Sublime

In a prime spot just across the yellow-tape road from the lemon trees, he tended his own dark grove of bookshelves, and beside them a field of legal boxes, which held thousands of menus from restaurants famous and obscure. Whenever I passed Horace’s collection, there was someone flipping through the menus with the furious intensity of a DJ digging

PARMESAN FRICO APPETIZERS Mix coarsely grated Parmesan and flour, then season with red pepper flakes and black pepper. Spoon cheese in a medium-hot nonstick pan, flatten gently into a thin disk, and cook until golden on both sides. Drape still-hot frico over an inverted shot glass or teacup and let cool and harden into a Parmesan cup. Fill with a

SHORT TV I use Roku and Amazon Prime to stream when I can: • Escape to River Cottage and Return to River Cottage—This is by far my favorite food series, and Escape to River Cottage is the strongest. Absolutely wonderful. • Heston Blumenthal’s “In Search of Perfection” on YouTube. • Top Chef season 6, episode 13: “Goodbye to Vegas”—Features Thomas

Raymond Calvel might be coming to town. (Note: When I first wrote these words, the esteemed bread teacher of bread teachers was in his late eighties and had already committed his knowledge to a superb series of videos he made with the Bread Bakers Guild of America in 1994. He passed away in 2005.)

there's a big crock of softened butter on almost every cook's station, and it's getting a heavy workout. Margarine? That's not food.

Meals inspire comparisons, not just of the food, but of the overall experience. What makes a restaurant memorable? What makes you want to go back to it, to recommend it? How does it achieve those coveted stars? As we drove down through the Cevennes we came to the conclusion that we would never qualify as Michelin inspectors; we’d fail the furniture