Email Author Melissa Martin

2002 Stories by Melissa Martin

• Italian for Beginners

  published October 16, 2002

  Cookbooks featuring recipes with only a few ingredients have become popular in recent years. At any online bookstore, for example, you can buy... More >>

• By the Numbers

  published September 18, 2002

  A fad in New York City a few years ago was to name restaurants after their addresses. Eleven Madison Park, 55 Wall and Fifty Seven Fifty Seven (at... More >>

• Sherman's March

  published August 28, 2002

  Billy Sherman's Deli and Catering More >>

• Critical Mass

  published August 28, 2002

  "I pray every day that you won't write mean things no more," read a plaintive letter buried among the chicken-salad recipes and wine-dinner... More >>

• Chez Clayton

  published August 7, 2002

  Eighteenth-century Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was ahead of his time in more ways than one. He was a vegetarian who advocated eating... More >>

• Classic Collection

  published July 17, 2002

  "When your most prominent architectural feature is the exit sign, you know you have a problem," my dining companion observed dryly as we surveyed... More >>

• Flying Fish

  published July 3, 2002

  Corny puns and double-entendres have infiltrated pop culture more insidiously than the arrival of celebrity restaurateurs such as Britney Spears,... More >>

• French Connection

  published June 19, 2002

  Leon Bierbaum is a bon vivant of the old school, the kind of oenophile who prefers a third-growth Bordeaux to the hottest Napa Valley cult... More >>

• Throw Mama

  published June 5, 2002

  Last week I was moping around in my pajamas, distraught about having been pilloried on the Hill, when I had a sudden and unlikely craving for... More >>

• Do Your Duty

  published June 5, 2002

  In my very first job, at age 16, I was a Wendy's salad-bar girl in Panama City Beach, Florida. I lasted a mere two months, but I left with a new... More >>

• Pearl in a Shell

  published May 22, 2002

  When I was a high-school student in Panama City, Florida, kegs at weekend parties were always accompanied by twenty-pound mesh bags of pristine... More >>

• So Over the Hill

  published May 1, 2002

  Dining on the Hill can be summed up in one word: predictable. Like Gaslight Square in San Diego and the French Quarter in New Orleans, the Hill is... More >>

• That's a Winner

  published April 3, 2002

  Dining at a new David Slay restaurant is like seeing the latest Tom Hanks pic: Your high expectations are usually met. Smith & Slay's... More >>

• Shallow Grove

  published March 20, 2002

  "I knew I should've given up food for Lent," wisecracked my guest as the waiter removed his nearly full plate. We were dining at Busch's Grove, a... More >>

• Carnaval Supply

  published February 27, 2002

  The caipirinha, a potent Brazilian cocktail whose name is Portuguese for "little hick," has come a long way since it left the sticks. Once... More >>

• Sweet Relief

  published February 27, 2002

  "One vice at a time" is the guiding principle at the Chocolate Bar, Blake Brokaw's new confectionery in Lafayette Square. It's a smoke- and... More >>

• Where Fashion Sits

  published February 13, 2002

  When the exalted French chef Alain Ducasse debuted his posh restaurant of the same name on Central Park South, amenities included a sommelier for... More >>

• Old Hat

  published January 30, 2002

  "Give the place a few more years, and it'll be retro," remarked my dining companion as we took stock of the French advertising posters, track... More >>

• Pet Project

  published January 30, 2002

  Looking for cheap thrills this Mardi Gras? The Humane Society of Missouri is sponsoring a charity culinary event on Tuesday, Feb. 12. At the "Bone... More >>

• Brotherly Love

  published January 16, 2002

  They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but you just might be able to judge a restaurant by its menu. I Fratellini's is a black... More >>

• Port and Sweet

  published January 16, 2002

  Any man who eats dessert," Hemingway once quipped, "isn't drinking enough." But why choose between two terrific vices when you can order dessert... More >>

• Thai Score

  published January 2, 2002

  How many times have you wished you had the recipe for the braided Christmas bread your Ukrainian grandmother used to bake or wondered what the... More >>