Chefs, photographers, writers, and longtime friends of Saveur recently gathered to celebrate the magazine’s 25th anniversary at our Manhattan headquarters. The guest list included a lively assortment of contributors old and new, including chef Jonathan Waxman, founding creative director Michael Grossman, writer and cookbook author Ted Lee , and current editor-in-chief Sarah Gray Miller. Chefs and restaurateurs Andrew Carmellini, Jimmy Bradley, and Justin Smillie were also in attendance.

On the menu: the late contributor Johnny Apple’s leg of lamb with an herb-garlic crust, a smoked trout hash (made with trout from Acme Smoked Fish in Brooklyn) developed by former test kitchen director Hunter Lewis (now editor-in-chief of Food & Wine), chef Martin Yan’s signature scallion pancakes, and pralines inspired by Loretta Harrison of Loretta’s Authentic Pralines in New Orleans—all recipes published in the anniversary issue. An oyster and caviar sampling by Island Creek Oysters set a festive tone, alongside Talbott Vineyards wines, champagne from Nicolas Feuillatte, and signature cocktails by WhistlePig Whiskey. Here are a few memorable moments from the evening’s festivities:

The post SAVEUR’s 25th Anniversary Celebration appeared first on Saveur.

This story is part of our 25th Anniversary extravaganza, a celebration of the magazine’s first quarter century. For more essays from former Saveur staffers, click here.

“Have you seen Saveur ? it’s the coolest food magazine.” So declared a fellow intern in the American Society of Magazine Editors’ 1994 summer session, upon learning that I’d been assigned to Food & Wine. When I reported to my (obviously less cool) gig, I spied Saveur’s debut issue atop the boss’s desk. “Secrets of Oaxacan Cooking,” promised the cover. “That’s probably the best new magazine around,” admitted F&W’s food editor, Tina Ujlaki. What, I wondered, is a “Oaxaca”?

Back at Northwestern University the following fall, I bought the second issue. It included more wonders, among them the fact that Saveur’s food editor, Christopher Hirsheimer, was not a dude. Perhaps most memorable, though, was Peggy ­Knickerbocker’s feature, “The ‘Old Stoves’ of North Beach,” which described San Francisco’s Italian quarter as a neighborhood “with a garlicky heart” and introduced me to a character named “Lou the Glue.”

My Food & Wine internship led to a post-graduation job. But while I spent my days helping with that magazine’s “Best New Chefs” franchise, my downtime remained dominated by salty, old Saveur eccentrics like Lou the Glue. Until finally, in 1999, I landed an interview with editor Colman Andrews. Here, in the flesh (and a cranberry V-neck and Top-Siders), was the man behind my favorite bylines. Colman played loud music to create a “cone of silence” around his exposed cubicle during our conversation. “What do you like about Saveur?” he asked. I reeled off a few columns that had given familiar dishes (wonton soup, guacamole, tabbouleh) the historical treatment. “We need a website that reflects that magazine,” he said. I told him I could develop it.

I should preface what happened next with the fact that, for someone who had long hoped to sit at the Saveur table, I was initially miserable there. The site was the brainchild of advertising salespeople, who hoped to hawk branded merchandise (a prescient idea, if only said merch, or partnerships to produce it, had existed). During my first six weeks, I looked around hopefully anytime Christopher or Ann McCarthy or Margo True or Dorothy Kalins (equal parts high energy and good hair) walked past my desk. For the most part, the editors who made the magazine ignored me.

Saveur, I learned, was governed by a tight circle of friends who spoke in code. Penetrating their inner circle involved convincing one of them you weren’t completely stupid. So I started with Colman, scheduling meetings to explain that Saveur.com should have designated online content. My requests for “outtakes” yielded responses like, “If it’s not good enough for print, we wouldn’t put it online.” Christopher? She looked at me deeply, and in her soft voice said something very firm: “But honey, we never have extra recipes.” No one here had any extra anything. Hence, my second realization: Saveur was the magazine equivalent of nose-to-tail cooking. Every bit of material produced that could be used, was.

Kelly Alexander was senior editor (new media) until 2006; she’s now a food anthropologist at Duke University.

The post Kelly Alexander, Our First New-Media Editor, on the Dawn of the Digital Age appeared first on Saveur.

This story is part of our 25th Anniversary extravaganza, a celebration of the magazine’s first quarter century. For more essays from former Saveur staffers, click here.

Saveur in the mid-1990s. It could be a bit of a roller coaster for anyone low on the totem pole (me). Yes, I looked on as Paula Wolfert made couscous on our conference room floor. And I did indeed share a car home from the James Beard House with Jacques Pépin. I also put my Cordon Bleu education to work fetching lunches, filing contracts, and accepting many a mission impossible, like: “Could you get my leather satchel repaired before I leave for Italy in an hour?” Neighborhood dry cleaner, $20 bribe. I thrived on this sort of challenge. Then again, Colman Andrews, the editor who departed with a bag as good as new, let me watch over his shoulder while he finessed my copy—a master class in both writing and editing.

One night, as I attempted to organize food editor Christopher Hirsheimer’s office, I stumbled upon a box of brownies from Maida Heatter, the woman Saveur had crowned “the Queen of Cake.” I took a brownie…then two…gently rearranging the contents to cover my piggery. By the time I’d whipped Christo’s office into shape—oh my god!—the Maida Heatter brownie stash was damn-near depleted. Heart pounding, I shoved the box in a corner, prayed that my crime would go undetected, and awaited the inevitable fall-out. Luckily, Christo was too busy or, more likely, too kind to notice. (Make the brownies yourself and you’ll understand exactly how I got myself in this predicament.)

The post Former Assistant Editor Catherine Tillman Whalen on the Highs and Lows of a Saveur Apprenticeship appeared first on Saveur.

This recipe is adapted from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts, inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame in 1998. During Heatter’s acceptance speech, she tossed these brownies, individually wrapped, to members of the audience. Heatter passed away last June, at the age of 102, in Miami Beach, Florida.

Featured in: Former assistant editor Catherine Tillman Whalen on the highs and lows of a Saveur apprenticeship

Equipment

• 9-By-13-Inch Cake Pan
• Aluminum Foil
• Large Double Boiler or Medium Metal Bowl over a Medium Pot
• Electric Mixer with Whip Attachment
• Silicone Spatula
• Toothpick
• Large Baking Sheet
• Wax Paper
• Long, Heavy Knife with Sharp Blade
• Airtight Box, Cellophane, Wax Paper, or Foil

The post Palm Beach Brownies with Chocolate-Covered Mints appeared first on Saveur.

This story is part of our 25th Anniversary extravaganza, a celebration of the magazine’s first quarter century.

In February 1995, Saveur assistant editor Kelly Kochendorfer phoned seeking samples of our boiled peanuts. A year prior, we’d hatched a plan to sell the Southern staple by mail-order, setting up shop in a small warehouse in Charleston, South Carolina. Even our closest friends and family members were circumspect—if not downright dismissive—so Kelly’s request offered validation: See. A national food magazine appreciates us.

When the call came, we happened to be in New York City and offered to deliver the goods to Saveur’s SoHo HQ. A blast of warmth greeted us the moment we stepped into the light-filled loft. Several editors had copies of our catalog on their desks!

Resolute though we were to make the Lee Bros. Boiled ­Peanuts Catalogue a success (a nod in the inaugural 1999 “Saveur 100” definitely didn’t hurt), that delivery also served as our initial exposure to the busy hum of an editorial engine devoted to kitchen culture, where people lived and breathed food for a living. It got us dreaming beyond peanuts, of both the boiled and Styrofoam shipping variety.

Eventually, we became cookbook authors and Saveur contributors. We’re thrilled that our relationship with this magazine spans 24 of its 25 years, and we raise our glasses to the next quarter century!

— Matt and Ted Lee, Authors of The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook and Hotbox: Inside Catering, the Food World’s Riskiest Business

The thing that knocked me out about the early Saveur was Christopher ­Hirsh­eimer’s photography. Her ­casual, naturally lit shots revolutionized the genre and made us all look at food in an ­entirely new way.

— Ruth Reichl, former editor-in-chief of Gourmet

Since its inspired inception, Saveur has served as the industry’s chief culinary anthropologist. For 25 years, the magazine has shared with food enthusiasts a most generous gift, by discovering the best real food on Earth, and then allowing the people behind that food to tell their stories in appetite-­inducing color. Congratulations on a quarter century! To Saveur’s past and present storytellers: Your words stand the test of time.

Danny Meyer, CEO of the Union Square Hospitality Group, which includes Gramercy Tavern, the Modern, and Shake Shack

Saveur taught many Americans about the importance of foodways around the world. Much of that information was simply ignored by other publications, who were out looking for the “best” restaurant.

— Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything and editor-in-chief of Heated.com

Saveur created an entirely new model for what a food publication could be. I loved it from the start and have remained close friends and collaborators with the magazine’s visionary founders. I think, for example, of Christopher Hirsheimer’s remarkable photographs, and the way they so vividly and intimately captured food traditions from around the world. The stories Saveur tells are about so much more than recipes—they reveal our history and our cultures, bringing us together and connecting us with one another.

— Alice Waters, chef and founder, Chez Panisse and the Edible Schoolyard

Saveur, from day one, made us aware that who we are is what we eat. The magazine’s brilliant writers and editors kept us hungry for stories about food, yes, but also about our feelings, our memories, our very being.

— José Andrés, humanitarian and chef-owner of more than 30 restaurants

During the ’90s, when I was in my teens and early 20s, it was nerdy to be into food. I was extremely nerdy and self-conscious about my body, so I wasn’t exactly dying to start conversations like, “Did you know some humans make cheese from yak milk?” Then my friend Charles showed me Saveur, and it was like we’d found our people. Eventually, everyone else became a food nerd. But before that, this magazine showed me parts of the world I would never have seen otherwise, and ultimately shaped who I would become.

— Francis Lam, host of the public radio show The Splendid Table

Saveur launched the summer I moved to New York City. I was a 24-year-old kid from Washington, D.C., who wanted to get into food writing but didn’t really know anyone in the city, nor much at all about food.

Then, suddenly, I was real tight with Dorothy and Colman and Christopher. OK, so maybe I didn’t actually know them, but that was the magic of their ­magazine—it made you feel like you did. You traveled with them to Oaxaca and Paris, New ­Orleans and San Francisco. You were elbow-to-elbow with them at their cutting boards as they brought home all sorts of recipes. I still remember trying, and more or less succeeding, to make a kouign-amann in my tiny West Village walk-up studio apartment. The butter. So. Much. Butter.

When I wasn’t cooking from Saveur, I was staring at it; there’s never been a more beautifully designed or photographed food magazine. So when I got the editor-in-chief job at Bon Appétit in 2011, those early issues of Saveur served as my mission statement: Create a beautiful food magazine that makes the reader feel as if she knows the staff. Sure, Bon Ap might not look or read at all like the Saveur of the ’90s. The blueprint, however, is the same.

— Adam Rapoport, editor-in-chief, Bon Appétit

The post In Good Company: Friends of Saveur Remember the Past 25 Years appeared first on Saveur.

This story is part of our 25th Anniversary extravaganza, a celebration of the magazine’s first quarter century.

Restaurants are living things and, sadly, like all living things, they eventually come to an end. Here are 14 we covered at various points, all now gone, all sorely missed.

72 Market Street

Venice, California (1983–2000)

This monument to seaside culture and comfort food—oh, the meatloaf!—was owned by actor/producer/director Tony Bill and actor/musician Dudley Moore, who sometimes played piano here.

Aux Amis du Beaujolais

Paris (1921–2009)

French and American journalists flocked to this quintessential bistro du quartier, or neighborhood joint, serving unpretentious food and honest wine to generations of locals.

Chasen’s

West Hollywood (1936–1995)

The ultimate Hollywood hangout, Chasen’s appealed to everyone (W.C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan) with such midcentury American specialties as shrimp cocktail, lobster ­Newburg, and strawberry shortcake.

El Bulli

Roses, Spain (1961–2011)

Arguably the most influential chef of the millenium, Ferran Adrià reinvented what food could be, drawing pilgrims up a ­treacherous road to a middle-of-nowhere location on the Catalan coast. (In 2020, El Bulli will be reborn as a creative foundation.)

Four Seasons

New York City (1959–2016; 2018–2019)

It was the first luxury restaurant in the country to feature American cuisine, courtesy of a menu curated by James Beard. The space—designed by Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, with art by Picasso and Miró—attracted political, financial, and media barons, giving rise to the “power lunch” before closing in 2016. The Four Seasons reopened nearby two years later, but the luster had faded, and it quickly closed again.

Hibiscus

London (2000–2016)

French chef Claude Bosi’s groundbreaking modernist restaurant—in its time, arguably the most exciting place to eat in London—earned two Michelin stars. Bosi is now the chef at the city’s much-lauded Bibendum.

Ports

West Hollywood (1972–1992)

You might have seen anyone from Warren Beatty to Claes Oldenburg to Eve Babitz scarfing down a range of international fare (eggplant parmigiana, albóndigas in chipotle) at this quirky, clubby boite.

El Racó de Can Fabes

Sant Celoni, Spain (1981–2013)

Chef Santi Santamaria—considered the anti-Ferran Adrià for his refusal to use scientific trickery—made this the first restaurant in Catalonia, and the second in all of Spain, to receive three Michelin stars.

Rose Pistola

San Francisco (1996–2017)

This place was inspired by, and named for, the key figure in Peggy Knickerbocker’s beloved feature, “The ‘Old Stoves’ of North Beach,” which ran in Saveur’s second issue.

Savoy

New York City (1990–2011)

Peter Hoffman’s eclectic American bistro in SoHo did the farm-to-table thing long before the rest of the world caught on.

Trader Vic’s

Beverly Hills (1955–2007)

This kitschy pseudo-South Seas fantasy also happened to serve some of the best food in Los Angeles during the 1960s and ’70s.

Uglesich’s

New Orleans (1924–2005)

There was almost always a long line of folks outside Uglesich’s, clamoring for classic New Orleans fare like po’boys, Gulf oysters and crawfish étouffée.

Valentino

Santa Monica (1972–2018)

Valentino brought real Italian cooking to Los Angeles and was, for 40-plus years, perhaps the finest Italian restaurant in the nation, with one of the biggest wine lists.

Windows on the World

New York City (1973–2001)

Sadly, the whole world witnessed Windows on the World’s demise. On September 11, 2001, this dazzlingly ambitious, iconic restaurant on the 106th and 107th floors of Tower One of the World Trade Center lost 73 members of its incredibly diverse staff. In 2006, some surviving employees started a new restaurant on New York’s Lower East Side. Named Colors, it operated until 2017, then reopened this past October.

The post Closing Time: 14 Restaurants That We Sorely Miss appeared first on Saveur.

This story is part of our 25th Anniversary extravaganza, a celebration of the magazine’s first quarter century.

On occasion—we’ll admit it—Saveur took the authenticity thing a tad too far. Inevitably, unsuspecting elderly European ladies were involved. Our penance? The following send-up of a guide to making anything tres Saveur:

1. Grab a grandmother, preferably French.

2. Have her dig a pit near the area where your guests will gather.

3. Wrap a whole goat/suckling pig/newborn calf, pre-ordered from your favorite butcher the week prior, in banana leaves plucked from your backyard (or mail-ordered from our favorite grocer in New York City; see “Pantry”*).

4. Place imported lava rocks (see “Pantry”*) and foliage from the site of the creature’s last meal (red clover, if in season; set a few sprigs aside for garnish) in the pit, and have the grandmother build a fire in the old style.

5. Maintaining an indirect heat under the forelegs and head (careful not to overcook!), turn every six hours.

6. Two days later, pierce thigh with skewer. When juices run clear, have the grandmother remove goat/pig/calf from pit.

7. Arrange on a platter with reserved clover, or divide among individual plates.

8. Invite the grandmother to serve your guests. Et voilà!

* “Pantry” refers to a now-defunct section of the magazine in which editors buried product sourcing information during the era before e-commerce, when overt shilling still elicited shame.

The post A Spoof of a Saveur Story Might Go Like This… appeared first on Saveur.

This story is part of our 25th Anniversary extravaganza, a celebration of the magazine’s first quarter century.

Someone killed the sacred cow

Chef Daniel Boulud’s method for boiling calves’ heads (May 2016) so inspired then-editor-in-chief Adam Sachs that he returned to the office with just such a head and proceeded to stash it in the staff freezer, where, you know, everybody who works here goes for ice. We’d love to tell you it sat there for months, but our fact-­checkers insist that “sat” would be inaccurate, given the number of macabre late-night selfies taken with the thing. Until, that is, someone who shall remain nameless tossed “Bessie” in the trash. (There are photos we could share, but you wouldn’t be able to un-see them.)

One fantastic window = magazine magic

Saveur’s glamorous photo studio, also known as “the concrete ledge near the test kitchen,” is conveniently located—in every sense. The window faces north, so harsh sun never shines in directly, and we’re surrounded by tall, reflective buildings. The result is near-perfect natural light. It’s indirect, warm, and ideal for shooting without a flash. And while we do bring big-name photographers back there to shoot from time to time, it’s often just me, standing on the ledge and capturing whatever wondrous thing our test kitchen director, Kat Craddock, has cooked up. —Thomas Payne, photo director

Don’t let our fancy french name fool you

Over the past quarter century, Saveur has sung the praises of:

1. Heinz ketchup
2. White Castle burgers
3. Flamin’ Hot Fritos
4. Moon Pies
5. Bisquick
6. Land O’Lakes butter
7. Ritz crackers
8. Frozen lima beans
9. Dr. Pepper
10. Duke’s mayonnaise
11. Egg McMuffins
12. Canned peas
13. Waffle House
14. The fare at the Iowa State Fair
15. And Pepto Bismol (for all of the reasons cited above)

This is where the “Mayor of Michael’s” dined when he wasn’t at that ­midtown media hotspot

Decorated with Christmas lights, crepe-paper flowers, and a whole lot of Formica, Lupe’s East L.A. Kitchen was not a white-tablecloth restaurant. The napkins were paper, and they were tiny. But this family-­run Mexican joint sat a block away from Saveur’s SoHo offices. Back then, the menu consisted mostly of tacos, burritos, and enchiladas with a choice of green or red sauce and a side of rice and beans. One day, I noticed an upscale addition: ­Häagen Dazs ice-cream bars. What was this?! As I explained to my lunch companions, no one in my hometown of Abilene, Texas, could pronounce the foreign name correctly, so everybody just said “Hogs ’n’ Dogs.” So that’s what we ordered for dessert at Lupe’s: “Hogs ’n Dogs on a stick, por favor!” Needless to say, the Saveur gang knew all the waiters and cooks, and they knew us. Unpretentious, fun, and genuine, Loopy’s, as we called it, reflected the spirit of our scrappy start-up company. It was the perfect spot for a skeleton staff, on a shoestring budget, to grab a quick bite before getting back to the business of publishing a smart new food magazine. —Joe Armstrong, founding ­publishing director, 1993–1998

Published proof that interns rock

Mindy Fox, former Saveur intern and assistant editor (see p. 56), co­authored Antoni Porowski’s recent book, which reached No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list. Fox also penned two cookbooks of her own: Salads Beyond the Bowl and The Perfectly Roasted Chicken. She’s got loads of company, as demonstrated by these 22 terrific tomes from other past staffers.

• Antoni in the Kitchen, Antoni Porowski with Mindy Fox

• Spritz, Leslie Pariseau and Talia Baiocchi

• Peaches, Kelly Alexander

• Killing It, Camas Davis

• Coconut, Ben Mims

• Switch It Up, Corinne Trang

• Give a Girl a Knife, Amy Thielen

• Duck Season, David McAninch

• The Dumpling Galaxy, Helen You and Max Falkowitz

• Imbibe! David Wondrich

• Catalan Cuisine, Colman Andrews

• The Hungry Scientist Handbook, Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns

• The Food of Oman, Felicia Campbell

• Cradle of Flavor, James Oseland

• It’s All American Food, David Rosengarten

• Southern Country Cooking From the Loveless Cafe, Jane and Michael Stern

• Canal House: Cook Something, Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton

• Sugar Rush, Johnny Iuzzini and Wes Martin

• Harvest to Heat, Darryl Estrine and Kelly Kochendorfer

• Keepers, Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion

• Piatti, Stacy Adimando

• Cooking South of the Clouds, Georgia Freedman

Culture correction

When I co-wrote the Eater article documenting Mario Batali’s sexual misconduct, I didn’t anticipate the fallout. The New York Times, Washington Post, and 60 Minutes followed up with additional reporting about the chef—one of many exposed by the #MeToo movement. In response, a handful of determined activists came forward to address the rot at the scandal’s core.

Among them was Elizabeth Meltz, then a Batali employee. After the Eater story broke, she emailed female colleagues, suggesting they gather to discuss the revelations. More than 50 women showed up. The raw emotion that poured forth, Meltz says, “proved more needed to be done.” So she joined forces with Erin Fairbanks (formerly of Heritage Radio Network) and Liz Murray (who oversees HR for the Marlow Collective) to facilitate tough conversations nationwide. Today, the trio’s Listen Up Tour, an initiative of their Women in Hospitality nonprofit, offers an out-loud antidote to the whisper network.

As many women reevaluated their bosses, ­Lindsey Ofcacek, then general manager of Edward Lee’s 610 Magnolia restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, partnered with hers. The duo’s LEE (Let’s Empower Employment) Initiative, a mentorship program, fast-tracks female talent from local kitchens. Graduates of the ­program prepare a dinner at the James Beard House.

That august institution, too, is embracing progress. Last year, the Beard Foundation hired Katherine Miller to serve as VP of Impact (aka social change) and to oversee the foundation’s incubator program for budding women entrepreneurs. As Miller explains: “We believe if you level the playing field, you change the culture.” —Kitty Greenwald, freelance journalist

“Chuck just left”

This phrase—Saveur shorthand for we expended a whole lot of effort to try and capture something that, apparently, doesn’t exist—has its roots in the May/June 1996 feature “Chowder Country.” First, editors Christopher Hirsheimer and Christy Hobart hit the road at 5 a.m. to catch what was supposed to be the picturesque moment the clam boats unload their hauls in Rhode Island. Recalls Hirsheimer: “We arrived in an industrial park to a clam-processing plant. No boats. No unloading. Lots of hairnets.” She then “drove like hell” to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where writer Miles Chapin’s Uncle Chuck was to begin the laborious process of making his famed three-day chowder. “Miles met us at Chuck’s house, and I asked when we might expect his uncle,” Hirsheimer recounts. “Miles said, in the loveliest way, ‘Oh, Chuck? He just left.’ ”

Of course, things worked out in the end. Same goes for that time the snails for the paella shoot in Valencia escaped their basket. Ditto, the soba-noodle quest that left an entire crew, and their photo equipment, stranded in a rainstorm on Japan’s barren Noto Peninsula.

We go high and we go low

Yes, Saveur gave you a recipe for chaud froid de langoustines aux graines de sésame et aux epices orientales (September/October 1998), but also one for this five-ingredient “idiot-proof” pie crust in the January/February 2001 issue:

IDIOT-PROOF PIE CRUST: Break 1 egg into a glass measuring cup, stir in 1 tablespoon white vinegar, and add enough warm water to reach the 1-cup mark; set aside. Put 6 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups lard, and 1 tablespoon salt into a large mixing bowl, and mix with your hands until well combined. Add egg mixture and continue mixing with your hands to form a rough ball of dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface, divide into 6 equal pieces, and shape each into a flat disk. Wrap disks in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour or freeze (up to 2 months) until ready to use (defrost before using). Makes enough for six 9-inch pie shells.

Ok, maybe not everything was always 100% authentic

We’d decided that the cover of our second issue would spotlight a feature about some Italian-­American nonnas in San Francisco who called themselves “old stoves,” but we failed to capture the ideal image while on location in the city’s North Beach neighborhood. So photographer Laurie Smith wound up shooting tomatoes in a sunny corner of this magazine’s SoHo office. Keep in mind that we’d only published one issue, so nobody had a clue what a Saveur cover was supposed to look like. Still, Laurie and I realized we weren’t getting it. Then, I had an epiphany. I ran down the street to the Ravioli Store, which made fresh pasta for neighborhood restaurants. The lady who worked in the shop lived upstairs, and came down in a housecoat practically every morning. Though this woman was on the East Coast, she fit the definition of an “old stove.” And she agreed to follow me back to the office so we could photograph her beautifully aged hands peeling the tomatoes. The blouse she had on, however, was all wrong. “Laurie, take your shirt off,” I said. Laurie and the Ravioli Store nonna traded clothes, and we got the shot. —Christopher Hirsheimer

Regrets, we have a few

The white truffle ice cream we recommended in the January/February 2000 issue, to name one. Then there’s the fact that we interviewed, yet didn’t hire, Amanda Hesser, who went on to co-found Food52. We also failed to offer Joe Brown, Saveur’s current editorial director, a job in 2002.

The post Behind the Scenes: Select Stories and From Saveur’s Past appeared first on Saveur.

This story is part of our 25th Anniversary extravaganza, a celebration of the magazine’s first quarter century.

1994

• Saveur is born! The magazine launches with an editorial staff of 11, a cover story on Oaxaca, and an editorial advisory board that includes Marion Cunningham, Sheila Lukins, and Alice Waters.

• The Food Network celebrates its one-year anniversary. After lackluster reviews of How to Boil Water and Emeril & Friends, Chef Emeril Lagasse kicks it up a notch with the successful The Essence of Emeril.

• Jeff Bezos founds online bookseller Amazon. Quickly ­expanding into new markets, the site will eventually offer everything and, in 2017, will acquire Whole Foods Market. By 2019, Amazon will report more revenue than any other internet retailer in the world.

• The Flavr Savr tomato, the first genetically modified food product on the market, is approved by the FDA. Due to high costs, it will be discontinued three years later.

• The high-speed Eurostar train launches, taking passengers from London to Paris in a little over two hours.

The Class of 1994

The Class of 1994

Saveur has never worshipped restaurants. Forget about the hottest young chef in town; we’ve always been more interested in what his or her grandmother cooks at home. The exceptions: those places that carry substantial cultural weight, in that they speak to how we were eating in a certain place at a certain time. The following restaurants, all born 25 years ago, qualify.

• Astrid & Gastón

Lima

• French Laundry*

Napa, California

*at least the Thomas Keller version

• Gramercy Tavern

New York City

• Guelaguetza

Los Angeles

• Higgins

Portland, Oregon

• Il Buco

New York City

• I Trulli

New York City

• Judson Grill*

New York City

*closed in 2004

• La Pergola

Rome

• Le Bernardin*

New York City

*under Eric Ripert, who took over in 1994, following the untimely death of founder Gilbert LeCoze at age 48

• Les Amis

Singapore

• Nobu

New York City

• St. John

London

• Sullivan Street Bakery

New York City

1995

• Joe’s Shanghai in Flushing, Queens, introduces the soup dumpling (xiao long bao) to Americans. A New York Times review by Ruth Reichl the following year, declaring them “the best things in the whole world,” transforms Joe’s, and the dumplings, into dim sum legend.

• Epicurious, the first online recipe library, goes live. By 2019, it will catalog 35,000 recipes.

• The Soup Nazi makes his ­debut on Seinfeld, insisting that customers order to his exact specifications or be chastened with his famous pronouncement: “No soup for you!”

1996

• Magnolia Bakery opens in New York City’s West Village. The tiny shop will go on to ignite a cupcake craze following a ­season-three cameo on Sex and the City. The scene features Miranda and Carrie eating the treats outside the bakery as they discuss—what else?—­Carrie’s most recent love interest.

• The movie Big Night premieres, featuring Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub as immigrants running an Italian restaurant in 1950s New Jersey. The authentic dishes, especially one labor-intensive pasta masterpiece, timpano, turn out to be the film’s biggest stars.

• A voluntary ban on hard-liquor ads on television, in effect since 1948, is lifted by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

• The FDA approves the sale of Olestra, a fat substitute. Snack- food brands jump on the bandwagon—then jump off again when the substance is shown to cause intense gastrointestinal distress.

1997

• The Food Network mistakenly broadcasts a full minute of hardcore porn, the work of a mischievous employee who is never caught, during an early-​morning broadcast of the show Too Hot Tamales. Too hot, indeed.

• The seventh edition of The Joy of Cooking, by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker, et al., is published. Some recent trends make an appearance in the book, refreshed for the first time since 1975; among them, the molten chocolate cake that showed up on menus everywhere at the beginning of the 1990s.

1998

• Scottish-born chef ­Gordon Ramsay leaves Aubergine in ­London (where he garnered two Michelin stars as head chef) to open his gastropub, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (today a three-star establishment), in the city’s Chelsea neighborhood. England’s Channel 4 follows along, capturing his ­tirades against staff, clashes with critics, and fiery rants in the documentary Boiling Point—i­ntroducing the now-infamous short-tempered Ramsay to television audiences.

• Google is launched by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin. By 2019, the site will become the web’s most popular search engine—and our portal to an endless supply of recipes, ingredient information, cooking tools, and more.

1999

• Australian chef Bill Granger includes what might be the first published recipe for avocado toast in his cookbook Bills Sydney Food, though it has been on the menu at his eponymous restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst since 1993. The dish will eventually suffer a backlash, derided as $10 toast and the reason millennials can’t pay their rent.

• Seamless, an online platform for ordering from restaurants and caterers, debuts, initially serving companies only. Individuals get access in 2005; in 2013, Seamless will merge with GrubHub.

• OpenTable launches in the San Francisco area, allowing diners to make real-time reservations online. In 2019, users will be able to book a table at about 47,000 restaurants through the OpenTable app.

2005

• Chef Grant Achatz opens his restaurant Alinea in Chicago, creating a modern culinary extravaganza intended to blow patrons’ minds. He employs the likes of green apple helium balloons and french fry cream foam for the full sensory experience.

• Michelin brings its famed French rating system to America for the first time, bestowing three stars on the New York City restaurants Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, Le Bernardin, Jean-Georges, and Per Se.

2006

• Chicago becomes the first American city to outlaw the sale of foie gras, only to lift the ban two years later. California’s ban, established in 2012, remains in effect come 2019; New York City will enact a ban in October 2019.

• Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s ­Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, an indictment of industrial food production, is published.

2007

• New York Times food writer Melissa Clark tries a kale salad—an anomaly at the time—at Franny’s restaurant in Brooklyn, and declares it “a raw foods epiphany.” The salad’s creator, chef Joshua McFadden, is credited with putting the item on the culinary map.

• LA Weekly’s Jonathan Gold wins a Pulitzer Prize for criticism, becoming the first restaurant critic to do so. The board salutes his “zestful, wide ranging…reviews.” In 2018, Gold, by then writing for the Los Angeles Times, will die at 57 of pancreatic cancer.

2008

• Korean-born and California-bred chef Roy Choi establishes his Korean-Mexican taco truck, Kogi, in Los Angeles, elevating the food-truck concept and inspiring thousands of other “rolling restaurants,” as ­Anthony Bourdain called them.

2009

• Uber is founded as UberCab by tech entrepreneurs Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick, changing the meaning of “designated driver” for restaurant-goers everywhere. Three years later, Lyft, a second app-based car service, joins the ride.

• In November, Gourmet magazine publishes its final issue after 68 years in print.

2010

• Instagram CEO and co-founder Kevin Systrom posts the first food photo on his new app, a shot of tortilla soup taken at Tacos Chilakos taco stand in Todos Santos, Mexico. Comments range from “First Food Porn” to fire emojis.

• José Andrés, a Spanish chef with restaurants from L.A. to D.C. (and a few Michelin stars), founds World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit association of chefs brought together after providing aid to Haiti earthquake victims earlier in the year. The goal: Set up kitchens wherever disaster has struck and feed as many people as possible. By late 2019, the organization will have served more than 10 million meals.

2011

• Lucky Peach magazine is started by writers Peter Meehan and Chris Ying and chef David Chang. Known for its irreverent tone and deep dives into chef-y subjects, the magazine will shut down six years later due to conflict among its founders over the publication’s future.

• The diet book Wheat Belly is published by cardiologist ­William Davis, further boosting an anti-gluten frenzy that gained traction with low-carb dieting. Despite being widely debunked by health experts, the gluten-free diet will remain popular, even among those without celiac disease. By 2020, the gluten-free-foods industry is ­expected to reach $2 billion in the United States.

2012

• Taco Bell introduces the Doritos Locos Taco just in time for the fast-food chain’s 50th anniversary, exceeding $1 billion in sales of Dorito-shelled tacos in the first year.

• Saveur bursts onto the Instagram scene with its first post of…wait for it…“Tofu-bacon fritters: before and after the hot oil.” ­

2013

• Chef Dominique Ansel ­introduces the Cronut on the Mother’s Day menu at his bakery in SoHo. A hybrid of a doughnut and a croissant, the cream-filled indulgence is quickly discovered and long lines form. Ansel will later trademark the name and restrict production to 350 ­Cronuts a day.

• Marcella Hazan—author of the seminal 1973 guide to authentic Italian cooking The Classic Italian Cook Book—dies at age 89 at her home in Longboat Key, Florida.

• Created from bovine stem cells, the so-called test-tube hamburger makes its debut. Initial tastings declare it “not juicy,” with “some intense taste.” Back to the drawing board for the cultured-beef burger’s creator, scientist Mark Post, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who bankrolled the project to the tune of $330,000.

• Guinness World Records identifies the Carolina Reaper as the hottest chile in the world, supplanting the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. The Reaper measures 2,200,000 Scoville Heat Units; by comparison, jalapeños range from 2,500 to 8,000.

2014

• Resy, the restaurant-booking app, is introduced to the dining public, listing tables at more than 4,000 restaurants.

2015

• Chef Dan Barber organizes the three-week “WastED” pop-up at his Blue Hill restaurant in Manhattan, featuring a menu consisting entirely of food scraps, to show how much delicious fare we carelessly throw away. One of the most popular items: a burger made from juice pulp and served on a bun of repurposed stale rye scraps.

• A YouTube video of a sea turtle with a straw stuck in its nose goes viral, propelling a once-fledgling effort to banish single-use plastic straws into the mainstream. In 2019, anti-straw sentiment will remain strong, with many businesses implementing more-creative solutions. Bucatini with that soda? #stopsucking

2016

• Following the 2015 release of their high-calorie kale salad (featuring buttermilk-battered chicken, two kinds of cheese, tortilla strips, and ranch dressing—oh, my!), McDonald’s continues to push the leafy-green envelope, testing a sandwich topped with baby kale and spinach, as well as Sriracha Mac Sauce, cheddar, and crispy fried onions, in select markets. #kaleyeah

• Coca-Cola ceases production of its soft drinks in Venezuela, as the troubled economy there causes sugarcane shortages.

2017

• On December 11, Eater reporters Irene Plagianos and Kitty Greenwald break the story of four women’s accusations of sexual misconduct against celebrity chef Mario Batali. Decades of inappropriate behavior are exposed, and Batali becomes one of several high-profile chefs who will be brought down by the #MeToo movement. He takes a leave of absence from his restaurants, as well as from his position as co-host on the ABC daytime talk show The Chew.

2018

• Dominique Crenn becomes the first female chef in the US to receive three Michelin stars, awarded to her San Francisco restaurant Atelier Crenn.

A poster intended to resemble the familiar “What to Do in a Choking Emergency” placard, entitled “In Case of Sexual Harassment,” is created by San Francisco restaurateur and writer Karen Leibowitz and designer Kelli Anderson, in collaboration with feminist food magazine Cherry Bombe.

• Chef, author, and television personality Anthony ­Bourdain—known for his bestselling account of behind-the-scenes restaurant life, Kitchen Confidential, and for his groundbreaking politically tinged food and travel shows, No Reservations and Parts Unknown—dies by suicide while on location in France to film an episode of the latter show.

2019

• Popeyes introduces a spicy breaded chicken breast on toasted brioche. Chick-fil-A tweets smack about it. Wendy’s weighs in. The ­#ChickenSandwichWars have been waged, and the result will be shortages at Popeyes nationwide.

• Following a rollout of the plant-based Impossible Whopper at Burger King earlier in the year, Impossible Foods secures FDA approval to sell a key ingredient, heme (extracted from the roots of soybeans), in raw form. Its uncooked products can now be sold alongside its major competitor, Beyond Meat, for a piece of the approximately $100 million a year plant-based-protein market.

• Saveur magazine, with six National Magazine Awards and 23 James Beard Awards to its credit, celebrates 25 years of publication!

The post The Time Of Our Lives appeared first on Saveur.

This story is part of our 25th Anniversary extravaganza, a celebration of the magazine’s first quarter century.

In April 2005, I was a college senior contemplating an advanced degree in library science and book conservation, even though what I really loved was cooking and working part-time at a local cheese shop in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Then, Saveur published a special issue devoted to artisanal American cheeses. Five months later, I enrolled in culinary school. Today, these nine cheesemakers, all covered in that issue, still thrill me.

(Unless otherwise noted, all recommendations are available at murrayscheese.com.)

1. Bellwether Farms

This Petaluma, California, operation was the state’s first sheep’s-milk dairy, but the Callahan family sources the milk for this fluffy ricotta from local Jersey cows. $10, 12 oz.

2. Uplands Cheese Company

Uplands’ founders retired five years ago, leaving their Wisconsin business in the capable hands of apprentices Andy Hatch and Scott Mericka. The brand’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve, an Alpine-style farmstead cheese, is as nutty and complex as ever. $40, 1 lb.

3. Vermont Creamery

Pair this skim-milk-based, Breton-style fromage blanc with honey, fruit, or muesli for a delicious breakfast or light dessert. $7, 8 oz.

4. Jasper Hill Farm

Vermont cheesemakers Andy and Mateo Kehler achieved international acclaim for their Stilton-style Bayley Hazen Blue—once served during a White House dinner for former French president Hollande. $35, 1 lb.

5. Cowgirl Creamery

Stinky little Red Hawk has been racking up awards since its release. Although founders Sue Conley and Peggy Smith recently sold Cowgirl to Swiss dairy giant Emmi, they remain involved with the beloved Bay Area brand. $15, 10 oz.; cowgirlcreamery.com

6. Great Hill Dairy

This Massachusetts farm makes only one cheese, and boy, is it a beaut! Peppery and bright, Great Hill Blue begs to be eaten with Port and ripe pears. $25, 1 lb.

7. Capriole Goat Cheese

One of the mothers of modern American cheese, Indiana’s Judy Shad ages her goat cheese, O’Bannon, in chestnut leaves that’ve been soaked in Woodford Reserve. $23, 6 oz.

8. Cypress Grove

Humboldt Fog has become a cheesemonger cliché—for good reason. That line of vege­table ash and a gooey exterior that extends inward as the wheel ripens add up to a treat for the eyes and the palate. $40, 1 lb.

9. Laura Chenel

The OG American goat-cheese queen, Chenel supplied the chèvre for that Chez Panisse salad. She’s sold the farm, but the brand still makes waves. This tangy, ashed-rind Buchette has won multiple awards. $8.99, 5 oz.; marinfrenchcheese.com

The post Redefining American Cheese, One Slice at a Time appeared first on Saveur.

This story is part of our 25th Anniversary extravaganza, a celebration of the magazine’s first quarter century. For more essays from former Saveur staffers, click here.

Among Saveur’s more prolific and erudite contributors was R.W. “Johnny” Apple Jr. During his 40-plus years as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, Johnny filed reports from more than 100 countries, and served as the paper’s bureau chief in Saigon, Lagos, Nairobi, London, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. But his true passion was food and wine—leading Andrew Rosenthal, the Times’ former op-ed editor, to remark that Apple possessed “the best mind and the worst body in American journalism.”

Florida chef Norman Van Aken told me that Johnny once requested a list of Miami’s top 10 Cuban sandwiches, then invited him to tag along. “I met Johnny on his fourth stop of the day,” Van Aken says. “He had crumbs on his face from one sandwich as he ordered the next. I was in awe of his stamina.”

Perhaps the ultimate Johnny Apple story, though, involves the time Joe Lelyveld, then executive editor at the Times, visited his London bureau chief. Johnny chose an excellent restaurant and ordered liberally. When the check arrived, Lelyveld reached for it, but Johnny said, “Better let me take this one, Joe. They’ll never believe it coming from you.”

Johnny Apple was one of the first writers I contacted upon joining Saveur. I expected a pitch about some exotic corner of the world. Instead, he wrote about an endangered American institution in “Sunday Dinner: It’s Not Just a Meal—It’s a Cornerstone of Civilization,” which ran in the March/April 1995 issue and included this recipe for leg of lam with an herb garlic crust, pictured above.

The post Colman Andrews on the Late, Great Johnny Apple appeared first on Saveur.