There’s no shortage of great food in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but with an influx of giant, themed mega-restaurants, you’ll want to fine tune your foodie radar to weed out some of the mediocrity. Go small instead of big. Go old instead of new. And go where there isn’t a mob of Manhattanites loitering on the curb. [...]
As I engaged in my weekly journey through the lower east village seeking sustenance I happened across the Cornerstone Cafe, right on the corner of 2nd st and Ave B, just north of Houston. I walked in with a mild sense of trepidation, as I have found some very unsavory places to lunch in this [...]
Ca’ Del Sole has long been one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants. Located in a little Mediterranean-style building with washed ‘mustard’ colored stucco walls and pots of geraniums on the outside walls, this is an Italian restaurant with a Tuscan flare. The main dining rooms are chic and inviting with displayed Italian pottery, beautiful framed [...]
Sometimes when spending time in Ojai, I feel as if I’ve stepped into the enchanted valley where Brigadoon was nestled. Ojai Valley is a jewel box filled with gems such as lavender fields, orange and lemon groves, music under the stars and pink moments off the Topa Topa mountains. The people are warm and friendly. [...]
110 W. Illinois St. Chicago, IL 60654 A new kid on the block in Chicago fine dining, Sunda takes its name from an extension of the geographical continental shelf of Southeast Asia and has crafted as its menu an amalgamation of the various cultures, spices and cooking techniques in the region. Japan, China, Vietnam, the [...]
While tooling around town today, my husband and I decided to try the new brasserie on Ventura Blvd. in our little Studio City, Calif. hamlet. It’s name: Bokado Market-Brasserie (Bokado is Spanish for little tastes or something like that) – Anyway, the restaurant is a Spanish influenced brasserie with an elegant, but simply designed room [...]
1647 N. Milwaukee Ave. Chicago, IL 60647 The tagline for this small, intimate space in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood is “Midwestern farmers, Mediterranean flavors.” They live up to this by utilizing four farms within 50 miles of Chicago to construct an Italian centered menu with influences from everywhere along the Mediterranean coast. Mado is BYOB- fresh [...]
It’s been some time since I waxed poetic about The Village Idiot’s smoked cheddar burger, kvelled over its mussels steamed in ale or lauded its brussel sprouts with bacon, but I’m here to praise this gourmet pub again… not the fish & chips with its malt vinegar dipping sauce or its oak grilled bangers & [...]
676 W. Diversey Parkway Chicago, IL 60614 If it’s great seafood you seek, you’ll find it in spades at Half Shell, in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. It’s a pretty simple joint- just a small menu offering all sorts of fish and sea creatures set in a garden level space which creates a dark, almost cave [...]
As I just returned from Monterey Bay Aquarium, here in Northern Ca., I wanted to give some insight into the seafood world. There are many fish that are great to eat and sustainable. These fish are abundant and caught and farmed in ways that are good for our environment. Farmed striped bass, talapia (US farmed) [...]
