If you ever want to make a real splash at a summer-themed food and drink festival, I recommend grabbing your cutest dogs, (preferably ones belonging to you and/or your friends), sticking them in a wagon, adding adorable shirts or handkerchiefs as necessary, and wheeling ’em around the extravaganza while attendees watch with glee. This is […]
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“5:30.” “In the morning?” “Yes. And everyone showed up.” I was sitting in the corner booth at Newport Beach’s latest bay-side dining experience, Lido Bottle Works, about to dive into an expertly seared halibut set before me moments before by Executive Chef Joel Harrington. From what I could already tell, the chef commands his kitchen […]
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I can think of a whole lot of reasons why one would attend a beer festival, and not all of them include beer. For example: If you’re about that gourmet, one-of-a-kind fusion food truck life, then cool, come on down and have yourself a Hawaiian pizza burrito. If you want to listen to cover bands […]
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I saw the brochure before I sipped the wine. It was a thin and narrow thing, glossy, with a dark, black background and it sat inconspicuously on the edge of the EB Winery booth at the California Wine Festival in Dana Point, CA. A few words, printed with clean font along the bottom-left corner, read: “Follow our dream […]
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There’s always a palpable tension when attending any wine festival that’s equal parts intimidating and exhilarating. Will you say something weird about the legs of the wine and have to run to an entirely different section of the festival because of that weird thing you just said? Will you bump into a man wearing a […]
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By Melissa Kandel Sushi is best enjoyed with a slice of jalapeño on top and beer is at its finest when of the craft variety, chilled to the glass. This was the philosophy occupying my mind as I sat in quiet contemplation, laptop unfolded, at a small table on the balcony of The Backhouse Yakitori, a haute-cuisine […]
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By Melissa Kandel The single-greatest goal when attending a food festival is to eat. (Obviously.) If I were to write My Ultimate Guidebook for Crushing Food Fests: A Retrospective from Someone Who Possibly Knows, I’d include that on Page 1. Maybe even just the word “eat” in a kind of swirly lettering that’s stylish and […]
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To be honest, Iron Chef America always seemed more like a bad ’80s Japanese action movie with zero gory fight scenes than it did a fiercely competitive cooking show but nevertheless, I’m pretty stoked for its Food Network return on April 16, 9 p.m. ET/PT. Hosted by the incomparable Alton Brown, Iron Chef Gauntlet seeks to determine which […]
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There’s no reason to eat French Toast if you don’t soak the bread all the way through. It’s a culinary dictum taught to me by my late grandfather, who would stand in the black-and-white tiled, Long Island kitchen of my childhood every Sunday, a tall silhouette of broad shoulders and gray hair. For ten, fifteen […]
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My Winter Flu Soup was such an unexpected hit, I figured it’s only right to keep the food trend going with a hearty pasta dish. Make no holiday mistake about it, this is a wintry meal and it’s made to be enjoyed in your coziest wool socks and old, soft sweatshirt as you twirl the delicate strands […]
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