“I think of Washington Island as the Midwest’s Martha’s Vineyard, only undiscovered by most.”–respondent 5048 “Don’t let it turn into another Martha’s Vineyard.”–respondent 5124 Those’re just two of the many, many conflicting, contradictory, and sometimes downright cantankerous replies to one of the open-ended essay questions on the 2007 Washington Island Comprehensive Planning Survey. The comments … Continued
Victual Reality columnist/farmer Tom Philpott snaps the locavore’s Achilles tendon in a recent review of Paul Roberts’s The End of Food, on the eco-news site Grist. [snip] “Reading through the recent food-politics bookshelf, it’s too easy to take away an “industrial food bad, local food good” attitude. But how many modern-day locavores would readily embrace … Continued
Michael Ruhlman has a preview of the Alinea Book, which is getting even more prerelease hype than the restaurant did, if such a thing is possible. The six-and-a-half-pound doorstop–which includes an introduction by Ruhlman and essays by Jeffery Steingarten, Mike Nagrant, and Wired editor Mark McCluskey, who wrote about Achatz in 2006–is lowballed at a … Continued
“I swear, man, it’s gotten so bad that if I see someone walking up to the restaurant I just irrationally hate them. It’s all I can do to smile and make nice.” “Welcome to the island in August. Now you get it.” Labor Day weekend is the last big push of the season, and it … Continued
Buy your block party tickets now–and if you want the scoop on how to get in for free on Sunday, hit me. (You’ll only have to embarrass yourself for a few minutes, I promise.)
Last fall, after I was laid off, I was saved from total penury by a sweet gig writing copy for a Chicago guidebook published by Insight Guides and the Discovery Channel. I had already committed to doing all their food and restaurant copy–220-odd restaurant blurbs, 40 or so bars, and an essay on the Chicago … Continued