Guacamole

Chefs Nick Montgomery and Akira Akuto have had a big year, thanks in part to their restaurant Konbi being named Bon Appetit's Best New Restaurant in America. In this episode of Kitchen Essentials, we visit the sandwich shop in Echo Park, Los Angeles to talk to Nick and Akira about their favorite kitchen tools, which include: a German egg slicer, a Japanese chef knife, a Thermapen, and a rubber spatula. Shop Nick and Akira's Kitchen Essential Picks.

For this episode of Take 5, we're celebrating Pride! Join host Joey Skladany as he takes us to NYC's historic Stonewall Inn and five nearby hot spots for the ultimate guide to West Village dining.

At her NYC chocolate shop Stick With Me Sweets, Susanna Yoon (formerly of Per Se) makes edible miniature works of art. These colorful, marbleized, portable chocolate domes are packed with the flavors and textures of some of Susanna’s favorite desserts, which include a kalamansi meringue pie, and the vero, a silver blue bonbon that houses a mix of sea salt caramel and crunchy pecan bits. In the words of the chef, handcrafted chocolate is the sweetest way to tell somebody “stick with me”.

To celebrate World Pride in NYC (50 Years of the Stonewall riot) Guillermo visited chef and restaurateur Brian Washington-Palmer, at his newest venture, Ruby's Vintage Harlem. They talked about his experience as a gay man of color in the food and restaurant industry, and what Pride means to him today.

Kimchi has conquered the world! Most people know this popular Korean side dish as fermented cabbage, but the truth is you can kimchi pretty much any vegetable and fruit. Food explorers seek it at restaurants and/or specialty stores. This fermented delicacy is an immune-system boosting probiotic food, that includes "healthy bacteria". In the season finale of CHOW-TO, Atoboy's chef de cuisine YeongSoo Lee teaches Guillermo the basics on how to make the Korean staple. There is not one right recipe, here we learn the principles, and the idea is to make it your own. Kimchi is so customizable, that traditional Napa cabbage is just the start. YeongSoo shows us a couple of other variations for inspiration. Move over pickles, time to do some fermenting at home.