The countdown begins: Nine more days until that ultimate holiday, Thanksgiving. That means it's about eight days before I typically start preparing (I'm a big procrastinator). The day before, I'm usually frantically running around to buy pie from the Little Pie Company or get a box of my all-time favorite cookies—the chunky coconut—from Birdbath Bakery to take to my family in Boston. (Unlike me, they usually have everything cooked and beautifully prepared in advance.) For those earnest planners, F&W offers an amazingly thorough Ultimate Thanksgiving Guide packed with fantastic recipes, menus and an excellent slideshow section. For those like me, I offer another resource: F&W's How To Fake It/How To Make It Guide, my compilation of top restaurants and food shops around the country that will offer Thanksgiving dishes for pick-up. Maybe this year, I'll vary from my dessert theme and surprise my family by bringing a pit-smoked turkey from Hill Country with me on the Bolt Bus.

I was overly ambitious when planning the itinerary for my first trip to London. I wanted to see the iconic sights (the London Eye, Big Ben); do some cheesy tourist things (be photographed in a red phone booth and try to make the guards at Buckingham Palace smile); and eat at the great restaurants and food spots (Borough Market, St. John). But my inner Food & Wine curiosities had me reaching out to the city’s food and style insiders in search of the newest bars, shops, restaurants and trendsetters in the city. I didn’t sleep much, but I did leave feeling like I'd tasted the perfect mix of old and new.

The rundown:

I had the pleasure of meeting visionary designer Ilse Crawford at her studio, where she and her super-talented team updated me on their latest projects (Soho House Miami for 2010; a new boutique hotel in Stockholm; and the fabulous remake of the just-about-to-open Kettner’s restaurant and bar in London’s Soho neighborhood). Over drinks at Cecconi’s, a classic Italian restaurant in the Mayfair district that Ilse redesigned spectacularly in 2005, she fed me her of-the-moment recommendations: the Rothko exhibit at the Tate Modern; the extraordinary Patricia Urquiola exhibit at the Design Museum exploring the creative process behind Landscape, the Spanish designer's recent tabletop collection for Rosenthal; the Comme des Garçons Printed Matter exhibit at Dover Street Market, the six-floor designer-label mecca conceived by Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo that stocks Lanvin, Rodarte, Zero Maria Cornejo and, tucked away on the fourth floor, an outpost of Paris’s divine Rose Bakery; and finally lunch at chef Skye Gyngell’s adorable garden café at Petersham Nurseries.

Notes in hand, I rushed around the corner for dinner at the Connaught.The hotel recently underwent a huge refurbishment that has transformed it into the latest hot spot, anchored by Michelin-starred French chef Hélène Darroze’s eponymous restaurant. There, I had an extravagant meal that included her signature starter, an oyster tartare topped with caviar jelly and a purée of haricots verts, and a decadent spit-roasted grouse with grilled foie gras and Brussels sprouts.

After dinner I ignored my jet lag so that I could properly experience the hotel's much-buzzed-about new bars. I was smitten with India Mahdavi’s playful design in the Coburg Bar and equally impressed by the mixology geek menu of drinks dating back to the 1700s. In stark contrast is the flashier Connaught Bar, which received a sparkly, Deco redesign from David Collins. By 1 a.m. the leather and marble space was still packed with a glam crowd sipping vintage cocktails, absinthe and Champagne from gorgeous stemware. I knew I’d need a killer recovery breakfast in the morning and luckily had a long list of options that I’ll blog more about next week.
 

 

Now that the election is over and I’ve overdosed on politics and MSNBC, I can go back to being obsessed with the power brokers in my more immediate world—New York City restaurants. Last night, all the stars aligned and I got to hang out with two of the most powerful—Ben Leventhal and Lockhart Steele, who you'll know as the editor-in-chiefs of Eater. Walk with those two and doors fly open—there’s no VIP table you won’t sit at, starting at Charles the hyper-hot, no-phone spot in the West Village. You’ll see the great food writer Alan Richman and the great Chowhounder Steven Shaw (author of the terrific, just-out Asian Dining Rules) as you’re shown to the back room. You’ll have a ridiculously fun time while the dressed-up owners hang on every bite the pair take. (A wave of Mr. Leventhal’s finger will bring a second burger to the table. These burgers, by the way, allegedly beat out Market Table’s in an epic Burger Bloodbath in the Hamptons this summer.)

Then you’ll cruise over to Craftsteak, where you’ll get to watch the premiere of Top Chef, NYC, with the awesome Tom Colicchio, the gorgeous Gail Simmons, Bravo’s adorable Andy Cohen and a table full of their friends. You’ll eat more burgers and hear hilarious stories about the Foo Fighters on the upcoming Thanksgiving episode. Then you’ll walk next door to the John Dory, the not-yet-open spot from the Spotted Pig’s April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman, the queen and king of Manhattan restaurants these days. (Opening date is TBD. Anyone with connections at Con Edison should please be in touch with Mr. Friedman.) You’ll discuss setting up a 24-hour John Dory Eater cam with a view of the humongous fish tank, while Friedman pours you rivers of Bastianich wine. You’ll fall in love with the all-fish decor (Jamie Oliver described the design as so wrong, its right, and said, “It’s an oyster bar from Vegas, baby!”).

And then you’ll go home way too late, wishing you hadn’t promised to meet Mr. Leventhal and Mr. Steele at 8 a.m. for the soft opening of Momofuku Milk Bar. But you know it's the surest way to the VIP table.

Forty minutes from midtown in lower Westchester, Port Chester is many things to me: the spot of my first date at a grungy rock club with my now boyfriend and the home of Hubba’s, a greasy counter joint that has the world’s best chili cheeseburger wedges. It's never, however, been a destination for a nice dinner out. That is, until a month ago when Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich re-opened the Tarry Lodge.

More and more, Manhattan chefs and restaurateurs are expanding to surrounding New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Some of the city’s best—Dan Barber, Laurent Tourondel, Michael White and Danny Meyer—have restaurants out in the ‘burbs, or will soon. Batali and Bastianich are just the latest to move north.

Nancy Selzer, a co-owner and Tarry Lodge GM, has been with B&B for years and says that Joe, who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, wanted to open a neighborhood restaurant for his family. The genius of it was apparent: on a recent Saturday, the space was packed, with diners clearly excited that a big name chef had brought good food to within twenty minutes of home—and with parking.

In the gut-renovated hundred-year-old space, I devoured a fantastic pizza out of the brand new wood-burning oven with speck, Taleggio, radicchio and oil-cured olives, a warm butternut squash sformato (baked pudding), and creamy Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Selzer says the pizza Margherita is one of the most popular items: “We’ve had more than one person tell us it’s better than in Italy.” Her favorites include the guanciale pizza with black truffles and a sunny-side up egg and the simple whole, grilled branzino with tomato jam. Joe adores the Eggplant alla Parmigiana.

Once open, the team realized two things: People eat early in Westchester and are ecstatic that the restaurant moved in. Says Selzer: “On the weekends we can fill the room at 4 o’clock. During the week things start to die down at 9, which is the primest of prime time in the city.” She continues: “One thing that I find interesting, and gratifying, is how much people are really rooting for us.  In Manhattan, sometimes you feel like people want you to fail.  There can be an arms crossed, ‘prove it’ attitude, where it feels like everyone is a cheerleader out here.”

Looking ahead, Selzer says that Joe “might have some ideas for more projects in the area.” But, for the time being, all they want is to keep the pizzas coming out of the oven.

 I’m not a serious baker, but every so often, a new book comes out that makes me fantasize about becoming one. Two years ago, it was Heirloom Baking, a charming collection of community cookbook recipes updated by the Boston-based Brass sisters. Then it was Jill O’Connor’s Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey, which became an office favorite for its over-the-top desserts that somehow managed to not be too sweet. Right now, I’m loving Mani Niall’s new Sweet!, a book that looks beyond white granulated sugar to brown cane sugars as well as plant-based sweeteners like agave and maple syrup. For his Mexican bread pudding, which has a rich, earthy sweetness, Niall adds panela, a dense, dark brown cane sugar that’s formed into cones and must be grated. To give shortbread cookies a deeper, rounder flavor, he adds maple sugar. Demerara, a moist, light brown sugar, adds a caramelly note to chocolate fudge. Niall even includes a few savory recipes, including roasted sweet potatoes glazed with sorghum, the South’s answer to the North’s maple syrup. In our upcoming January issue, we will be running his supereasy cranberry-orange scone recipe, which gets toffee-like notes from turbinado sugar—the crunchy crystals that come in those brown “Sugar in the Raw” packets.

This has been a big week for meat in New York City. The New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni took a look at just how much pork is on the menu at Irving Mill (a lot), and asked chef Ryan Skeen “to give the pig a rest.” That was after two of the city's best restaurants hosted dinners prepared by the dean of nose-to-tail eating, Fergus Henderson of St. John in London. Sunday night was the Spotted Pig’s second annual crazy-fun, crazy-delicious FergusStock. Dishes like the pressed pig’s ears drew diners like Top Chef/restaurateur Tom Colicchio and Momofuku’s David Chang. Henderson and his sous-chef (and Spotted Pig chef) April Bloomfield went through 23 pig heads (that’s 46 servings of the pot-roasted half pig’s head) before they sold out at 10 pm.

The following night, Monday, people were equally meat-crazed, when Henderson set up shop in the kitchen at Momofuku Noodle Bar. The testosterone level was sky high (the dining room was 75 percent male and the one reserved table held the head honchos from GQ mag). By 9 P.M., the restaurant was sold out of the deep-fried lamb brains and the roasted marrow bones; an hour later, almost everything was gone, down to the last crispy pig's tail. (Serious Eats has an amazing blow-by-blow of the dinner for anyone who’s getting hungry.) 

I’m not going to do the whole-animal math here (especially because I'm still waiting on pig tail numbers from Momofuku), but that’s a lot of pork. Now that Henderson has left town, I’m going to follow Bruni’s advice and give the pig (and cow, and rabbit and lamb) a rest. Which means for me, just the sheep’s milk ricotta gnudi at the Pig, the pickle jar at Noodle Bar and the kampachi crudo at Irving Mill. Oh wait, that has chorizo on it.

What could be better than eating a dinner prepared by one of F&W’s fantastically talented Best New Chefs? The easy answer: Eating a dinner prepared by two of them. On November 17th, Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon in Portland, Oregon, will be joining fellow 2007 Best New Chef Steve Corry at Five Fifty-Five in Portland, Maine to create a special seven-course tasting menu ($150; 555 Congress St.; 207-761-0555).

Some highlights:
*Gently poached New England whelks, served with pickled corn salad by Corry.
*Rabbit spanakopita, with fromage blanc, La Quercia prosciutto and Oregon summer truffles by Rucker.
*Pacific pan-seared sturgeon accompanied by all-day braised local short ribs (an East-Meets-West Surf and Turf collaboration).
*Foie gras profiterole (“signature Gabe Rucker,” per Corry), Corry’s housemade Concord grape preserve and another of Rucker’s experiments, foie gras-infused Armagnac.

Rumor has it that Rob Evans (an F&W Best New Chef 2004) of Hugo’s in Portland, Maine will also be in the house—enjoying the dinner, not squeezing into the kitchen.

I’ve recently been prepping for my first trip to London. Not wanting to break my American-dollar-based bank, nor wanting to skimp on the experience, I’ve been poring over books, blogs and magazines to create a budget-minded itinerary.

Monday night, I was surprised to find myself curled up on my couch reading the forthcoming Savoir Fare London, Stylish Dining for Under $25, front-to-back like a novel. The book, published by The Little Bookroom, comes out this December and is a tasteful, eclectic compilation of 50 affordable, yet delicious restaurants, bakeries and bars with loads of style.  Author Elaine Louie solicited suggestions from some of England’s top tastemakers, among them Peter Ting, (a crystal and porcelain designer at Asprey who also went to cooking school) and gallerist Libby Sellers. The entries read like e-mails you’d send to a close friend, all packed with insidery details like what to order, where to book in advance and where to people watch.

Here's what made the top of my list:

*Postcard Teas
Designer Peter Ting is a fan of this tiny shop run by tea connoisseur Timothy d’Offay.

*The Clerkenwell Kitchen
An “artsy-media secret" serving British comfort food, it's a favorite of Elias Redstone, the curator of the Architecture Foundation in London.

*Rochelle Canteen
“Something of a trade secret in the design world,” this small restaurant run by Margot Henderson (wife of nose-to-tail champion Fergus Henderson) serves breakfast and lunch and needs to be booked at least a day in advance.

*Books for Cooks
A Notting Hill institution with a five-table café in the rear and a mini kitchen that prepares an ever-changing menu of dishes made from cookbooks it stocks.

    

Say you're Ben Affleck. And you just did an especially good job hosting Saturday Night Live (complete with a hilarious impression of Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown). Here's where you'd go afterwards: Hill Country, the terrific Manhattan bbq spot. You'd bring your wife, the actress Jennifer Garner, a bunch of SNL cast members including Seth Meyers, Andy Samberg and producer Lorne Michaels. You'd also bring the night's musical guest David Cook (people might know him as the winner of American Idol) and his girlfriend, plus Little Steven from the E Street Band and the Sopranos, and just for fun, congressman Anthony Weiner. (And you'd understand, if, if, another SNL guest, John McCain and his wife Cindy had other things to do and didn't join you.) If you're B. Affleck, you and your wife would have dry-rubbed brisket and succulent pork ribs. If you're Little Steven, then you'd have chili-rubbed pit-smoked lamb chops. If you're Lorne, then you'd ask the pitmaster to make you some barbecued beef sandwiches that you can usually only get at lunch.

And you'd be happy that Hill Country could host the party at all, since you'd have heard they were packed all day with a capacity crowd who watched the most exciting college football game of the season: namely, the stunning upset of No. 1 ranked Texas by Texas Tech.

As we eagerly (anxiously?) await who will be our 44th president, I thought it would be fitting to examine what our past presidents ate and drank while in the White House. Here, a select sampling of presidents and their gustatory pleasures while in office, along with F&W’s take on each:

George Washington served Champagne-quality ciders to visiting diplomats.
F&W: Most ciders from New Hampshire’s Farnum Hill Ciders are dry and lightly tannic, with complex undertones—not just of apple but also of raspberry, mango and oak—and come in 750 ml bottles with an elegant label.

Thomas Jefferson poured 4,000 bottles of Madeira for his White House guests.
F&W: We recently bestowed Best New Wine List honors to the San Francisco restaurant Spruce for its excellent 1,300-bottle selection, which includes a heavy emphasis on Madeira—which chef-partner Mark Sullivan (an F&W Best New Chef 2002) likes to pair with his house-made charcuterie.

Jimmy Carter, true to his Southern roots, loved fried chicken.
F&W: To make the crispy, juicy fried chicken served every other Monday at Ad Hoc in Yountville, California, superstar chef Thomas Keller first soaks whole chickens in a lemony brine, then coats and fries it.

Ronald Reagan The fiscal conservative didn’t take risks with his beef either—he preferred his steaks well-done.
F&W: In our steak slide show, chef Shea Gallante (an F&W Best New Chef 2005) of Cru in New York City offers a recipe for garlicky herb-rubbed hangar steaks, and chef Paul Virant (an F&W Best New Chef 2007) of Vie in Western Springs, Illinois, makes skirt steaks with salsa verde and ricotta salata.

George Bush The first Bush in office was a fan of shad roe.
F&W: While shad roe are only in season in the spring, our taste test of 22 American caviars revealed favorites like Seattle Caviar’s mild-tasting, apricot-hued golden whitefish roe from Montana’s Flathead Lake.