I can’t think of a single restaurant dish that is more bastardized than Caesar salad. Romaine lettuce gets replaced with radicchio, curly endive, frisee, and arugula. (One chef used all four.) Croutons have been made with polenta, olive bread, English muffins, even grits. Other ingredients have included capers, cucumbers, tomatoes, …
Did you ever sip a wine, then smack your lips and think (or say) “That is really tasty.” That’s what my wife and I said when we tasted Pike’s 2008 The White Mullet, a blend of Riesling (60 percent), Viognier (16 percent), Sauvignon Blanc (16 percent) and Chenin Blanc (8 …
Though it didn’t happen very often, when my brothers, my sister or I didn’t clean our plates at dinner, Dad would threaten to lock us in the basement and feed us nothing but raw onions. Needless to say, raw onions were not at the top of our list of favorite …
It’s in the Bag, uh, Box, uh Both. First they take away the cork from the wine bottle. Now they’re taking away the bottle. What’s next, intravenous? Bag-in-the box wines (known as “bib” in the trade) are exactly what their name says, wine, typically three liters, in a collapsible plastic …
With the possible exception of cavas, the Spanish sparkling wines, when most Americans think of Spanish wines, they see red. But Spanish white wines have made great progress in past 15 years or so. As Julio Baguer, former director of Wines from Spain, a government agency that promotes Spanish wines, …
Rhubarb, like quince, isn’t on most people’s culinary radar unless they are fans of Prairie Home Companion where Garrison Keiler sings about Bebopareebop Rhubarb Pie. And describing a fight as a rhubarb (usually the emptying of benches at a baseball game) is about as old fashioned as home run hitters …