Rum & TuKola

Culinary diplomacy at the Havana Art Biennial: ten Cuban chefs and ten New York chefs (including Sara Jenkins of Porchetta and Porsena) just concluded ten days of seating anyone who walked in the door of the restaurant-ish space they opened in the back patio of an Old Havana art space. Proyecto Paladar, as it was called, fed foreigners and locals alike ethnic food not usually often found in Cuba at tables of 12— the amount of people allowed to eat at the in-home restaurants when they were first legalized almost two decades ago. Wanderlust is on high today.

05/25/12

I’ve been craving the salty-sweet fried plantain tostones that the matriarch I lived with in Havana, Elaine, made. Here’s a recipe— Elaine’s trick was to dip them in copiously salted water between fries. Makes them crispier and more subtly salty. Mmm.

05/23/12

A story I wrote for Condé Nast Traveller on Havana’s best new paladares, in-home restaurants, now that permits for them are being liberally granted.

01/19/12