Recently in General Category

By Robert Farmer

Portland, Oregon: If you care enough about wine to read websites devoted to it (this one, for example), I'm guessing you also care enough about food to use the Internet to learn and make better decisions about food. So let me tell you about my new favorite website. It's called Culinate.com and it is one of the best among many food-related websites popping up from one end of the web to the other.

By Robert Farmer

Recently my wife and I ventured out for an increasingly rare night on the town for dinner without our new baby. To us, such an occasion is special, so we set out for one of our favorite special occasion restaurants in San Francisco.

Though the place isn't one of the high-voltage restaurants that most people in SF correlate with a special occasion, it is a local favorite, which consistently earns high marks with critics and area foodies alike. Also, they have an exceptional wine list to match their gorgeous menu.

by Courtney Cochran

Brenda and Dylan had The Peach Pit. Rachel and Ross had Central Perk. Even Carrie and Samantha shared many a gab fest in the same sunny Manhattan diner (what was it called??).

Whether we're talking 90210, 10010 or right here in wine country, there's an undeniable fascination with dining haunts frequented by our favorite locals. And, lucky for wine country travelers, the spots in our own backyard are much more accessible than their fictional TV counterparts.

By Courtney Cochran

Tea & Cookies
"It is the intersection of food and life that I find most fascinating," Seattle-based food blogger "Tea" explains of the MO behind her popular blog, Tea & Cookies, which focuses as much on the stories behind food as the good stuff itself. In a recent post, the professional writer - who goes by the pseudonym Tea to remain anonymous - chronicles her quest to make the perfect pita, a process that begins with a Sunday morning itch to bake and follows the author as she grapples with a fear of yeast and failed attempt at making her pita dough rise.

In the culinary world, the term "award-winning" is tossed around like so many mushrooms sautéed in a skillet. But sometimes the term actually means something, and some restaurants and chefs just seem to rack up the awards faster than others. Especially in Wine Country, where the competition is fierce, the awards and accolades a particular place earns can mean the difference between good and great.

By Courtney Cochran

IKEA got it right:  Give design conscious customers appealing, easy-to-assemble furniture at reasonable prices, and - presto! - they score designer-caliber furnishings, a feeling of accomplishment and even cross the finish line with enough dough left in the bank to splurge on the matching ottoman.

Everyone wins.

By Courtney Cochran
Leave it to wine country dwellers to divine a venue where you can master downward dog, realign your chakras and dine on sustainably farmed eats and drink all in one place.  At Napa's new Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio (ubuntunapa.com), a daily roster of classes including Ashtanga, Hatha, prenatal and Vinyasa techniques is complemented by - what else? - vegetarian-inspired cuisine crafted from goods sourced from local farms and the spot's nearby biodynamic gardens.

by Courtney Cochran

If the flurry of construction that's been underway along the waterfront in downtown Napa is any indicator, the once-sleepy city is on the brink of becoming a major tourist destination. And the Oxbow Public Market (oxbowpublicmarket.com) - at just three months' old one of the newest additions to the downtown area - may be one of the city's most promising new arrivals.  Read on for the scoop on our favorite purveyors in this venue that looks poised to become the next big thing in a whole new Napa.

by Courtney Cochran

When I was a freshman at UCLA a decade ago, the school was considered ahead of its time - and ranked as one of the nation's top college campuses for dining - thanks to its "high end" cafeteria embellishments like a DIY pizza bar and made-to-order omelets on weekends.

by Courtney Cochran

Like the always-chic little black dress, chocolate never goes out of style.  Whether prepared in a winter-perfect soufflé format, drizzled over ice cream during the summer months or tucked into a decadent truffle that's perfect any season, chocolate gets it right every time.  Read on for tips on pairing wine with this timeless treat, as well as insights on some of the best spots to try your hand at wine and chocolate pairing in person.  

The highly anticipated announcement of this year's finalists for the James Beard Foundation Awards (jbfawards.com) counts some of wine country's brightest stars among its honorees.  Dubbed "the Oscars of the food world" by TIME Magazine, the "JBF" awards have been recognizing North America's top food and beverage professionals, broadcast journalists, authors and restaurant designers since 1990 at their annual awards gala at Lincoln Center.  Past recipients include Jacques Pépin, Joel Robuchon, Thomas Keller and Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards - to name just a few.

By Courtney Cochran

Spend enough time in a wine country brew pub and you'll sooner or later hear the favorite mantra of wine country bartenders, "It takes a lot of good beer to make great wine."  And while beer's popularity with the winemaking cognoscenti may not come as a huge surprise, its affinity for cheese probably does. That's right, like wine beer can pair beautifully with an array of fromages from Muenster to Morbier, and often does so even more gracefully than vino itself.

By Natalie MacLean

Breakfast in a gulp, lunch on the go and dinner on the run. Life in the fast lane seems to have bypassed the slow, ancient pleasures of the table. However, an amiable group of gastromes hopes to put an end to our nuke-it-and-eat-it culture.

With a charming chiocciolina (small snail) as its mascot and a philosophy that advocates the defence of pleasure, Slow Food, an international organization with 30,000 members in 35 countries is helping members rediscover the flavours of regional cooking and fresh local produce. The group believes that small doses of sensual pleasure preserve us from the fast and frozen food, the enemies of contemplative cuisine.