Four-star chefs are increasingly doing the restaurant equivalent of throwing on a pair of flip-flops: They’re opening casual food joints. Think Jasper White (Summer Shack) and Mario Batali (this year’s new Los Angeles pizza joint, Mozza). We were delighted when Danny Meyer (of Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern fame) opened a burger stand in Madison Square Park in 2004. But it wasn’t long before the only extraordinary thing about the Shake Shack was the mythic lines, monitored by a webcam installed in May 2006. And so the journey goes from crowds and hype to casual eating, then back to crowds and hype again.—Jessica Battilana
This was Julie Powell’s annus mirabilis. Since publishing the literary embodiment of her blog as a book, Julie and Julia, last September, she’s become a best-selling author. Her concept is as simple to understand as it is difficult to execute: Powell spent 365 days cooking all 524 recipes from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I.
This year she won the first-ever Blooker Prize, a literary award for books based on blogs. September brought a paperback version of the book with a plucky revised title, and she’s even sold the film rights, in a deal that put Nora Ephron at the helm as writer and director.—Regan Burns
The Joy of Cooking, first published in 1931, included folksy advice from author Irma Rombauer on things like testing your baking powder for freshness by mixing it with water and looking for bubbles, and not-from-scratch-ingredient suggestions such as canned cream of mushroom soup. In the book’s 1997 edition, Rombauer’s voice and tips were replaced by high-toned recipes like a 19-ingredient borscht requiring homemade beef stock. The ‘97 version sold well, but some critics and readers were disappointed. A Baltimore Sun critic dissed the book’s recipes as “yuppychow.” The 75th-anniversary edition, released in October, returned to Joy’s roots, reinstating the cocktail, canning, and frozen-dessert chapters.—Jason Horn
We got schooled. Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma arrived in April, and for thoughtful eaters nothing’s been the same since.
Pollan showed just how broken America’s food-producing system is. He exposed us to the scary fact that because of feedlots, high-fructose corn syrup, and Earl Butz, we’re turning into “corn people.” He took us to the fields of Earthbound Farm to prove what we suspected but didn’t want to admit: Even though that bag of lettuce says “organic,” it’s still part of the industrial food chain. And he caused a nation of peaceful foodies to at least ponder what it would feel (and taste) like to bag their own boar. Journalists and bloggers have taken note.—Miriam Wolf
The arrival of Gordon Ramsay’s first restaurant in the United States was the most eagerly awaited opening this year. The take-no-prisoners Michelin-starred chef didn’t win any friends here, though, by declaring before his debut, “I know I have to be in New York, but the quality is much higher in London.” Toss in Ramsay’s revelation that he bought heroin for his drug-addicted brother; news that his first restaurant, Aubergine, was named for his naughty bits; and rumors of a last-minute walkout by nonunion workers, and there was more drama in the run-up to the restaurant’s opening than on Ramsay’s U.S. reality-TV show Hell’s Kitchen.—Josh Friedland
Even being listed in a Michelin guide is considered an honor, but earning stars can bring a restaurant international fame. Roughly 60 restaurants worldwide have earned the top rank of three stars from the French guidebook. For its first U.S. guide, Michelin selected New York City, awarding four of its restaurants three stars in 2005. A San Francisco Bay Area edition was released last October. Both books caused controversy; New York’s highly regarded Nobu and Gramercy Tavern received only one star, as did Berkeley, California’s Chez Panisse. Thomas Keller, however, got major French props: The chef’s French Laundry, in Yountville, California, and Per Se, in New York, both took home three stars.—Jason Horn
New Yorker writer Bill Buford’s Heat stormed the best-seller lists in 2006. The book, subtitled “An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany,” follows the author, an amateur chef, as he … well, the subtitle’s really done all the work, hasn’t it? With zest and bravado masquerading as self-deprecating wit, Buford takes readers into that increasingly celebrated hell on earth, the restaurant “line.” It’s a nasty, Hobbesian place where cooks and underlings work punishing shifts to please insufficiently appreciative customers and dangerously unpredictable restaurant critics. The book’s portrait of Mario Batali as a punk-rock party-boy badass justifies the cover price by itself.—James Norton
Food Network’s leading playboy, Tyler Florence, teamed up with Applebee’s to create four signature dishes, such as Herb-Crusted Chicken Topped with Italian Country Salad, and the Bruschetta Burger. Touted by Applebee’s marketing as their “Huge Flavor” offerings (as compared with the chain’s typically bland food, like Honey BBQ Chicken Sandwich and Oriental Chicken Rollup), Florence’s menu items failed to impress foodies. One described the fresh mozzarella in the Bruschetta Burger as “so tasteless as to be pointless.”—Brian Abrams
Kudos to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in Vermont. Their division of Corporate Social Responsibility (headed by Mike Dupree) is serious about doing well socially and environmentally in the coffee source ares.
And, no, I don't work for them. I briefly worked with them: refreshing and an eye-opener.
Good list. Also seems like Amuse Bouche should be on there too since it went mainstream almost everywhere this year.
Guess what Jason? North of the border in the capital city of Canadian oil territory there is a spa that offers a...
"CHOCOLATE FONDUE WRAP
A totally unique experience for those who wish to detoxify and balance excess body fluids while enjoying the sensory benefits of being coated in silky smooth chocolate. Totally non-fattening and extremely fun you can achieve excellent results in smoothing, firming and contouring problem areas of the body. This wrap combines a spa classic with the sensory appeal of rich chocolate."
Apparently on your way out, you get a little something chocolate to nibble one too!
I have to agree with Anthony Bourdain's assessment of Rachel Ray.