Confessions of a Trader Joe’s Wine Buyer
I like to drink wine, but of all the essential criteria for being a foodie or gastronome or epicure, I’m weakest on the wine side of things.  I’ve enjoyed some of the best of the “B” wines: Bordeaux, Burgundy, Barbaresco and Barolo.  I visit wine shops and buy my fair share.  I’m willing to follow [...]

Southern Folks and Southern Foodways
I’m sipping a cold beer on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, lazing about on a screened-in porch in rural Mississippi.  The conversation goes from football to Brazilian forestry camps and then to food.  Ah, the conversation always gets back to food, and that’s because I’m surrounded by chefs, who I’ve learned, love to “talk shop” more [...]

Busy Bee Beer Dinners — Not Your Standard Bar Food
If you’ve been to Raleigh’s Busy Bee Cafe, you’ll find a fairly typical menu of sandwiches and salads.  Small plates and entrees.  They’re all good, and the bar is certainly well-stocked, but once a month, the kitchen — or rather, Chef Jeremy Clayman — really lets its hair down.  These beer dinners are when Clayman [...]

Rules for the Front of the House
Bruce Buschel is opening a restaurant in the East End of Long Island, and although he’s never done this before — hey, I can relate — he has a bunch of rules for the front of the house.  Well, he actually has 100 Rules.  The first 50 rules are found here and the second 50 [...]

Opening a Wine Bottle Without a Corkscrew
This is a video of a very intoxicated individual.  But a brilliant intoxicated individual.  I’ve never tried to open a wine bottle this way, but I want to now.  Please attempt this at your own risk.  The action begins around the 45 second mark. Posted in General Tagged: Corkscrew, Genius, Wine [...]