Food & drink

Food & drink

Located in the well-to-do neighborhood of Yorkville-which, if we're looking for a New York equivalent, has strong Soho vibes, with high-end boutiques, design studios, chic cafes and frequent celebrity sightings-Enigma is a fine-dining concept from Johannesburg-born chef Quinton Bennett and Austin Chen, nestled on picturesque St. Thomas Street since 2020. When Enigma was awarded a Michelin star in 2022, it was among the first restaurants in all of Canada to receive the coveted rating.

Chef Duff Goldman, Food Network host and pastry shop owner, is no exception to this rule. By day, Goldman may specialize in renowned pastries and innovative cake designs, but by night, he's reaching for a savory meatball sub from Sheetz gas station just like the rest of us. Among 17 celebrity chefs and their favorite fast food restaurants, we learned that Goldman really loves a good meatball sub, especially the kind from Sheetz.

What makes Vietnam's bar scene so special right now is its embrace of local ingredients, new craft spirits and innovative pairings with contemporary Vietnamese cuisine. Molecular mixology and no-alcohol options are also on the rise.

Fresh off the heels of what might have been the most spectacular edition yet, Louisville's Kentucky Exposition Center is probably still buzzing from the energy that filled every corner of the expanded festival grounds from September 11-14. As someone who's been tracking food and beverage trends for years, I can tell you that this wasn't just another music festival with some food trucks thrown in, this was a masterclass in how to blend culinary excellence, craft spirits, and world-class entertainment into something truly special.

As imperfect as such measures may be, Singapore counts four of its bars among the World's 50 Best in the current ranking, and 11 among Asia's top 100. Since the inaugural Asia's 50 Best Bars list debuted in 2016, three Singaporean entrants - 28 HongKong Street, Manhattan and Jigger & Pony - have won the crown a combined four times. In four of the other years, a Singapore bar was runner-up.

I've had the pleasure of visiting Japan twice in the recent past, and it's quickly become one of my favorite places in the world. Everyone is organized and polite, there are bidets everywhere, the food is outstanding and, maybe best of all, Japanese people love to drink. From Tokyo's neon-lit karaoke rooms and elegant cocktail bars to the buzzing izakayas of Osaka, the drinking culture of Japan is woven into daily life, seasonal festivals and centuries-old traditions.

That honor goes to Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, a fast food chain founded and based in China. According to the Associated Press, Mixue Ice Cream & Tea has more than 45,000 stores. For reference, McDonald's website states that they have over 44,000. Foodies in New York will now be able to get a taste of Mixue Ice Cream & Tea's offerings as the chain is debuting its very first location in the U.S. on NYC's Canal Street.

But Legends, a dessert-focused cafe, by the same team behind late-night burger spot right next door, is doing its part to make sure ice cream cravings don't have a curfew. The move here is the Dubai Chocolate Sundae. A big plastic cup is layered with strawberries, milk chocolate and pistachio sauces, and crispy shredded phyllo, and topped with a bulb of vanilla ice cream and another drizzle of pistachio sauce.

"Muttrah is where different traditions and flavours converge," says my friend Abdullah Al Lawati, whose family comes from the area. "From the sour notes of dried limes and tamarind to fish - especially my favourite, mahi mahi, which I love in homemade fish burgers and lumi curries." Qabooli, a spiced rice dish often flecked with fatty flakes of lamb, plump raisins and cashew nuts, garnished with coriander leaves and ruby pomegranate seeds, goes well with a side of tomato-chilli salsa.

Da Nang is a coastal city in central Vietnam reachable by plane in two hours from Hong Kong and three from Singapore. Although not as famous as other Southeast Asian beach hotspots such as Phuket and Bali, it is close to some famous Vietnamese sights, including Hoi An, the Ba Na Hills and the Hue Imperial City. Da Nang can be roughly divided into two main sections: the beach side and the city side.

SF isn't a late-night dining town. That's just a fact of life. But there are still great food options-even if those options are slim-for those who are working, drinking, dancing, or swan diving off a table while singing karaoke until late. So when you need something like pizza to offset the sweet margaritas or just want to inhale a burrito before knocking right out, head to one of these spots-they're open past 11pm.

"I'll be cooking hotcakes for three hours straight to get ready for that," said David Cox, the Bellflower-based chain's corporate executive chef and vice president of food & beverage. He expects about a dozen pros to compete. "I think we're trying to pull in somebody from the general public," he said in a phone interview. "Of course they'll have to sign like triple waivers."

Thought NYC had its fill of Japanese chef's tables? Think again - the city's latest, Muku, just opened in Tribeca. Launched under the Kuma Hospitality Group (which counts fellow Tribeca restaurant L'abeille in its numbers), Muku plans to make its mark on the city's scene with an intimate, tasting-menu only set up. Just 20 guests can dine here a day.

Crispy, crunchy, crackly, gooey, sprinkled, spritzed, dropped, cookie-cutter'd, dusted, frosted. Alfajores? Chocolate chip? Gingerbread? We want all of them for this year's Holiday Cookie Bake-Off, an L.A. Times tradition revived for 2025. The Food section is accepting recipe submissions starting today and until Monday, Oct. 13. Volunteer student bakers from the culinary arts program at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College will prepare finalists' cookies for a panel of judges in early November.

She was everywhere and she loved it and it was a wonderful experience, although she had to ask my brother what does it mean if you go viral. She didn't know that," Gail Hagerty said. "She used to say that if you were going to have 15 minutes of fame and if you were 86, you had to do it soon. You couldn't wait.

"Look for red wines that have lower tannin and brighter acidity," Henderson advises. "Wine is used in cooking for flavor. But it's big advantage is natural acidity which tenderizes foods and keeps them moist." That alcoholic bite cooks off but, says Henderson, it "helps the flavor molecules of the other ingredients open up." Wine delivers an underlying richness to a red pasta sauce, for example, while also enhancing the flavors of the tomatoes, herbs, and aromatics.

Every time someone discovers I'm dating a chef, I usually get similar reactions: "Wow, you're so lucky, you must eat so well." And while that's true (I do eat very well), my experience goes further than posting a pretty food photo on Instagram. Dating a chef, especially a French one, comes with lessons that have changed the way I eat, shop, and even think about food.

Broadway's favorite cookie shop just went full Bravo. Schmackary's, the Hell's Kitchen bakeshop beloved by theater kids, stage stars and tourists who know what's good, is teaming up with Real Housewives of Salt Lake City's Meredith Marks for a cookie that's more luxury lifestyle than late-night snack. For a limited time only, the 45th Street outpost will serve "Make Your Marks," a bite-sized shortbread cookie topped with zesty lemon frosting and (yes, really) a spoonful of Kaluga caviar from Marks' own line. It's buttery, citrusy, salty and the kind of indulgent mashup only reality TV and Broadway could dream up.

After immigrating to the state nearly 40 years ago, and building a family in Minneapolis, she had walked the iconic fairgrounds with her children. But for the first time, she would stand on the other side of the counter as a vendor among nearly 300 concessions offering some 1,600 foods. Mohamed, the Somali entrepreneur behind Hoyo Sambusa, knew the fair was her chance to bring sambusas -fried triangular pastries filled with lentils and piled high in a giant cone-to an unprecedented audience.

"We had signed the lease in 2007... quite an expensive lease, which was a regular lease at the time," the chef tells Katie Byrne on the latest episode of the Money Talks podcast. "It was about €125,000 a year rent for the space. We signed that with personal guarantees - we were a bit naive going in, we kind of said, 'ah yeah, sure we'll just sign whatever we need to sign'. And then the crash happened and it was... yeah, it was difficult."

Pujol isn't just another acclaimed restaurant-it's a global bucket-list destination. Since opening in 2000, Olvera has redefined Mexican fine dining, weaving traditional ingredients and techniques into one of the world's most inventive tasting menus. The restaurant currently holds two Michelin stars (a first for Mexico) and a perennial spot on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

There continues to be upward pressure on meat prices and dairy products,

Every city would be blessed to have an array of great locals' spots like Mexico City's cantinas. The venues run the gamut in style and clientele, attracting all kinds of customers. Some are century-old gems, giving visitors a peek into the city's long culinary history. And the food, ranging from free drinking snacks to house specialties worth seeking out, goes well beyond bar bites you might find elsewhere.

The nervetti, or beef tendon stew, braising prep also starts early with the chopped up tendons braising in aromatics and wine for five to seven hours. The tendons are then put back in their own braising liquid and turned into a gelatinous terrine that can be thinly sliced into an onion salad. Risina beans from a small purveyor are prepped for a tuna toro dish, cooking down the show-stealing legumes for three hours.

Leafing through the Old Farmer's Almanac while waiting for one of the plump cinnamon rolls at Fort Lauderdale's LoveLee Bakeshop (tops on my list of favorite South Florida bakeries right now), I see that the last few days of summer are upon us this weekend. The fall equinox in the Northern Hemisphere will come on Monday (at 2:19 p.m., if you have money on it) - when the sun crosses the Earth's celestial equator, as daylight and night reach equilibrium, marking the beginning of autumn.

Fast food is getting expensive, and it's hard not to notice. What was once the go-to for quick, affordable meals has started to feel like a splurge. According to a Finance Buzz analysis, average fast food prices have jumped between 39% and 100% between 2014 and 2024 (inflation rose only 31% during that same period). Gone are the days of the true dollar menu.

During a 2016 appearance on Conan O'Brien's talk show, "Conan," the late-night host asked, "You've been just about everywhere ... you won't go to Switzerland. Why?" Bourdain responded that he has a "morbid fear" of just about anything Swiss, "even the cheese." When asked to expand on this fear, Bourdain jokingly suggested that it might stem from a "terrible childhood experience while watching 'The Sound of Music' that [he] blocked out."

The Sausalito Community Boating Center (SCBC) is hosting its 4th Annual Oyster Festival at Dunphy Park in Sausalito on Sunday, September 28, 2025, from 12 - 3pm. Get ready to shuck, slurp, and shell-berate! Highlights of this year's Oyster Festival: Johnny's famous baked and raw oysters live music by Tamaloha hands-on oyster ecology and art activities for all ages bocce tournament. Admission is FREE; food and beverages sold a la carte.

Who thinks they can eat the most tacos in a month's time? Concord is asking that question of its residents, as the Concord Taco Trail Challenge has returned for a sixth consecutive year. From this week through Oct. 15, Concord residents have a chance to eat at as many as 40 restaurants serving tacos. The challenge is simple: Go to one of the restaurants, eat taco and get a sticker.

If you live in the area around the Gulf of Mexico and you bought some fish recently, you could be subject to a major seafood recall. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a recall for nearly 100,000 pounds of catfish fillets, which the agency says were produced without any federal inspection. In the September 15 announcement, the agency says these catfish products were shipped to both restaurant and retail locations in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.