Pete Wells

On a road trip from San Juan to the Puerto Rican rain forest, four-star chef Eric Ripert brakes for green coconuts and fried plantains, and finds the inspiration to create eight marvelous Latin-accented recipes.

After trying a chocolate so good it leaves him speechless, Pete Wells goes on an urgent tasting mission to cult Tuscan chocolatier Amedei.

Startled by news about the dangers of trans fats, writer Pete Wells happily contemplates the return of good old-fashioned lard.

Pete Wells visits a master butcher to learn how to carve up a steer and comes away with new insights into the best cuts and a fresh respect for a disappearing craft

Grant Achatz could sauté shrimp, but he'd much rather atomize it. Pete Wells visits him in Chicago to preview what may be America's best new restaurant, Alinea.

Do we get depressed in December because of the holidays, or do we have holidays in December because we're depressed? Pete Wells contemplates the Christmas blues and their perfect antidote: a magnificent standing rib roast.

Gadget-obsessed inventor Dave Arnold may be just the kind of helper experimental cooks need.

Determined to introduce his infant son to one of life's great pleasures, Pete Wells decides to learn everything he can about his baby's tiny taste buds. Dexter cheerfully cooperates.

Whether experimenting with foie gras and beets or alginate and pectinase, there's a new breed of avant-garde American pastry chef out to prove that dessert can be much more than just a sugar fix.

Gadget-obsessed inventor Dave Arnold may be just the kind of helper experimental cooks need.

Determined to introduce his infant son to one of life's great pleasures, Pete Wells decides to learn everything he can about his baby's tiny taste buds. Dexter cheerfully cooperates.

Whether experimenting with foie gras and beets or alginate and pectinase, there's a new breed of avant-garde American pastry chef out to prove that dessert can be much more than just a sugar fix.

At Domaine Charbay, the reclusive Miles Karakasevic is at the head of a microdistillery movement

For pure obsessiveness, nobody beats single-malt fanatics. They don't just collect Scotch--they plan their vacations around it, and even name their children after it.

A slew of new varieties is proving that the old spirit still has plenty of kick left in it. With nine classic cocktails.

In her reverence for vintage cocktails, mixologist Audrey Saunders is part scholar and part priestess. Pete Wells visits her sanctum.

To answer this question, Pete Wells explores the geeky world of sensory science—and learns taste is as much in the mind as the mouth.

Had enough of trendy spirits? Distillers have introduced plenty of alternatives to tired fads. To help you find the best, we conducted a blind tasting of dozens of new ones that sell for under $100.

Madeira improves with time, and Madeira time is measured not in years but in decades or centuries

While vodka simply disappears into a drink, gin, which has a more assertive flavor, is a little trickier to blend. When a combination is successful, though, it attains a level of complexity that's impossible with vodka. Some guidelines for home bartenders.

Pete Wells squeezes sustenance and pleasure out of stale bread, sprouting onions and a two-year-old box of lentils as he investigates a Brooklyn-style cucina povera.

American cooks are becoming pork obsessed. Writer Pete Wells celebrates artisanal producers, heirloom breeds and talented chefs doing amazing things with sausages, ribs, roasts, chops, hams and bacon—as in the eight recipes here.

Columnist Pete Wells looks beyond the boring "cheese-sandwich" genre of blog to celebrate the idiosyncratic ones that make him say Wow.

When a restaurateur opens a second place—then a third, then a fourth—what's gained, what's lost? Pete Wells ponders this at Manhattan's Megu, the 32nd restaurant from Japanese visionary Koji Imai.

Cocktail aficionados are excited about the fabulous new vodkas being made in old-fashioned copper pot stills. A vodka cynic turned enthusiast celebrates the trend by giving a party with great drinks and snacks.

Pete Wells has fantasized about eating at Le Bec-Fin for over 20 years. But can reality ever live up to the dream?