Fried Chicken and Caviar brings fun, flavor and vibes to Detroit
In this episode, we’re saying what up doe to Chi Walker and Nik Renee Cole, the duo behind Fried Chicken and Caviar — or FCC for short.
FCC isn’t just about food on a plate; it’s about creating a vibe. Their pop-up has appeared all over Detroit, from Batch Brewing to 2 Birds and The Congregation. Known for their adventurous food pairings and bold recipes, Chi and Nik use flavor as a way to spark joy and connection.
From their popular Glizzy Parties — featuring hot dogs topped with decadent ingredients — to catering high-profile events like the James Beard Awards, Fried Chicken and Caviar keeps finding new ways to bring fun to food. As Chi and Nik put it, “Fried Chicken and Caviar” is more than just a name.
CONTAINER On The Metro is a new WDET-produced storytelling series that brings Detroit’s creative heartbeat to the airwaves.
CONTAINER is a program created by The Love Building to showcase Detroit’s most promising creative talent across music, fashion, fine arts and food. Done in collaboration with WDET Public Radio with major support from the Gilbert Family Foundation
In 1978, residents in the Detroit’s Cass Corridor resisted Wayne State’s plan to demolish historic buildings in the neighborhood. This act of resistance birthed the Dally in the Alley festival.
Since that year, community volunteers come together annually put on a block party that features local vendors, food, and musical performances. Adriel Thornton, the president of the North Cass Community Union, which host the event, joined the show to discuss Dally.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Chef Greg is the founder and owner of Smokey G’s Smokehouse, located at Valade Park on Detroit’s Riverfront.
He was a featured vendor during the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, and Smokey G’s became the first smoker ever to appear at the Rocket Mortgage Classic Golf Tournament.
For the last 11 years, Greg has taken pride in welcoming people into his family through food, smoke, and plenty of laughs.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
CONTAINER On The Metro is a new WDET-produced storytelling series that brings Detroit’s creative heartbeat to the airwaves.
CONTAINER is a program created by The Love Building to showcase Detroit’s most promising creative talent across music, fashion, fine arts and food. Done in collaboration with WDET Public Radio with major support from the Gilbert Family Foundation.
LOS ANGELES — For Rebecca Zeitlin, packing her 5-year-old son’s school lunch is always full of surprises. Offer him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at home and he won’t touch it. But pack it in his lunch with fruits, vegetables and a small treat and he’ll dive in.
He will “chow down” on applesauce at preschool parties. But if she served him applesauce at home, “he’d look at me like I was crazy,” Zeitlin said.
Like many parents, Zeitlin has been thinking about school lunch ahead of her son’s first day of kindergarten. Lunchtime will be different than it was at his small private preschool, where teachers could more closely monitor whether he was eating. She’s already been eyeing school lunch conversations in mom groups on Facebook, and she’s has new lunch boxes ready to pack.
She plans to start off with some of her usual go-tos. Perhaps she’ll pack him chicken nuggets or pasta alongside strawberries, oranges or watermelon.
“I think it’s going to be real interesting to see what next month is going to be like,” Zeitlin said. “I’ve got my plans for now, but when reality hits, his lunches might look different.”
For parents of children 5 and under, navigating school lunch can be challenging. Colorful videos fill TikTok and Instagram showing off creatively shaped sandwiches and neatly cut vegetables laid in bento box-like containers. Lunch box styles can make a difference, influencers advise, as they share school-friendly recipes.
It’s easy for parents to worry that they got it wrong when a child returns home with uneaten food, said Anet Piridzhanyan, a clinical dietitian at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. But there are a few basic steps to make school lunches a success.
Zeitlin and son Will in West Hills, California, on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
What should parents put in their toddler’s lunch box?
It’s important to remember that the start of the school year is exciting, but can also be overwhelming for a young child, said Lori Russell, a registered dietitian and nutritionist at the Mayo Clinic. It may not be that they don’t like their food — they may simply be distracted. Either way, lean into familiarity to encourage them. And don’t offer too many options.
“We have this tendency to overdo it,” Russell said. “If parents want to fill that lunch box with everything that that kid might possibly consume that you have in the house, that’s stressful.”
Kids should have one main item in their lunch box and two or three snacks, which could include carrot sticks or an apple and perhaps a small treat such as a piece of chocolate, she said. Piridzhanyan agreed, recommending that parents rotate through the five food groups throughout the week, packing different fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins and dairy.
Consistency is key. If a parent plans to offer something new in their child’s lunch box, they should pair it with a food item they know their child likes, she added.
“Every day is a new day,” Piridzhanyan said. “They’ve only been around for two to five years, so it’s not like us where, when we see food, we’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I know what that is.’”
That’s something that Gabriella May has learned as her daughter has grown. May, of Fresno, has been making videos of her daughter’s school lunches for TikTok since she started kindergarten. She’s now in fifth grade. Her daughter has always been a picky eater, so introducing new foods at school without the pressure of having mom and dad nearby was helpful — and still is, she said.
What’s the best lunch box for toddlers?
It’s important for parents to make sure that the food they pack is accessible and that they have the utensils and napkins that they need, the dietitians said. Parents should practice opening containers with their child and make sure the lunch box isn’t too heavy.
“We tend to focus on what’s in it and what’s being consumed, and not the actual container,” Russell said. “And does the child like it? Are they enjoying opening it? Carrying it? All that really makes a difference.”
That’s where, for many parents, bento box-style lunch boxes come in. The compartmentalized containers have been popularized on social media.
“It’s just kind of convenient,” Zeitlin said. “Everything’s in one place.”
Russell, who has a 4-year-old, said that when a child likes their lunch box or container it can encourage them to eat. That’s why options with beloved characters can be a good choice.
“It’s not just about the food, it’s about the favorite cup, the plate,” Russell said.
How to get your kid to eat lunch at preschool
Parents should ask their children why they did or didn’t eat their lunch, Russell said. Sometimes the bread might have been too soggy, the apple slices may have browned or the texture of the macaroni and cheese may have changed after spending all day in a lunch box. If the answer isn’t satisfying, ask the teacher what they have observed, she said.
It helps to know how the teacher or child-care provider stores the food, Piridzhanyan added. Sometimes kids will have access to a refrigerator, other times the food may be left out in the sun, so it helps to be able to plan accordingly by adding an ice pack or a thermos to help keep food safe and appetizing, she said.
“A lot of times the lunch box bags are left out in the classroom, so that part’s really important,” Piridzhanyan said.
Presentation does matter to a degree, but there’s no need to go overboard. If parents want to do something special, Russell recommends quickly using a cookie cutter on a sandwich or adding a sticker alongside the snacks.
Zeitlin can’t wait until her 5-year-old son learns to read. Then, she’ll start leaving notes in his lunch box expressing encouragement and telling jokes. She’s held on to a book of dad jokes for 20 years just for the occasion.
Sequeira reports for The Times’ early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go to latimes.com/earlyed.
Rebecca Zeitlin’ s concern for her son Will entering kindergarten is what she will pack for his lunch and how much. She wants to pack enough to last through his snack break and lunch. Photographed in West Hills, California, on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
On this episode of Detroit Evening Report Weekends, we speak with Maher Obeid, owner of a new halal brunch spot in Detroit called Haus of Brunch at the Westin Book Cadillac.
In this story, we discuss how halal food is becoming a booming industry, expanding to different genres of cuisine — including halal soul food — in downtown Detroit.
Listen to the episode using the media player above.
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Picture modern beer, and you likely imagine a brew that’s beautifully bright and clear, shimmering in the sunshine through a pint glass. Then came the hazy IPA and hazy pale ale. Today, a sizeable percentage of craft beer is no longer see-through, with hazies continuing to dominate beer-bar tap handles.
They’re joined, of course, by dark beers, porters, stouts, doppelbocks and others that have remained impenetrably opaque, plus several styles of beer that are usually unfiltered, such as kellerbiers, gose, Belgian wits, saisons and others. But they still represent a minority.
Historically, clear, filtered beers arrived on the scene around the time that transparent glassware rose to prominence. Though glass drinking vessels had been around since the Roman era, it wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution made glassware affordable for everyone that they came into wide use.
At the same time, advances in brewing technology created filtering systems and other methods to efficiently make beer crystal-clear. This combination of innovations created the pilsner experience, which quickly became the most popular beer in the world after it debuted in 1842.
With yeast: the hefeweizen
One key exception to modern, clear beer is the hefeweizen. A style that originated in Germany, the word “hefe” means yeast, and so the hefeweizen is an unfiltered wheat (“weizen”) beer in which the yeast remains visible in the beer, giving it a cloudy appearance.
You may have heard about the Reinheitsgebot, a Bavarian law from 1516 that made it illegal to brew beer with anything other than water, barley and hops (they didn’t count yeast at that point). One reason for this law was to reserve wheat and rye for making bread and to keep loaves affordable.
Eventually the law was relaxed, and brewers were free to include wheat, though usually no more than half. By the early 1870s, brewers like Schneider Weisse — still making wheat beers today — pioneered the first modern hefeweizens.
The wheat gives the beer a silky-smooth mouth-feel and makes it very easy to drink, ideal for a hot August day, while the yeast gives the beer its distinctive notes of cloves and banana, often with a slight bubble-gum undertone. Hefeweizens are also fairly complex, and many will impart hints of nutmeg, vanilla or a whiff of light smokiness. It’s a combination that doesn’t sound like it should taste good, but it really works.
Widmer Brothers’ Hefeweizen has less of a strong clove and banana nose compared to Bavarian hefeweizens, so it has a cleaner, less yeasty and more refreshingly neutral taste, according to beer columnist Jay R. Brooks. (Glen Martin/Denver Post)
So hefeweizens are wheat beers, but not all wheat beers are hefeweizens. And it’s that banana and clove character that makes them unique. Germans also make a clear, filtered version of a hefeweizen, known as a kristallweizen, though they’re often hard to find. Filtering out the yeast to make the beer clear also strips the beer of a lot of its flavor, so most people seem to prefer the original hazy version.
Another feature of hefeweizens is their big, pillowy heads, often accentuated by being served in a very tall Weizen glass, which is narrow at the bottom and wider at the top to promote generous froth.
Hefeweizens also pair with a variety of lighter dishes, like salads and seafood, but also stand up to spicier food well, too. They’re also great with goat cheese, chicken or pork, and even pretzels.
American hefeweizen
Naturally, early American craft brewers came up with their own version of hefeweizens. To differentiate themselves, brothers Rob and Kurt Widmer decided to make German-style beers since almost everybody else in 1984 was focusing on English ales.
Their first beer was another obscure German beer called Alt (and older local beer lovers may remember the popular St. Stan’s Amber Alt), but it was their third beer that put them on the map.
Since they only had one kind of yeast in the brewery, they used that to make their Widmer Hefeweizen, and in the process created the American hefeweizen as a separate style. It’s cloudy, like its German cousin, but does not have the signature clove and banana notes. So it remains as refreshing as a typical hefeweizen with a more neutral palate. That’s also why it’s often served with a slice of lemon, to add some additional flavor complexity.
Many craft breweries brew a hefeweizen these days, often as their lightest offering, in both the Bavarian or American style. It’s an excellent choice if you’re looking for something easy-drinking and thirst-quenching. They’re also full-flavored without being too full-bodied.
That makes them the original hazy and the perfect beer to enjoy over the summer.
While beer consumer preferences have shifted away from and back to hazy varieties, the hefeweizen has remained cloudy, with its signature banana and clove notes and an undertone of bubble gum. (Courtesy Getty Images/iStockphoto)
After a two-year break, the Hospitality Included food and drink festival is set to return to Detroit’s North End.
The Detroit-based industry group Hospitality Included will host 30 of the city’s top bars, restaurants and pop-up chefs as vendors at the one-day outdoor festival. Popular eateries including Freya, Fried Chicken & Caviar, Flowers of Vietnam and Dutch Girl Donuts will have food on offer.
Thor Jones, founder of Hospitality Included, joined the Metro to discuss the festival, what it took to bring it back after two years, and the ‘community ticketing’ model the festival is using this year for admission.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
Trusted, accurate, up-to-date.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
By Fiona Rutherford and Micah Barkley, Bloomberg News
Nonalcoholic beer needs a second act.
The category boomed in recent years as the likes of Anheuser-Busch InBev, Heineken NV and Diageo Plc poured in money. But after those gains made it one of brewing’s few bright spots, it’s still just 2% of the global beer market’s volume, according to IWSR.
And now growth rates are slowing. After a surge late last decade and another jump in 2021, recent increases have settled into the single digits. IWSR now projects annual gains of about 8% through 2029. That would only boost its market share to a little less than 3%.
The push into nonalcoholic beer is a reminder of how much the industry is struggling. Craft beer peaked. The hard seltzer boom fizzled. Younger adults are going out less. Legalized cannabis is replacing six packs. Weight-loss drugs are a threat. Global beer volume has declined the past two years. Meanwhile, stocks of the world’s big brewers haven’t returned to their pre-pandemic levels.
“They have no choice but to get into alcohol free,” said Kenneth Shea, senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. It’s one of the few remaining growth levers for large brewers as they adapt to changing consumer habits, he said.
Nonalcoholic craft beer is offered for sale at a big box store on January 06, 2023 in Hillside, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Brewing has consolidated about as far as it can, with the five biggest companies controlling more than half the global market. Investors are looking for organic growth, and that’s why nonalcoholic beer has become the sector’s latest shiny object. But at this point it’s far from a panacea. IWSR projects that global beer volumes will be flat over the next five years, even with the growth in nonalcoholic brews.
The first phase of nonalcoholic beer’s expansion came from startups that focused on it. Firms such as Athletic Brewing Co. pushed the category toward craft brewing with tastier styles like IPA. They marketed around wellness, moderation and active lifestyles.
Breweries are now trying to broaden nonalcoholic beer’s appeal to win over more habitual beer drinkers. There’s been a shift in marketing. Nonalcoholic beer ads used to lean heavily on responsibility and reducing alcohol consumption. Heineken 0.0 ran a spot featuring Formula 1 superstar Max Verstappen promoting designated driving.
Now brands pitch nonalcoholic beer as a casual, anytime drink. Heineken’s newer “0.0 Reasons Needed” campaign encourages people to drink it whenever they want, with no explanation required. The marketing is part of the brewer’s push to reduce the stigma around nonalcoholic beer. One survey Heineken cited showed that about 40% of Gen Z men would only consider such options if their friends did.
Company founder Bill Shufelt shows a can of beer at Athletic Brewing’s nonalcoholic brewery and production plant on March 20, 2019 in Stratford, Connecticut. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Guinness emphasizes how closely its nonalcoholic version matches the original and brought in NFL legend Joe Montana to promote the brand.
AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, turned Michelob Ultra into its best-selling beer in the US by pitching it as a lower calorie option for sporty types. It announced a nonalcoholic version — Michelob Ultra Zero — in September. A commercial features young adults taking a break from beach volleyball to crack one open and then running back to play as the voiceover states: “Stay in the game.”
Heineken 0.0, which in 2023 became the first nonalcoholic beer to air a Super Bowl ad, is now one of the five most-seen beer or seltzer brands on US television, according to researcher iSpot. It’s offered in more than 100 countries and grew more than 10% last year.
The spending on US advertising has helped grow nonalcoholic beer more than other markets. IWSR expects US nonalcoholic volume to gain 16% a year over the next decade.
Mark Ruf, a longtime beer drinker, has been won over. The 31-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, now drinks a nonalcoholic beer for every regular one — a practice that’s been dubbed zebra striping — to cut back on his booze consumption when he’s at home or out with friends. He got so into the category that he started a blog and nonalcoholic beer subscription service.
“I still hate to put an end to a good time,” Ruf said. “But I start mixing it in with NA beer, so I’m not regretting it the next day.”
Nonalcoholic beer used to be a category dominated by options such as O’Doul’s, owned by AB InBev, and similar legacy brands. These brews often struggled to win fans because the process of getting rid of the alcohol included heating up the beer, which muted flavors.
Brewers have been investing in new techniques to improve taste. At AB InBev’s research center in Belgium, scientists have spent more than a decade refining nonalcoholic brewing. The company now removes the alcohol using low-temperature methods, then adds back key aromas to preserve more of the original flavor and smell.
“It is really an art, and it is also a science,” said David De Schutter, AB InBev’s vice president of global innovation.
AB InBev has also launched alcohol-free versions of Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona. In May, Chief Executive Officer Michel Doukeris told investors that its nonalcoholic portfolio was growing more than 30%. Corona Cero was the first ever beer sponsor of the Olympics at last year’s games in Paris.
Diageo has invested more than 60 million euros (about $70 million) in Guinness 0 production since the product launched globally in 2021. In the US, Guinness 0 made up more than half of the Guinness brand’s growth last year, the company said. And there’s been little cannibalization, with just 2% consumer overlap between Guinness 0 and the brand’s traditional beers.
All that focus has led to consumers now expecting nonalcoholic beer to taste good, according to Laura Merritt, president of beer and pre-mix at Diageo North America.
“It’s not like 10 years ago, where you just had to take what you got,” Merritt said of NA beer’s lack of choices. “The standards for great nonalcoholic beverages are the same high standard for great alcoholic beverages.”
But meeting standards doesn’t mean more and more people will convert to beer with the alcohol removed. There are many examples of food and beverages that initially do well by offering moderation and less harm. The question is whether nonalcoholic beer will recede the same as plant-based meat or become a sustainable category like diet soda.
Nonalcoholic beer is pictured on a shelf of a beer store in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district on Aug. 11, 2023. (Tobias Schwarz/Getty Images North America/TNS)
Soul food is one of the most identifiable American cuisines.
The dishes were crafted from the scraps that were left behind for Black people at a time when slavery was the law of the land. With a little ingenuity and a lot of determination, those leftovers became a main attraction for Black families and the rest of the country eventually caught on.
This weekend, collard greens will be placed center stage as Detroiters gather in Chandler park to celebrate the soul food staple. The 3rd annual Collard Green Cook-Off will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 23, bringing together food, culture and community.
Khary Frazier is the founder of Detroit is Different, the organization hosting the event. He joined The Metro on Tuesday to share what’s in store this year and the importance of celebrating Black culture, community and culinary excellence in the city.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
Trusted, accurate, up-to-date.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
June is a great time to fire up your grill and move at least some of your daily or weekly dinner duties to the backyard.
Cooking outdoors is usually cooler, tends to have a better view and is generally a lot more fun for both the cook and those he or she is trying to feed.
Chicken is often a prime choice when it comes to proteins to cook on gas or charcoal because it’s cheaper to feed a crowd with than beef or seafood. It’s also a lot more forgiving since it doesn’t require a lot of technique so long as you 1) cook over a moderate heat, 2) use an instant read thermometer to know when it’s done and 3) remember to let the grilled chicken rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing or serving so it can reabsorb some of its juices.
And if you take the time to soak it in a tasty marinade or stir together a homemade sweet-and-tangy barbecue sauce for basting, it will both elevate the flavor of the finished product and help keep the meat moist and tender.
While chicken breast is often a favorite choice because it’s leaner and has a milder, more subtle flavor, it’s also more expensive than other parts of the bird. Without a whole lot of fat to protect it from flames or heat as you grill it, it’s really easy to overcook and dry out.
That’s why I almost always opt for chicken thigh when I’m planning a cookout. It’s true that, as a fattier meat, dark-colored thigh packs more calories onto your plate than chicken breast. Still, it’s so much juicier and incredibly flavorful.
Grilled boneless, skinless chicken thigh builds the foundation for this summery budget meal for four. A scratch, ketchup-based barbecue sauce sweetened with brown sugar and spiced up with hot sauce and vinegar adds the perfect mix of tang and sugar, and because our recipe makes a lot of it, there’s plenty left over for dipping.
We serve it with a corn salad made with fresh kernels off the cob, salty feta and cherry tomatoes tossed in a simple four-ingredient dressing (if you don’t count the salt and pepper) that can be whisked together in seconds.
Rounding out the meal are roasted sweet potato chips and super-easy brown sugar blondies studded with butterscotch chips and chopped pecans and topped with gooey swirls of homemade strawberry jam.
It’s a feast fit if not for a king or queen (that’d require steak) at the very least a member of a royal family — especially since you’ll probably get some leftovers out of it.
Also impressive: It rings up 28 cents under our budget of $25.
I’m always surprised when a salad dish ends up costing more than dessert, but there’s no getting around the fact that fresh fruits and vegetables are becoming increasingly more expensive. All told, the corn salad added up to $6.55, or almost three times the price of the sweet potatoes ($2.25 for two) and more than half the total cost of the chicken, including the barbecue sauce.
Then again, I went with fresh ears of corn instead of canned or frozen and added not just a nice crumble of feta but also a generous handful of fat and juicy cherry tomatoes I couldn’t resist in the produce aisle.
Thanks in (small) part to the decreasing price of eggs and the fact that I almost always have homemade jam in my refrigerator, the blondies were quite economical, even with the addition of chips and pecans. Where else can you find a decadent, butterscotch-forward dessert for 42 cents a serving but from a home kitchen?
As always, I reached into my pantry and fridge for some of the ingredients most home cooks and/or bakers have on hand — olive oil, baking soda, vanilla, honey, vinegar and mustard — and I also did not calculate the cost of the basil in the salad because as someone who loves Italian cuisine, I am never without it.
Ditto with the red onion, a few of which are always in my refrigerator crisper, and various spices (though I did try to calculate the cost based on price per ounce).
Nothing on the menu takes more than 30 minutes to prepare, and if you get all your ducks in a row before you preheat the grill, you can make everything in one fell swoop.
As always, folks, remember to shop for ingredients at home before heading to the grocery store — it’s amazing how we forget what we already have on hand and then buy in duplicate, or let go to waste.
Ingredients for a budget-minded barbecue chicken dinner for four. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)
Corn-Tomato Salad
PG tested
Fresh corn is best for this recipe, but you also can use canned or frozen. I threw it into a hot skillet with a drizzle of olive oil and fried it while continuously shaking the pan until the kernels were charred, about 7 minutes.
The salad is equally delicious warm, at room temperature or chilled, if you want to make it ahead.
For salad
4 cups fresh or frozen corn, rinsed and drained if frozen, and steamed, boiled or grilled if fresh
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
1/3 cup crumbled feta
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil (about a handful), thinly sliced, optional
For dressing
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
2 teaspoons honey
1 small clove garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Toss corn, tomatoes, feta, onion and basil in a large bowl and set aside while you make dressing.
In a small jar or bowl, stir together olive oil, lime juice, honey and garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper
Add dressing to the corn mixture and mix well to combine. Taste and add more salt or pepper, if needed.
Serves 4.
— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette
Grilled Barbecue Chicken
PG tested
Chicken thighs are not only cheaper than chicken breast, but they’re also juicier and have a richer flavor. The homemade barbecue sauce that goes on top is spicy-sweet — brush it on while you’re cooking and also serve on the side for dipping.
For chicken
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon dry rub of choice
For barbecue sauce
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon barbecue rub
1 tablespoon mustard
1/2 teaspoon each garlic and onion powder
Prepare barbecue sauce: In saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together ingredients until well combined. Simmer for 5-10 minutes and use immediately or transfer when cool to an airtight container and store in refrigerator for up to a month. (Makes about 1 cup.)
Preheat grill to medium-high heat (400 degrees) and lightly oil the grates. If using charcoal, set up the briquettes underneath the grill grate.
Place the chicken on the grill and cook for 3-4 minutes, until grill marks have formed and the chicken is nicely browned.
Flip the thighs over and let cook for 3 minutes. Brush on the side facing up lightly with barbecue sauce and cook an additional 3 minutes.
Flip the chicken again, and brush lightly with more barbecue sauce on this side. Cook for 2 minutes.
Flip one last time, and brush again with barbecue sauce.
Continue to cook until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees (about 20 total minutes on the grill). Serve immediately, either whole or sliced.
Serves 4.
— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette
Roasted Sweet Potato Chips
PG tested
Sweet potatoes are more nutritious than regular potatoes, and they’re also so easy to cook. In this recipe, you just slice, sprinkle with spices and bake.
2 large sweet potatoes
Olive oil, for coating
Salt and paprika, for seasoning
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Use a mandolin slicer or chefs knife to cut sweet potatoes into paper-thin rounds. Depending on how big your potatoes are, you may also want to then slice then into half-moons.
Pile sweet potato rounds into a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Using your hands, gently toss to coat every piece with oil. Lay the rounds out on the baking sheets in a single layer.
Sprinkle the chips lightly with salt and smoked paprika. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until crisp and golden around the edges.
Serve immediately.
Serves 4.
— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette
Barbecued chicken thigh headlines this budget dinner for four. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)
Strawberry-Pecan Blondies
PG tested
I used strawberry jam and pecans for this recipe, but it’s easy to customize with your favorite flavors. Try almonds and blueberry jam or pistachios and raspberry jam. Perfect for a simple dessert — or breakfast.
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, slightly beaten
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup butterscotch chips
1/4 cup chopped pecans
3 tablespoons strawberry jam
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on 2 sides. (I used parchment paper.) Butter the foil.
Combine butter and brown sugar in a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until the butter is melted, about 1 minute.
Stir in vanilla. Let cool slightly, then stir in the egg.
Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Stir into the butter mixture.
Stir in butterscotch chips and pecans and spread the batter in the pan. Drop dollops of strawberry jam on top and swirl with a knife.
Bake the blondies until set, about 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool 15 minutes, then lift out of the pan using the foil. Transfer to rack to cool completely.
Discard the foil and cut into squares.
Makes 9 blondies.
— adapted from “Baking for Fun: 75 Great Cookies, Cakes, Pies & More” by Food Network Magazine
This budget dinner for 4 features a fresh corn salad, roasted sweet potato chips, barbecued boneless chicken thigh and strawberry-pecan blondies for dessert. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)
In her 2023 cookbook “Seed to Plate, Soil to Sky,” New Mexico-based chef and historian Lois Ellen Frank said the present era of Indigenous cuisine revolves around modern chefs understanding the ingredients and the farming practices of their ancestors.
“It’s now up to each Native American community and each Native American chef to decide what the New Native American Cuisine is and what they are going to serve on their plates,” Frank, who was advised by Navajo chef Walter Whitewater, wrote in her introduction.
Several young women chefs are doing just that in the Denver area, starting food businesses and planting gardens as a way to reconnect with the land and the traditions of the past. They are defining in real time what New Native American Cuisine can be, from cultivation to creation.
Their work is moving forward Indigenous cuisine in a critical time of repossession after the forced relocations of the 19th century and the food distribution programs of the 20th century, a recent period Frank referred to in her cookbook as “the most painful and most difficult in terms of health and wellness in Native American Cuisine history.”
Before the exploration of the Americas, most of the Indigenous diet in the Southwest and Four Corners region came from farmed foods such as corn, beans and squash (sometimes called “the three sisters”). After the country relocated Native Americans to reservations, they were issued government rations of mass-produced food different from what they were used to, Frank writes. To her and some of her colleagues, it amounted to “nutritional genocide.”
Denver has long associated Native American cuisine with Tocabe and its fry bread tacos, made with shredded bison, hominy and roasted green chiles. When Matt Chandra and Ben Jacobs opened Tocabe in 2008, the restaurant was billed as “the only American Indian-owned and -operated restaurant in metro Denver specializing in Native American cuisine.”
After learning that Jacobs, a Native chef, was using some of his family’s recipes, Micaela Iron Shell-Dominguez, 36, knew she had to work there.
An environmental and Indigenous activist — and actor with the Annishabae Theater Exchange — whose father is Lakota and mother is from the San Luis Valley, Iron Shell-Dominguez noted the sanctity of ancestral foods and emphasized the role women played in feeding Native communities.
“I remember after working there for a while, I told Ben and Matt I was so inspired by everything they did that one day I wanted to open and own an Indigenous restaurant just like them,” she said in an email to The Denver Post.
She is now a mother of two and worker-owner of Moonshell Pizza Cooperative (www.moonshell.coop), a roving pizza crew where her partner, Sid Farber, is lead dough roller. The bounty of foods native to the region, such as corn, berries and sage, makes it easy to base dishes around those ingredients, she said. Their buffalo chokecherry pizza is one such example, she added, the chokecherry plant being native to Colorado.
Iron Shell-Dominguez’s multidisciplinary and holistic approach to her Native culture is also shared by Indigenous groups outside of North America.
Alejandra Tobar, left, and Chef Andrea Condes harvest vegetables at The Rooted Andina in Arvada on Thursday, June 5, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Andrea Condes, 39, was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and adopted into the United States, where she grew up and pursued a career in the culinary arts. It was in Colorado where the self-described “child of the Andes” landed. Although separated by thousands of miles, Condes saw many similarities integral to the experiences of the pre-colonial Americas.
“How people are treated, how the land is respected, how animal relatives and plant relatives are just that: relatives,” Condes said.
Drawn to root vegetables like the potato, which originated in the Andes, she started a catering company, Four Directions Cuisine (www.fourdirectionscuisine.com). She grows her own plants and is hosting meals two weekends a month through October as The Rooted Andina at her home in Arvada.
Learning about Indigenous foods and history, she said, helped her overcome the “cultural gap” of living in another country and brought her closer to her homeland.
“It’s definitely not something that I had language for when I first started walking down this path,” Condes said. “Reconnecting with those foods, I didn’t realize then, but I do now: It was me reconnecting with myself.”
Chef Andrea Condes harvests strawberries and medicinal sage at The Rooted Andina in Arvada on Thursday, June 5, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Since growing food was a way of life, some New Native American Cuisine chefs are returning to the practice, what Frank equates with “food sovereignty.” Planting companion crops, such as the three sisters, is one of the cultivation methods Frank teaches in an effort to bring what she calls “traditional ecological knowledge” (TEK) back to Native communities.
Narissa Ribera, a member of the Navajo Nation, started planting out of necessity. She was always fascinated with food systems, a jack-of-all-trades who learned to garden as a child and had years of experience baking cottage foods.
The lifestyle developed into Ch’il Indigenous Foods (www.chil-indigenousfoods.com), a meal pickup service she started three years ago. She works out of a commercial kitchen in the Wheat Ridge Center for Music and Arts in Wheat Ridge, baking cookies with ingredients grown by Indigenous harvesters and other delicacies, like blue corn ice cream. (She’ll soon open an outdoor eating area at the arts center.)
Narissa Ribera poses for a portrait at Ch’il Indigenous Foods in Wheat Ridge on Thursday, June 5, 2025 (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
The city of Wheat Ridge lent her two commercial plots of land behind the city’s community garden, where she cultivated the beans, corn and squash (including Apache gourds and Lakota squash) along with sunflowers. It’ll be a couple of years until the crops are ready to harvest, she said.
Until then, Ribera is preparing to launch a Native cookie and tea business with the ingredients for the tea grown in her garden, she said. She received federal grants to help with marketing and her brand, which she would one day like to see in supermarkets.
“I want representation,” Ribera said.
Popcorn kernels at Ch’il Indigenous Foods in Wheat Ridge on Thursday, June 5, 2025 (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Although she welcomes non-Natives who support her work and want to learn about Indigenous foods, her main concern is reconnecting Native people to their ancestral foods.
“So much was taken from us, including so much of our food,” she said. “You’ll find a lot of Native people… they’re just not interested in cooking.”
She solicits social media followers to help tend the Wheat Ridge gardens and visits classes at Jefferson County schools, showing students how to make Indigenous dishes.
At a winter holiday market, Ribera sold a box of cookies that came with a paper describing each one and the history behind its ingredients. For her, the joy was in having an authentic option for Indigenous people to gift their friends and family.
Chef Andrea Condes poses for a portrait at the garden of The Rooted Andina in Arvada on Thursday, June 5, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
For much of the last century of American history, barbecues and potlucks have dominated the Fourth of July feast-ivities.
Hot dogs and hamburgers accompany sides of macaroni and cheese, potato salad and watermelon slices in ecstatic union in backyards and front porches across the country. Coolers full of beer and soda crackle as the ice melts throughout the hot summer day. Ice-cream sandwiches, popsicles and pie await as the sun sets and fireworks light up the night.
But those aren’t the only kinds of American foods. Immigrants from other countries often celebrate their patriotism with twists on the classics, or other foods entirely.
And with its proximity to the Southwest, Colorado has a few of its own traditions for the patriotic holiday, including green and red chile, corn, beans and tortillas — foods eaten in Hispanic communities long before there was a Colorado or a Fourth of July.
In fact, anthropologist Carole Counihan documented Fourth of July foods in Colorado’s San Luis Valley in a report published in a 2009 anthology, The Globalization of Food. She observed special dishes such as posole, deviled eggs and pasta, noting the holiday is represented by dishes from all over the world with a heavy emphasis on grilled meats.
Below, a group of Denver chefs share their personal spreads for the Fourth of July. Some, like Munetoshi Taira at Sushi by Scratch and Manny Barella at Riot BBQ, which opened this year, weren’t born in the United States. Others, like Ni Nguyen of Sap Sua and Darren Chang at Pig and Tiger, are first-generation Americans. Lastly, one chef shares a recipe inspired by his annual travels to Italy for the Fourth.
The grill and the outdoors are what tie most of their respective menus together.
Chef Manny Barella looks at orders at The Regular on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Denver Colorado. (Photo by Rebecca Slezak/Special to The Denver Post)
Manny Barella, Riot BBQ (2180 S. Delaware St.): “BBQ culture was a huge part of my upbringing in Monterrey, Mexico. Every gathering revolved around open-fire cooking and outdoor grilling. Tending to the grill on your own is a rite of passage. We celebrate the Fourth of July here in the U.S. by honoring those same grilling traditions. You can count on me having carne asada, ribs al pastor and grilled vegetables on the table. We also like to smoke chimichurri, a classic element of Monterrey cookouts thanks to the strong Argentine influence in our region.”
Erasmo “Ras” Casiano, Xiquita (500 E. 19th Ave.): “We go all out with a giant backyard BBQ that is exactly like the gatherings we had back in Mexico. We throw carne asada and chicken on the fire and make a bunch of salsas: salsa Mexicana, pico de gallo, salsa ranchera. And of course, fresh corn tortillas and rice. We wrap onions in aluminum and throw them in the fire. Once they are good and roasted we hit them with some lime juice. The day is all about great food and gathering with family and friends. That’s the best tradition of all.”
Darren Chang, Pig and Tiger (2200 California St.; opening this summer): “My dad grilled Taiwanese street corn every Fourth of July growing up in [Los Angeles]. Some of my best summer memories are standing around the grill and eagerly awaiting that first bite of succulent corn. At Pig and Tiger, our Taiwanese street corn starts with fresh Olathe corn. We use my dad’s original shacha sauce recipe (only difference is that we make it vegan), then we give it a dash of sweet soy for a perfectly savory-sweet bite.”
Pig and Tiger chefs Darren Chang and Travis Masar cook Taiwanese Street Corn at their apartment in Denver on Friday, June 6, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Anna and Anthony “Ni” Nguyen, Sap Sua (2550 E. Colfax Ave.): “Every year, we make BBQ pork skewers, Americana-style. We skewer quartered onions and bell peppers along with pork shoulder marinated in lemongrass. We still don’t miss out on the hot dogs, though! We throw them on the grill right alongside the pork shoulder and serve them with Vietnamese accouterments. Our favorite is bratwurst with our version of pickles: lacto-fermented garlic, baby eggplant, daikon, and carrot. It provides the perfect, briny, acid pop. Don’t forget the brown mustard.”
Munetoshi Taira, Sushi by Scratch Restaurants (1441 Larimer St.): “In my kitchen, I enjoy blending traditional American Independence Day dishes with Japanese flavors. For instance, I often prepare yakitori-style grilled meats alongside classic barbecue fare, and I like to incorporate ingredients like miso or shiso into familiar sides such as potato salad. This fusion not only honors the holiday but also reflects the harmonious blend of cultures that I cherish.”
Darrel Truett, Barolo Grill (3030 E. 6th Ave.): “For the past 15 years, I’ve spent the Fourth of July in Italy with the Barolo Grill team on our annual staff trip. One of the things I always look forward to on a hot day during that first week of July is Panzanella. It’s an Italian bread salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and toasted bread tossed in a beautiful red wine vinaigrette. And I usually make it when I come home from the trip — shortly after the Fourth of July — to offset all of the incredible food and wine we indulged in.”
Pig and Tiger chefs Travis Masar, left, and Darren Chang cook Taiwanese Street Corn at their apartment in Denver on Friday, June 6, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Philadelphia is famous for its cheesesteak sandwiches.
Yet, if you’ve ever been to the city’s Reading Terminal Market on Arch Street in Center City (a favorite haunt when I was in paralegal school), you’ve probably also seen the long lines in front of Tommy DiNic’s. (If you know, you know.)
The star of this iconic sandwich counter, which has been drawing crowds since it opened in1977, is a succulent, slow-roasted Italian roast pork sandwich topped with sharp provolone and drippy, garlicky braised broccoli rabe (also known rapini). It’s a decidedly messy nosh as the ingredients can, and probably will, spill out as you eat it.
As tough as it is for a Pittsburgh girl to fall in love with something from Philly (my husband excluded), I have to admit it’s pretty incredible. I get the signature sandwich every time I’m in town, and never regret it.
This sub recipe (or should we say hoagie?) from America’s Test Kitchen is a riff on that storied sandwich served on a sesame-seeded Sarcone’s Bakery roll. Spicy Italian sausage stands in for the thinly sliced roasted pork that is a three-day process at DiNic’s. It also includes savory, tender slices of portobello mushrooms cooked with fennel, fresh rosemary and a touch of soy sauce. Shredded provolone goes right into the pan with the meat and veggies for a melty, we’re-all-friends finish.
Like DiNic’s, this recipe spotlights broccoli rabe. It’s a cruciferous green that looks like leafy broccoli, but as a member of the Brassicaceae family, is actually more closely related to the turnip. Its flavor is more bitter than broccoli, and the greens can also be fibrous, but the two veggies are interchangeable in this recipe. I used long, tender stalks of Broccolini instead of broccoli rabe, which I couldn’t find in my local grocery store.
Don’t skimp on the pickled red cherry hot peppers as a final flourish. They’re only mildly spicy, and you can’t beat that extra kick of flavor.
I used 6-inch (Mancini’s) sausage rolls instead of 8-inch sub rolls, so I had enough filling for five sandwiches. Be sure to toast the bread until it’s quite brown and crispy. Otherwise the filling could turn the sandwich into a (still delicious) soggy mess.
Wrapped in aluminum foil and reheated in a 350-degree oven for a few minutes, any leftovers make a great lunch the next day.
Philly-style Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Subs
PG tested
4 8-inch Italian sub rolls
3 tablespoons extra virgin oil, divided
3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 pound broccoli rabe, trimmed and cut into 1/2 -inch pieces
2 tablespoons chopped or slice jarred hot cherry peppers, optional
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 450 degrees.
If needed, slice rolls to make them easier to open (without slicing all the way through). Use spoon or your fingers to scraped inside of rolls and remove all but 1/4 i nch of interior crumb; discard removed crumb or use to make bread crumbs or croutons. Set aside while you prepare filling.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil and sliced garlic in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until garlic is light golden brown, 3-5 minutes.
Add broccoli rabe and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 4-6 minutes. Transfer to bowl and cover to keep warm.
Heat 1 teaspoon oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add sausage and cook, breaking up meat into small pieces with wooden spoon, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Add 1 tablespoon oil to fat left in skillet and heat over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add mushrooms and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have released their liquid, 3-5 minutes.
Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are well browned, 5-7 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
Clear center of skillet and add remaining 2 teaspoons oil, fennel seeds and rosemary. Stir in soy sauce and cooked sausage, then stir in cheese until melted. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.
Arrange reserved rolls on baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.
Divide mushroom and broccoli rabe mixture evenly among rolls. Top with cherry peppers, if using, and serve.
Serves 4.
— adapted from “Mostly Meatless” by America’s Test Kitchen
This Philly-style sub is filed with hot Italian sausage, broccolini, portobello mushrooms and shredded provolone. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)
GARDNERS, Pa. (AP) — Sam Cooper had just trekked 7 miles through a rain-sodden stretch of the Appalachian Trail when he sat down outside a little country store in Pennsylvania to take on its ice cream challenge.
Nearly 40 minutes and 2,500 calories later, the dairy farmer from Chapel Hill, Tennessee, was polishing off the final titanium sporkful of chocolate chip cookie dough on Tuesday and adding his name to the list of “thru-hikers” who have celebrated the trail’s halfway point by downing a half-gallon of ice cream.
By the end Cooper, 32, whose trail name is Pie Top, was calling the experience “pure misery.”
“I don’t think anybody should be doing this,” Cooper said cheerfully. “This is not healthy at all.”
The ice cream challenge is thought to have begun more than four decades ago at the Pine Grove Furnace General Store in Gardners, a few miles north of the current true halfway point on the 2,197-mile trail. Thru-hikers, as they’re known, are the fraction of the trail’s 3 million annual visitors who attempt to walk its entire length in a single, continuous trip.
As they slog their way north through Virginia and Maryland, the ice cream challenge is a regular topic of conversation among thru-hikers at shelters and campfires, said Stephan Berens, 49, a psychiatric nurse from Nuremberg, Germany.
Berens, whose trail name is Speedy, polished off his black cherry and vanilla in about 25 minutes after completing 17 miles on the trail that day — and with seven more to go that afternoon.
Hershey’s Ice Cream delivery driver Sam Sattazahn delivers ice cream to Pine Grove Furnace general store, home of the half-gallon ice cream challenge, at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, June 10, 2025.(AP Photo/Mingson Lau)
Appalachian Trail thru-hiker Zeke Meddock, trail name Petroglyph, attempts the half-gallon ice cream challenge at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)
Appalachian Trail thru-hiker Noritaka Mizumoto, from Osaka, Japan, walks the Appalachian Trail at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)
Appalachian Trail thru-hiker Sam Cooper, trail name Pie Top, attempts the half-gallon ice cream challenge at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)
Appalachian Trail thru-hiker Sam Cooper, trail name Pie Top, poses for a photo after completing the half-gallon ice cream challenge at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)
Entries in a hiker logbook at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)
1 of 6
Hershey’s Ice Cream delivery driver Sam Sattazahn delivers ice cream to Pine Grove Furnace general store, home of the half-gallon ice cream challenge, at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, June 10, 2025.(AP Photo/Mingson Lau)
Trail experts say hikers can need up to 6,000 calories a day, a practical challenge when food needs to be carried up and down rocky terrain. The slender Berens figures he’s lost about 20 pounds since starting April 8.
“I thought it would be worse, but it’s OK,” said Berens, smiling and patting his stomach after finishing the half-gallon. “Such a crazy idea.”
Zeke Meddock, trail name Petroglyph, didn’t bother timing himself but finished his choice of a quart and a half carton of chocolate chip cookie dough and a pint of strawberry. The diesel mechanic from North Amarillo, Texas, began his hike on March 27, two months after finishing a stint in the U.S. Army.
“You’re basically walking away from life,” said Meddock, 31. “It’s the most free I’ve ever felt.”
So far this year, about 50 thru-hikers have finished the challenge, earning the honor of having their photos posted on a store bulletin board. In a notebook to record their thoughts, Chicken Louise wrote on May 24: “Life choices?” The next day, Seagull weighed in with, “I feel bad,” and Hyena issued a cry for help: “It was very fun for the first 15 minutes. Now, I (and my family) want to die.”
The ice cream challenge record, less than 4 minutes, was set two years ago by a man with the trail name Squirt. Two decades ago, the mark to beat was about 9 minutes.
Thru-hikers who want to attempt the record may only allow the $12 worth of ice cream to start to melt in the sun for a few minutes. They must be timed by a store employee.
“It’s called the half-gallon challenge,” Cooper said. “Very appropriately named.”
Bragging rights and a spoon
Bruce Thomas, a 41-year-old disability support worker from Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada, passed on the ice cream challenge, opting instead for a breakfast sandwich and another one for the road.
“It’s early morning and I’m pretty sure I cannot do it,” said Thomas, trail name Not Lazy.
Those who do finish in a single sitting are awarded a commemorative wooden spoon — and bragging rights for the rest of their hike. Some people get sick. Others wash down the ice cream with a hamburger.
The ice cream challenge is one of several quirky traditions and places along the trail. There’s a shelter in Virginia where hikers confess their sins in a logbook, a two-hole outhouse in Maine with a cribbage board between the seats and a free canoe ferry across the Kennebec River that’s considered an official part of the trail. And at Harriman State Park in Tuxedo, New York, hikers encounter the renowned “Lemon Squeezer,” a narrow rock formation.
About one in three people who launch a thru hike take the roughly 5 million steps required to go the distance. They most often walk from south to north, starting in Springer Mountain, Georgia, and wrapping up 13 states later at Maine’s Mount Katahdin.
The trek typically takes six months but the current speed record is about 40 days, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Meddock said there’s talk that a man on the trail behind him may be on pace to break it.
There’s also been a lot of discussion among hikers about the extensive damage along the trail in southern states from September’s Hurricane Helene. But mostly they think and talk about walking.
“It’s always hard,” Thomas said. “It’s going to be hard. I never think about quitting. I only think about how I can do it.”
Appalachian Trail thru-hiker Sam Cooper, trail name Pie Top, attempts the half-gallon ice cream challenge at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)
Chef Phila Lorn was not necessarily aiming for “quote-unquote authentic” Cambodian food when he opened Mawn in his native Philadelphia two years ago. So when he approached some Cambodian teen patrons, he braced himself for questioning.
“Someone’s going to say something like, ‘That’s not how my mom makes her oxtail soup,’” Lorn said. “So I walk up to the table. I’m like, ‘How is everything?’ And the kid looks up to me and he goes, ‘It doesn’t even matter, dude. So glad you’re here.’”
It was at that moment that Lorn realized Mawn — the phonetic spelling of the Khmer word for “chicken” — was more than a noodle shop. It meant representation.
In June, he will be representing his dual cultures — Cambodian and Philly — at his first James Beard Awards, as a nominee for Best Emerging Chef. In the food world, it’s akin to getting nominated for the Academy Awards.
Cambodian restaurants may not be as commonplace in the U.S. as Chinese takeout or sushi spots. And Cambodian food is often lazily lumped in with the food of its Southeast Asian neighbors, despite its own distinctness. But in recent years, enterprising Cambodian American chefs have come into their own, introducing traditional dishes or putting their own twist on them.
Many of them were raised in families who fled the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror, which began 50 years ago and killed about 1.7 million people. Since then, the Cambodian community in the U.S. has grown and set down roots.
Through food, these chefs are putting the attention back on Cambodian heritage and culture, rather than that traumatic history.
Dr. Leakhena Nou, a sociology professor at California State University, Long Beach who has studied social anxiety among post-Khmer Rouge generations, says the Cambodian diaspora is often seen by others too narrowly through the lens of victimhood. In 2022, she publicly opposed California legislation that focused only on genocide for a K-12 curriculum on Cambodian culture.
“It’s a part of their history so they shouldn’t run away from it but at the same time they should force others to understand that that’s not the only part of their heritage, their historical identity,” she said.
What is Cambodian cuisine?
Cambodian food has sometimes been hastily labeled as a mild mix of Thai and Vietnamese with some Chinese and Indian influence. But, it has its own native spices and flavors that have been used throughout Southeast Asia. Khmer food emphasizes seafood and meats, vegetables, noodles, rice and fermentation. Salty and sour are prevalent tastes, Nou says.
Chef Phila Lorn holds a bowl of the The Mawn Noodle soup at his restaurant, Mawn, in Philadelphia, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
“It’s actually a very healthy diet for the most part in terms of fresh vegetables. Cambodians love to eat fresh vegetables dipped with some sauce,” Nou said.
Signature dishes include amok, a fish curry; lok lak, stir-fried marinated beef; and samlar koko, a soup made using seasonal produce. Nou recalls her father making it with pork bone broth, fish, fresh coconut milk, lemongrass, vegetables and even wildflowers.
Cambodian migration to the U.S.
It was a half-century ago, on April 15, 1975, that the communist Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia. For the next four years, an estimated one-quarter of the population was wiped out due to starvation, execution and illness.
Refugees came in waves to the U.S. in the 1970s and 1980s. Most took on low-level entry jobs with few language barriers, Nou said. These included manufacturing, meatpacking and agricultural labor. Many worked in Chinese restaurants and doughnut shops.
The U.S. Cambodian population has jumped 50% in the last 20 years to an estimated 360,000 people, according to the Census 2023 American Community Survey.
Cooking Cambodian American
Lorn’s family settled in Philadelphia in 1985. The only child born in the U.S., he was named after the city (but pronounced pee-LAH’). Like a lot of Asian American kids, Lorn was “the smelly kid” teased for not-American food in his lunch. But, he said, defending his lunchbox made him stronger. And he got the last laugh.
“It’s cool now to be 38 and have that same lunchbox (food) but on plates and we’re selling it for $50 a plate,” said Lorn, who opened Mawn with wife Rachel after they both had worked at other restaurants.
Customers wait in line for the Mawn restaurant to open for lunch in Philadelphia, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Indeed, besides popular noodle soups, Mawn has plates like the $60 steak and prohok, a 20-ounce ribeye with Cambodian chimichurri. Prohok is Cambodian fermented fish paste. Lorn’s version has lime juice, kulantro, Thai eggplants and roasted mudfish.
It sounds unappetizing, Lorn admits, “but everyone who takes a piece of rare steak, dips and eats it is just like, ‘OK, so let me know more about this food.’”
May, which is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and when Cambodia conducts a Day of Remembrance, is also when Long Beach has Cambodian Restaurant Week. The city is home to the largest concentration of Cambodians outside of Cambodia.
Chad Phuong, operator of Battambong BBQ pop-up, was a participant.
Phuong came to Long Beach as a child after fleeing the Khmer Rouge, which murdered his father. After high school, he worked at a Texas slaughterhouse and learned about cutting meats and barbecue. In 2020, he pivoted from working in the medical field to grilling.
Known as “Cambodian Cowboy,” he has been profiled locally and nationally for brisket, ribs and other meats using a dry rub with Cambodian Kampot pepper, “one of the most expensive black peppers in the world.” There’s also sausage with fermented rice and sides like coconut corn.
The pitmaster recently started mentoring younger vendors. Contributing to the community feels like building a legacy.
“It just gives me a lot of courage to present my food,” Phuong said. “We don’t need to talk about the past or the trauma. Yes, it happened, but we’re moving on. We want something better.”
More Cambodian-run establishments have flourished. In 2023, Lowell, Massachusetts, mayor Sokhary Chau, the country’s first Cambodian American mayor, awarded a citation to Red Rose restaurant for being a Beard semifinalist. This year, Koffeteria bakery in Houston, Sophon restaurant in Seattle and chef Nite Yun of San Francisco’s Lunette Cambodia earned semifinalist nods.
Chef Phila Lorn walks through his restaurant, Mawn, after opening for the day in Philadelphia, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Lorn, an admirer of San Francisco’s Yun, says he still feels imposter syndrome.
“I feel like I’m more Ray Liotta than Nite Yun,” said Lorn. “Whether we win or not, to me, honestly, I won already.”
Meanwhile, he is preparing to open a Southeast Asian oyster bar called Sao. It’s not intended to be Cambodian, just a reflection of him.
“I don’t want to be pigeonholed,” Lorn said. “And it’s not me turning from my people. It’s just me keeping it real for my people.”
Chef Phila Lorn speaks during an interview at his restaurant, Mawn, in Philadelphia, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Login
