Category: Wandering Traveler

NYC’s Gifts to the World

Post-sunset from the rooftop of Donna, Williamsburg (Brooklyn). Photo by Virginia Miller. Writing about dining and drink in New York City since 2007, I partly grew up in New Jersey, in suburbs of NYC since the 1990s, so I knew the region intimately. I can still navigate NYC subways and neighborhoods easily, with decades exploring its hidden gems, museums, tea… Read more →

Bogota’s Gifts to the World

Bogota view. Photo by Virginia Miller. In 2018 was my first visit to Bogota, Columbia, an exciting melange of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, a deep dive into then up-and-coming restaurants like the great Leo and then brand-new El Chato (see my current review below). I wrote about Bogota’s burgeoning cocktail bar scene for Gin Magazine. I wrote dining/food… Read more →

Copenhagen’s Gifts to the World

Nyhavn. Photo by Virginia Miller. Though my largest percentage heritage is Sicilian (specifically Aeolian Islands), my second biggest before my third German, is Scandinavian: split between Danish and Swedish, with one grandparent each having roots in those countries. So it’s no surprise that the earthy, sensual, visionary, free spirited Sicilian-island side of me is tempered with my eldest child, orderly,… Read more →

Guadalajara’s Gifts to the World

Starting in 2010, I’ve been writing about Guadalajara since my first visit with the great Fortaleza tequila when it was a small cult brand and, as founder/distiller Guillermo Sauza tells me, I was one of the first people writing about them. Every time I’m consulting in or on a press trip in the Highlands or Lowlands of Tequila, I get at least a night or two in GDL… and I’ve been smitten with it as the underrated second biggest city in Mexico. Its restaurants, bars, culture and people is the “real” Mexico on so many levels. I’ve been impressed by its steady growth in range and depth over the 15 years I’ve been visiting and working at distilleries where I consult in Arandas. Read on… Read more →