Editor’s Letter

Over the past two years, I’ve joined the ranks of the world’s food pilgrims—people who will plan a whole trip just to have a single meal. It started with flying to Copenhagen to eat at the neo-naturalist Noma. That experience was so satisfying, both intellectually and gustatorially, that I soon set up a trip to Grant Achatz’s Next in Chicago. This desire to visit the world’s best food destinations has also taken on a crazy momentum for TV personalities, famous chefs and bloggers. We document some of their terrific finds and recipes in this issue.

For our annual Go List, our fabulous travel editor, Gina Hamadey, identified dozens of pilgrimage-worthy spots around the globe. I’m adding the modernized English country inns outside London to my pilgrimage wish list. To follow the advice of one of my travel gurus, writer Anya von Bremzen, I plan to head to Turkey to try the dishes she writes about in “Istanbul’s New Meze Masters.” I tasted the amazing marinated baby artichokes with ginger in the F&W Test Kitchen, but I know that eating them on the Bosphorus would be even better.

The recipes we collected from a diverse group of hard-traveling TV chefs—from the teacherly Lidia Bastianich to F&W contributing editor Andrew Zimmern—inspire more than wanderlust. They make me want to head into my kitchen so I can travel the world in a week, starting with Luke Nguyen’s grilled-pork banh mi. I hope some of the places in this issue land on your own pilgrimage list. Tweet me @fwscout to let me know!

Where I’m Coming From: Tasting Italy in NYC

Parm

Evoking old-school Little Italy joints, Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi’s Parm serves the best meatball parm: juicy, meaty, saucy and cheesy. 248 Mulberry St.; parmnyc.com; 212-993-7189.

Il Buco Alimenteri & Vineria

Gutsy, lusty food and smart ideas, like the ginormous spit-roasted short ribs with shaved horseradish and celery. 53 Great Jones St.; ilbucovineria.com; 212-837-2622.

Caffè Storico

Inside the New York Historical Society, Jim Burke (an F&W Best New Chef 2008) makes sensuous dishes like a perfectly cooked, crisp-skinned roasted sea bass. 170 Central Park West; nyhistory.org/dine; 212-485-9211.

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