Experiencing Jsix’s chef Christian Graves’s kitchen for BlackBook

Monday BlackBook published a feature article I wrote:

Jsix’s Christian Graves Gives Us His ‘Chef’s Kitchen Experience’

I had plans to head to San Diego this June for my brother’s wedding rather than work. Either it was coincidence or I mentioned my plans online though, as I received an e-mail from Hotel Solamar and Jsix’s publicist inviting me to stay there and participate in Christian Graves’s “Chef’s Kitchen Experience.” (“Inviting me” is a euphemism for “it was free.”) When I mentioned I was traveling with my wife and 6-month-old daughter, thankfully the publicist didn’t wince; if she had I would’ve felt awful about having them sleep on a bench in Balboa Park while I enjoyed the restaurant and hotel.

I knew Christian was an excellent chef and that he and this trip to a local farm that supplies his kitchen would make worthy subjects for an article for BlackBook. And I realize I’m committing a journalism faux pas here, but I want to like the subjects of my articles (then again, I mostly cover travel, not terrorism). When possible I want to encourage readers to give their business to talented people who are nice. Hopefully Christian’s warm personality came through in my piece.

My favorite example didn’t make it into the final version though. When I asked him why he became a chef, he answered that he found something special about being able to cook for two people who were leaving their infant daughter behind for the first time and watching them enjoy themselves and stare into each other’s eyes.

You can watch Christian plot out our meal here:

Where travel bloggers hang out in New York City

Originally this post was for Gridskipper, but my editor there is relocating to Paris for a month today (in a related story, I hate him), so I figured I’d post it here.

Want to see where the sages of online travel advice hang out in New York City? This weekend 300 travel bloggers are convening for the 2010 Travel Blog Exchange conference (with bloggers holding meetings, clearly the revolution is over and the squares have survived). But give new media credit: TBEX ’10′s official schedule and meetups show nary an Olive Garden, Planet Hollywood or Hard Rock Cafe. Check below the fold for the lineup.

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Getting revenge on DC restaurants that have made me sick.

Whilst I usually enjoy researching my Gridskipper entries, writing this post caused me to relive some not-so-good times—although I did get a bit of revenge:

DC Restaurants That Made Me Sick

In case the title doesn’t make it obvious, the post does get a little graphic (it is Mean Week on Gridskipper after all).

My latest for Gridskipper: Washington, DC, restaurants with health code violations

If my piece on Alexandria’s best wine values by the glass for Gridskipper was fun to research, my latest entry was not:

DC Restaurants with Health Code Violations

What I found most surprising was that the DC Department of Health doesn’t require vermin to be eliminated, just minimized.