I just love looking at these pictures…..
Best Napa Valley Wineries to Visit
The best Napa Valley wineries to visit feature a tasting room in a cave, artisanal cheese pairings, on-site sommeliers and more.
Filtering by Tag: drink
Lovin’ this….oysters on the westside!
A downtown institution for seafood comes to Santa Monica
Long before a fascination with retro seafood dishes rolled over the city like a salty wave, Downtown’s Water Grill was the hands-down favorite for elegant surf-and-turf: chilled shrimp Louie salad ($26), bowls of garlicky cioppino ($32) brimming with shellfish and an impeccably fried plate of fish and chips ($26).
It’s no coincidence that L.A.’s two most prominent seafood chefs, Michael Cimarusti and David LeFevre, both spent time running Water Grill’s kitchen over the years before opening their own projects (Damon Gordon is currently at the helm).
Twenty-four years after its original debut, Water Grill has added a ritzy second location along Santa Monica’s Ocean Avenue, complete with panoramic seaside views, a burnished copper raw bar, puffy leather booths and schooner-inspired wall hangings.
Frank Bruni is sooo good and soooo right! There is nothing better than being welcomed at your favorite “spot”. And nothing better than bringing the people you love there too. This is Eat+Drink’s entire goal - to show you the places we love.
Frank Bruni, Former Restaurant Critic, on the Joys of Repeat Visits
What a cad I used to be, constantly ditching the bistro that had opened only four months ago for the week-old trattoria with an even dewier complexion, callously trading in the yellowtail sashimi that had been so good to me for a hot tamale of unproven charms.
Then, a few years back, the restaurant Barbuto and I settled down.
It’s bliss. She knows my heart, knows my drill: a gin martini to begin, a seasonal salad for my appetizer, the roasted chicken after.
And I know her. If the weather’s nice, a breeze will blow in from the West Village streets that her retractable walls open onto. The kale that she serves me will be sparingly dressed. And the breast meat? As plump and tender as it was the last time around and the dozen times before that.
We don’t have fireworks, not this late in the game. But we have a rhythm. Sometimes that’s better.
What I’m saying is that I’m a regular there, as I am at the Breslin, whose lamb burger is as true to me as I am to it; at Empellón Taqueria, where I never stray from the fish tempura tacos, which never let me down; at Szechuan Gourmet, where I don’t glance at a menu. I don’t have to.
I’m no monogamist, that’s clear. More of a polygamist, but I dote on my sister wives. I’ve come to see that the broccolini isn’t always greener on the other side of Houston Street, and I’m here to sing what’s too seldom sung: the joys of familiarity. The pleasures of intimacy. The virtues of staying put.
What you have with a restaurant that you visit once or twice is a transaction. What you have with a restaurant that you visit over and over is a relationship.
The fashionable script for today’s food maven doesn’t encourage that sort of bonding, especially not in a city with New York’s ambition and inexhaustible variety. Here you’re supposed to dash to the new Andrew Carmellini brasserie before anybody else gets there; be the first to taste ABC Cocina’s guacamole; advertise an opinion about the Massaman curry at Uncle Boons while others are still puzzling over the fugitive apostrophe. Snap a photo. Tweet it. Then move on. There’s always something else. Always virgin ground.
For years, I was dedicated to exploring it, by dint of my duty as The Times’s restaurant critic. I was a paid philanderer. It was exhilarating. It was exhausting.
Love!
Latino Winemakers Rise in California, Through the Ranks
SONOMA, Calif. — It is harvest season in wine country, the time of year when the scent of crushed grapes infuses the air and flatbed trucks heavy with fruit cargo come lurching down narrow back roads.
For the winemaker Everardo Robledo — who grew up working in the fields alongside his father, Reynaldo, on weekends and after school — the harvest has a particular emotional resonance: a measure of how far the family has come since his Mexican immigrant grandfather drifted from one migrant labor camp to another and his father toiled in the vineyards for $1.10 an hour.
Mr. Robledo, 30, and his family are part of a tiny but growing fraternity of Mexican-American winemakers, many of them farmworkers’ children who now pursue wine business degrees or study viticulture and oenology at the University of California, Davis. “It’s what we have been doing all our lives,” the younger Mr. Robledo said of picking, pruning, trellising, planting and “suckering,” or removing unwanted shoots from vines. “The land is in our DNA.”
For tourists here and in other wine-producing regions, the harvest is an opportunity to swirl, sniff and sip wine, stomp grapes and revel in dinners by master chefs. In Sonoma, visitors can experience an annual “grape camp” whose Web site advertises “three blissful days” picking grapes.
I’m sure every pizza joint on this list is amazing but I do think it’s a little lame that the only good pizza in LA is supposedly Mozza. It’s good pizza but we all know the attitude isn’t worth going back after attempt 3 or 4. I’ve even learned how to MAKE pizza there but don’t need to go back. Although I will say that I was incredibly impressed with CHI SPACCA last week (review coming soon). Stella Barra is amazing and so are a number of other joints around town!
The 38 Essential Pizzas Across the Country
The appeal of the pizza seems to know no bounds. While New York, Chicago, and San Francisco are all packing a number of absurdly great pizzerias, an excellent pie can be had just about anywhere in the country. And in just about any style: thin-crust, New York, deep dish, Detroit, bar, New Haven, Chicago, grilled, California, tomato pies, and Neapolitan among them. This last style seems to have taken particular root over the last decade with pizza-makers across the country importing ovens from Naples and churning out margherita pies topped with San Marzano tomatoes and mozzarella di bufala.
The question, of course, is which of these restaurants qualify as absolute must-stop pizzerias for the novice as well as the pizza snob. Earlier this year, Eater unveiled the Eater National Burger 38 in the grand tradition of the lists local sites have been putting out for years. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time to present the Eater National Pizza 38, the 38 essential pizzerias (and restaurant pizzas) across the country.
Sometimes I wonder if we’re doing this tipping thing all wrong.
Leaving a Tip: A Custom in Need of Changing?
Try one of these techniques if you want better service in restaurants:
1. Become very famous;
2. Spend $1,000 or more on wine every time you go out;
3. Keep going to the same restaurant until you get V.I.P. treatment; if that doesn’t work, pick another place.
Now, here is a technique that is guaranteed to have no effect on your service: leave a generous tip.
I’ve tipped slightly above the average for years, generally leaving 20 percent of the total, no matter what. According to one study, lots of people are just like me, sticking with a reasonable percentage through good nights and bad. And it doesn’t do us any good, because servers have no way of telling that we aren’t the hated type that leaves 10 percent of the pretax total, beverages excluded.
Some servers do try to sniff out stingy tippers, engaging in customer profiling based on national origin, age, race, gender and other traits. (The profiling appears to run both ways: another study showed that customers tended to leave smaller tips for black servers.)
I could go on against tipping, but let’s leave it at this: it is irrational, outdated, ineffective, confusing, prone to abuse and sometimes discriminatory. The people who take care of us in restaurants deserve a better system, and so do we.
Fascinating….
Georgia Olive Farms Oil, A Must-Have in Sean Brock’s Pantry
This Georgia state olive oil is distinctly Southern
Sean Brock takes the idea of local very seriously. He gets his truffles from Tennessee and sources his cured country hams from Kentucky. Now, for his Husk restaurants in Charleston and Nashville, the chef doesn’t have to look very far for olive oil, either.
Georgia Olive Farms released their incredibly smooth, clean-tasting oil ($32 for 500 ml) in 2011.
Brock likes what’s being pressed from Peach State olives.
“We treat it like gold,” the chef says. “The flavor of this oil is very fruity and has little to no spice, which makes it much more versatile.”
Georgia’s actually no newcomer to homegrown oil.
“Spanish settlers were growing olives on the coast as late as the 1860s,” says Georgia Olive Farms owner Jason Shaw. “We don’t know why it stopped.”
These Food & Wine Daily recipes look AMAZING!!!!
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Anchovy Vinaigrette
Healthy & Delicious: This warm, garlicky anchovy dressing here is fantastic with an assortment of juicy, peak-season tomatoes. To finish the dish, Amelia O’Reilly and Nico Monday top it with tangy pickled shallots and an oozy, soft-boiled egg.
Some of these are already open…have you tried any yet?
LA’s 21 Most Anticipated Fall and Winter Openings
Summer is coming to an end and that means restaurants which have been built out and worked on throughout the warm weather are finally looking to debut during the busy fall and holiday months. There’s some pretty incredible places in store, such as Josef Centeno’s Orsa & Winston, Superba Food & Bread in Venice by Paul Hibler, as well as Walter Manzke’s Republique, replacing the iconic La Brea Bakery and Campanile building. Below, a list of the most important openings in Los Angeles for Fall and Winter.
I’m off to Chi Spacca for dinner tonight. Have you been?
Eat+Drink Supper Club
This Saturday is our last Supper Club of the season with Chef Judy Adler creating a Spanish smorgasbord for us to enjoy. I’ve paired some great Spanish wines and we’re making Sangria!! I have two seats left just in case you want to join us!!
MENU
To Begin:
Aceitunas a la Sevillana - Homemade Marinated Olives
Tortilla Espanola with Romesco sauce, Jamon Serrano and Manchego Cheese
1st Course:
Gazpacho with Cucumber, Onion, Green Pepper and Homemade Croutons
2nd Course:
Paella with Chicken, Mussels, Clams and Shrimp, served with Grilled Vegetables
Dessert:
Flan &
Platters of Sliced Oranges sprinkled with Cinnamon and Sugar
Apparently everyone starts a restaurant in September because this is the third LA spot to through an anniversary dinner/party this week. If you haven’t made it to Lucques yet, go. You must. I beg you.
This is their Sunday Supper this week:
sunday supper
september 15, 2013
cherry tomatoes, olives and burrata
***
pan-roasted market fish with rösti potato pancake,
green onion, romesco and fried egg
or
braised beef cheeks with cornbread pudding,
mustard greens and marinated piquillo peppers
***
crème fraîche cake with figs,
pine nuts and fig ice cream
45 dollars per person
call 323.655.6277 or reserve online now
A few seats just opened up and it’s only a week away…just sayin’.
Don’t miss another Eat+Drink Supper Club event!
Only 4 seats available for September 21st with
Chef Josef Morphis from Mastro’s!
Only 4 seats available for September 21st with
Chef Josef Morphis from Mastro’s!
The Eat+Drink Supper Club
A Curated Dining Experience with Chef Josef Morphis
Chef Josef Morphis is the Executive Sous Chef at Mastro’s and his menu is not for the faint of heart. Josef’s career started at Le Bistro at the Sonoma Hotel and from there to John Ash and Co., The Culinary Institute of America, Travina and Napa Valley Grille with the last two years at Mastro’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills. Josef grew up in Sonoma County and has always had a strong passion for great food. Living and working in the heart of the wine country really focused his expertise in “Wine Country Cuisine”. Josef feels there’s nothing better than creating a well-balanced meal using the finest local ingredients. His focus on balance is key to planning his menus.
Saturday, September 21st
7:00p Cocktails & 8:00p Dinner: $100
I’m realizing that 28 is just not the number of people you want at these events so I have 40 seats available for this September 21st dinner. (Am I officially giving in to this group?) $100 per person includes EVERYTHING (all beverages are complimentary), all you have to do is bring your hungry, thirsty self. 
Saturday, October 5th
Chef Judy Adler’s Spanish Dinner
7:00p Cocktails & 8:00p Dinner: $100
Chef Judy Adler’s Spanish Dinner
7:00p Cocktails & 8:00p Dinner: $100
Chef Judy Adler has been a personal chef for over a decade, working in some of the finest homes in the country. Her Spanish infused menu is to die for. Do not miss this event!
____________________________________________________
Oh you missed a NIGHT on August 10th with Chef David Feau’s amazing French dinner. Everyone looked delish in all white!
If you haven’t yet been to Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, you must find a reason to go soon. And here’s that reason. Run, don’t walk.
Mark your calendar to join us for our 10th annual Taste of the South event on January 9-12, 2014, benefiting the Fellowship of Southern Farmers, Artisans and Chefs and the Southern Foodways Alliance!
Get ready to make your reservation for Taste of the South on September 17, as we open up the phone lines for the first time for this exclusive, sellout event!
Don’t miss this weekend as we celebrate the Southern table with dinners, cooking demonstrations, tastings and teachings from the likes of Chefs Michelle Bernstein, Rodney Scott, Rob Newtown and featuring Vintner Andy Peay, mixologist Alba Huerta and special guest speaker Francis Lam!
Reservations open on September 17th at 9am. Call 800-557-8864 to book your stay before the event sells out!
This is a smidge old but oh-so-cool!
Mystery Tipper Gives Servers Enormous Tips in Utah
Although big tips pop up from time to time, it is very rare to find a serial big tipper. But that’s exactly what the town of Ogden, Utah has on its hands: someone is going around town, racking up bar tabs, and tipping thousands on them. First, the mysterious tipper left a $5,000 tip on a $214.75 bar tab at Brewski’s. Notes the Standard-Examiner, “Proprietors of Brewski’s have declined comment on the tipping incident there; word on the street is that the windfall may have caused hard feelings among some members of the bar’s staff.”
[hulu id=07vztwb6nkztxnt3si8kza width=500]
Watch Yelp’s CEO Defend Yelpers on Charlie Rose
Here’s a video of Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman’s interview on Charlie Roselast week. Stoppelman and Rose discuss the origins of Yelp, the importance of adapting to mobile technology, and Stoppelman’s decision not to sell to Google. Stoppelman also defends the reliability of the reviews and reviewers on Yelp, gives his thoughts on whats wrong with Google and Groupon, and much more:
· On the acccuracy and fairness of Yelp reviews: “I find it accurate. If you go and you find a 4.5 star business in New York that has 70+ reviews, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a good experience … Having quantity of reviews is part of it. Having quality of reviews is part of it, a rating attached to an in depth review. Knowing about the reviewer themselves, their identity is part of it.”
· On protecting against fake reviews: “We try to protect against all of the bad stuff with a review filter. What that’s doing is gathering all sorts of signals on how people are using and contributing on the site and deciding which are reviews are the ones consumers should probably rely on and which are the ones we’re not so sure about. And we set aside the ones we’re not so sure about. North of 20% of our content isn’t actually on the main business page, it’s in a separate section called ‘Filtered Reviews.’”
(Source: http://www.hulu.com/)
Abbey Ale
Abbey Ale is a great Dubbel ale brewed by Ommegang Brewery out of Cooperstown, New York. Lots of dark fruit, raisins and spices come through at the beginning and then ultimately mix and conclude in a deep sweet aftertaste. One sip of this complex beer and you’ll know why these monks are dancing.
I LOVE this guy!!!
Twisted Helles
This beer is a simple but good summer time lager by Frankenmuth Brewery in Michigan. I was drawn to the nice and very clean can design and I think it reflects the beer’s mellow taste with a slight hint of lemon. Nuthin’ fancy here but it fits my summer mindset. They say it was inspired by Michigan summers but it seemed to wrap up my summer in Boston quite well. And with that said, I shall now brace myself for pumpkin beer season…!
OMG - how fun is this?!?!?!
Fun from Eater!
Watch the Teaser Trailer for Next’s Bocuse d’Or Menu
Here’s the teaser for the new Bocuse d’Or menu at the ever-changing Next in Chicago. Like past trailers for the elBulli menu and the Hunt menu, the Bocuse d’Or teaser is super-intense and serious. The video features dramatic music and high speed plating in front of a black backdrop.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
I made this Sangria on Saturday and everyone loved it! It took a little longer to grill the fruit than they said but I had fun doing it. AND my pictures (the bottom two) look awfully similar to the professional one above/on the top!!
Grilled Citrus and Grape Sangria
Fantastic Labor Day Cocktail: To add a wonderful, subtle smokiness to sangria, Michael Chiarello grills oranges, lemons and grapes. If you grill twice as much fruit as the recipe calls for, you’ll be all ready to make a second batch. READ MORE