Though my May New York adventures brought me to some of the city’s newer treasures (see June 15 issue), I also made sure I hit up some of the greats of the past decade for a sip of what they’ve been serving lately: Milk & Honey, Lower East Side – Through its dodgy, unmarked door into a musty yet romantic… Read more →
My beloved New York. The city that awakened me, at the sensitive age of 14, to cities… and the world. I put my hand over my heart upon first glimpse of the radiance of Manhattan at night from Jersey’s banks, where I lived during high school (and my family lived for years beyond). There’s always dear friends, family, and such… Read more →
QUEENS It’s always like coming home to my lifelong best friend in Queens, and now that my dear cousin lives in Brooklyn, I was able to take in some of the affordable eats in these boroughs in my couple days stay after a full week in Manhattan (see my other NY articles)… all excellent. Queens really does have some of… Read more →
My May New York adventures brought me to some of the city’s newer treasures I’ve been desiring to partake in… a couple of them literally just opened weeks before, others open about a year. Brand New CIENFUEGOS (upstairs through Carteles sandwich shop), East Village – Open barely a month when I visited, this intriguing new rum bar is through a… Read more →
My beloved New York. The city that awakened me, at the sensitive age of 14, to cities… and the world. I put my hand over my heart upon first glimpse of the radiance of Manhattan at night from Jersey’s banks, where I lived during high school (and my family lived for years beyond). When I travel to NY, there’s always… Read more →
Back to Chicago… neighborhood by neighborhood, in a multi-part series, I’ve been covering some haunts during my last visit. Here’s my three previous columns on Chi-town. NORTHWEST SIDE Hot Doug’s – So much has already been said about this fairly recent addition to the Chicago dog landscape. I thankfully got to try about 8 dogs here and they were all… Read more →
I’ve been privileged to savor the wonder that is molecular gastronomy done right, whether it be at Alinea, Baume or even the creativity of Coi. In visiting The Bazaar at the SLS Beverly Hills Hotel, I arrived with tempered expectations but left wowed. From DC/Spanish chef genius, Jose Andres, the meal is a wonderland of inventiveness that never commits the… Read more →
Last issue, I wrote about recent eats in Los Angeles… this week it’s cocktails. The cocktail renaissance of the past decade plus has taken a long time to hit LA. For a major city, they’ve been behind the NY and SF curve. I’ve been eagerly waiting for that sort of standard to become more prevalent in LA. It’s getting there,… Read more →
Having spent a large part of my youth and post-high school years in OC, I was in LA all the time for concerts, films and food. Never could its endless sprawl enchant me as the great cities of the world do – it remains fiercely un-walkable, an endless network of overgrown suburbs and eye-sore strip malls lacking in Bohemian spirit.… Read more →
Back to Chicago (part one here; part two here)… the city remains much as I remember it from earlier visits: gritty, even at its “prettiest”, middle America in a big city/New York-reminiscent package. It doesn’t woo me like San Francisco or New Orleans, nor secure my eternal loyalty as NYC does, but it’s the only real city in the middle,… Read more →