Erin Kuschner

For "Live More," John Hancock's health and wellness publication, I broke down grocery shopping tips, meal planning strategies, and smart ingredient swaps for healthy meals that keep costs low.

Live More

Photo: Grace O'Driscoll on Unsplash

What will 2022’s restaurant scene look like? Here’s what Boston restaurateurs predicted.

Boston.com

Photo: Deepika Murugesan on Unsplash

“It’s a new era”: Fort Point’s award-winning bar Drink has never had a cocktail menu — until now.

Boston.com

Photo: Drink

I talked to the experts behind Boston wine bars, wine shops, and wine-focused restaurants to learn what we should be drinking this holiday season.

Boston.com

Photo: Kelsey Knight on Unsplash

Liron Pergament-Gal used to work in the software industry. Now she makes bonbons — like, really, really good bonbons.

Boston.com

Photo: ChocAllure

The owners of two Boston-area restaurants shared their fears over the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and what it means for their families who were unable to escape.

Boston.com

Photo: Ariana Restaurant

As restaurants closed, local seafood distributors needed to find a way to sell their product. So they turned to their freezer. I talked to seafood experts on how the industry is adapting to COVID-19.

Boston.com

Photo: Jakub Kapusnak/Unsplash

Due to the combined effects of the pandemic and racist sentiments surrounding COVID-19’s origins, Boston’s Chinatown might be the last neighborhood to recover. Here’s what the area’s restaurant owners had to say.

Boston.com

Photo: SJ ./Unsplash

So what will happen when they reopen? I spoke with restaurant owners about how customers might face a dining scene that looks much different from the one they remember.

Boston.com

Photo: Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash

I wrote about using my car to navigate — and, at times, escape from — L.A.’s precarious dating scene and how vehicles can provide us personal space that allows for grieving in transit. This essay was published in L.A. Times’ L.A. Affairs column, which chronicles life and love in Los Angeles.

L.A. Times

Illustration: Johanna Goodman

For those who remember a time when East Austin wasn’t associated with $13 cocktails and mixed-use condos, they remember the political significance of Cisco’s, a popular hangout founded in 1950 by Rudy “Cisco” Cisneros. If something important needed to be signed and the Capitol was too far away, Cisco’s was the place to meet. I talked to owners Matt Cisneros and Will Bridges for Eater about how they’re leading the Tex-Mex institution into a new chapter.

Eater Austin

Photo: Robert J. Lerma

For Stephanie McClenny, it all started with fifty pounds of tomatoes. The founder of Confituras, an Austin-based jam company, has managed to turn her hobby into an award-winning business, and now she’s paying it forward. I sat down with McClenny for Southern magazine The Local Palate to talk about her new brick-and-mortar, and her incubator program which aims to support women-owned start-ups.

The Local Palate

Photo: Courtesy Confituras

Salvaging, reusing, sustaining— whatever you want to call it, it’s all part of the driving ethos behind The Brewer’s Table, a progressive restaurant and brewery that opened in East Austin’s Govalle neighborhood in April 2018. I chatted with chef Zach Hunter, brewer Drew Durish, and owner Jake Maddux in a piece for October about how they’re seamlessly merging food and beer, and aiming for zero waste along the way.

October

Photo: Cultivate PR

If the air in Austin smelled like barbecue a little more than usual this past May, we have Hot Luck to thank. The food and music festival returned for a second year with four days of grilling feasts and concerts, and, judging by the success of its three main (and incredibly decadent) events, has emerged as one of the best food festivals in the country.

Time Out Austin

Photo: Layla Mays

When Ellsworth Kelly, one of the 20th century’s greatest abstract artists, died in December 2015, he left behind a vision. Titled Austin, that work is Kelly’s only architectural design and one that, after decades of tinkering, has finally opened at the Blanton Museum of Art. His total involvement—selecting the handblown glass windows, sourcing the wood for a totem—remained steadfast until his death.

Time Out Austin

Photo: Courtesy Blanton Museum of Art

In 2013, a quick search for drag in Austin led people to just a handful of gay bars on 4th Street. Fast-forward to its current scene: An alternative drag circuit is flourishing in the Red River District, the Austin International Drag Festival just completed its third year, and the 512 is regularly repped on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Drag in Austin is moving full speed ahead—and these beautiful, badass performers are behind the wheel.

Time Out Austin

Photo: Chad Wadsworth

When Evan LeRoy decided to open his food truck, LeRoy and Lewis, he knew there were already plenty of old-school BBQ joints in Austin. So the former Freedmen's pitmaster decided to go new school, launching the unique truck with partner Sawyer Lewis and offering dishes like boudin-stuffed quail and brisket-and-kimchi sandwiches. LeRoy chatted with me about the ethos behind his food, the stouts he's drinking now and where you can find his favorite burger.

Time Out Austin

Photo: Briana Balducci

Inside Derelict Airship Distillery’s Bastrop, Texas, warehouse, the smells of fennel and anise cling to the air as Matt Mancuso, Derelict’s head distiller, gives a tour of the stills. He’s not making gin or whiskey, though; he’s making absinthe at the first distillery of its kind in the State of Texas. And it’s not the absinthe you think you know.

Time Out Austin

Photo: Courtesy Derelict Airship Distillery

One outdated opinion claims that you should only eat raw oysters in months that contain the letter r. But screw that: Austin's best oyster restaurants and bars are serving slippery bivalves that are delicious—and safe—all year round. I navigated my way through seafood towers and trays to find the best oysters joints in Austin.

Time Out Austin

Photo: Anne Whitehead

I chatted with Leslie Moody Castro, the artistic director and curator of the Texas Biennial, in the midst of her state-wide road trip as she visited the studios of artists who submitted their work for the exhibition. Castro received 1,217 submissions this year, and she had six weeks to see everyone who made an impression on her.

Time Out Austin

Photo: Courtesy Big Medium

Austin is no stranger to tarot readers, psychics and sound baths, but the metaphysical is modernizing. Meet the new guard of cosmic innovators that are helping Austinites self-explore.

Time Out Austin

Photo: Layla Mays

“I've always been able to predict trends in advance,” says Selena McCartney, a native Texan who recently opened her own store, the Art of Shoes, on South 1st Street in Austin. The footwear maven first made a name for herself as the store manager at Steve Madden in San Antonio more than 15 years ago, when her spot-on trend reports informed the styles made in the company’s factory. Meet the woman who counts Katy Perry as a regular client.

Time Out Austin

Photo: Richard Casteel

I covered Austin City Limits Music Festival in 2017 for Time Out Austin, ending each day with a recap of my favorite moments from the fest.

Friday Recap
Saturday Recap
Sunday Recap

Photo: David Brendan Hall

L.A.’s changing legal landscape is bringing cannabis dinners into focus:  They’ve morphed from low-key, catered affairs into upscale supper clubs open to the public. I talked to three chefs who are leading the charge in this hazy wave of fine dining. 

Time Out Los Angeles

Photo: Courtesy The Herbal Chef

There's a new guard within L.A.'s craft beer scene, thanks to a growing number of dedicated, beer-loving ladies on both the business and brewing side. From the city's first female brewmaster to the founder of L.A.’s largest brewery, these five women are changing the way Angelenos drink. 

Time Out Los Angeles

Photo: Jakob Layman

100 Best Dishes and Drinks in Los Angeles is an annual package that I produced during my three years at Time Out Los Angeles, comprised of the best bites (both sweet and savory) and drinks that stuck out over the year. Warning: You’ll be famished by #100.

Time Out Los Angeles

Photo: Jakob Layman

Los Angeles may be home to the first cupcake ATM, but the sweets scene has come a long way since Sprinkles' dispensable treats. From the rise of Filipino desserts to health-conscious ice cream, these reinvented classics are stealing our hearts—and so are the sugar-loving pastry chefs behind them.

Time Out Los Angeles

Photo: Rozette Rago

While living in Los Angeles, I swapped lives with a Time Out New York colleague for one week to find out if the West Coast really is the best coast. (Spoiler alert: It totally is).

Time Out New York

Photo: Kyle Dorosz