What is Salmaland? It’s where I try to answer the eternal question: Where to eat in New York City? As a food and travel writer based in NYC, I get this question all the time, and often I’m the one asking it. The lists of my recommendations here, to your left, are meant to help [...]]]> What is Salmaland? It’s where I try to answer the eternal question: Where to eat in New York City? As a food and travel writer based in NYC, I get this question all the time, and often I’m the one asking it. The lists of my recommendations here, to your left, are meant to help you out just as much as they’re intended to jog my own memory. I check out restaurants constantly and I keep these shortlists (organized by neighborhood) updated as often as possible. The lists are short on purpose; the more choices, the more confusion, in my opinion. On this site I also talk about other food, travel, and work-related projects. Drop me a note here with any comments or feedback, and thanks for stopping by.

Jasmine and Fire: A Bittersweet Year in Beirut, is my memoir of the year I spent in Beirut trying to come home again. I’m thrilled with the great early review in Publisher’s Weekly,  and the mentions in Food & Wine and AFAR. The book comes out on June 5, 2012, from Broadway Books/Random House—and it’s [...]]]> Jasmine and Fire: A Bittersweet Year in Beirut, is my memoir of the year I spent in Beirut trying to come home again. I’m thrilled with the great early review in Publisher’s Weekly,  and the mentions in Food & Wine and AFAR. The book comes out on June 5, 2012, from Broadway Books/Random House—and it’s ready to preorder now, via Amazon, Kindle, BN.com, Nook, IndieBound.org, and iBookstore. For more on Beirut and the book, please visit JasmineandFire.com. Big thanks in advance for your support!

Manhattan Inn

632 Manhattan Ave. at Nassau Ave.

718-383-0885

Kicked off the ragtimey piano-player trend in NYC bars. Old (yet new), wood-lined, homey. And of course hipster-jammed, this being Greenpoint. Good for brunch too.

Click the BEIRUT EATS link at the top of this page to see what I’ve eaten around Beirut and in villages all over Lebanon while spending a year there working on my book. Now that we have things like Video Skype (the ultimate retro-futurist fantasy finally realized), you’d think there would be a way to [...]]]> Click the BEIRUT EATS link at the top of this page to see what I’ve eaten around Beirut and in villages all over Lebanon while spending a year there working on my book. Now that we have things like Video Skype (the ultimate retro-futurist fantasy finally realized), you’d think there would be a way to pass the smoky babaghanoush, the crunchy fried fish drizzled with lemon, the minty fattoush salad, and the chargrilled, garlicky chicken kababs directly through the computer screen straight to you. Alas, not yet; in a couple of years maybe. In the meantime, sah’tain! (“Bon Appetit,” in Lebanese Arabic.)

That's me in Byblos, Lebanon, in a pic from ForbesLife.

For anyone who has asked, “How’s your year in Beirut been?”….here’s the beginning of an answer: An essay I wrote for ForbesLife is in the May 2011 issue.

Please check out the sidebar on page 2 of the story too, for a list of excellent books for [...]]]>

That's me in Byblos, Lebanon, in a pic from ForbesLife.

For anyone who has asked, “How’s your year in Beirut been?”….here’s the beginning of an answer: An essay I wrote for ForbesLife is in the May 2011 issue.

Please check out the sidebar on page 2 of the story too, for a list of excellent books for anyone wanting to read more about history, politics, literature, and life in Lebanon, past and present.

Glamour magazine’s latest cookbook, 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know, includes some recipes from yours truly. Glamour hired me to co-write the book and work with a small crew of staff editors and writers to make it all happen. Was lots of fun, lots of work, and a great team at Glamour. Btw the title may [...]]]> Glamour magazine’s latest cookbook, 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know, includes some recipes from yours truly. Glamour hired me to co-write the book and work with a small crew of staff editors and writers to make it all happen. Was lots of fun, lots of work, and a great team at Glamour. Btw the title may say “woman,” but it’s a handy, user-friendly volume for any kitchen. Check it out.

The recipes were compiled from many sources, including the Glamour recipe archives, plus contributions from the team of cookbook writers and editors, along with our  food-obsessed friends around the U.S. and the world. Some of my favorites are the Indian-style potatoes (p.31), the spicy Michelada beer cocktails (p.72), the Tex-Mex migas (p.28), the classic Nicoise salade (p. 94), the awesomely buttery rib-eye (p. 105), the eggplant parmesan (p. 184), the glazed nuts (p.55), and the affogato sundae (p. 235), and many more. We tested the recipes like crazy for months on end, so you can pull them off with ease and success, even if you’re not the most frequent cook in the world. Enjoy!

If I had to make a list of desert-island foods, chicken-fried steak would be way up there. Since it’s incredibly hard to find great chicken-fried steak outside Texas (and a few choice places in the South), I’m not sure how I’d ever find a decent chicken-fried steak on a desert island. But I’ll worry about [...]]]> If I had to make a list of desert-island foods, chicken-fried steak would be way up there. Since it’s incredibly hard to find great chicken-fried steak outside Texas (and a few choice places in the South), I’m not sure how I’d ever find a decent chicken-fried steak on a desert island. But I’ll worry about that when the time comes. For now, check out this TravelandLeisure.com article, where I talk about my comfort food, including…yes, chicken-fried steak.

For restaurant tips, Salmaland updates, and miscellaneous musings, follow me at… @salmaland