Food & drink

Food & drink

"A great sausage should be savory, salty, and tender," explained our taster, "but the sausage patty in this Bojangles biscuit was none of those things."

The Healey-Driscoll administration announced Thursday that it would award more than $750,000 in grants to address food insecurity in underserved communities. The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) will award $779,458 in funding to 17 organizations through the state's Urban Agriculture Program (UAP) and the Massachusetts Food Ventures Program (MFVP). The grants support the growth of urban farms, community gardens, and food business operations, the MDAR said in a statement.

With "hot honey" in the name, you already know the carrots are going to be both sweet and spicy. Sugar, sea salt, honey, and molasses create that candied sweetness that our reviewer finds to "sit naturally on the carrots, so it doesn't come across as syrupy or artificial." Already off to such a promising start, the subtle heat only makes it better.

I spent a year living in New Zealand, and came back to Atlanta looking for the familiar and comforting tastes from the Southern Hemisphere - especially for the easy, local delicacy of meat pies. I found them at Heaps. It's a rare slice of New Zealand in Decatur, where Wellington native Jake Harvey and partner Ana turn local ingredients into golden, crimped pastries.

Southern California is a great place to slurp ramen, according to Yelp, which released its list of Top 100 Ramen Shops for 2025 on Thursday, Dec. 11. Four Los Angeles County eateries made it into the top 20. Bincho in Tarzana tops the list. It opened in 2024 in space formerly occupied by Keitaro's Kitchen, a Japanese restaurant with the same chef, Toshiro Tagami. The results are based on Yelp data, which include the number of reviews and the ratings that reviewers give them.

When he and his Danish wife, Majken Bech, opened Aimsir at the Cliff at Lyons in May 2019, they were a breath of fresh air. His food and her wine were exceptional, modern and cool in a way we had not seen before and - whisper it - haven't seen since, except perhaps at Comet, where Kevin O'Donnell and Laura Chabal achieve similar levels of edge on a much smaller budget.

When Alleva Dairy, the oldest cheese shop in the U.S., was forced to close its Little Italy location after 130 years, New Yorkers were outraged. The legendary shop had all but defined its corner of Mulberry and Grand Streets, and its loss was mourned both in person and online, with many frustrated by the financial struggles and court battles the business had faced.

The restaurant's third outpost (following Detroit) opened in Williamsburg in October, bringing beloved fritas - french fry-loaded Cuban burgers popular in Florida - to New York, the hometown of chef and owner, Eve Aronoff Fernandez. The menu includes a range of burgers, from spiced chorizo (fritas are traditionally made with beef, pork, or both) to vegetarian black bean, all paired with batidos, tropical shakes in flavors like coconut cream and hibiscus.

A new ranking of the most popular restaurant chains in the US reveals that both iconic spots and lesser-known favorites are winning over customers.

Calling all pizza lovers and Peanuts fans! This adorable gift set from Brightland includes all the toppings your giftee needs for an extra special pizza night: the brand's best-selling pizza oil, classic extra virgin olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Plus, it comes in a literal pizza box with Snoopy on it. Who would say no to that?

The explosion of Dave's Hot Chicken will continue in Pinole on Friday, as the franchise opens its 387th store its 20th in the Bay Area. Gregg Fleury, owner of the Pinole location, opened his first Dave's franchise four years ago, and it was store No. 22. Now, we're No. 387, he said. It is insane, the growth of this concept. Dave's began in 2017 with a parking lot pop-up in East Hollywood.

The explosion of Dave's Hot Chicken will continue in Pinole on Friday, as the franchise opens its 387th store - its 20th in the Bay Area. Gregg Fleury, owner of the Pinole location, opened his first Dave's franchise four years ago, and it was store No. 22. "Now, we're No. 387," he said. "It is insane, the growth of this concept."

News outlets and social media foodies are saying what Quincy residents have known for years: Quincy is one of Greater Boston's best food cities. The southern suburb is especially a hub for Asian American cuisine, from bánh mì and pho at longtime staples to bolo bao sandwiches at hip cafes. You can just as easily find waterfront dining, fried clams, and pizza in Quincy.

Thick, chewy cinnamon- and cardamom-spiced snickerdoodles are fashioned as a version of thumbprint cookies here - with an indentation for a dollop of rich, smooth eggnog custard that flows over the cookie as it bakes. These two-in-one cookies channel holiday spices, and meld custard and snickerdoodle into its own dessert. Kirsten Mossberg's recipe for the cookie dough includes cream cheese for a delicate-but-sturdy texture and an added dimension of flavor.

Aussies know good steak. When you take a trip down under to Outback Steakhouse, you can be assured that every cut on the menu is going to be handled with care. A fact you should know about the restaurant is that it seasons all its steaks in its proprietary spice blend for all-over flavor before either searing or chargrilling them to the customer's temperature preference. Knowing this, it's hard to go wrong with any pick at the restaurant.

Baker Sharon Brenner achieves a fudgy texture partly by keeping a careful eye on indicators of doneness, which is a little more challenging with a darker cookie. One sign: Your kitchen will be filled with the scent of warm spices. The cookies will be set, but the edges shouldn't brown - check the bottoms for a more golden color than the tops.

"At a certain point we just decided, you know what, we want to take the training we have in Asian cooking, and wok cooking specifically, and put it to use," Grinker said.

Join us Saturday December 20th for our 3rd annual SantaCON.

CAVA posted 19.9% revenue growth but missed EPS estimates by 7.7%, while Chipotle grew revenue 7.5% and met expectations despite margin pressure.

Rejoice, New Year's dieters: Oreos are getting a sugar-free option. Mondelez said Tuesday that Oreo Zero Sugar and Oreo Double Stuf Zero Sugar will go on sale in the U.S. in January. They're a permanent addition to the company's Oreo lineup. It's the first time Mondelez has sold sugar-free Oreos in the U.S. They're already sold in Europe and China, the company said.

Shots are the quickest way to get tequila down, but there's a way to actually enjoy the taste of tequila without trying to mask it with salt and lime juice. In an interview with Tasting Table, Jaime Salas, Head of Advocacy & Legacy for Jose Cuervo Tequila deemed the tried and true lime and salt duo "training wheels." But, says Salas, "while salt and lime are known as a dynamic duo when enjoying tequila shots, sangrita brings flavor contrast that still compliments the expression."

Dozens of women who considered me their gay best friend sounded great until it was time to exchange presents with all of them during the holidays. I was too cheap to buy all my friends expensive Christmas gifts but too classy to give them something, well, cheap. I had also grown tired of spending $50 on something pointless in bulk, usually a criminally overpriced novelty item.

Cake mix has many creative uses besides its intended dessert, from pie crusts to waffles. If you can't decide between cake or cookies, why not have a bit of both by transforming your cake mix into cookies with the help of cream cheese. Cake mix provides the dry ingredients and a base of sugar and flavors that takes the work out of making cookies from scratch.

Today, I was eating bean and cheese taquitos from Trader Joe's (which, I have to say, I really like) and was thinking about just how versatile beans are as a food. And because that's just where my brain goes, I thought, "Let's make a bean trivia quiz." So, I did. There's my inspiration. How much do you know about beans? Well, we're about to find out!

These delicate espresso shortbread cookies - a simple recipe with not too many ingredients - strike the perfect balance of coffee and brown butter. The brown butter has just enough caramel-y oomph to stand up to the espresso. Fiona Zhang says she bakes them so that they're fairly soft - 12 minutes in her oven - but for a snappier, crunchier cookie, they could stay in the oven for a couple minutes longer.

According to the McDonald's U.K. website, it's possible to purchase toys separately, subject to availability and Fair Ordering policies. The Irish website echoes this sentiment, although expressly reserves the right to enforce only getting extra toys if you've bought a Happy Meal, and only allowing one additional toy per transaction.

This easy crepes recipe from French chef Ludo Lefebvre yields delicate, thin pancakes perfect for both sweet and savory fillings-from powdered sugar and berries to ham and cheese. With just a few pantry staples and simple technique, homemade crepes are surprisingly quick to master. It may take a few tries to swirl the batter into a paper-thin layer, but the results are worth it. Once you get the hang of batter consistency and pan heat, you'll be flipping perfect crepes in minutes.

"The city is suffering right now," Previte says. "We want comfort and we want affordability."

During tumultuous times, we look for comfort. And we often find it in our go-to dishes at our longtime favorite restaurants. But every year we say goodbye to many of those establishments. The ones we pay tribute to here had been landmarks for years, even generations. Some chefs and owners decided to retire or take a break. Others couldn't weather the costs of doing business in this inflationary, post-pandemic era. Or ran up against redevelopment plans.

Superfine Playa, Dina and chef Steve Samson's Playa Vista restaurant, will close on December 31, 2025; the restaurant confirmed the closure in a statement to Eater. This week's announcement is the latest closure in a year where a staggering number of prominent restaurants have ceased operations throughout the Southland. The couple's remaining restaurant, Rossoblu, will continue operations and serve Superfine Pizza on Sundays.