some cases is more than 300 years. And these aren’t museums, either; they’re places where you can still have a meal to this day, and they all date from before 1800. Read on for a trip back to the very earliest days of American dining.

March 21, 2018

Top 5 rising chefs in America for 2013

As we travel the landscapes of culinary creativity we’ve uncovered bold, new talent heating up the stoves across America, from the Big Apple to the Peach State, down the bayous of the Big Easy and stretching out to Pacific shores. Five top toques under 30 are hot on the trail forging new passions and fresh ideas, while still upholding the best standards of tradition. We salute their long hours of apprenticeship, their hard climb up the kitchen ladder, and their commitment to looking ever forward when they reach the top.

March 21, 2018

Chef's guide to visiting Shanghai

Shanghai has rebuilt itself in the last 20 years, and although the streets may now be stuffed with Audis, Mercedes, and Bentleys, the city’s humble street foods remain close to even the richest hearts. Add to that an Epcot’s worth of regional Chinese restaurants (and beyond), and you can start to get an idea of why this city needs 30,000-plus restaurants. Chef and food writer Christopher St Cavish, who has lived in Shanghai since 2005, shares the world of Shanghainese cuisine.

March 21, 2018

6 sandwich ingredients worth the road trip

Whether you call it a hero, a hoagie, a po’boy or a sub, sandwiches are a lunch staple throughout the country. But it’s not just their vocabulary that varies greatly from region to region: their ingredients are inspired by local products and palate peculiarities. Here are 13 sammie-centric ingredients worth a pit stop.

March 21, 2018

Top 10 sports bars for March Madness

Sure, you can use your work computer to sneak a peek at the game. But to enjoy March Madness to its fullest, you need to eat, drink and be merry at a sports bar where there's plenty of good food, big screens and college basketball fans. (Warning: some of them may be rooting against your team.)  Check out the top10 sports bars in the U.S. where you could get a ride to the game, see a rim-rattling dunk or even spot Jay-Z in person.

March 21, 2018

Top 10 American sugar shacks

Every spring across the nation, sugar shacks begin the age-old process of getting delicious maple syrup from the tree to your breakfast plate. Each state has its own maple sugaring season, sap flows as early as January or as late as May, but generally the first weeks of warmer weather mark the start of the season for that sweet treat we call syrup. From Ohio to Maine, we've scoured the country to find the best places to make, watch and most importantly taste maple syrup as it journeys from tree to table. 

March 21, 2018

Viral Reddit thread reveals what children draw when given crayons at restaurants

Kids draw the darndest things.

March 20, 2018

5 things you didn't know about In-N-Out

It's pretty hard to resist when the Double Double calls.

March 20, 2018

The worst of the worst? 9 restaurant horror stories from Reddit

A Reddit user recently asked, "What happened to make you say ‘I'm never coming to this restaurant again'?"