Diner Journal, produced by the owners of the Diner restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, is a sweet quarterly magazine full of musings on all things food related. The restaurant, which opened in 1998, is owned by Mark Firth and Andrew Tarlow, with Caroline Fidanza as chef. They love seasonal food, grown locally with good heritage and have all the passion and curiousity we’ve come to expect from foodies around the world. Clearly having a restaurant (actually they have a couple now, check out the website for the Brooklyn locations) is not quite enough for them and the magazine allows them (and other guest writers) to investigate areas connected to food that interests them. The Spring 09 issue has some great essays on meat production and a terrific recipe for spaghetti frittata and the Summer 09 looks at raw food, cancer-busting and macrobiotic diets.
One of the reasons we like these little tomes is because they are so very nicely designed. Thick matt paper, gorgeous food photos, quirky illustrations and of course interesting recipes. They are a delight to have around. Quite a few of the ingredients they talk about I’ve never heard of (ramps anyone?) being home-grown American, but that makes it all the more enjoyable. They also cover subjects on the edge of the main stream but clearly newly important, which I guess is what you’d expect from a bunch of passionate and successful foodies/restauranteurs.
Follow what each issue is about on the Diner Journal website and back issues can be ordered and sent to the UK (mine took about a week to arrive).
