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Alex Lau head shot - Bon Appétit

Alex Lau

Staff Photographer Emeritus

Alex Lau is a freelance photographer based in New York City. Originally from Queens, New York, Alex moved to San Francisco when he was 12 before returning to the East Coast to attend a journalism program at Emerson College. A true muti-hyphenate, Alex has at times studied jazz, trained in competitive swimming and weight lifting, and worked as a celebrity dog-sitter. It was by chance, after a Hail Mary application for a summer internship to work with Bon Appétit’s visuals team, that Alex solidified food photography as his primary source of interest.

He followed that internship with one at Boston Magazine, working as a digital writer and photographer. Upon returning to New York, he was offered staff roles at both Food & Wine and BA, and we eventually welcomed him back as our new staff photographer. Alex left BA in 2020 to pursue a broader scope of projects; check out his most recent work at 2dcreative.com.

Recipes

Pumpkin Bread with Toasted Coconut

Make sure your eggs and coconut oil are at room temperature for this pumpkin bread recipe: Cold eggs can make the oil seize, making the batter uneven.
Recipes

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Grinding half of the walnuts into the streusel makes for extra tender, buttery muffin tops.
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Cookies, Cake Balls, and Puppies! Celebrating Momofuku Milk Bar's Newest Store

When a new Milk Bar comes to a neighborhood, you can be sure BA—and cuddly puppies—will be there
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Chef Jock Zonfrillo Cooked Us Fried Leaves and Alligator Meat

Jock Zonfrillo of Orana restaurant came to the BA Night Kitchen to make us some rather interesting Australian fare
Recipes

Egg and Avocado Breakfast Sandwich

Meat-free but not too virtuous, it’s healthy and satisfying.
Recipes

Happy New Year, Honey

For the sweetest new year, serve this sparkly cocktail featuring classic Rosh Hashanah flavors: apple and honey.
Recipes

Apple Dutch Baby

Summon your family to the table while this dutch baby bakes; it will be fabulously puffed when it comes out, and you’ll enjoy hearing the oohs and aahs before it deflates.
Recipes

Burnt Sugar Old Fashioned

The bitterness of the caramelized sugar tempers the sweetness in this twist on an Old Fashioned.
Recipes

Zucchini Bread with Oats

For a slightly more virtuous quick bread—more like breakfast, less like dessert—reduce the amount of granulated sugar to one cup. 
Recipes

Chestnut Coffee Cake

If you can't find candied chestnuts, simply toss them in the cocoa with one tablespoon of brown sugar (no need to glaze them first).
Recipes

Strozzapreti with Mushrooms and Ricotta

The intensely flavored soffritto is the foundation of this rich pasta; double the ingredients and freeze half for next time.
Recipes

Three Onion Dip

Onions are loaded with umami flavor, as are anchovies, mushrooms, and Worcestershire sauce. Together, they make this dip especially hard to resist.
Recipes

Tuna Melt

In search of a classic tuna melt? This is the best we’ve tried. Palace Diner makes its own pickles, but of course you can start with store-bought.
Recipes

Frittata with Chard and Chorizo

Chorizo adds smoky flavor to this vegetable-heavy frittata; use bacon if you prefer.
Recipes

Stromboli

There are as many stromboli fillings as there are pizza toppings. Feel free to improvise, but don’t use too many wet ingredients in this stromboli recipe, or the dough will be gummy inside.
Recipes

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches with Slaw

Not that this pulled chicken recipe is hard, but you can make it even easier by using a store-bought rotisserie chicken instead of the breasts called for here.
Recipes

Grilled Chicken Sausages with Shredded Kale and Pecorino

Prefer a turkey, pork, or lamb sausage? By all means, use that instead.
Recipes

Shrimp Rolls

Keep summer going just a little bit longer: Serve these with a pile of steamed, buttered corn.
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What We Learned at the Park City Grub Crawl

The all-night Grub Crawl through Park City, UT, left us delightedly stuffed and perhaps a bit tipsy—or were we just lightheaded from the 7000-foot altitude?
Recipes

Smashed Potato Salad

This recipe was created by reader Kim Smithers in our Chef Watson potato salad challenge.
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