These new spots or new menus cover the gamut, from Filipino-Mexican to Peruvian. Alongside my full restaurant reviews this month, these eight (and a bonus 9th bar) are well worth visiting. Last month’s standouts are here (as always, I’ve personally vetted, visited or ordered from each place reviewed): Read more →
Spirits reviewed this issue:
— Burdekin Distillery Vintage Cane Spirit
— BENIIKKO Shochu
— Oak House Distillery Robert’s No. 1 Dry Gin
— Talisker 44 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky
— Deadmau5 and CoCo Vodka RTD
— Fósforo Tobalá Mezcal
— Consensual Old White 10 Years Porto
and more Read more →
The Umstead Hotel & Spa, Cary, NC. Photo by Virginia Miller. 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… Read more →
I won’t forget my first visit to Palette soon after opening in 2019 when chef Peter Hemsley grilled up rare, local coonstripe shrimp just caught that morning, buttery-fresh and revelatory; like eating our divine local spot prawns for the first time. Midwest-born Hemsley’s hand with seafood was evident from those early days. So maybe it’s little surprise that as Palette closed, Hemsley and team just opened Aphotic in the same space on March 21, 2023, as a sleek tribute to… you guessed it: seafood. Read more →
THIS ISSUE:
— Juniper & Starter Bakery: Two new bakeries already set to stand among the Bay’s best.
— Coho: In sleepy Mill Valley, a surprisingly quality land-to-sea newcomer.
— St. Louis Dining Guide: 13 Places to Eat & Drink Now.
— Staycation Palo Alto: A Spanish-themed hotel & two newer restaurants.
— DISTILLER Bottle Column: This issue I review rum, sherry, gin, non-alcoholic wines, Australian whiskies, soju, ciders, American single malt and vodka. Read more →
Opened October 2021 by Finn Stern and Stella Dennig, as Oakland’s Daytrip approaches one and a half years of age, it has become clear it’s one of the city’s best restaurants now. It was named one of Bon Appetit’s top 10 new restaurants in America in 2022 and is one of the tougher reservations in OAK. 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 →
Coho’s Dungeness crab noodles. Photo by Virginia Miller. No one was more surprised than me to find a standout new restaurant, one even worth crossing the bridge for, in sleepy, idyllic Mill Valley. Marin County is infamously talked about amongst many of my industry and food obsessed colleagues as the one subpar food county in all the Bay Area. Despite Marin’s… Read more →
View from our deck at el Prado, Palo Alto. Photo by Virginia Miller. COME SEE OUR NEW HOME — The Bold Italic has a new home online, and this story has moved! Read it here: https://www.thebolditalic.com/staycation-palo-alto-a-spanish-themed-hotel-two-newer-restaurants From recent staycations in the Silicon Valley town of Sunnyvale to the coast in Half Moon Bay, for 21 years I’ve researched and written of… Read more →
Reviewed this issue:
— La Marielita 18 Year Rum (Panama)
— González Byass NV Viña AB 12 Años Amontillado Seco Palomino
— Glendalough Rose Gin
— Torani Puremade Toasted Black Sesame Syrup
— NON Everyday Non-Alcoholic Wines
— Morris Whisky Australian Single Malt Signature & Muscat Barrel Whiskies Read more →