From SAVEUR Issue #156
On a recent afternoon, Joe Tucker, a spirited man of Appalachian descent, stood behind the counter of Tucker's Restaurant in Cincinnati, a worn Bengals cap squeezed over his gray hair. He was working a flattop grill crammed with sizzling beef patties, eggs over easy, and thick slices of the beloved pinhead oat and sausage loaf known as goetta. Keep reading »

Credit: Bruce Crippen

From SAVEUR Issue #156

by Keith Pandolfi

At Naples' Pizzeria Starita, the men who prepare the pizza include the masto e dondero, the friggitore, the fornino, the pizzaiolo, and his assistant. Keep reading »

Credit: Todd Coleman

As I prepared for my trip to Dubai, known for over-the-top opulence and Las Vegas-style theatrics, I wondered how I would be able to explore the place beyond its generic glitz in a mere three days. Sitting on the Persian Gulf just across from Iran, the city was not always the teeming metropolis that it is today: In 1883, when the ruling family Maktoum rose to power, Dubai was a just small pearl-fishing village. But in 1966 oil was discovered, forever changing the face of this desert town. By the 1980s the ruling family had made Dubai a tax-free zone to promote foreign investment, and in 2000 Dubai Internet City opened to lure in tech companies. The years that followed have been marked by shameless displays of luxury, from the Burj al-Arab, the world's most expensive hotel housed on a man-made palm tree-shaped island, to a slew of outposts of some of the finest restaurants in the world, including New York-based Nobu and Frenchman Pierre Gagnaire's Relets Par Pierre. Despite the sudden-wealth, Las Vegas-like reputation, what I found was a uniquely Middle Eastern metropolis, featuring all the conveniences, trappings and surprises of a big city anywhere else, but with a distinctly diverse Asian flavor all its own. And, as many from the region already know, this nonstop, ever-changing town is an ideal destination for frequent trips, whether for urban-paced relaxation or adventure, for business or vacation, as I found out over the course of 36 hours. See the Dubai travel guide »

Credit: Courtesy of Dubaiphotoblog.com

From SAVEUR Issue #156

by Gabriella Gershenson

About an hour outside of Tel Aviv, driving north toward the Galilee, the land tells me I am getting closer to my destination. I see neat plots of banana plants and rows of avocado trees. I pass hardy date palms and fish farms with shallow rectangular pools. A stop at a gas station reveals a carob tree growing next to the parking lot and tufts of za'atar, a type of wild thyme eaten throughout the Middle East, sprouting from the curb. When I enter the Upper Galilee, subtropical hills and valleys give way to a rocky green vista of olive trees with gnarled, ropy trunks, which could be hundreds of years old. It's good to be back. Keep reading »

Credit: Eilon Paz

If you'd asked me a year ago, I would have told you that the best Cuban sandwich I ever had was in, of all places, Cambridge, Massachusetts. My sister and I were roommates at the time living in nearby Somerville. We used to hang out at a Franco-Cuban restaurant called Chez Henri, where we'd order mojitos and what amounted to one of the greatest foods we'd ever discovered: Buttery pressed bread, melted cheese, garlicky roasted pork, ham, pickles, and mustard, cut into two triangles, with ribboned plantain chips on the side. It left an indelible impression on us both, and we were pretty much convinced that a better Cuban couldn't possibly exist. Keep reading »

Credit: Gabriella Gershenson

From SAVEUR Issue #156
Growing up, I moved all over the world with my parents, professors who went wherever the jobs were. Before settling in Los Angeles at 26, I never lived in one town for more than a few years, and I felt rootless. Food became a way for me to connect the dots between the places I had been and the ones I was going to. I'd known no one else who felt similarly—until I met the family of my husband, Sanjiv Bajaj. The Bajajs are Sindhi, a people from the Sindh in the Indus Valley, a northwest corner of the Indian subcontinent that became part of the newly formed Pakistan after independence from the British in 1947. While many Sindhi Muslims remained in the Sindh afterward, most Sindhi Hindus headed into India, never to return. Keep reading »

The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, the most famous spot to get a drink in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has a name that's only a little tongue-in-cheek. For decades, this remote mountain valley has been overrun by flush outdoorsmen, drawn by the astonishing beauty of the craggy high Tetons, by the ice climbing and extreme skiing in winter, and the fly-fishing, elk hunting, and whitewater rafting in summer. The rugged gourmands who've built extravagant log cabins up in the hills outside Jackson (a lot of hedge fund guys in cowboy hats) don't spend much time at the Cowboy Bar anymore—it's mostly full of tourists these days—but ski bum chow and a frosty Bud doesn't quite cut it, either. But as I discovered on a recent late season visit full of eating, drinking, and powder skiing, there are plenty of ambitious saloons and taverns to meet anyone's demands. Here's what to eat (and drink), and where to find it. See the guide »

Credit: Jay Cheshes

Houston is the most dynamic culinary destination in the country. It's also a city that is close to my heart.  It opens your mind, your thoughts and your soul—all through food. Many cultures thrive here: Vietnamese, Thai, Salvadorian, Nigerian, you name it. I am asked all the time, "Did you travel a lot?" And the answer is no—I got to experience global flavors by exploring the streets of my own city. Some of my best moments in Houston have happened when I got off of the beaten path and headed for family-run restaurants, where people were willing to show me what they know. Many of those places are listed here. I hope that you come and visit them, and enjoy seeing Houston the way I see it. See a dozen things to do in Houston