Jenn Hall
Jenn Hall

Jenn Hall

Best American Food Writing Series Notable.

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Inside Jersey: Runway Restaurants

April 4, 2017 by jennhallwrites

Spend enough time at New Jersey’s local airports and you’ll begin to notice the nearby birds. Hawks and vultures seem attuned to their mechanical counterparts: Cessnas and Pipers, gliders and biplanes. They swoop and dive along the airport perimeters, displaying their natural grace. However, there is another charming aspect to these general aviation facilities dotted across the the state: runway restaurants. Attracting pilots, locals and the aviation-obsessed, they’re a place to get away—if only in spirit. Read more… Published in the April […]

Categories: food & drink, travel

Edible Jersey: Dennis Foy’s Enduring Roots

March 15, 2017 by jennhallwrites

As the sun climbs up toward the windows of chef Dennis Foy’s Lawrenceville art studio, it fills the space with a honeyed light. Brush in hand, the chef mixes colors and then turns his attention to the line between land and sky. When he is not at d’floret, the 24-seat Lambertville restaurant he owns with wife and business partner Estella Quiñones-Foy, you can often find him here. Writers like to draw neat lines between every aspect of a chef ’s life […]

Categories: food & drink

Spoonful: When We Gather – Savoring Armenia in L.A. (2018 AFJ Award-Winner)

March 13, 2017 by jennhallwrites

WINNER OF A 2018 ASSOCIATION OF FOOD JOURNALISTS AWARD: BEST FOOD COLUMN Ani Mahserejian likes to tell a tale about her squash soup, a classic Armenian wedding dish from Marash, where her maternal grandparents were raised. “One day,” Ani begins, “there was a wedding, and they made this soup. Everyone ate it, not realizing that they’d left nothing for the groom. Angered when he saw that none was left, he said: ‘Whoever ate the soup, let him go sleep with […]

Categories: food & drink, when we gather • Tags: recipes, when we gather

Paste Food: Edwins Restaurant in Cleveland Offers Ex-Offenders a New Start

February 23, 2017 by jennhallwrites

Sometimes the spark that drives transformation comes down to a single factor: an opportunity to make a change. For the nation’s formerly incarcerated, however, that chance can be tough to come by. It’s a story that plays out in cities and towns across the country. A person is released from prison, work proves difficult to find and the cycle begins again. In part, that explains the nation’s recidivism rate. Though the numbers vary by state, roughly three-quarters of ex-convicts are […]

Categories: food & drink

Spoonful: When We Gather – Greek Feast with the Kafkalas Family (2018 AFJ Award-Winner)

January 18, 2017 by jennhallwrites

WINNER OF A 2018 ASSOCIATION OF FOOD JOURNALISTS AWARD: BEST FOOD COLUMN In certain families, during particular meals, one senses the presence of ancestral spirits. It’s an echo rendered in texture and spice, in dialogue and flavor. Traditional recipes are a form of communion between past and present. When Nick and Carol Kafkalas gather with their two sons for dinner in their white-tiled New Jersey home – a nightly ritual even now that Anthony and Nick Jr. are in their twenties – there […]

Categories: food & drink, when we gather • Tags: recipes, when we gather

Edible Jersey: Postcard from Bernkastel-Kues

January 17, 2017 by jennhallwrites

If you find yourself in a locals’ bar in Bernkastel-Kues—an otherwise wine-centric town on the Mosel River—know this. That sweet-looking, gray-haired couple you meet? They will cheerfully drink you under the table, one tiny glass of schnapps at a time. Read more… Published January 2017

Categories: food & drink, travel

Spoonful: When We Gather – Dinner with Abi and Mahesh (2018 AFJ Award-Winner)

December 10, 2016 by jennhallwrites

WINNER OF A 2018 ASSOCIATION OF FOOD JOURNALISTS AWARD: BEST FOOD COLUMN When dinner is nearly ready, Abigail Boehm beckons her granddaughter Tavia to the dining room. The precocious eight-year-old girl climbs atop the table crafted by Abi’s father from antique floorboards. White candlesticks go into candelabras adorned with intricate patterns. Then together, grandmother and child light the wicks. Read more… Published December 7, 2016 

Categories: food & drink, when we gather • Tags: recipes, when we gather

Paste Food: Naomi Duguid Offers a Taste of Persia

December 10, 2016 by jennhallwrites

If there is a cookbook author who I would follow anywhere, it is Naomi Duguid. In her latest, Taste of Persia: A Cook’s Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan, she invites us into the home kitchens of this diverse culinary region. With prose that reflects deep on-the-ground research and the workings of an ever-curious mind, the guide opens a window on to a rich culinary blend. Cooking through this beautifully photographed cookbook and travelogue, one encounters dishes adapted […]

Categories: food & drink • Tags: interviews

Paste Food: Philadelphia’s Taste of Hope for Refugees

December 10, 2016 by jennhallwrites

It is close to midnight on a September Tuesday, and at the Philadelphia International Airport several refugee families take in their first impressions of the city. There is the whirring baggage claim, strangely desolate at this hour. There are lingering taxis and shuttles that loop around the terminal like insects drawn to light. It takes a moment to get one’s footing, firm land rendered strange after days spent on planes and other modes of transport. Luckily, there are guides. Waiting […]

Categories: food & drink • Tags: refugee experience

Paste Food: Beach Plums are the Bittersweet Flavor of Summer’s End

December 10, 2016 by jennhallwrites

When foraging for beach plums along Sandy Hook, New Jersey, it is wise to heed the park ranger’s warning. Bearing deep-purple fruit, the plants come dressed in a tangle of poison ivy that goes scarlet this time of year – strangely enticing. It is nearing sunset in maritime forest at the northern tip of the park and I cannot stop picking. I am covered in mosquito bites and sunburned in fire-red arcs. I reek of bug spray, salt and sweat. […]

Categories: food & drink

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