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Our Favorite Interviews

YumSugar — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:30:27 -0800

Although our greatest joys are cooking and entertaining, they're simply not as fun without inspiration from the outside world. I'm often spurred to mix up new flavor combinations or cooking techniques by the likes of cooking shows, restaurateurs, bartenders, and, of course, great restaurant chefs.

In 2008, we had the privilege of speaking with cutting-edge faces in the food industry and leaders who have had longtime influence on us. We were impressed by their humility, devotion to hard work, and advice for everyday cooks. These interviews are our top 10 favorites this year:

Photo Courtesy of Colin Miller

Top 10 Sandwiches of 2008

YumSugar — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:00:15 -0800

So many sandwiches, so little time. It's hard to believe it's only been a year since we launched the 'Wich of the Week feature. Even after 52 weeks, I have so many sandwiches still to eat. From veggie concoctions to piles of meat and cheese, here's a look at my 10 favorites from 2008.

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The Year's Best Restaurant Chef

YumSugar — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:30:14 -0800

For our Best of 2008 series, we asked you who you thought deserved the title of best restaurant chef of the year.

The votes for Masaharu Morimoto and Thomas Keller were neck and neck, but ultimately your pick was Thomas Keller.

We must, however, respectfully disagree and say that our pick for best restaurant chef is David Chang. Since David Chang opened his first Momofuku restaurant, the New York chef has skyrocketed to unexpected heights of celebrity chefdom.

We have always been fans of the talented young chef's unparalleled innovation in flavor and technique, and his ability to bring a dramatically different yet affordable type of comfort food to the masses. When we sat down with him at Slow Food Nation, we also fell for his self-deprecating humor and bad boy demeanor.

Have you been to one of Chang's Momofuku restaurants?

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This Year's Trendy Ingredient

partysugar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:30:06 -0800

In our Best of 2008 poll, the majority of you picked pomegranate as your favorite trendy ingredient this year. However, Yum and I have to disagree. Due to its incredible popularity and extreme exposure (it's been seen everywhere from wrapped around hot dogs to dipped in chocolate) - bacon is our editor's pick for favorite trendy ingredient.

The craze for bacon continues: Now there's a way to add bacon to any website! Bacolicio.us makes everything taste better with bacon - including YumSugar.com!

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The Year's Best Rising Celebrity Chef

YumSugar — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 08:00:56 -0800

As part of our Best of 2008 series, you told us who was the best rising celebrity chef of the year. You love The Neelys and Curtis Stone, but your number one favorite is Next Iron Chef winner Michael Symon. We agree with you; he's our favorite at Yum.

There's more than one reason we like the Cleveland chef: He's talented yet modest; on Iron Chef America, he's got a great sense of humor and an infectious laugh; and his Greek-inspired food is always heads above the rest.

Why do you like Michael Symon?

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The Year's Best Kitchen Store

partysugar — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:00:40 -0800

As part of our Best of 2008 coverage, we asked you where you like to shop for kitchen supplies. Williams-Sonoma was the clear winner with 39 percent of the vote. YumSugar and I agree with you readers: we love Williams-Sonoma too! Not only does Williams-Sonoma have an amazing selection of quality kitchenware, but it also publishes must-read cookbooks. In November we were lucky enough to score the ultimate Thanksgiving giveaway thanks to our friends at Williams-Sonoma. The store recently launched a wine club that I look forward to checking out in 2009. What do you love about Williams-Sonoma?

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The Year's Best Grocery Store

YumSugar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:00:56 -0800

Earlier we asked your thoughts on the Best of 2008, and that included your favorite grocery store of the year. Although prices went through the roof on everything from beef to dairy, you chose Trader Joe's as your number-one pick. For the second year in a row, it was the clear winner, taking 39 percent of the vote. We must be on the same wavelength because Trader Joe's is Yum's supermarket fave, too. We love TJ's because it offers a variety of unique, all-natural food choices without breaking the bank. It's got a frozen-food selection, cheese offering, and wine section. We wish every grocer could offer the same value for the quality. In fact, we love the store so much that we experimented with a cookbook that exclusively calls for items from Trader Joe's. What are your reasons for preferring TJ's?

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This Year's Best Food Magazine

YumSugar — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:00:18 -0800

As part of our Best of 2008 series, we asked you which food magazine was your top pick this year. Although there are many great food publications, we had a clear winner: Bon Appétit had 25 percent of the vote. Yum agrees; it was our favorite glossy, too.

To ring in 2008, Bon Appétit underwent a complete redesign. The initial response to the mag's contemporary graphics and new logo was mixed, but Bon Appétit's recipes continued to be innovative and reliable, and the culinary content relevant. Even better, the love was mutual: The publication approached us to be featured in its Blog Envy feature.

Tell us: What makes Bon Appétit your favorite?

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The Best of Top Chef

partysugar — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:00:35 -0800

No contestant was eliminated on this week's episode of Top Chef, so I didn't get to interview the losing chef. Thus, I've decided it's a great time to take a look back at what happened on the show this year.

2008 was an exciting time for the reality competition: viewers got to indulge in two exciting seasons in two important cities - Chicago and New York.

We witnessed the crowning of the first female chef and watched what happened when Europeans were thrown into the mix. Here, I've rounded up my favorite moments from season four and the first half of season five.

My crouton cooking lesson with Ryan Scott.
Spike showing off his mad butchering skills.
The return of Sam Talbot as a guest judge.
Andrew's introduction of the phrase "culinary boner" to the food industry.
Padma and Rocco together again: eating 16 deep-dish pizzas.
The first competing couple.
The ongoing, entertaining feud between Dale and Lisa.
Gail's bridal shower!
The contestants putting the competition aside to help Radhika and Hosea get their dishes done.

Did I forget something? What were your favorite Top Chef moments?

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Biggest Headline of 2008: The Reign of Starbucks Fades

YumSugar — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:30:59 -0800

For the world's largest café chain, 2008 has been a bumpy roller coaster ride. This year, Starbucks made more than its share of headlines. Click on the slideshow to see more.

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