Press

At least New York Magazine thinks so. But calling me a “world class mooch”? I’ve cooked too many meals for my roommates and friends for that title. And as of today I’ve only received two free restaurant meals: the free truffle dinner which was a total fluke (I never thought they’d actually respond to my e-mail) and this one at Le Cirque which we had because everyone urged me to give Le Cirque a second chance. The fact that I called the food, the second time, sub-par only proves that I’m not in this for the free meals. I’m in this because I care about food. But all publicity is good publicity, I suppose. Maybe I’ll adopt an African baby next…

I’m thrilled to have won the food blog award for Best Post 2006 for my Alain Ducasse cartoon*–thanks to everyone who voted. More importantly, congrats to all the other competitors. If any of you missed Shauna’s “yes” post (which came in 2nd) you’re in for a treat. Go check it out.

* I just discovered that if you Google “Alain Ducasse” my cartoon is the 4th result. Hope Alain doesn’t mind!

Hey! I’ve been nominated for another food blog award. So go over there and check out the worthy competition and click your choice for Best Food Blog Post 2006! (I voted for myself because in 6th grade Mrs. Darman said if you don’t vote for yourself, why should anyone else?)

Where’s Oliver Stone when you need him? It’s time to unpack a conspiracy. Famed food writer Ed Levine has conspired to create one of the most promising food sites on the web. He’s got Jeffrey Steingarten. He’s got Daniel Boulud. He’s got Susie Essman from “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” And Jane and Michael Stern. And Meg. And Adam. And, would you believe it, he’s got me.

That’s right, I am proud to call myself a proud participant of Serious Eats, Ed’s “dream” food website which will launch Monday. I’m going to be a regular contributor with exclusive columns, stories and posts that you’ll only be able to read there (don’t worry, I’ll still be charming you here too.)

Now’s your chance to get a sneak peek. To check it out, go to:

http://preview.seriouseats.com/

And enter

Username: serious

Password: eater

Please sign up and register over the weekend and on Monday when it launches for real, you’ll already be a member of what promises to be one of the coolest, most exciting food sites on the web.

“Congratulations to the Amateur Gourmet. Now that he has been shat on by Sirio, he can consider himself a real New Yorker. Interesting that a mere blog has the scion of Le Cirque all shook up, though. When Ruth returned the dump, it rolled right off the prick’s best side. Business must be booming in the new location if they’re actually worried about the little people.”

– Regina Schrambling, Gastropoda

Thanks to site reader Lauren H. for sending along this link to USA Today’s food blog article. Congrats to all the other food blogs listed and for the record I was never an attorney, I just played one on TV.

I’m in The Christian Science Monitor!

One of the funnest things (and “funnest” is a word that applies here) about having a blog is checking your stats and referrers to see how people are getting to your site. Sometimes I’ll stumble upon a person’s LiveJournal (theater geeks really like my musical eggs) and sometimes I’ll find myself linked on a forum (I was once on a Celine Dion fanboard) and I find this exercise in vainty constantly rewarding.

A big reward came this morning when I saw a link to my Gourmet Cupid post coming from a site called peperosso.info. I clicked and found a post called “Assaggi d’amore.” Not speaking Italian, I wasn’t sure what that referred to but then I saw this in the text:

Ci pensavamo leggendo The Amateur Gourmet, spassoso blog newyorkese, che ha lanciato Cupid Gourmet, per farla breve: Radio Rimorchio ai tempi di internet. Mmm… e se ne facessimo la versione italiana? E se cioè, per realizzare i vostri più romantici sogni, Pepe si trasformasse in gastronomico Cupìdo?

And this graphic:

Breaking those words down (Italian is, after all, a romance language) I have deduced that what we have here is an Italian version of the Gourmet Cupid! I find this very flattering. And just thinking about all those Italian foodies out on dates because of a random idea I had at 3 am is enough to make me fluff my pillow. I’m not sure what that means but suffice it to say that the internet can be a bellissima thing.