Food (Section) Fight! is my weekly look at The Washington Post's Food section and The New York Times' Dining section with my verdict on which section had the better content for the week.
Washington Post
After last week's tie, The Washington Post put up a good front this week, adding a Food Security supplement, in addition to the Food section content.
The supplement, a product of Washington Post Live, is a write-up of a Post-sponsored summit where they convened experts to discuss pressing problems with the food supply, including Jonathan Bloom's story about how 40 percent of food grown or raised in the U.S. is wasted rather than eaten, Tim Carman's pieces about D.C. Central Kitchen's efforts to get fresh fruit to D.C.'s "food deserts" (a term to denote poor neighborhoods underserved by outlets providing produce and other fresh foods; Tracie McMillan wrote about it in The American Way of Eating). And Deborah Atwood tackles the looming problem of how we, as a global civilization, will feed the 9 billion of us expected to exist in less than 30 years. It's a worthwhile section that tackles everything from obesity to hunger and the Post deserves credit for running it in a time when too many of us spend too much time eating and too little thinking about it.
Food section proper had its share of interesting content this week too. Tim Carman, whose propensity to cover esoteric topics was debated during last week's Free Range on Food (with me offering a staunch defense of Mr. Carman), is at it again with his article on ebelskivers, a Danish pancake ball that requires a special pan with round slots for the dough. Sounds tasty though; Carman offers up a fig and prosciutto version.
Bonnie Benwick tackles making Scallops an approachable weekday meal with her Seared Scallops with Herbed Apricot Sauce for Dinner in Minutes. The back page recipes highlight ingredients from the farmers market, a theme my own cooking has reflected lately. Recipes for Roasted Ratatouille Tart with Goat Cheese and Mint and Roasted Young Onions with Strawberry Gastrique, Bacon and Market Greens both sound fantastic.
Lastly, I want to note Tom Sietsema's First Bite, which highlights Tel'Veh, the new Mount Vernon Triangle wine bar and eatery that is, unfortunately, more impressive looking than tasting.
New York Times
My favorite article in the Times this week is Pete Well's review of the restaurant Nomad, the less fancy, less expensive cousin to Eleven Madison Park, one of New York's premier dining establishments (really, one of the world's premier dining establishments). At Nomad, chef Daniel Humm reinterprets and simplifies many of the dishes he's know for at Eleven Madison Park into something more accessible to the average diner (although judging from the slide show, the restaurant is by no means average). In a space inspired by the Rolling Stones no less. Wells awards it 3 stars. It's definitely on my shortlist of New York places I'd like to try within the year.
David Tanis' recipe for Golden Beet and Beet Greens Salad with Yogurt, Mint and Dill is a lesson on how to use the whole beet without discarding the greens (I recently used beet greens in a dish with kale and it was great). Finally, Dining weighs in on the massively popular new Dorito taco at Taco Bell and finds that's not bad actually. Interesting.
Verdict
The Washington Post. Although Pete Wells' review of Nomad was my favorite thing I read today, the breadth of good stories from The Post clinches its victory.
Score
The New York Times: 12
The Washington Post: 11
Woohoo! Go Post!
ReplyDelete