“If you know beans about chili, you know chili has no beans.”

“If you know beans about chili, you know chili has no beans.”

Wick Fowler wrote those words. Jerry Jeff Walker sang those words. Don Day doubted those words. I was never really popular as a kid. Except for about every two weeks on Thursday. Because it was about every two weeks on Thursday that I would get up in the morning and...
The Restaurant. Because there’s no friend like an old friend.

The Restaurant. Because there’s no friend like an old friend.

I had an old friend visiting this week. We go back a long way. To when “having a ball” meant owning a treasured piece of pigskin. And going long, up-and-down the avenue, was our favorite pastime. “Though a dragon lives for ever, not so little boys”,...
Cazón. Worth the seven blocks just to try it.

Cazón. Worth the seven blocks just to try it.

OK, Grille Torres is a little out of the way. But only a little. In fact, it’s only seven blocks from the jardin. I counted last week when I went for the cazón. I like Grille Torres. A lot. And it’s not exactly a foodie restaurant. Reasonably common dishes actually....
Oh where, oh where, can my ramen man be?

Oh where, oh where, can my ramen man be?

It was October 10 when I got the first email. October 11 when I got the second. There had been a sighting in San Miguel de Allende. On the top floor of Mercado Sano. And then a second sighting. And there I was in San Sebastian, Spain. It would be almost three weeks...
C’est ici! San Miguel now has its own French crêperie.

C’est ici! San Miguel now has its own French crêperie.

I used to love crêpes. I use to love crêperies. Everybody did in the seventies. We went to crêperies on dates. Crêperies had checkered tablecloths. Crêperies had candles in wine bottles. And most importantly, in those days, creperies had low prices. Two could go to a...