Mouthing Off

F&W showcases tricked-out custom grills at restaurants across the country.

Grillworks
At New York City’s Tertulia, Seamus Mullen (photo) uses Grillworks’ Argentinean-inspired setup. The angled surface funnels juices and fat into a basting pan, preventing flare-ups.

Norcal Ovenworks
NorCal’s adjustable grills come in extra- large sizes; Rachel Yang at Seattle’s Revel lowers the grate deep into the firebox to slow-cook whole lambs.

Josper
When Christopher Kostow recently renovated the kitchen at Napa Valley’s Meadowood, he installed this Spanish Josper grill-oven hybrid, which mixes live-fire grilling with superhot roasting.

J&R Manufacturing
Wolfgang Puck installed J&R grills at his four Cut steak houses. The cement-lined firebox prevents the kitchen from overheating.

Related: Ultimate Guide to Summer Grilling

The April issue spotlights tech toys for foodies. Here's a fantastic site for wine lovers.

 

Using Google Earth technology, wine importer Frederick Wildman and Sons offers 3-D interactive tours on its website, tour.frederickwildman.com, stopping at iconic regions around the world (like Puligny-Montrachet, above). Some include commentary from winemakers like Rioja’s Baron de Ley.

 

Related: High-Tech Hotels

 

F&W's April issue spotlights tech toys for foodies. Here, writer Rachel Swaby shares her wired culinary wish list from an intelligent fridge to appliances that talk.

See her list >

F&W's April issue spotlights tech toys for foodies. Here are a few ways that hotels are getting in on the trend.

Citizen M, Amsterdam
Each room at this boutique budget hotel comes equipped with a Moodpad, a tablet that lets guests control music, blinds and even the color of the lights. Doubles from $77; citizenm.com.

Eccleston Square, London
This 39-room hotel has 3-D TVs in every suite, plus iPads that can be used to book spa treatments and order room service. Doubles from $292; ecclestonsquare.com.

Peninsula, Tokyo (photo)
Japanese hotels are famously tech-savvy; rooms in this luxury tower feature Internet radio, digital panels showing the weather forecast and automated espresso machines. Doubles from $784; peninsula.com.

Trendspotting in the April issue celebrates the hottest Tech Toys for foodies. Here are some of F&W's favorite new apps including Intelligentsia's guide to making perfect coffee and iWineroad Custom, which provides itineraries for Sonoma, CA.
See all >

Pinterest is a social networking site for the visually inclined: Users bookmark web images, creating digital mood boards. Former F&W style editor Jessica Romm shares hers.

By Kate Krader, Restaurant Editor

Now that we’re a month into the New Year, it’s time to stop talking about a 2012 diet. That moment is gone. Instead of giving up foods, wouldn’t it be great to bring some new things into your life: squirrel, fish bones, black water. Here’s a few things you should start eating immediately to be on the cutting edge of the food world.

Chocolate-Covered Sprouts. Last year Frito-Lay began putting natural foods in their snacks. (Brief round of applause for them.) Now comes junk food that’s having even more of an identity crisis. Lulu Chocolate’s Smoked Sea Salt Almond raw Organic Chocolate Bar (that’s a mouthful) is made with sprouted almonds—sprouts being a supercool health foods these days. Is that better than Shiloh Farms Dark Chocolate Covered Sprouted Almonds? There’s only one way to find out.

Fish Spines. We’ve come a long way from the days when nose-to-tail was a novelty (back in the olden days, about 8 years ago). Even fried fish bones are now almost as ubiquitous as sliders on menus, at least in NYC where I live, at places like En Japanese Brasserie and Brooklyn’s Isa in Brooklyn. The new frontier is fried fish spines. At Blue Ribbon Bar & Grill in midtown Manhattan, they serve specials like fried wild eel spine—it’s the size of a pencil. They’re also eating the gills from wild king yellowtail: first they dehydrate them, then they fry them, and serve them “just for fun,” says Blue Ribbon Manager Rich Ho.

Unnaturally Black Foods. Black foods are nothing new. So it’s foods like squid ink pasta, blackout cake and black sesame seeds (what I like to think of as “naturally occurring black foods”) that have paved the way for this new breed of black foods. Specifically the jet black burger buns that anchor the “Darth Vader” burger which will debut this month at France’s fast food chain, Quick. And of blk., the black health water that’s the brainchild of Albie and Chris Manzo, who you know from the Real Housewives of New Jersey. Like the Manzo brothers, you might not understand exactly what makes the water black, but is that really the point of this water? No, it’s not.

Random Animals. Recently some high-profile people in the food world have offered opinions on what we can eat in the name of causes like saving the planet, and pushing boundaries. Rene Redzepi, chef of Noma in Copenhagen, aka the world’s best restaurant, recommended that people in the States start eating squirrel (he hashtagged them “rabbit of the sky” on Twitter). And Bizarre Foods hero Andrew Zimmern came back from a trip to Beijing energized by a 10-course donkey tasting. “Donkey should be on everyone’s plate in 2012,” he says.

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50 Best Bars in America

Best Pizza in the U.S.

Best Fried Chicken in the U.S.

Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures

Super Bowl Recipes

(pictured: Black-Sesame Salmon Balls)

If your 2012 diet is off to a fantastic start, yay you. And continue whatever it is you’re doing. If, however, you haven’t already lost 10 pounds, don’t be hard on yourself. Maybe it’s not you: It’s the diet. (Sort of like the old Sex and the City adage: “He’s just not that into you.”) Consider, then, these diets could be exactly right for you.

The Chubster Diet. Here you have “A Hipster’s Guide to Losing Weight While Staying Cool.” Martin Cizmar’s brand-new book notes two definitions of chubster: 1) someone who is proud to be fatty mcfatfat; and 2) the cool guy who is formerly fat. Chapters include How to Work Out (without Looking Like a Tool); there are ratings—from awesome to awful—for Stuff You Can Nuke. Lean Cuisine Chicken with Lasagna Rollatini gets an awful. “Rollatini isn’t actually a type of pasta—it’s not even an Italian word,” notes Cizmar, who lost 100 pounds in eight months after something he refers to as “the Slurpee incident.”

Dukan Diet. Kate Middleton was on it. Jennifer Lopez and Gisele Bundchen reportedly lost their baby weight with it, too. If those three names don’t make you jump on Dr. Pierre Dukan’s diet, you have so much self-control you probably don’t need to lose weight anyway. The Dukan diet, which first came out in France in 2000, is basically a high-protein diet—there are days of pure protein, alternating with days of protein plus vegetables. Unfortunate side effects can include bad breath, constipation, dry mouth and fatigue.

Thrive Vegan Diet. If you’re looking for a diet that’s good for something besides yourself – like the earth – consider Thrive. Created by professional triathlete Brendan Brazier, Thrive focuses on vegan foods that help fuel your way to uber athleticism. Thrive Foods his newest book, includes 200 plant based recipes; if you want a 6-week workout plan, plus old-school-looking photos of Brazier working out, go for Thrive Fitness, and hope that Hugh Jackman, who’s been on the Thrive Vegan diet, will star in the next series of workout photos.

Paleoista Diet. First there was the Paleo diet. Better known as the Caveman diet, Paleo focuses on the diets of our very ancient ancestors with an emphasis on lean meats, seafood, fruits, nuts and vegetables. (Some paleos take it to extremes and donate blood frequently to simulate caveman hunting injuries.) Paleoista does not go that far; instead this book by Nell Stephenson, which comes out in May, is paleo for girls: it means eliminating anything made with sugar, processed grains, legumes and dairy. Which presumably will change the morning Starbucks habits of a lot of wannabe paleoistas.

Gay Men Don’t Get Fat Diet. This is not the place to find a recipe for Seared Ostrich with Dandelion Greens (look to the Paleoista for that). In fact, there are no recipes. Instead author Simon Doonan, the creative ambassador at large for Barneys New York, divides foods into straight (the fattening ones) and gay (the healthy, good-looking ones) and then advises eating both for a healthy diet.

More from Food & Wine:

50 Best Bars in America

Best Burgers in the U.S.

Best Pizza Places in the U.S.

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Super Bowl Recipes

(pictured: Superstar chef Alice Waters's Pink-Grapefruit-and Avocado Salad)

The November issue checks in on some of America's most revered food and wine families—not the matriarchs and patriarchs, but the children who are chefs, winemakers, and tastemakers doing incredible things in their own right. In this sneak peek, we take a closer look at Ivanka Trump's impeccable sense of style.

From lobby design to staff uniforms, Ivanka Trump is deeply involved in the look of the Trump Hotel Collection, which recently expanded abroad with a new hotel in Panama and one on the way in Toronto—to open early next year. The real-estate heir shares style favorites:

Architecture Bible At over 800 pages, The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture surveys 1,000 of the greatest buildings in the world. "It often inspires my design projects," says Trump. $100; amazon.com.

Weekly Blossoms H. Bloom delivers bouquets in a growing number of US cities. From $29 a week; hbloom.com.

Modern Bundt The swooping pan is based on a German stoneware mold for kugelhopf cake. $34; williams-sonoma.com.

Scented Candle "My hair and makeup artist Alexa Rodulfo produces one called Bois Blanc." $35; alexarodulfo.com.

Italian Imagery A set of Fornasetti's handmade Themes and Variations plates hangs in Trump's kitchen. $195 each; unicahome.com.

Related:
Dining Room Style Splurges and Steals
New Gallic Design in America
Sleek Kitchen Makeovers

It’s a tough time for anyone with at least one eye on the wildly fluctuating stock market. So here’s something to make everyone feel better – or at least those adults who want to drink like children, and have valid id in case the bartender asks. Adult slushies (aka shaketails) have become wildly popular around the country. Here are a few great places to find them.

Tristan, Charleston. Cocktail popsicles are available in weekly changing flavors like Watermelon, White Balsamic Mojito and Firefly Southern Peach. Whether you want to down them as an aperitif or an extra chilled Happy Hour snack is your call.

Holsteins Shakes & Buns, Las Vegas. Located in the super-fun Cosmopolitan, Holsteins has a whole section of "bam-boozled" milkshakes on their dessert menu like the Cereal Bowl with vanilla vodka, Cap’n Crunch and Fruity Pebbles. The brand new "sorbet" shake is made with watermelon, bubblegum vodka and, surprise, liquid nitrogen. 

The Ritz-Carlton Downtown, Atlanta. Atlanta summers are so hot, it’s no surprise that the local Ritz came up with a super fun adult slushie. That would be their boozy, vibrantly colored snow cones,like Passionfruit with Lemon and Bourbon and the locally minded Moonshine-spiked one with Blackberry and Honey.

Village Whiskey, Philadephia. In July, chef Jose Garces premiered milkshakes at his two-year-old spot, which guests can order spiked or not. The long list of ingredients in the Irish Car Bomb includes rum-soaked devil’s food cake, whiskey-infused chocolate pastry cream and vanilla and chocolate ice creams; to make it even more appealing (to me anyway), it’s topped with a piece of cake.

Burger, Tap & Shake, Washington DC. Jeff Tunks, chef at this soon-to-open tavern, coined the term ‘shaketails’ and he’s taking it seriously enough to make almost everything in the drink in-house. The Dr.’s Cure mixes vanilla bean vodka with coffee liquor and vanilla ice cream. I’m not sure how the Teacher’s Pet got its name, but it combines apple brandy, ouzo, root beer with more vanilla ice cream.

La Esquina, Brooklyn. At the new outpost of the groovy Mexican restaurant in New York City, pastry chef Pichet Ong is creating a list of alcohol-soaked ices to serve to the Williamsburg locals. He’ll start with shaved ice and flavor it with tropical fruits like a pineapple margarita, flavored with fresh fruit puree, cilantro, tequila and, as is necessary for all good margaritas, salt.

Related: 20 Refreshing Drinks
Best Ice Cream Spots in the U.S.