Ed Levine

Ed Levine founded Serious Eats in 2006 and is the creator, host, writer, and co-producer of the podcast Special Sauce with Ed Levine (nominated three times for a James Beard Award). Under his stewardship Serious Eats won two James Beard Awards in 2010. In 2016 Ed was inducted into the James Beard Foundation's Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America. Ed published a memoir (one of seven books he's authored or co-authored), Serious Eater: One Man's Perilous Quest for Pizza and Redemption (Penguin Random House) in 2019. In the NYT review of the book Dwight Garner wrote "I’ve followed Levine’s food-writing career since it started, and if you gave me a bumper sticker that read ‘Ed Levine Is God,’ I’d slap it on my refrigerator."

Among Ed’s other books: NEW YORK EATS; NEW YORK EATS (MORE); PIZZA: A SLICE OF HEAVEN.

Before founding Serious Eats in 2006 he was a regular contributor to the New York Times Food Section. He has also written for the NYT Magazine, GQ, and Rolling Stone, among many other publications.

Serious Eats


Are you a Serious Eater?

1. Do you plan your day around what you might eat?
2. When you are heading somewhere, anywhere, will you go out of your way to eat something delicious?
3. When you daydream, do you often find yourself thinking about food?
4. Do you live to eat, rather than eat to live?
5. Have you strained relationships with friends or family by dictating the food itinerary—changing everyone’s plans to try a potentially special burger or piece of pie?

Ed Levine, whom Ruth Reichl calls the “missionary of the delicious,” and his SeriousEats.com editors present their unique take on iconic foods made and served around the country. From house-cured, hand-cut corned beef sandwiches at Jake’s in Milwaukee to fried-to-order doughnuts at Shipley’s Do-Nuts in Houston; from fresh clam pizza at Zuppardi’s Pizzeria in West Haven, Connecticut, to Green Eggs and Ham at Huckleberry Bakery and Café in Los Angeles, Serious Eats is a veritable map of some of the best food they have eaten nationwide.
           
Covering fast food, family-run restaurants, food trucks, and four-star dining establishments, all with zero snobbery, there is plenty here for every food lover, from coast to coast and everywhere in between. Featuring 400 of the Serious Eats team’s greatest food finds and 50 all-new recipes, this is your must-read manual for the pursuit of a tasty life.
           
You’ll learn not only where to go for the best grub, but also how to make the food you crave right in your own kitchen, with original recipes including Neapolitan Pizza (and dough), the Ultimate Sliders (which were invented in Kansas), Caramel Sticky Buns, Southern Fried Chicken, the classic Reuben, and Triple-Chocolate Adult Brownies. You’ll also hone your Serious Eater skills with tips that include signs of deliciousness, regional style guides (think pizza or barbecue), and Ed’s hypotheses—ranging from the Cuban sandwich theory to the Pizza Cognition Theory—on what makes a perfect bite.

The Young Man and the Sea

Seafood genius Dave Pasternack achieved national fame in 2000, when he served his first plate of pristine raw fish sprinkled with crunchy sea salt and fresh citrus juice, adding the word crudo—Italian-style sushi—to the American culinary lexicon. And here is his much anticipated first book, a celebration of the fresh flavors of the sea, Italian-style, featuring:

  • A full chapter on crudo such as Albacore with Caperberries, Nantucket Bay Scallops with Lemon and Chervil, and Two-Minute Cherrystone Clam Cerviche

  • Groundbreaking pastas like Dave's brilliant invention Rigatoni with Tuna Bolognese, the definitive Linguine with Clams, Pancetta, and Red Pepper Flakes, the luxurious Spaghetti with Lobster and Chiles, and the ultrasimple Fettucine with Rock Shrimp, Corn, and Jalapeño.

  • Salads such as Grilled Tuna with Artichokes, soups like Zuppa di Pesce Amalfitano, and starters that include Grilled Sardines with Caponata.

  • Gills on the grill—Sicilian-Style Swordfish, Tuna on a Plank, and Salmon with Figs, Saba, and Watercress

  • Pan-fried favorites like Monkfish with Sautéed Wild Mushrooms and Chestnuts, and regal roasts such as Pan-Roasted Cod with Spinach and Clementines

  • The crispiest Fritto Misto or Steamers with Caper-Tarragon Aioli

  • Tantalizing shellfish such as Fried Soft-Shell Crabs with Ramps or Baked Clams with Italian-Style Bread Crumbs and Horseradish

The more than one hundred recipes are at once inventive and comforting, complexly flavored yet simply prepared. And they are accompanied by the stories of an impassioned fisherman, the tips and advice of a singularly expert authority, creating a masterpiece in the field.