Eneko Atxa is a chef who is deeply rooted in the regional traditions of classic Basque cookery. His culinary inspiration were the dishes of his mother and grandmother, yet his current dishes reveal an inventiveness and imagination that go well beyond any constraints...
Looking for the next great place to eat out? These choices by the James Beard Awards can give you great ideas in your home or vacation locale. (The finalists will be announced March 31, 2026.) Outstanding Restaurateur Elizabeth Blau, Blau + Associates (Buddy V’s and...
Editor's Note: We'll certainly continue to write about wine and spirits, but some of the information below might be interesting to you. I have cut down on alcohol intake, even though I've never been a heavy drinker. On my trip to Africa last fall, I didn't drink any...
Here are some traditional Italian wine ideas and a few unconventional suggestions for a toast on the most romantic day of the year. A couple enjoys a wine toast during a romantic meal. Stock photo. ANDREOLA (VENETO) NAZZARENO POLA - ETICHETTA DEL FONDATORE – DIRUPO -...
Revered for upholding culinary tradition, the esteemed Rosebud Restaurant Group debuted its Mia Rosebud restaurant location in the heart of Downtown Boca Raton, Florida in 2024. This addition signifies a tasty achievement for the group as it represents their first...
I use olive oil on a practically daily basis to poach vegetables to finish soups and grilled fish, for sautéing, and dressing salads. Like any food product, olive oil has a finite shelf life. It's quite extended if the product is kept under the right conditions, but...
Ron Bronfman is the Sommelier at Claro Restaurant in London's St. James area. Serving Mediterranean cuisine, Claro was recently added to the Michelin Guide. For December, Ron has launched a regionally focused wine selection from the Rhône Valley, designed to introduce...
For your holidays, we have the ultimate source of stress-free entertaining advice: the winemakers of Temecula Valley in southern California. Pros from Wilson Creek, South Coast, Baily, and more offer their recommendations below for host-worthy bottles, their go-to...
Ian Cauble, MS of The Caubleist was kind enough to provide us with the following article containing his 10 holiday wine recommendations: The holidays are a time for celebration and enjoying those closest to you. There is no way better than connecting with someone than...
We believe the products in this article should be part of the well-stocked bar of anyone who takes their holiday spirits seriously. Bad Stuff Tequila. Photo courtesy of the company. “The Bad Stuff Tequila” is, in our opinion, a rather unfortunate name for an...
I discovered Amarula on a trip to South Africa back in the late 1990s, and I've loved it ever since. It's now available throughout the U.S. and many other countries. Amarula is made from the marula fruit, which is a yellow, plum-sized fruit with white flesh. it's rich...
From the island of Hispaniola, the home-base for some of the most notorious pirates - Henry Morgan, Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, Calico Jack, and Bartholomew Roberts - came a very enjoyable rum that would have been great booty for any privateer of the 16th or...
In Bergen, standing in one of the narrow alleys of Bryggen, gazing up at some of the old Hanseatic League warehouses, I recalled that this was once the biggest cod-packing facility in all of Europe. Then, as I lowered my gaze, I could almost catch a glimpse of the...
Some exceptional wines using mostly indigenous grapes are made in the Portuguese Alentejo DOC. What is interesting is that many of the wineries retain their ancient marble cisterns, where grapes are still foot-pressed and then aged in very large concrete vats or...
Tucked into the ever-evolving culinary corridor of Manhattan’s Murray Hill, Leonetta is reshaping the narrative of what Mediterranean dining means in New York City. This refined, design-forward restaurant - opened in late 2024 by acclaimed chef Ed Cotton - delivers a...
I recently tasted an exceptional Prosecco made in the classic méthode champenoise, not in the usual Martinotti-Charmat autoclave method that most Prosecco is produced today. The Charmat method allows the production of dry and sweet sparkling wines that retain the...
I love good soups, and I often make them in my kitchen. Through the years, I’ve added numerous soups to my repertory, and Tom Kha Gai, a Thai chicken soup, is one of them. One of the recipes I use is from the kitchens of the Spice Market, the Thai restaurant of the...
Born from the Union Stock Yards where cattle cars rumbled into the city like thunderheads, Chicago’s steakhouse tradition has evolved from feeding industrialists who built this city on beef into something far more sophisticated. Chicago's carnivorous temples have gone...
In 1998, Yè Shanghai opened in Pacific Place, and a new taste was born in Hong Kong. This Elite Concepts restaurant earned acclaim for its distinctive cuisine and stylish ambiance. Elite Concepts is now operating four Yè Shanghai high-end restaurants in Hong Kong,...
While traveling through the French West Indies, my final night in St. Martin culminated in one of my most memorable dining experiences at Le Pressoir in Grand Case. (See my review of Grand Case Beach Club.) Entering the beautifully restored 1871 Creole house that is...
With throngs turning to their air fryer to knock out easy, healthy, and delicious meals, there are some key mistakes to avoid. Cathy Yoder, the “Queen of Air Fryers” with nearly 730,000 social media followers and 35,000 copies sold of her air fryer cookbook, “Easy Air...
Olive oil has been produced and consumed in the Eastern Mediterranean since time immemorial. In the Cairo museum, a collection of papyri dating more than 5,000 years ago from Pharaonic Egypt talks about the olive oil and preserved olives trade between Minoan...
The Italian peninsula sends to the rest of the world far more than just great wines and cheeses, fast cars, sultry actresses, and temperamental tenors. It’s also the source of some of the most complex and sought-after liqueurs. If you are partial to summer spritzes,...
Tucked just steps from Times Square and the bright lights of Broadway, Gallaghers Steakhouse stands as more than just a restaurant - it’s a living piece of Manhattan history. Having originally opened in 1927 as a Prohibition-era speakeasy, the iconic 52nd Street spot...
Champagne has long been the essential toast of holidays and other special occasions, but the landscape of sparkling wine is evolving. Today’s breed of bubbles offers an exciting range of choices from nearly every corner of the wine-producing world. Regions across the...
It’s summer in the suburbs, and we enjoyed an outstanding dinner in a garden setting, fragrant with meats grilling on the large open-air grill! The Spring House in Tenafly is a Northern New Jersey restaurant located in a majestic old house with a large back and side...
Hot dogs, the “dachshund sausages,” as they were initially called because they were thin and long like the eponymous breed of dog, were first sold with sauerkraut in the 1860s from street pushcarts in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhoods around St. Mark’s Place. At...
Many of us have had Moosewood cookbooks on our shelves for years. Well, I finally got a chance to sample the famous restaurant itself in Ithaca, New York recently. Established in 1973 as "worker collective," the restaurant self-published its first cookbook in 1974....
I see great looking food as an art form. However, I also agree that there is just too much pomp and circumstance and stress around some of the tonier restaurants in New York City. Dining last month at a trendy, high-priced, full-of-itself restaurant in...
Did you know the country of Georgia has been making wine for 8,000 years? I didn't until recently. At a site that's still being excavated, clay pots from that period were found with remnants of winemaking. Georgia borders Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. Most...
This is truly a spectacular dish when done right, and it can be prepared in just a few minutes. I always purchase bottarga – pressed and preserved fish roe – in a wax-covered piece and grate it myself. Botarga has a unique flavor that is a little similar to anchovies...
I had the best sangria, Jamón Iberico, and other tapas while sitting at the outdoors tables of Cervecería Alemana on Plaza de Santa Ana in Madrid. I’d just arrived to Madrid from a long, tiring train ride from Bilbao after attending the Gastronomika Conference in San...
Groupon has a lot of wine deals going on right now that could help you stock up for summer and beyond. Click on the headline of the deal you're interested in and use our affiliate links to save money. Up to 79% Off One or Two 18 Packs of Top Wines for Spring Bundle...
To honor land artist Jim Denevan, a very special dinner open to the public celebrating the agricultural program, Outstanding in the Field, will take place in a “roving restaurant” in or very near the area where the meal's ingredients were harvested in locations that...
Mama Mia 44SW has been a go-to Italian restaurant for me in Manhattan's theater district for decades. I often recommend it to friends because not only does the restaurant allow larger parties than many NYC establishments, but the prices are more reasonable than many...
This past weekend, while paying a much-anticipated visit to a cousin whose daughter happens to have the exact same birthday as me (minus 40 years), we got to talking about the issue closest to our hearts - food, of course. She then happily shared her recipe for a...
We rounded up our group of tasters, known as “the gang of the usual suspects,” to try a number of wines. Some bottles were new to us; others were from beloved vineyards. They came from all over Europe, and the pricing ranged from under $20 to just under $500 per...
A few months ago, we wrote about That Supper Club, a prix fixe set menu at a quirky restaurant with very good food in Park Ridge, New Jersey, a town near us. They change dishes on a seasonal basis, depending on what’s fresh and good on the market. They let us know...
Obsession Wines of Northern California kindly sent me a sample bottle of their white Symphony 2023 wine, along with a kit to make their suggested foods to pair with it. Obsession Symphony wine. Photo courtesy of Ironstone Vineyards. The kit included a jar of garlicky...
Shelfy CEO and Co-founder, Paolo Ganis, has provided us with these simple tips to optimize food storage in your fridge. Learn how to keep your produce fresh and nutritious for longer as follows: Set the temperature between 39°F and 43°F to slow down ripening and...
Centuries ago, people emigrated from southern Chinese provinces, mostly Szechwan, into modern-day Thailand, bringing along their culinary traditions. Since that time, many other influences have affected Thai food, including dishes and methods of cooking from India and...
Barbara and I decided to visit relatives we had not seen for a number of years. They live in a community near Trenton which is almost a 2-hour drive from us. A friend who lives halfway between us and our relatives told us about a new restaurant - Harpoon Willy’s of...
Who knew? Dolly Parton is not only a beautiful woman and a legendary country singer and songwriter, actress, and philanthropist - she is also an international wine company! Her company announced that her Parton Family Cellars is expanding by adding a 2023 California...
From the rolling vineyards of Provence to the luxury Champagne houses of France, celebrities are turning their star power into wine brands. But do these bottles offer more than just a famous name on the label? Wines and celebrities are an iconic match. Both evoke a...
What is a good wine? This question may seem simple, yet it's surprisingly difficult to answer. For many, a good wine is simply one they enjoy drinking. There's some truth to this - after all, wine appreciation is often subjective. However, like any other product,...
Tokaj is the name of an ancient winegrowing region that is currently divided between Hungary and Slovakia. The current Tokaj area used to be part of the greater Tokaj-Hegyalja region within the Kingdom of Hungary but was divided between Hungary and Czechoslovakia at...
Perfectly Aged or Time to Pitch It? Master Sommelier shares insights about storage, aging, and spoilage There’s nothing quite as disappointing as opening a bottle of wine, only to be met with an off-putting smell or a strange sour or sharp vinegar taste. Whether...
As a food and wine writer, I get to try numerous wines and spirits each month from different parts of the world. Their prices might range from $5 per bottle retail to $600 and more. A number of years back, while attending a Burgundy wine auction, I even got to taste...
There's a new restaurant in Grand Central Station called Grand Brasserie. It's located in the Vanderbilt Hall just inside the entrance at 89 East 42nd Street at Park Avenue in Manhattan. Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan at Christmas time. Photo by Melanie...
Vegetarians and vegans don’t have to miss out on wine pairings. The kind of wine we serve also matters when meat isn’t on the menu, according to VinoVoss Wine Expert Sylvia Ba. From the earthy undertones of roasted vegetables to the vibrant zest of fresh herbs, each...
If you’re wondering why the price of potato chips, an American snacking staple, has been rising so rapidly, there are two reasons. General inflation is one; according to the the Federal Reserve, the US dollar has lost 87% of its purchasing power since 1971. But...
Auguste Escoffier, a chef of acknowledged genius, published his Le Guide Culinaire in France toward the end of his career. To the end of his days, he mastered no more than a few words of English because, as he would jokingly explained, if he spoke the language, he...
Cheese plates and cheeseboards are a fantastic way to elevate the end of a meal or titillate the palate at a friendly gathering. With so many cheeses available in the market from all over the world, you can go overboard and create a spread that overflows with a...
When you think wine, your first thought is Missouri, right? No? Well, it doesn’t have to be your first thought, but it should certainly be on your radar. I’ve visited a lot of local vineyards around the U.S., and admittedly, I’m rarely impressed. The one I visited in...
If you happen to be in Peru, you would be hard pressed not to find the quintessential Peruvian drink – a Pisco Sour. It's so celebrated in Peru that they have designated the first Saturday of February every year as National Pisco Sour Day. This year, it falls on...
The Ropa Vieja dish was first cooked more than 500 years ago. It's a dish with many regional variations in the Canary Islands, South America, the Philippines, and mainland Spain. It's supposedly of Sephardic Jewish origin, where they would slow-cook a hearty meat stew...
Frozen meals are an American invention that I still have to get used to, even though I’ve lived in this country for more than 50 years. As far as I’m concerned, they're either an exceptional hit or a massive miss. And the problem is usually either texture or flavor....
We found a rather quirky but unique restaurant with exceptional food in the Northern New Jersey township of Park Ridge at 7 Hawthorne Avenue. Longtime restaurateur Tommy Greco, along with cousin and partner Chef Nicolas Pescatore, returned to their New Jersey roots...
When we first started making fondue, we doubled the recipe, which meant we needed a larger pot to prepare the meal. We found that the Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron Cocotte spreads the heat evenly. It isn't as light as a traditional earthenware coquelon, but it has two...
Some of rum’s history isn’t pretty. Rum or rhum - depending on whether you're in an English or French-speaking area - is the Caribbean’s most frequently produced spirit. It's also produced in the Southern USA and Central and South America. Every island and every...
Most chefs worth their salt have a dream to captain the kitchen of a 3 Michelin-starred restaurant. The award of 3 stars is an indication that the anonymous reviewers of the Red Michelin guides thought the entire restaurant, not just the kitchen, was “worth a special...
Vegan and French cuisine sound like quite the mismatch, but Delice & Sarrasin in Manhattan's West Village makes it work. There aren't that many vegan fine dining establishments, even in NYC, but this place qualifies. The ambience is elegant but not fussy. The...
A galette is a French flat, round, crusty cake or even a flatbread. It's associated in the French-speaking world with the celebration of the Epiphany. January 6th is the feast of the Epiphany that celebrates the biblical story of the arrival in Bethlehem of the Three...
If you're going to a concert at New York City's Carnegie Hall (pictured above) in the near future, you may wonder where to have a meal. There are countless restaurants in the area, but here are my favorites. La Grande Boucherie is my number one choice. It's a classic...
I don’t think I have a personal prejudice against low calorie, no-alcohol wines. Still, through the years, I have tasted a number of these bottles and thought most had very little to no taste. But the product line, Ventessa by Mezzacorona, has proved to me that I can...
Fegato alla Veneziana is a fried calf’s liver recipe that is probably one of the best known dishes of La Serenisima, together with risi e bisi (rice and peas). Walk around Venice, and you’ll see it on most restaurant menus, from lowly bacari to high-end luxury hotel...
I just received a copy of a cookbook I have been looking forward to called Sri Owen's Indonesian Food from an imprint of Interlink Publishing. As I've mentioned in the past, I’m very partial to Asian dishes, and I have a good number of cookbooks from different Asian...
Ghost Hill Cellars is a fifth-generation farm in the Yamhill-Carlton District of Willamette Valley, Oregon. The land was purchased by the Bayliss family in 1906 and started as a dairy. Then, it became a sheep farm, followed by a cattle farm. Today, the combination of...
Almost daily in Facebook travel groups and Broadway show fan pages, people ask where to eat in Times Square. Part of the problem is that there are so many restaurants that it can be hard to choose. So below are 10 restaurants that I personally recommend. Most are...
All whisky or whiskey is made from three basic ingredients: water, grain, and yeast. But there is a very wide range of products. They depend on where they're made, the legal and tradition-required differences in the water and grain used, how the distilling is done,...
In the past, luxury stemware preferred by wine drinkers of my father's generation were fairly thick, ornate, heavily carved, lead crystal glasses. They were produced by companies with a long history such as Baccarat, Moser, Josephinenhütte, Orrefors, Waterford,...
The time that most people purchase sparkling wines is usually just prior to the winter holidays. People like to celebrate either the end of a challenging year or the beginning of a new one, which will be full of expectations for a great outcome. Therefore, we...
Mussels in a wine and herb sauce, Mediterranean-style is a favorite dish of ours. It’s a culinary delight! On a recent driving trip to the south of France, we stopped for lunch at the fishing village of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer known for its Moules-frites or moules et...
Sicily is producing some very interesting white wines. The largest island in the Mediterranean is now one of Italy’s most exciting wine producers. The wines, especially the whites, range from sweet or savory and crisp to complex and startlingly age-worthy. The unique...
Yearning for both a fun and a delicious dining experience to usher in the upcoming Halloween season, we opted for a visit to the Sugar Factory Restaurant in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. This was our second visit to a Sugar Factory eatery. Last...
Recipe translation by Gabriella Venezia, trevisoguide@hotmail.com On a trip to Treviso, Italy, I was introduced to the city’s proud claim to fame as the place where tiramisù was first created. In the late 1800s, the owner and head cook at a small restaurant and sweet...
For ages, honey has been considered the “perfect” food. Produced in many parts of the world but especially popular in the Eastern Mediterranean, it has been used as both food and medicine since antiquity. Attiki Honey. Photo by Manos Angelakis. The Greek thyme honey...
The price of olive oil in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean, where 90% of the world’s olive oil is produced, is rapidly rising to a very high level. This means that the consumers of olive oil in the rest of the world will be paying much more. For the first...
Are you confused about the difference between port and sherry? Port is fortified during fermentation. Sherry is fortified after fermentation. Port tends to be sweeter, while sherry usually has a slightly higher alcohol content. Now, let’s talk about port in more...
I just published a piece about the Harriet Tubman historical sites in Auburn, Cayuga County, New York, including her home, church, and gravesite. Besides visiting the numerous wineries in this Finger Lakes region, there are many wonderful restaurants where you can...
Pastitsio is the Greek answer to Italian lasagna, but what sets it apart from the Italian version is mostly the use of numerous aromatic spices in the meat ragù. The other difference is that pastitsio uses a thick, long pasta with a hole, topped by a hearty cheesy...
Just found another of my mother’s recipes - an aromatic sponge cake that is steeped in orange syrup. This one is a classic Eastern Mediterranean sweet cake called "revani" or "ravani" in Greek or "rebane" in Turkish. it's also very popular in Egypt and Yemen. While in...
Since the invention of alcoholic beverages, hangovers have become a universal curse that every culture has to deal with. From “hair of the dog,” to raw egg sucking, to the South American ceviche, both ancient and modern men and women have had to deal with “the Morning...
New Jersey offers some of the finest farmers' markets, and they're a great produce source for both home and professional cooks, especially the very fresh vegetables sold by the locals who grow them. In a previous life I must have been Neapolitan because I love pasta...
In my desire to taste some of the world's premier wines and savor some culinary specialties, I spent an exciting day visiting the famous grape-growing regions of Sonoma and Napa. My adventure with Tower Tours entailed a Wine Aficionado Tour to two different wineries -...
The Joseph Magnus story began in the middle of the 19th century when he was informed that his father had been killed during the Civil War. His late father had been a merchant, and Magnus followed in his footsteps, becoming a liquor wholesaler and building a liquor...
The Thracians made the earliest wines and declared Dionysus the “god of wine.” The Egyptians made beer 5,000 years ago, and the Incas made corn liquor (chicha) 3,000 years in the past. The first recorded reference to cider dates back to Julius Caesar's Britain, where...
Conde Nast Traveler has named its top 100 restaurants in the world, and Nuema in Quito is number 61. It's nestled in the Illa Experience Hotel & Spa, and I had the extraordinary opportunity to experience this restaurant firsthand. Run by Chef Alejandro Chamorro...
This quick and easy take on a Greek classic - shrimp and feta with orzo - will have dinner on the table in 20 minutes from start to finish if you use precooked shrimp as we now do! For a lengthier cooking-time version, you can use fresh shrimp that has to be boiled,...
The 2024 Summer Fancy Food Show at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City seems to have recovered the losses of exhibitors during the COVID period, making it as large as (or possibly even larger) than ever. There were exhibitors from all over the world, but I will...
If Washington State wines are not on your radar, they should be. It has a particularly ideal climate for winegrowing since it's 46˚ North latitude, which is the same as France’s Burgundy and Rhône regions. It also gets 17 hours of sunlight and has cool nights that...
Vermouth is an aged, aromatic, fortified European wine flavored with botanicals, such as citrus peel, star anise, basil, thyme, and wormwood, to name a few. According to ancient Greek folklore, very early versions of the beverage were actually used for their...
When I want a fine dining experience in Manhattan that's still within reason from a price perspective, La Grande Boucherie is my go-to restaurant - and has been for years. The French menu changes periodically, but everything we've ordered has been excellent without...
It’s the beginning of what is supposed to be a very hot summer, so we thought a cold glass of bubbly would be a great antidote to the heat. Sparkling wines, whether they are called Champagne, Prosecco, Franciacorta, Cava, Lambrusco, Brachetto, Espumante, Mousseux,...
Beef is a cornerstone of traditional Argentine cuisine. The ideal land and climate to raise cattle made Argentina a leading producer of top quality, lean yet amazingly flavorful grass-fed beef. The cattle graze on las pampas, which gives Argentine steak a nice texture...
Recently, exceptional cultured clams have been making an appearance in East Coast fish stores and supermarkets. They have unique regional flavors that stem from subtle water quality and salinity differences at each growing site. We love baked clams oreganata, as well...
The unprecedented affluence of the early 21st century and the newfound willingness of the American public to try the pleasures of foods and fresh products from other countries has caused both restaurant chefs and home cooks to make exotic meals that were unknown to...
Risi e bisi is a traditional Italian dish from the Veneto, initially cooked as a special festive dish in Venice, Vicenza, and Verona. It was served to the Venetian Doges and the ruling families of Venice during the festival of San Marco every 25th of April. It's a...
One of the best known Istanbul restaurants is located in the space above the main entrance of the Egyptian (Misir) Çarşisi (Bazaar), one of Istanbul’s highly respected retail venues that specializes in spices from around the world, Black Sea caviar, and local sweets...
Do wine bottle closures matter to you? Do you think that screw-capped bottles contain cheaper or lower quality wines? Are you a die-hard cork devotee? I think I have a definitive answer to the cork vs. high end screw cap closure question. At an André Lurton Wines...