Food Articles

Stephen Pyles has opened several restaurants in the Dallas area over the past 25-plus years, winning several awards, but his restaurant carrying his name is our favorite. Located at 1807 Ross Avenue at St. Paul Street, it's in the heart of the Arts District in Dallas.

Tucked under the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge, at 279 Water Street, is a small red brick building that has been sitting there since 1794. The oldest serving tavern in New York City, it's been a food and beer shop, a restaurant, a pirate bar and a brothel. It hasn't been a brothel for a while now. In 1979, a young couple purchased the building, remodeled the space and opened the Bridge Café.

Ever wonder why some balsamic vinegars cost $5 at the local grocery store, but other smaller, albeit fancier, bottles and found only at specialty food stores cost $100?  It's all about the aging. You may also wonder if the price difference is worth it. After a tasting at Acetaia San Giacomo, I argue that there is a place for all versions, and even if you can't afford the $100 bottle vinegar, you can enjoy the unique, fabulous, sweet and sour taste of great balsamic.

Five years ago, my husband and I participated in a week-long cooking class and wine education, with Giuliano Hazan. Convinced by popular demand, Hazan agreed to host another cooking class for "alumni" students. We jumped on it.  It took us two years to get everything together to make it back to Villa Giona, but it was worth the wait.

Ferran Adria, the Catalan chef, performed cooking experiments which forever changed the El Bulli restaurant's place in cooking history and put this region of Spain in the center of a culinary paradigm shift.

Summer and ice cream. Ice cream cones on a hot summer day, ice cream with apple pie on the 4th of July, your mom's homemade fresh peach ice cream. Ice cream is a part of almost every summertime memory.

We may have missed the opportunity to dine with Michelle and Sasha Obama by going to the Boatyard Bar and Grill 2 days too late, but we didn't miss the chance for great seafood.

We are at the point in our marriage where the small gestures count more than extravagance in showing affection. Brewing coffee on Saturday morning, reading the paper together in our comfy kitchen chairs covered in terry robes, pointing out the stories that mean something to us, and occasionally reading them to each other. Dancing in the living room to a favorite song on iTunes, the comfortable and simple things. Cooking together in our kitchen, then sitting at the little square glass table with our simple meal and a glass of wine is another such experience.

I received this book as a birthday gift from a friend with whom we had a marvelous dinner at Per Se Restaurant in New York.  I love books about places I've been or want to go, especially those involving food and wine.