About the Taxi Gourmet® Blog
On the corner of Borges and Guatemala Street, Buenos Aires - Photo by Pablo Mehanna
My name is Layne Mosler, and I live in Berlin. The Taxi Gourmet® blog is my search for good, cheap food, guided by cab drivers from around the globe. Every week, I get in a taxi, ask the cabbie to take me to his/her favorite place to eat and document the adventure.
The Back Story
In May 2007, 18 months after moving to Buenos Aires, I left a tango club, hailed the first taxi I saw and asked the driver to take me to his favorite restaurant. When I ended up at Parrilla Peña with a plate of transcendent bife de lomo in front of me, I knew I was on to something.
In June 2009, I transplanted the project to New York City, where Gotham’s cabbies shared some spectacular food finds with me: souvlaki in Queens, Ghanaian in the Bronx, and Russian deliciousness in Brooklyn, to name just a few.
After meeting a few lady cabbies who inspired me to do some restaurant reconnaissance of my own, I became a yellow cab driver myself.
When I read a Lonely Planet piece about Berlin cab drivers that claimed they know as much about Nietzsche as they do about sausage, I moved the project to Berlin in 2011, where there’s more good food than you might imagine. (If you don’t believe me, try some of the places on this map.)
Press
The Taxi Gourmet® blog has been featured on ABC News and MSNBC, in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and in major media outlets in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany and Italy. Serious Eats called it “a great concept” and VenusZine recognized it as “randomness at its most delicious.” To see additional press mentions, click here.
About Layne
I grew up in a southern California family of butchers, bakers, failed farmers and fabulous cooks, started working in restaurants at age 17, and was inspired to major in cultural anthropology after my first overseas trip to Russia.
I’ve written for The Guardian/Observer and NPR Berlin, reviewed restaurants for New York magazine, served as a New York editor for Not for Tourists, written a food column for South American Explorer, reported on restaurants for The Buenos Aires Herald, and contributed to worldhum.com and Time Out. My stories about taxi adventures around the world have also been included in The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2011 and The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2012.
At the moment, I’m in the middle of writing a book called Driving Hungry (Vintage, 2014), the story behind the story of the Taxi Gourmet blog.
To see a list of my published food writing, click here.
Photo courtesy Spiegel Online
Where is the Taxi Gourmet® project going next?
Future cities include Naples, Istanbul, Beirut.
If you’re interested in bringing the Taxi Gourmet® blog to your city, please contact layne@taxigourmet.com.
Contact
Have a tip about a cabbie-friendly restaurant? Interested in venturing out on a taxi adventure of your own and sharing it with other Taxi Gourmet® blog readers? Email me at layne@taxigourmet.com.
* TAXI GOURMET® is a trademark of Layne Mosler
What a wonderful blog! Please continue this great work I will be sure to check back regularly…
Hey Layne,
I saw a write up about you in the United flight magazine, and I was so proud!!! I also see that you have a series in the works. Mira vos!
Hope that everything is going well in NYC and you’re not working too hard. I love your new layout and look forward to seeing the evolution of your interactive site. Abrazo fuerte!
-A.
Amanda, thank you! So you’re still lifeing it in Southeast Asia now? I hope you’re having a great time (and eating amazing things).
Un abrazo,
Layne
Absolutely love the new website. Can’t wait to read about more fantastic adventures. You are amazing my friend.
- MB
Layne,
As your weekend dispatcher at Team, welcome to the NYC taxi industry. Enjoy (??#*) your adventures serving the NYC public and shortly you will have many stories to tell–enjoyed your blog very much–keep it going!!
Mike, so glad that you like the blog (phew?!). Thanks for having faith in me and making it so easy on me at the garage. You guys are awesome.
[...] una bibbia persino per i critici gastronomici e per i blogger che si occupano di cucina. Qui potete trovare la storia di Layne e di come è nata l’idea di questo blog (ve lo traduco qui sotto nel [...]
Hey Layne,
So glad to see your new format. It looks great, and very fun!
Hope all is well.
Take care,
Taos
Thanks a lot, Taos! I hope all is great with you (and your site), too.
Saludos,
Layne
What a fantastic idea! Love the blog concept… let me know if you ever decide to jump in a Vancouver taxi
Thank you, Cam! I’ll be sure to let you know if I taxi out your way.
I just discovered your blog via Midtown Lunch. I read your small post on Pick A Pita (because I looooove hummus). Really? It’s better than the Hummus Place?? I’ve had too many medicore hummus that I’ve really high standards. I think Turkish hummus is a bit different as well, texturally.
Hi Kim – I loooooove hummus, too. No, I wouldn’t say Pick-a-Pita’s is better than Hummus Place – but I’d say it’s in a similar league. I’d have to taste them side by side to say which I liked better. Pick-a-Pita’s is heavy on the tahini (which I really love)…I’d be curious to hear what you think.
Marvelous writing! I am loving it!
I really enjoyed this post, especially the “examples in this post” portion which made it really easy for me to SEE what you were talking about without even having to leave the article. Thanks
[...] falando em taxis, olhem que legal o blog da Layne Mosler, jornalista americana. Ela fez a seguinte experiência: todas as noites, pegava um taxi nas ruas de [...]
What a great life! Sounds like you are doing just what you want to do. How few people get to do that in life. I admire your spirit. Can’t wait to hear about your other trips. Hope you love NYC as much as me.
Mazel!
Thank you, Terri – I really appreciate your words. And I’m looking forward to sharing my other trips with you.
I Love your blog I’am an Orlando Taxi Driver AND I Can Tell You Us Cabbies really Know Where The Foods at !! and We Are On the Road So Much that What We Recommend We Have Usually Eaten out at Ourselves Come To Orlando I’ll put You On to Some Good Food !! Drew H. Orlando Taxi car 54
Drew, I have no doubt you could recommend some great places in Orlando – I’m not sure when I’m going to get there, but you’re always welcome to write a guest post about your favorite spots in town. If you’re interested, send me an email: layne at taxigourmet dot com and I can tell you more.
Meanwhile, drive on!
Layne
Danke, Berliner Tagesspiegel, who made possible that I found your web page! It’s very nice and lovely. Too bad that I am not one of your taxi drivers in Berlin, I would love to show you around
I completely agree with you, that food is a great way to communicate. I learned so much Thai by eating, cooking and reading Thai food blogs. Better than any language class.
Danke, Dorrie, for your kind words. And thank you for reading my blog. Enjoy your Thai explorations!
Cool!You story is great, nice to know you share so many things with your passengers.
Cute blog, how often do you drive? I am an American New York City Taxi Driver and I also have a blog that I’m working on here:
http://craziestnyctaxistories.blogspot.com/
You can’t beat the taxi driver for local knowledge. You sure are onto something. Spread those wing! Fly!
A belated thank you for your encouragement, Jay, and for sharing your faith in cab drivers – I really appreciate it and will do my best to fly…on wheels.
Such a great blog!
Many times have I hailed a cab and asked for a recommendation getting some great ones in different cities! Amazing sushi place in Seattle, funky coffee house in Portland, OR!
Once I even hailed a cab in Miami to get a hotel recommendation that blew me away!
Can’t wait to read more!!
Tracy, thank you for reading – I’m glad the idea has led you to some good things to eat and drink. Feel free to tell us about your Seattle sushi and your Portland coffee, if/when you have time…
Cheers!
Layne
As Americans living in Berlin, my wife (The Antiques Diva) and I are always searching out interesting food destinations. After stumbling across your blog, we feasted this afternoon at Hasir, the one near KaDeWe. So delicious, and now time for a short snooze…
Thanks for the wonderful tips – keep ‘em coming!
BJ