Holy smoke, this meat is tasty.

Holy smoke, this meat is tasty.

“You know if you had really, really been intent on entrapping me on my wedding night, you wicked woman, you would not have dabbed yourself with Joy, but in Essence of Smoked Meat. A maddening aphrodisiac, made from spices available in Schwartz’s...
Vinos+Tapas. A San Miguel restaurant flexes its mussels.

Vinos+Tapas. A San Miguel restaurant flexes its mussels.

Mussels almost smack dab in the middle of Mexico? Maybe it’s crazy to even think about them. But I do. And often. I’ve always wanted mussels (yes, pun definitely intended, and particularly in the upper arms). I have since I was about 20 (nobody ate mussels before I...
Appassimento. Hard to spell. Easy to drink.

Appassimento. Hard to spell. Easy to drink.

There is no winery in my opinion more emblematic of the Veronese style than Masi Agricola. Still family-owned, Masi is one of the largest wineries in Valpolicella, producing over 12 million bottles a year. 47 of those bottles were opened last week at Firenze, one of...
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”,...
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...