Blog

Count on one hand the ambassadors of Southern Cuisine, and Award-winning writer, chef, TV personality, and cookbook author Virginia Willis will invariably own one of those five fingers. Georgia-born and French-trained, Virginia has been the go-to expert for such chefs and lifestyle experts as Bobby Flay, Paula Deen, and Martha Stewart, and has appeared on numerous ...

When the cold or flu hits me (as it did last October), I crave a warm Toddy. By definition a Toddy is a hot drink of  whiskey, sugar and water. But in the right hands, it is much more. It’s hot magic in a glass. According to cocktail historian and author, Dave Wondrich, the Toddy originated ...

Remember that college mantra  “beer makes you smarter?” Memory hint: it was usually uttered by someone with beer goggles on. We did a little research asking if drinking beer made you smarter. A 2012 study at Oregon State University reported that xanthohumol in hops, a main ingredient in beer, has been found to increase brain function in high ...

Long before there were any “women and wine” organizations or symposiums and back when the wine trade was a man’s world there was one woman whose voice stood out: Roberta Morrell. You can’t miss that voice. Roberta is a force to be reckoned with whose tenure in the wine industry spans 30 years as President and ...

One of the most fascinating places I have ever visited in South America is Bolivia. Albeit my trip was too short and too focused on recovering lost luggage when I visited many years ago with the intent on hiking. But the images still remain in my mind, and I am eager to revisit and linger ...

We’re hosting our third Thanksgiving at Camp David here in the Hudson Valley. Last week Nathalie Dupree shared her time-tested tips for entertaining a group. 1. Take control and have specific seating times and limited “drinks time” 2. Stay organized with a flow chart 3. Two smaller roasted -not brined- turkeys in the oven are better than ...

One of the most delightful drives from Paris is north to the Champagne region. It’s worth spending a few days meandering from town to town, especially starting with the bubbling centers of Reims and Epernay and then villages in between to visit both chateaux and petits maisons to taste and discover. One of the most spectacular visits ...

On a frosty March weekend we visited the tiny college town of Brunswick, Maine, for a family gathering that included one of the best and most creative Asian dinners we’d experienced in a long time. And, I thought I’d be eating just lobster and chowder all weekend!   Cara Stadler‘s Tao-Yuan blends local ingredients, Chinese ...

Usually when we think of malnutrition our thoughts drift  to impoverished areas of the United States or overseas to Third World countries. Rarely do we think about New York City much less a neighbor in your building. But the reality is New York City is home to nearly 1.3 million senior citizens age 60 years ...

We’ve been enjoying a delicious time in Charleston, SC, at the Les Dames d’Escoffier International Conference organized by Grand Dame Nathalie Dupree (latest book “Mastering the Art of Southern Vegetables”) and her local chapter. This year’s conference honored author Joan Nathan, author of 10 cookbooks includes “Jewish Cooking in America” and her most recent, “Quiches, Kugels and ...

He grew up as a Navy brat, dropped out of high school to join a punk rock band and has been to all fifty states.  Graham Elliot  fell into cooking while working menial jobs in restaurants to support his musician’s life on the road. Inspired, he enrolled in Johnson & Wales to receive his formal training ...

Fascinated by the winemaking business at an early age, Aurelio Montes, Sr. has spent a lifetime raising the bar for Chilean wines. First as a winemaker at Undurraga, and then as founder of his own eponymous winery, Viña Montes, where with the release of his now legendary Montes Alpha M, he was the first to make ...

With a stable of properties spanning three of Spain’s most important winemaking regions, and his skills behind such wines as L’Ermita, Propiedad, and Descendientes de J Palacios, winemaker Alvaro Palacios is arguably that country’s greatest winemaker. L’Ermita alone, made from miniscule yields of old vine Garnacha coaxed from the inhospitably steeps slopes of Catalunya’s Priorat region, and ...

What’s it like to oversee one of the world’s most read wine magazines? How much wine can you taste in a week? Wine Spectator Executive Editor Thomas (Tom) Matthews has spent the better part of thirty years reporting on the wine industry. He joined the magazine in 1988 starting as a reporter in the London office and moved ...

With more than 35 years of diversified experience in TV broadcasting, a background in wine, food, spirits, and craft beer reporting, and a burning passion for food and wine, Emmy award-winning producer and host Dave Eckert’s “Culinary Travels with Dave Eckert” has logged more than 275 episodes to date. Eckert’s extensive knowledge of food, wine, ...

Waiter! There’s a fly in my wine!  This is just one of the serendipitous stories in Joanne Weir ‘s new memoir, “Kitchen Gypsy: Recipes and Stories from a Lifelong Romance with Food.” I particularly loved this story because Joanne ends up in her tender 20s as a guest at a famous Bordeaux Chateau as a result ...

“Do Your Best, and Then Let Go” So reads one of the 13 chapters- and morsels- of kitchen wisdom in Alana Chernila‘s new cookbook, “The Homemade Kitchen.” This is a book whose message is as much about how to approach life at a slow, measured and pleasurable pace as it is about about cooking with ...

There are many well-known chefs in television thanks to the proliferation of cooking shows and culinary competitions. But Jacques Pépin, stands in a league of his own. He’s an Emmy Award and James Beard-winning host of 14 cooking shows series on PBS-TV and is author of dozens of acclaimed books, including his newest,  Jacques Pépin Heart & Soul in the Kitchen, (Rux Martin ...

Couples and families alike spent many memorable meals at Capsouto Frères, a gem of a restaurant in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood owned by Jacques Capsouto, his mother, Eva, and his two younger brothers, Albert and Samuel. Opened in the 1980s when Tribeca was still a “fringe” neighborhood, the restaurant survived three decades of New York City’s highs ...

We met vintner Pam Starr through mutual friends and were instantly drawn to her engaging personality and highly pleasurable Bordeaux-style wines. Pam has been the co-owner, manager and winemaker of Crocker & Starr since its inception in 1997 when she helped resurrect the vineyards on the Crocker Estate in St. Helena and established a winery to ...

If you’ve ever visited the lush bucolic home of the painter, Claude Monet. you will be transformed by its beautiful gardens. Located in a the tiny and very pretty town of Giverny, France, it’s an easy day trip everyone must take from Paris and, please, allow plenty of time to savor it. Another way to ...

Tequila was always my “nasty spirit” in college. There was something about drinking tequila than made me want to dance barefoot for hours, preferably on a beach. I stopped drinking it for a long period of time until my former agency started working with Frida Kahlo Tequila, and I was properly educated on true tequila ...

It’s hard to believe that Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast with its eye on New Orleans 10 years ago August 29th. At the time we were planning a major dining and wine event for following February the following year which sadly was cancelled. The aftermath left many of our restaurant friends recovering for months, and ...

Summer is the perfect time for exploring the lighter side of wines, but often people think that this means wines that are less expressive and flavorful. Pinot Grigio gets that bad wrap probably more than any other varietal offering. Enter Giovanni Bonmartini Fini, proprietor of Italy’s Barone Fini wines, a producer premium Pinot Grigio from ...

In 2006-2007 David and I spent a blissful pre-wedding-New Years-Birthday-“Bucket List” trip traveling through Botswana and South Africa. It was my first time visiting the African continent, but not the last. In 2012 we went to Morocco to cross “dancing under the stars in the Sahara Desert” off my bucket list. Our travel bucket list ...

This summer David and I have been busy getting our hands dirty making clean food, from fresh vegetable juices to pulp crackers to zesty dinner salads and fresh seafood boils. With a thirst for knowing how to eat healthier without sacrificing delicious decadence, we’ve invited noted nutrition expert, award winning food journalist and television personality ...

Carlos Esquivel, CEO of PILSA, distillers of fine rums made in Panama, gave us a short primer on what defines authentic Cuban rum during his interview on The Connected Table LIVE! July 29th. Link: http://www.iheart.com/show/209-The-Connected-Table-Live/?episode_id=27300770 1. The rum must be made from molasses, not sugar cane. 2. The liquid is column stilled, not pot stilled. 3. ...

When Francisco “Don Pancho” Fernandez, master blender for Havana Club for 35 years, decided to leave Cuba after the sale of the brand to an international spirits conglomerate, it was to Panama that he went. Already having a long history of travel to that country, and having worked in Panama to make his “Cuban style” rum ...

If you have tuned into our iHeart Radio show, The Connected Table LIVE!, you know that we love New Orleans. Maybe it’s the sweet southern air. Maybe it’s the moist hot humidity. Maybe it’s the iconic food and drink culture. Maybe it’s spirit of the city that conveys “Pleasure is Good.” We consider New Orleans ...

Being a successful restaurateur is never easy. Being the son of a legendary restaurateur sounds like it might be easier but not always. This is especially true when your name is Frank Pellegrino Jr. and your dad, Frank, Sr., runs New York City’s toughest table-to-book in town, Rao’s (pronounced RAY-ohs). We’ve never snagged a table at Rao’s ...