Tom Sietsema, the Washington Post’s food critic, retired recently after 25 years of reviewing Washington’s restaurants. I have known him even longer than 25 years.  When Tom was in college in Washington, he was the intern of Phyllis Richman, his predecessor. Phyllis was — and is — an old friend. At the time, I was writing for […]

Not long after the end of World War II, my parents, my three siblings, and I returned to Baltimore, our hometown. My father had been discharged from the Public Health Service, the medical unit of the army. We left our wonderful house on Clay Street in San Francisco and moved back across the country into […]

I was not born to bake. I know that because during the past 35 years, I have known many people who truly were born to bake — or to cook. There was my dear friend, Michel Richard, whom I still miss ten years after his death. Michel had an extraordinarily difficult childhood. His drunk and abusive […]

I believe that Americans love Thanksgiving more than any other holiday. Christmas? No. There is too much work. Picking out a tree, bringing it home, forcing it into its stand, decorating it. And all those gifts to pick out for every member of the family, then wrapping them far into the night to make the wrappings […]

I had a favorite uncle who lived in Washington.  He served on a Navy ammunition ship during the War, and when it ended, he became part of a little group that created the Consumer Price Index that measures inflation in the U. S.  Later he entered liberal politics and became the head of Americans for Democratic Action, […]

I’ve always loved making dinner. Cooking has never felt like a chore to me – it’s always been fun. When my sons were babies and I was married, I used to pretend I was doing my wife a favor by taking over dinner duty, playing the part of the thoughtful husband. But the truth is, […]

In 2014 I came back to the Forest Hills neighborhood of Washington to open Bread Furst. It wasn’t the first time I had spent my days (and nights) here. The first was in 1962, when I was new to Washington and living in a townhouse on Wisconsin Avenue, next door to what is now Bistro Lepic. I […]

A year or so ago, I let go of some of my cookbooks. I took them to the bakery, and our manager and partner, Scott Auslander (always the entrepreneur), offered them to our customers for a dollar each. I had brought in perhaps 50 books, and they went very fast. I first bought a cookbook […]

Last week I flew to San Francisco to celebrate the 90th birthday of my friend Joyce Goldstein, one of the giants of American food. On the plane I found myself thinking yet again about the moment food began to matter more deeply to us – as a country and to me. I have written about that […]

When I was a child, my family ate bread at every meal. At breakfast we served ourselves toasted Thomas’ English Muffins. We took to school sandwiches we made for ourselves, generally on soft white bread that was delivered by our milkman. At dinner we were served a light rye and a dark rye from Silber’s […]