Tasting Notes: How one restaurateur is feeding Beirut in crisis

[Editor’s note: This is an expanded, updated version of a story that first appeared in our weekly Tasting Notes newsletter.] A year ago in Beirut I was sitting snug among friends and strangers at the communal table at Tawlet, a sun-filled...

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the life and career of Anissa Helou, the cookbook author (among many titles) who is one of my favorite people on the planet. She turned 70 this week. For anyone needing inspiration to persist through...

A fork slips through Lina Georges’ mehshi koussa — zucchini filled with rice and richly spiced ground beef — with the ease of slicing room-temperature butter. Stuffing vegetables is a sacrosanct category of Lebanese cuisine. Cooks heap hollowed...

I’ve been thinking lately about the ways that cuisines are transformed and reinterpreted when they’re translated from home cooking to a professional kitchen. It was the subject of my newsletter last week, in conversations with food writers Andy...

At year’s end, with the all-consuming project — our annual guide to L.A.'s 101 best restaurants — behind me and some holiday downtime forthcoming, it’s a pleasure to turn my attention briefly from restaurants to excellent, recently published...