truffles

You could say that Frank Prisinzano runs New York’s East Village. The man is Owner and Executive Chef of three Italian restaurants in the area: Frank Restaurant, Supper Restaurant and Lil’ Frankie’s Pizza, as well as Sauce on the Lower East Side. He recently returned from his annual pilgrimage exploring the storybook mountain scenery, amazing restaurants and white truffles of northern Italy. Yes, you’re going to want to keep reading about this trip.

I think it's cute watching everyone's first truffle phase. The jar containing one weak, oily specimen they chop up and add to fettuccine. The bottle of kerosene-like truffle-flavored olive oil they truly believe contains actual fungus and happily shelled out $30 for. I still have a bottle of that stuff for when I get desperate. It's pretty awful.

"The first time I combined real ale with chocolate was my first Christmas at my chocolaterie, when I needed something traditional and ended up using rich, malty London Ale," says London master chocolatier Paul A. Young.