The Best City For Dining This Month Is

Stuck between New York and Washington, D.C. and too established to be considered an "up-and-comer" like Minneapolis or Charleston, South Carolina, Philadelphia’s food scene too often gets overlooked by the national dining intelligentsia. Though Philly does earn its share of accolades – recent nods have included best U.S. pizza and coffee shop rankings as well as James Beard Foundation outstanding chef, outstanding restaurateur and Rising Star Chef of the Year awards – overall, Philadelphians feel somewhat (unfairly) snubbed.

So the city is celebrating mightily this month after being named as home to both James Beard’s outstanding restaurant of 2019 (Zahav) and Food & Wine magazine’s best new restaurant (Cadence). The Beard Foundation doesn’t explain its selections but Food & Wine wrote four lengthy paragraphs of love to Cadence, a BYOB opened last year by three veterans of High Street Hospitality, a powerhouse restaurant group in its own right.

Likely on F&W’s radar because of an earlier online story contributed by a local writer, Cadence charmed Restaurant Editor at Large Jordana Rothman with its "simple pleasures and serious food."


"Where did the feel-good restaurants go?" she writes. "The ones that restore the spirit, the ones that make us feel fed in ways that transcend the obvious, the ones where the hospitality isn’t an algorithmic triple axel but human, heartfelt—'How’s the family?’ You know the type: Hearth in New York City; Rustic Canyon in Los Angeles. To that list, add Cadence in Philadelphia."

The Hottest Dessert of the Year Is Burnt

The majority of  desserts that break the internet are modern creations that have been either carefully designed to entice Instagram users, such as the cotton-candy milkshake, or a reverse engineered hybrid, like the cronut.

The newest sweet to captivate Americans is neither. Nor, at almost three decades old, is it really new. It's not even particularly pretty to look at; it's burnt.

Basque country crustless cheesecake has cropped up around the U.S., from tiny apartment kitchens—thanks to love from sites such as Food52 (yes, you should make it, too)—to such exclusive dining spots as Dialogue in Los Angeles. Essentially, it's a typical cheesecake but with textural twists like singed edges and a gooey core.

Basque cheesecake may look like a bungled home-ec project—cratered, blotchy, and scorched—but it's this “Shrek factor” that makes the cake so beguiling. Looking at one, you'd never imagine its center would ooze lazily, like Epoisses, or that its puffed edges would dissolve on your tongue, as cotton candy does. Nor would you predict that its caramelized burnt corners would become so addictive.

The cake was birthed behind the swinging door at La Viña in Spain's San Sebastián, a neighborhood pintxos (skewered snack) joint whose bartenders remember your name. Though the region has had a long love affair with custards, this creamy dessert didn't exist until La Viña created it. The ingredient list is shockingly short: cream cheese, sugar, eggs, cream, and, depending on whom you ask, flour. The bar uses good old Philadelphia cream cheese; this was a relatively new ingredient in the Basque region in the 1970s, and locals embraced it.

Predictions From 4 Industry Leaders

As the global economy and markets continue to shift, predicting the future of food can be difficult. However, several trends are likely to have an impact on what and how people eat in the coming years. Technology, convenience and personalization are some of the top trends that will affect consumption. Four industry leaders shared their thoughts on the food industry's future in recent interviews: Ran Peled from CommonSense Robotics, Bruce Schroder from Moe’s Southwest Grill, Elana Karp from Plated and Christine Marcus from Alchemista.

Technology

People are changing the way they eat, cook and shop for food, and technology is one of the main reasons behind this. Grocery shopping has become more fragmented for families with spontaneous "fill in" shopping trips supplanting the traditional weekly stock-up trip because of e-commerce.

"In a 2018 consumer survey we conducted, more than 50% of the people reported they would prefer to receive a few smaller orders throughout the week rather than one large order each week. Acosta reports that 85% of consumers do not know what they are having for dinner until hours before mealtime. While Americans do dine out more than ever before, NPD reports that four out of five meals are still prepared at home. Americans are eating more meals at home today than they did a decade ago," Ran Peled, VP of marketing at CommonSense Robotics, says.


Technology is helping the dramatic shift away from the traditional weekly stock-up grocery trip to immediate, needs-based replenishment thanks to e-commerce. Consumer preferences for on-demand grocery delivery, within one to two hours, will only grow. Most consumers will look toward the brick-and-mortar grocery retailers they trust to meet this demand through online deliveries.

"A new report from Bain shows that a whopping 96% of consumers would look first to a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer for home delivery and 85% would select a store they already visit. While grocery retailers face tremendous challenges in the shift toward e-commerce, we believe that there is also a great opportunity for them to dominate in online grocery," Peled shares.

Tamal Ray’s recipe for gingerbread pudding with caramel sauce

Christmas is over. It's a new year. There are a few scant crumbs of mince pie and half a bottle of prosecco left in the fridge to remind you of the season just passed. But before your mind starts to turn to thoughts of a dry January, detoxes or juice cleanses, allow yourself one more little indulgence. It's going to be cold, damp and dark for a good while yet, so what better way to stave off the winter blues than a piping hot bowl of ginger pudding and caramel sauce?

Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth, add the eggs, flour, baking powder and spices, and stir together to form a smooth batter. Finally, stir through the chopped stem ginger. Dollop equal measures of the batter into the pudding tins, then bake for 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, crack on with the sauce. Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is well blended and smooth. Bring the pan to a simmer and let it bubble away for three minutes, then turn off the heat.

Take the sponges out of the oven, then free them from their tins by running a blunt knife along the edge. Pour some sauce over each pudding and enjoy.

How one Cape Cod home kept its faded glory

A year after John Derian moved into his Greek Revival home in New England, one of his brothers came to stay. He told Derian to take his time with the project. "I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd already renovated," says Derian. "I just wanted it to be as it was."

Derian is a découpage artist and the founder of John Derian Company Inc, a homeware store that opened in New York's East Village in 1989. There are now four John Derian stores in New York and one in Provincetown. His products – from handmade plates to ceramics, fabrics and furniture – are stocked in more than 600 shops worldwide. In the UK, you'll find them in the Conran Shop and Liberty.

The images Derian sets behind glass are from a collection of antique prints he has amassed over three decades. They come largely from 18th and 19th-century educational resources and depict everything from impossibly vibrant fruit and vegetables and flowers to a scene from a seance or a hyper-real blowfish. Two years ago Derian published the John Derian Picture Book showcasing around 300 images from his collection. "I always tell people to buy a couple of copies," he says. "One to keep, and one to tear apart and put up on their walls!"

I ask him what filters he applies to his search for imagery: "I don't specifically look for anything," he explains. "I find things. I let things happen." It's an approach that appears to work for property, as well as pictures.

As a child, Derian spent his holidays on Cape Cod. In 2006, he returned to Provincetown with a friend. "I wasn't even looking to buy a house, but it was love at first sight," he recalls. "There was something about this house just sitting here, a little bit abandoned-looking. Plus, I'm a sucker for a column…"

The house he fell in love with was built for a sea captain in 1789. When Derian first saw the property, he took a video of the exterior and called the estate agent, only to be told it was under offer. Back in New York, a technical glitch on his phone meant the video kept replaying. A few months later, he was idly searching online for properties in Provincetown and the sea captain's house resurfaced. The original offer had fallen through: Derian could go ahead with the purchase.

How to make Christmas cake

1 Mix and match
A note about ingredients: those listed are my preferred mix of dried fruit and nuts, but fruitcake is a very personal thing, so feel free to substitute your own blend –sour cherries or cranberries instead of glace fruit; chopped dates or apricots instead of figs; a simple bag of supermarket mixed fruit – so long as you keep the total weight the same.

2 The trick to a moist cake

Many people claim they don’t like fruitcake because it’s dry. Avoid this by soaking the dried fruit and peel in either whisky (or cold tea or fruit juice, if you’d prefer to keep your cake teetotal). Cover and leave to steep for six to 12 hours – I usually do this the night before I’m planning to bake.

3 Be protective
Grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin with two layers of baking paper: this may seem unnecessarily fiddly, but it will prevent the outer layers from burning – very handy when you’re baking with dried fruit, which has a tendency to catch and become very bitter where it sticks out from the sides of the cake.

4 Get creaming
Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and cream together until very light and fluffy; I’d recommend using electric beaters for at least five minutes until it has significantly increased in volume. Gradually add the eggs, beating well between each addition so the mix doesn’t curdle.

5 Add the spices

Sift the flour into another large bowl, then whisk in the baking powder, spice, ground almonds and a pinch of salt. If you’re not a fan of mixed spice, or don’t have it to hand, you can substitute vanilla extract or other sweet spices, though bear in mind that the likes of nutmeg and cardamom are very strong, so go easy with them.

6 Mix together
Fold these dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture, along with the soaked fruits and any remaining soaking liquid, lemon zest, chopped almonds (again, use other nuts or leave them out if you prefer) and ginger, if using. You can leave it out if you like, but it does give the cake a lovely burst of heat.