Ed Levine - Serious Eater: A Food Lover’s Perilous Quest for Pizza and Redemption

How did we all become obsessed with food? The answer might be: Ed Levine. A tremendous writer, eater, and human, Ed has written the hilarious, harrowing, passionate, definitive true story of the birth of Serious Eats, the worlds first major food site. This is good stuff. You will eat the pages.

PHIL ROSENTHAL,
creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and Somebody Feed Phil

The deliciously true journey (with recipes) of one mans adventures in the food business. We all need to eat, but Ed needs (all of us) to eat well.

SETH GODIN,
author of This Is Marketing

Portfolio/Penguin

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

penguinrandomhouse.com

Copyright 2019 by Ed Levine

Foreword copyright 2019 by J. Kenji Lpez-Alt

Recipes courtesy of J. Kenji Lpez-Alt and Stella Parks

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Names: Levine, Ed, 1952 author.

Title: Serious eater : a food lovers perilous quest for pizza and redemption / Ed Levine.

Description: [New York] : Portfolio/Penguin, [2019]

Identifiers: LCCN 2019004074 (print) | LCCN 2019005081 (ebook) | ISBN 9780525533559 (ebook) | ISBN 9780525533542 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Levine, Ed, 1952 | Food writersNew York (State) New YorkBiography. | BloggersNew York (State)New YorkBiography. | PizzaNew York (State)New York. | LCGFT: Cookbooks.

Classification: LCC TX649.L479 (ebook) | LCC TX649.L479 A3 2019 (print) | DDC 641.5092 [B] dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019004074

Penguin is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In that spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences, and the words are the authors alone.

The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

Cover design: Christopher Sergio

Cover photograph: Deborah Feingold

Cover lettering: Grace Han

Version_1

For Vicky, the love of my life, who believed in Serious Eats before anyone. You taught me to love and the meaning of true partnership. Thanks for helping me stay the course.

For Mike and Carol, without whom there would be no Serious Eats. Bro, you always had my back, even if you sometimes had a funny way of showing it. The two of you taught me to trust.

For our son, Will, who has imbued our lives with joy and meaning from the moment he arrived on this earth.

For my parents, Morris and Sara, who taught me to speak truth to power at an early age. The beliefs and values you instilled in all four Levine brothers helped sustain Serious Eats every step of the way.

And finally, for the Serious Eats tribe at World HQ and our community millions strong, who taught me that anything and everything is possible with the aid of hard work, a good idea, and a little luck.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

J. Kenji Lpez-Alt

The first thing I did after I finished reading the last page of the draft of this book was log into my old email account and re-read the first exchanges that Ed and I had, way back in July of 2009.

Actually, that was the second thing I did. The first thing I did was heat up a slice of pizza on the stovetop in a skillet (the best way to reheat pizza). It wasnt just a craving, it was necessary sustenance, as Id failed to notice the hours that had passed since I started reading.

To read our early email exchange you would have trouble identifying who was the bigger fool. The sheer rate at which it progresses from Hey, how are you? to We will be working together for a long time surprised even me as I read through it. And Id lived it.

James Kenji Lopez-Alt

Tue, Sep 8, 2009, 8:07 PM

to Ed

Hi Edare you still up for lunch tomorrow? I could meet you wherever youd like in the city. Let me know what works best for you.

Kenji

Up to this point, I had written precisely two articles for A Hamburger Today, Serious Eats now-shuttered burger-related vertical. The first was a review of Heston Blumenthals insanely complex burger recipe (over thirty hours to complete! Thirty-two ingredients!) and the second was a tour of twelve iconic Northeast burger joints, in which I sampled twelve burgers over eight hours. Id spent a few years writing recipes and features for Boston-area magazines and papers, but those two articles, published on a site I barely knew about, were the most fun Id ever had researching and writing.

Newly wed, I had recently moved back to New York and was living in a one-bedroom apartment in Prospect Heights with literally no windows. I was supplementing my wife Adris graduate school income by making ready-to-eat bean burritos and macaroni and cheese for an Upper West Side family as well as the occasional freelance editing and writing gig. I co-managed a blog about sustainable eating called GoodEater.org (Your food... and where it comes from. Cringe). Wed recently celebrated having finally hit one thousand page views a day.

On paper, there was no reason for Ed to have much faith in my abilities or potential. I had contacted him a few times over the past few months, hitting him up for some editorial advice or freelance gigs, as I had done with any moderately successful website editor I could stalk. This time Ed had other plans. We finally met face to face on September 9, 2009. (It was over cheeseburgers at a trailer parkthemed burger joint a couple of blocks from the Serious Eats office in Chelsea; Robyn Lee joined us.)

I dont remember much from that meeting, but I do remember thinking, I trust this guy as we ate some chili-and-cheese-smothered tot-chos (a food trend that has happily started to dissipate). It was because he didnt just order half the menu, he ordered the right half of the menu. How could I not trust him? Id had too many interviews with media entrepreneurs who thought business first: Food is only a means to an end. It just happens to be hot right now. With Ed, food, and the pleasure of eating it,