Family Meal Before Service Is the Real Menu
We eat family meal standing up in the kitchen before service. Tonight was pozole from yesterday's stock and bread ends with butter. Nobody Instagrams it. It...
dantemorales
Dante Morales
Line Cook Hands and Tasting Menu Hands
My hands smell like onion and accomplishment. The host at the front does not recognize me without my whites. Class in restaurants is a hallway: back door in,...
The Critic Called My Mole "Appropriation"
A critic called my Oaxacan mole ambitious fusion. It is my abuela's recipe. I grew up stirring it on a stool. Fine dining loves stories until the story is yo...
The Artichoke Is a Thistle We Decided to Eat Anyway
A chef argues that tattooing vegetables instead of knives is a statement about what cooking is really for — and why the artichoke says it best.
Behind the $45 Halibut: A Night at the Pass
A sous chef runs the pass and the dish pit alone on a Friday night. What luxury dining looks like from the kitchen side of the pass.
My Tía's Backyard Just Made the Michelin Menu
A chef reflects on pitching an ancient Aztec green from her tía's backyard for a Michelin-starred tasting menu — and what bicultural identity brings to fine dining.