Add vermicelli; cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 1 to 2 minutes.

Liz Johnson—Freedman's, Los Angeles."I always wanted to be a chef; I never considered anything else.

I asked my mom for Miracle Blade knives from the infomercial every year for Christmas and never got them.".Trigger warning for those of us who grew up in Jewish delicatessens, swirling ketchup and mayo and calling it Russian dressing: At.in L.A., chef Liz Johnson puts Oaxacan chiles in her ketchonnaise.

Just a bit—not enough to catch the ire of a deli-counter conservative.But it turns out that little wisp of dried chile smolder does the Lord's work on a house-smoked pastrami Reuben.

So you trust she has her reasons when you find out there's Madras curry powder rubbed into the skin of her chicken, and that she's seasoned half-sour pickles with Japanese furikake, and that it's a tiny bit of Sichuan peppercorn that gives her mutton chop its ambiguous tingle.

Johnson might have picked up a few of these tricks working in New York City kitchens like Empellón and Mimi, where her command of old-world French cuisine had every critic in town calling her a millennial virtuoso.But I like American truffles and Appalachian truffles because they’re from here.".

Pecan truffles were his first experience with a local product, but he recalls, "It was underwhelming because I was comparing it to a Burgundy truffle.I think you can’t compare any of this stuff.

You have to enjoy it for what it is.”.Amy Brandwein of Washington D.C. restaurant.