not drinking poison in paris

What does it mean for savvy young Parisian restaurateurs to advertise their appreciation for post-war cabaret, as chef Marc Cordonnier an...

A depressing reality sinks in when one attempts study of sherry, or, for that matter, of Spanish and Portuguese wine in general: ...

I take it as a given that I am not part of a target audience for Le Fooding , the French culinary media outlet. If Le Fooding were princi...

I think I know what was going through the Native Companion's mind when she booked us a hotel in Chipiona on our first visit to Andalu...

By way of introducing a series of posts about sherry and various visits to Andalusia, I thought I'd relay a conversation I recently...

Barbecue, arguably, is for Americans what wine is for the French.  What the subjects share is a dialectical emphasis on local cultural t...

The stakes are high in Paris when an established, beloved restaurant like cave-à-manger pioneer Le Verre Volé opens a seafood sequel, in...

When I arranged to harvest with Montgueux Champagne winemaker Manu Lassaigne this September, I had convenience in mind. His is the best ...

In writing about Paris restaurant openings, I'm accustomed to grousing about stillborn fads and failed trendhopping. ( Meatballs , an...

When asked what makes a wine natural, I often reply that a wine is natural when it is bought by natural wine buyers. I'm only being h...

Given that this is a wine blog, I usually avoid posting on chef career moves. The practice risks stoking the already outsize demand in Pa...

Remember that scene in Wayne's World , where Wayne and Garth do impressions of various US states, before being confounded by the unsa...

Like any frequent host in Paris, I've learned to grin vacantly through inarticulate endorsements of "little neighborhood bistro...

When the Native Companion and I first visited Champagne winemaker Emmanuel Lassaigne in Aug. 2012 , the maestro of Montgueux had tantali...

A chef friend whose opinions I value highly once raised a sceptical eyebrow when I praised La Retrobottega proprietor Pietro Russano...

In trying to descry the origins of the hazy aura known as restaurant hype, we often overlook its simplest element, which is thrift. Pat...