All Blog Posts Tagged 'lists' (12)

Social Media Foodie: Tweet To Engage, Build Community

During my time in college I had the opportunity to work for an organization on campus called The Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy (ICDD). ICDD was created in light of the lack of civility and intolerance that takes place so often in public discourse. Working with this organization gave me a strong foundation in the belief that everyone has something to say and to offer.

People are often engaged in discussions about the issues that affect them, but sometimes they need… Continue

Added by Josh Hersh on May 4, 2010 at 9:00am — 5 Comments

Loving lists

I'm one of those people who just love lists, all sorts of lists... Ten Best This, World's Worst That, etc. I enjoy them because they pack some punch into short articles or easy-to-scan items when I'm online. I also almost always find myself learning about new hot spots, movies, musical acts or whatever the topic is.

I just had amused myself with some of the restaurant-related lists on Forbes.com (while I won't be able to… Continue

Added by restaurantdotorg on July 14, 2008 at 8:06am — No Comments

Myths, Chocolates & Other Sweet Mysteries of Life

Oh, to be blissfully unimpeded by thought or effort when matching wine with food. There’s nothing wrong with the “drink-whatever-you-like” approach when it comes to that. Not much different than when it comes to cooking: whenever you’re hungry, just open up a can of your favorite food or stop by the nearest fast food joint on the way home.

But if you give what you want to eat some considerable thought – weighing the proportions of herbs and spices, picking out the exact fresh… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on May 7, 2008 at 5:53pm — 1 Comment

Great Plonk & Ideal Syrah/Shiraz Food Matches

By now, everyone who appreciates good wine has been long aware of the fact: South Australia produces some of the greatest red wines of the world, and its centerpiece is the rich and unruly Shiraz (otherwise known as Syrah in the rest of the world).

Without a doubt, the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, and Coonawarra are the three best known regions for Shiraz production in South Australia. Because of the fame of these districts, we are also beginning to see other wines from this state… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on May 1, 2008 at 2:06pm — No Comments

Common Wine Accents (and How to Apply Them)

Although as Americans, probably none of us (including myself) are as good as we should be about placement of correct accents in European wine related words, there’s really no excuse. It’s as important as spelling potato as potato, not potatoe (as one of our former vice presidents once did, for a classroom full of kids).

Let’s put it another way: if you’re serious about your wine program – be it restaurant or retail – then you’re serious about your spelling of European… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on April 24, 2008 at 8:22pm — 4 Comments

Everything is Coming Up Rosés

It’s spring, and everything should be coming up rosés. Oh, I know times are toughening up again. You aren’t seeing your regulars quite as often, and the rising cost of oil (and I mean, cooking oil) and everything else is making your P&Ls go haywire.

So maybe it’s time to start thinking radically rather laterally… something “new” to chill your rising ire and tickle your guests’ increasingly fickle fancy. Re this recent report in Wines & Vines: sales of rosés selling for… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on April 21, 2008 at 5:22pm — 4 Comments

Red Wine with Fish Revisted

The concept, red wine with fish, is now as firmly entrenched in culinary phraseology as red wine with meat and white wine with fish. Exactly how does this work, and why?

Almost twenty years ago David Rosengarten and Joshua Wesson wrote a book about it (Red Wine with Fish – out of print today), explicating a basic methodology that also applies to all wine and food matching. The thinking going that all wines and foods find their matches in two… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on April 17, 2008 at 2:38pm — 2 Comments

A Drunken Samurai's Way of Wine

Some curious, yet totally sensible, thoughts concerning why certain foods, and food and wine combinations, always seem to be so "right" for us once occurred to me when I reading about the period of Shojin Ryori in late 19th century Japan.

Influenced by the austere lifestyle of samurais and Zen Buddhists, Shojin Ryori was basically a vegetarian temple approach to cooking which placed emphasis on food of five colors (green, red, yellow, white… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on April 15, 2008 at 3:40pm — 1 Comment

How Is Your Wine Grape IQ?

How is your contemporary wine grape IQ? Are you up on the latest “alternative” varieties? Should you even care?

If a grape makes perfectly delicious wine, I would think yes to the last question. But for me, personally, I think a wine made from an alternative grape becomes significant the moment I have a perfectly matched dish for it. I like reasons for my wines.

And besides, the way I look at it: forty years ago Chardonnay wasn’t on anybody’s lexicon (most people… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on April 11, 2008 at 2:08pm — 5 Comments

(At Long Last) Deconstructing Umami

What is umami and why is everyone talking about it? I mean, aren't foods and wines complicated enough?

When I think of many of the natural food and beverage combinations I've enjoyed in my life – like sushi and beer, ‘ahi tuna and Pinot Noir, green tea and rice cakes, and maybe even corn chips and coke -- I used to think it was because various sensations of sweetness, saltiness, sourness, and even bitterness were coming together in perfect harmony and balance. But some time… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on April 10, 2008 at 1:05pm — 4 Comments

What's Cutting-Edge in Wine Programs Today?

What’s happening in restaurant wine programs today?

This question almost begs a look back twenty five, thirty years ago when I first started in the business, and was literally hand scripting 70, 80 selection wine lists, switching out pages of glass selections and new fangled California “boutique” wines on a weekly basis. Hard to believe, but White Zinfandel was considered an innovation in those days, and Riesling spätlesen, Sauvignon Blanc and even Chenin Blanc sold… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on March 17, 2008 at 8:31am — No Comments

Is Pinot Noir the Ultimate "Food Wine?"

It’s often said these days that Pinot Noir is the ultimate “food wine.” Not that it goes with “everything” or is the wine that everybody loves. But it does have the highest percentage chance of matching any specific dish than any other wine type.

Or does it? Well, let’s talk Pinot. Not all Pinots are alike, but generally speaking they come with a light to medium sized body, moderate and relatively soft tannin, mild but perceptive acidity, marked textural qualities (“velvet” or… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on March 15, 2008 at 10:16am — 8 Comments