My interview with Portugal’s most celebrated chef, José Avillez; on Lisbon and Porto’s dining scene now; standout hotels in city and countryside across Portugal; and visiting Avillez’ and wife Sofia Ulrich’s truly unique, private new Casa Nossa retreat house in the region of Alentejo southeast of Lisbon. Read more →
An amusement park and one-of-a-kind show-inspired distillery — that also houses an innovative fine dining restaurant… Lost Spirits shows us a new kind of distillery experience. Read more →
My latest feature in Gin Magazine, Summer 2023 (from the publishers of Whisky Magazine), is my Bar Guide to 10 top bars in New Orleans now (below in print layout): Bars featured: Revel Cafe & Bar, Loa, Dovetail, Jewel of the South, Cure, Four Seasons New Orleans: Miss River & Chemin a la Mer, The Elysian Bar, Palm & Pine, The Bower… Read more →
Charleston’s Colonial-era architecture with colorful Caribbean influence in soothing blues, pinks and yellows is one-of-a-kind. The small, walkable city has grown greatly in notable restaurants and bars the 16 years I’ve been visiting, far beyond its size in terms of the quality-to-size ratio. Its palmetto-lined streets are like stepping back in time. The city is by turns bright and vibrant, at turns a bit Gothic and moody, reminiscent of, but very different from, Savannah and New Orleans.
Alongside my hotel recommendation, the nine eateries below stood out, not always for good reasons, but the first few are among my top food recommends now in the “Holy City.” Read more →
In the Spring 2023 print issue (Vol. 19, Issue 4) of Distiller Magazine, my interview with Robert Dawson of Kō Hana Distillers, Oahu, Hawai’i. My video in the fields with owners/founders Robert Dawson and Jason Brand the first day they were using their new John Deere harvester after years of hand-harvesting in April 2022: www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Mg20wFth4&t=6s. ARTICLE HERE: My Distiller Magazine features… Read more →
Though I have been to Charleston over four times the past 16 years, I hadn’t been back to North Carolina in 16 years, when I took my first (of multiple) two week road trip across the Deep South to study my barbecue styles. North Carolina is famed for BBQ and I include a couple stops here, along with 10 other standout restaurants and bars in Raleigh and Durham. It was good to be back and I only wish I had more time, but as you can see, I packed in a lot of tastes in two and a half short days. The region is unrecognizable foodwise since I was last here. Read more →
From its iconic Gateway Arch, the tallest manmade monument in the Western hemisphere, to its rich blues music history, St. Louis can be easy nationally to miss.
There is plenty of mediocrity on the food front, to be sure… But over two visits in 2022, I visited over 40 STL restaurants, food stops and bars, with these 13 holding the strongest highlights: Read more →
Exploring 10 of the best spots for drams and drinks in the capital of South Korea… Read more →
This past year I was back twice: in September 2022 and again over Christmas 2022. Over recent visits, I explore the ins-and-outs of 12 places to eat in and around Oklahoma City. Read more →
You may think you know Korean barbecue. Unless you’re Korean, live in the U.S.’ heaviest Korean communities, namely across California, Honolulu and New York, or have dug into Korean BBQ in Seoul, you likely have just scratched the surface of the category’s range. Read more →