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...
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...
You’re invited to a very special wine-pairing dinner.

You’re invited to a very special wine-pairing dinner.

Masi Agricola produces not just some of the best Venetian wines, they produce some of the best wines in all of Italy. Their celebrated Amarones traditionally score in the nineties when judged by the critics. I was recently offered the opportunity to purchase cases of...
A very interesting dinner for a very worthy cause.

A very interesting dinner for a very worthy cause.

“Waste not. Want not.” I heard those words at the dinner table at least twice a week from my mother when I was a young kid. But I don’t think I understood them. I know they never had much affect on me. Nor did the stories of rationing during the war or the starving...