ABOUT MY SITE: FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND

If you're new to Kitchen Toro let me give you a little tour...

Who is Turo?
My name is Arthur Bovino and you can find my profile here. Turo is a nickname one of the chefs at the French Culinary Institute gave me while working in the kitchen. Most recently, my day job was working at the Dining Section of The New York Times.

Previously I'd worked as a news assistant in various sections of the paper including the office of the public editor where I helped Daniel Okrent in examining, evaluating and anticipating reader concerns about New York Times journalism. If you're interested you can read the articles I wrote while working at the paper and learn more about my experience at The New York Times here.

Why'd you start this blog and where's your first post?
I started this food blog to document my culinary adventures in the kitchen and beyond. I've always enjoyed writing and always loved food. While I'm currently devoting myself to an education in the kitchen I also want to continue my other passion, writing. You can read my first post by clicking here.

Hey dude, how do I get in touch with you?
Send an Email here with comments, suggestions or to say hello!

What special features does Kitchen Toro have to offer?
The under-construction jewel of my site is Kitchen Toro Eats Williamsburg. I'm trying to eat all of Williamsburg and Greenpoint this summer, not every item on the menus mind you (as I don't have the expense account for that yet) but as many as possible to create a comprehensive list of reviewed restaurants and eateries. I'm also tyring to create a rotation, a stable of places that need to be visited and a list of places to ignore. I hope to soon have a mash-up of all the places mentioned and asking for suggestions.

Are you eating EVERY L.I. restaurant too?!
Kitchen Toro Eats Long Island isn't be as detailed as Kitchen Toro Eats Williamsburg but it documents my eating adventures in Long Island, where I'm from.

What about a Kitchen Toro Eats New York?
I'll be compiling my New York restaurant experiences in a new feature coming soon called Kitchen Toro Eats The City.

And those recipe links on the sidebar?
There are three recipe pages: FCI Recipes we're cooking at school; My Recipes, my little black book of recipes I've come up with; and Finds 'N Favorites, standards and sought after or stumbled across dishes.

What's up with those thrice weekly posts with the picture of the flag?
Three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I attend classes at the French Culinary Instiute. You can read these posts to find learn what we're cooking, how we're making it and what it's like going to culinary school. Currently I'm behind on these posts by about a week because I've taken a new job and I'm working on my final project, but the posts will be updated soon.

Why the French Culinary Institute?
Beyond the Culinary Institute of America which when I researched it seemd to recquire six months of restaurant experience I didn't have, my research led me to FCI as the best place to learn how to cook with hands-on experience, instruction and placement after graduation.

What about these daily features? And what's up with the alliteration?
Currently there are four daily features with a Monday feature to come. The different features are described below. What about the alliteration? Hey, Tuesday's non-alliterative!

MEME MONDAY: There's a lot of space out there on those wild and crazy interwebs and no shortage of interesting food either-- this feature will highlight it. Meme Monday will link to favored food-related websites, reference sites or, the good, the bad, the ugly and gasp, even blogs.

NON-ALLITERATIVE TUESDAY: No obligations, no rhyme, reason or methodology other than that it's something relevant to food and goings-on in Kitchen Toro. No promises other than that like the other features on Kitchen Toro, Non-Alliterative Tuesday will post regularly!

WEDNESDAY WASH-DOWN: Whether wire stories, freelancers or staff writers, in the newsprint world, Wednesday is food day, when most newpapers publish food sections. I'm looking for back-up on this but anecdotally, Wednesday is when newspapers traditionally printed the "women's pages" dealing with clothes, shopping and...food. Those subjects mean advertising dollars (at least the first two!) and are now individual sections but date with food has remained mid-week, thus the Wednesday Wash-Down.

THURSDAY THE LONG WAY: Highlights food from out of the way places including food memories that had something to do with forming the way I look at food today, both cooking and eating it. They may be inspired by recent meals, the food-media, anything.

FORAGING FRIDAY: This feature documents adventures and explorations of the many diverse flavors and tastes New York's diverse restaurants, neighborhoods and stores have to offer.

Do you have your own tools?
Of course! You can read about my uniform here, my knives here, and my toolbox here.

Hey, do you cook for private parties or events?
Not quite yet. But it's something I'm certainly interested in.

Where's the Kitchen Toro T-shirt?
Coming soon.

Geez, stop talking about Masa! Can I make a donation so you can spend just go to the darn restaurant already? I've got some money burning a whole in my pocket that you might be able to use to spend some more money on your reviews!
You're far, far too generous but sure, I'm getting to work on that too.