After my recent travels in Cognac, France, my longheld love for brandy deepened even further. I am crazy about all manner of brandy (grape-based spirits), from Armagnac to pisco. I am passionate about Calvados (French apple brandy) and other apple brandies — note here my most unforgettable Calvados experience and tasting in the world, in Kyoto, Japan, of all places.… Read more →
My May 26th Oakland Magazine feature article ran in both June print issues of Oakland and Alameda Magazines, covering two romantic escapes in Beverly Hills and on the beach in Santa Monica as well as where to eat and drink nearby. My other Oakland and Alameda Magazine articles include going well beyond wine in the Willamette Valley with beer, spirits, ciders,… Read more →
This Issue:
— Food Lovers’ Philadelphia: Where to eat now, from hip restaurants to old school Philly cheesesteaks.
— SF Middle Eastern Gems: Longtime greats doing Middle Eastern right for years in SF.
— Where To Eat And Drink In Boston Right Now
Philadelphia is as much the food lover’s town as you’ve heard — or maybe you haven’t and need to get schooled. There are some seriously fantastic eats here, whether you’re going old school and hunting for cheesesteaks or hitting up some of the best Middle Eastern and hip, Jewish-influenced restaurants in the country. While the cocktail scene has a few… Read more →
My article was first published here on our national Table8 blog where I am national editor. Despite what seems like a limited category at first glance, there are many a Middle Eastern gem hidden around San Francisco, some of the best places having been around for years. There is the ever-fantastic Afghani dishes at one of our great food treasures,… Read more →
This article was originally published here at Food Republic on May 19, 2016: With its waterside setting, educated demographics and crisp, New England weather, Boston has long been a draw for seafood, historic restaurants and even claims key 1960’s years when California-born Julia Child lived in Cambridge, where she researched and tested recipes from her years in France. Despite even… Read more →
This issue:
— Top 10 Cocktails of the Month: From clarified goat milk-washed celery bitters to Cocoa Puffs-infused Negronis — 10 top drinks now.
— 9 Intriguing Small Batch Gins from Finland to Minnesota
— Eating in the OC: From the celebrated Playground to house sausages and burgers (and great beer lists), here are 3 spots worth heading to in the OC.
— Top 5 Ciders at Cider Summit 2016
Here are the 10 standout cocktails and new bars of the month I’ve been tasting around the Bay Area. 1. Saison’s Strawberry & Arms Dinner at 3 Michelin-starred Saison is always memorable — so is an hour spent at the bar with Anthony Keels’ exquisite cocktails, up there with the most inventive drinks I’ve had in London, Berlin or Tokyo.… Read more →
With a stellar judging team, I am a judge for awards in double gold, gold, silver and bronze medals for craft (small batch) spirits from around the world for ADI’s annual Craft Spirits Awards. During an intensive few days of blind judging with some of the best in the industry, we all anticipate the final day when post-judging, we can enter… Read more →
As I continue to call out OC food gems (more here) from a County I partly grew up in — but one known more for its chain restaurant blandness and mall-mentality than its culinary gems — here are a few more places worth seeking out in the endless, freeway-laced suburbs of LA. PLAYGROUND, Santa Ana Yes, I finally made it… Read more →