Urban Honking

It might be good for you, but we hate the taste of glycyrrhizin. In high school, we used to taste it at night, right before bed, brushing with the lights out. It’s a natural derivative of licorice root, found in the light purple-y tubes of Tom’s of Maine brand toothpaste mom started buying. We knew […]

While I fiddle devices way beyond my mechanical capabilities (power converters, seat backs, tray tables), check out Part One of a recent “lecture” I gave at a local bookstore as an envoy of Nicole’s Gourmet Foods. Evan hid in the bookshelves to chronicle the speech, which was part of the store’s “Expert Series.” (SNAP!) Reporting […]

One of our first forays into real beer, and wastoid-ly groping for words to describe it, was an IPA tasting we did for a newspaper in 2005. We plucked a range of California pales (Stone, Marin County Brewing etc.) from a liquor store and stayed at the office late one night taking rudimentary notes about […]

Date: February 12, 2010 Location: Saraveza Mike Merrill (MM) Josh Berezin (JB) 94/1000: Russian River Consecration JB: What are we drinking? MM: Russian River Consecration. JB: One of the rotating taps here? MM: And they wouldn’t give me a pint, only 8 ounces of it. JB: So it’s potent stuff. What drew you to it? […]

Date: February 12, 2010 Location: Saraveza Mike Merrill (MM) Josh Berezin (JB) 94/1000: Russian River Consecration JB: What are we drinking? MM: Russian River Consecration. JB: One of the rotating taps here? MM: And they wouldn’t give me a pint, only 8 ounces of it. JB: So it’s potent stuff. What drew you to it? […]

We’d heard the rumors — that PETA was moving to our veggie-friendly Echo Park hood, building office space in an old furniture store — but didn’t pay much mind until recently. When we started investigating though, we found something way juicier. Ever heard of the “Fine Faux Gras Challenge?” PETA is hosting a recipe competition […]

It’s true we’ll never be big believers in vegan “cheese.” You know, the velveeta-like pizza and quesadilla goop? Its mostly oil and flavored science to help it “melt.” We’ll take a splash of good olive oil and freshly ground spices over that any day, thank you very much. But, we are still keen on protein-laden […]

The Communal and unified nature of the American brewing scene shouldn’t be anything new to you. (Buy Our Book.) New, rowdy breweries are equipped with the obsolete machines of Elder breweries past, and Macro-Micro breweries are always evolving into new paternal forms: from distilling to distributing other fellow ale houses’ suds. But the pinnacle of […]

The other day we came home to a care package from a dear buddy who’s been traipsing through distant Chinese cities. We sliced through the wrinkled, brown-bag wrapping. Three small plastic baggies of nubby brown husks and fine orange powder fell to the kitchen counter. The stash was mostly whole, unadulterated and, presumably, illegal Sichuan […]

In the six years since starting Hot Knives, the conduits of our medium have been many: internet (duh), video, independent newspapers, radio, catering, hanging out, bike rides, beer tastings and various other bamboozley boons. Its time to add another notch to the gun. We bring you “Greatest Sips.” Our first fully-fledged book containing 21 of […]