Each week on Munch Monster we’re going to feature a fruit, vegetable, herb, and anything else that catches the eye or palette that is in season. We’ll share with you the season each item thrives in, as well as recipes and ideas for using the fruit or vegetable. You’ll even find some items that are in season year round, or for lengthy periods of time, featured here. more…

There is no real American cuisine. This is what I’ve heard from numerous people, and when I say that there is I’m challenged to provide examples. Well, instead of just listing off something like cioppino this time around I’d back up my assertion that America has great original cuisine by making a classic myself. more…

Recently SlashFood ran some lists of “Dirty Restaurant Tricks” where it was implied that there are common practices restaurants employ to save a buck. Reading through the lists would make any customer, or restaurant worker, disgusted. Not only that, but quite a few of the “tricks” have little to no cost saving effectiveness. They’re just disgusting. more…

So what does a person do for dinner when they have a Sunday off and free? The first Sunday in around 6 months where they can do and or make whatever they want? The answer came to me immediately as I came across an organic free range chicken while picking up late night snack foods after service last evening. It being fall, and a Sunday there could only be one option: roast chicken! more…

Dining alone is one of the most solitary experiences a person can have. It’s a lot of “me time.” And if you’ve done a solo dining date then you’ve likely brought along a book or magazine. Something to pass the time. more…

When chefs create those daily specials they often go through the same motions a home cook might, except we may have ready access to ingredients on a daily basis the home cook simply does not. Plus there are small considerations to be made, such as the location of the restaurant. In central NY it’s nearly impossible to sell a feature dish without the tried and true starch, vedge, sauce combination. more…

It’s been a long time, but we’re still here. Why? I hear you asking (all 2 of you that actually still check out the site in hopes I’ll post something…anything). Well, the reason is simple: I still love food, and want to share that with you, readers. The problem quickly became a lack of direction. Then I went to work full time at an upscale restaurant and immersed myself in the professional food world. more…

It’s been quiet here on the Munch Monster front. Too quiet, I know. I apologize for that, and instead of excuses I’ll just say I hope things will begin picking up very soon. I start work at a new restaurant in a few days, so for a late anniversary gift I took my wife to my new place of employment. The restaurant is fine dining Italian, but with a casual and family flair. more…

Mark Bittman twittered: “A post I should’ve written long ago.” He then provided a link to his blog post at the New York Times regarding what you see on cooking shows versus real life cooking. In the piece Bittman talks of an incident during the taping of The Next Food Network Star where he witnessed a contestant putting a piece of meat on a too hot grill that was instantly charred. The cameras were stopped, an assistant found a replacement meat and cooked it properly, and then the contestant came back on with a big ta-da! more…

I run a blog here, but I hope that my readers will always hold me accountable for the claims I make. There’s no mistake that “journalistic integrity” isn’t necessarily a part of a blog that deals in recipes and kooky food items. But when I sit down to opine on a subject I damn well had better be sure that I’m not misleading my readers. And it’s that thought I had running through my mind yesterday when I read through James E. McWilliams’ Op-Ed piece in the New York Times about trichinosis in free range pigs. more…