Food

To the east of Rome lies Abruzzo, one of the hidden gems among the patchwork that is Italy.  A sparsely populated land of stunning natural beauty and ancient customs, the motto of Abruzzo is Forte e gentile, a strong land …

Finding Shane Finley was easy.   Via email, we planned to meet for lunch at Bourbon Steak in Washington, D.C., a restaurant that’s housed at the Four Seasons. While the steakhouse is known for having one of the best wine …

The results are in on the 2013 Italian harvest and for those that enjoy a good Barolo, Chianti Classico, Primativo or Nero D’ Avola and hundreds of other Italian varietals, the news is good. You will of course have to …

Finally, spring is in the air! After a long and arduous winter for so many of us, you can feel moods and spirits lighten. There is a spring in our step as the weather begins to warm and the morning …

It is a well known occasion among knowledgable wine consumers that the beginning of the California wine revolution began with an extraordinary blind wine tasting of French and California wines in Paris in 1976, known as the Paris Tasting. In …

Between the Central California coastal city of Lompoc and the town of Buellton, just west of the 101, lies 30,700 square acres of the Sta. Rita Hills.  This pristine, peaceful land is located in Santa Barbara County and is part of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA. ( American Viticulture Area) …

Pesce crudo (Italian for “raw fish”) and Japanese sashimi both rely on ultra-fresh seafood, but that’s where the similarities end. Italians near the coastline have been eating raw fish for a long time. In particular, fisherman with their returning catch …

Frank Mangio loves his job.  First of all, he describes his office as a “cozy wine bar,” complete with overstuffed furniture, walls covered with photographs and several coolers housing more than one hundred bottles of wine. Not a bad place …

Paccheri is a pasta shape that is all the rage in the US at the moment. It’s been in several cooking magazines of late, mentioned on blogs and featured on hot restaurant menus, but I haven’t seen them sold in …

I do my diligence with attention and care when it comes to considering a restaurant and its dinner and wine list.  Does it live up to its story by delivering the goods, like listing all the ingredients for each menu item …