Arianna Occhipinti is a bit of a burgeoning rock star in the natural wine industry. The wines she crafts in Vittoria, Sicily, in the island’s southeastern corner, are bold and pure, nothing like the sharp, ripe reds often known in the U.S. from Sicily. From Albanello and Moscato di Alessandria grapes, the SP68 Bianco arrivesContinue reading “Wine of the Week: Arianna Occhipinti, “SP68 Bianco,” IGT, Sicily”
Category Archives: Cities
Greetings from…Copenhagen!
Copenhagen, Denmark, what an intriguing and important city in the world’s gastronomic landscape. The city itself is truly unique. There are dashes of Scandinavia intertwined with the quirkiness of Portland, Oregon, the flatness of the Midwest, the individual pride and creativity of San Francisco, and momentary flashes of New York and Tokyo subways at rushContinue reading “Greetings from…Copenhagen!”
Cocktail of the Week: The Brave and Pliny’s Tonic, Anvil Bar & Refuge, Houston
Every time I tried to order “The Brave” at Anvil, the epicenter of craft cocktails in Houston on a randomly culinary dense stretch of Westheimer in a very residential neighborhood, the bartender would ask if I really wanted it. Am I brave enough? Can I handle it? It’s 96 degrees and humid…and you want this?Continue reading “Cocktail of the Week: The Brave and Pliny’s Tonic, Anvil Bar & Refuge, Houston”
Greetings from…Stockholm!
Today we’ll start a new feature covering some of the world’s great food cities called, “Greetings from…!” The concept follows one of my favorite pastimes, the lost art of postcards written by hand in actual handwriting with real pens and sent my non electronic, old fashioned mail. No, we’re not in Stockholm at the moment,Continue reading “Greetings from…Stockholm!”
Restaurants: Noma, Copenhagen
The pair of pine tree branches partially hides the caramelized spears of snow white asparagus, as if this image was deep in the heart of a far-off forest from a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale. The moment is pristine and clear. A flurry of pine needles off the branch lay alongside the asparagus on oneContinue reading “Restaurants: Noma, Copenhagen”
Cocktail of the Week: Trinidad Sour from Bar Boca, Oslo, Norway
When the bartender and co-owner of Bar Boca, a charming, quirky bar-coffee shop-cafe in Oslo’s hip Grünerløkka neighborhood, asked for my cocktail preferences, I talked about my dislike for crushed ice, how I enjoy something spirit forward, but a touch of sweetness. In other words, not a mai tai and not a Manhattan. She asksContinue reading “Cocktail of the Week: Trinidad Sour from Bar Boca, Oslo, Norway”
Restaurants: Relae, Copenhagen, Denmark
Romaine lettuce is usually an afterthought, hardly the focus of a salad like its glitzier lettuce siblings Little Gems and mizuna night be. It almost seems romaine lettuce gets the adrenaline pumping like iceberg lettuce. Then after you’ve sampled around a bit in the restaurants of Copenhagen’s New Nordic cuisine generation that swept the cityContinue reading “Restaurants: Relae, Copenhagen, Denmark”
Restaurants: AQ, San Francisco
Barbeque pork with shelling beans and corn bread speaks of hot, lazy summer days. With a glass of lemonade in hand and Vin Scully narrating baseball on the radio, here you have the glorious season where the days are long, the nights are warm, and the fields and orchards thrive. Summer means water balloon fightsContinue reading “Restaurants: AQ, San Francisco”
Cocktail of the Week: Fool’s Wager, AQ, San Francisco
Many of my good friends refer to the spirit driven cocktails I often order as “brown drinks.” Whether intensely smoky from mezcal or bitter from amaro or elegantly strong from bourbon, these drinks tend to not branch too far from the central spirit à la martinis and manhattans. Then there are the apertif drinks thatContinue reading “Cocktail of the Week: Fool’s Wager, AQ, San Francisco”
Beer of the Week: Pacific Brewing Laboratory’s Nautilus Hibiscus Saison
Pacific Brewing Laboratory might sound like a craft brewing operation from the Stanford Linear Accelerator, but actually is the result of dedicated home brewers Bryan Hermannsson and Patrick Horn. The pair started brewing in their garage and now the lab’s concoctions can be found at numerous craft brew bars in San Francisco. I first sampledContinue reading “Beer of the Week: Pacific Brewing Laboratory’s Nautilus Hibiscus Saison”
Trev's Bistro 