Food

In my last column, we opened the wine book on the big, stately and beautiful wine country of Sonoma and stretched our legs at Jordan Winery, the 1,200 acre Bordeaux style winery and vineyard just north of Healdsburg.  This week …

Bologna: la grassa, la dotta, la rossa. Apt nicknames for the capital of Emilia-Romagna, which boasts a rich culinary tradition (grassa meaning fat), the oldest university in the Western world (hence dotta: learned), red roofs and left-leaning politics (as in …

This year is shaping up to be a landmark one for Temecula Wine Country in its quest to not only be a recognized destination for excellent wines, but for big time music venues.  Concerts on the green have been stepped …

I can’t think of anything more Sicilian than olive oil cake and blood oranges. This Easter, I went looking for something to do with blood oranges, as they are at farmers’ markets in Los Angeles at the moment. They are …

Prospect Street in La Jolla is squeezed with many restaurants vying for prominence.  Some have a west-facing view of the Pacific which may give them an edge, but only one has that “wow” look, with curb appeal reminiscent of a …

3,793 restaurants from around the world recently earned awards for their wine lists from the leading wine publication in the world, Wine Spectator.   The Grand Award is the publication’s highest honor for a wine list that sommeliers “take to …

  Well that was fast!  What with San Diego’s new restaurants, resorts that were being bought and sold then re-made, wine bars that sprouted up on virtually every urban block and wine events doubling in number, what’s a wine writer …

Seafood salad is served all over Italy: anywhere near the sea and with ready access to seafood, which is most of the country. This is also a traditional dish for Christmas Eve, but in the case of a hot day …

On my first few visits to Montalcino, I would pass a little closed door in one of the walls of the village.  I was never able to catch it open to learn what was behind this mysterious door. Finally a …

Big, stately and beautiful are the first descriptors that come to mind when recalling my trip to Sonoma Wine Country recently.  So big, it cannot be limited to one column. It demands a two part recollection.   After all, Sonoma …