"mac n cheese" news and stories

Last night, NPR's News and Notes featured a brief but serious piece about macaroni and cheese by Los Angeles-based columnist and actor Joseph C. Phillips. Phillips seems truly distressed, and rightly so, that his kids have been served a powdery, imitation mac and cheese at a local restaurant. He uses this experience of what mac and cheese isn't as a springboard for talking about what mac and cheese is, and, more specifically, what it is in the African American community. "This is the storytelling," Phillips says of the guarded recipes and mystique that surround really good homemade examples of the dish. He then goes on to share a few of his favorite mac and cheese-related stories. His own recipe is available on his website, here. The photo is of Sarah Gim's liveblogged mac and cheese from last winter.

Champagne is taking off in restaurants all over LA.

In the kitchen, why mess with a classic? Keep macaroni and cheese simple. Sage is the star in recipes for Southwestern Squash Stew, Cheddar-Sage Cornbread, and Petrale Sole with Sage, Poblano and Tomatoes. Make sure you pick the right sage for your taste. It's not just for boba. Tapioca is going fom childhood pudding to sophisticated desserts: Tapioca with peaches and mint, Tapioca with strawberry gelée and fresh strawberries, and Cinnamon tapioca brûlée with Cherry Gastrique.

Out on the restaurant scene, Leslie Brenner visits an old stand-by, Giorgio's. Susan La Tempa praises The Colony Cafe in West LA and Betty Hallock tracks down the recipe for California white sturgeon from downtown's Water Grill.

If you can work fast and get your recipe together, then you still have time to enter the Tillamook Cheese Macaroni & Cheese recipe contest!

The Oregon-based cheese company has teamed up with LA's McCormick & Schmick's to sponsor the contest. Entries have to be submitted by Tuesday, May 2, 2006. Hey! That's today! The winner of the contest, which will actually be held on May 25, 2006, will receive $1,000 and will go on to the next "round" in Portland, OR to vie for the $5,000 national grand champion prize.

So hurry! But remember, the "directions" on the back of the box don't count as a recipe.

[via: LAist]