By some feat of great fortune, during the only two weeks I was home last fall, I squeezed in a lunch with representatives of Alamos and Gascón  wineries at Perbacco in San Francisco. Of course, their wines were there, too. 😉 And delicious food, all free to me by the hospitality of my hosts. It
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I’ve been to Minneapolis a number of times, but somehow, I hadn’t made it to neighboring St. Paul, the capitol of Minnesota. So on my last trip to the area, I was determined to spend an afternoon there. It didn’t make any sense to this wanderluster to be that close to the city and never
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Little Star is a small gourmet-pizza chain with three outlets in San Francisco. We chose it for an early dinner on a Saturday afternoon because it had the best ratings for open eateries in that neck of the Mission at that time, aside from the also-appealing arepas spot across the street. At 3 pm, the
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Izalco Catering is a Salvadoran catering business that serves up pupusas at the San Ramon Farmers’ Market every week. That just happens to be near my husband’s workplace, so I joined him for lunch one Thursday afternoon, and we ordered five of their pupusas to share. As you can see, they are each about the
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When I went to school in Santa Cruz, Star Bene was one of the fancier restaurants I heard about but never had the chance to go to because (a) it was outside the range of my college student budget and (b) none of my dates chose it for dinner. Thus, it remained an out-of-reach of
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Firehouse Subs Sampling and Talk with the Founder Two weeks ago, I was invited to the Firehouse Subs on Kildaire Farms Road in Cary for a night of sub sandwich and soda tasting with my blogging peers. The real draw for me was the chance to hear Robin Sorenson, who founded Firehouse Subs with his
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In Part 1 of our journey through two days of Brooklyn’s food and drink wonders, we started out in DC with some bacon and toffee waffles, then went to dinner at Buttermilk Channel in Brooklyn, and had brunch at Colonie the next day. Brunch was walked off with a visit to the waterfront and lovely
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L’Uva Enoteca 406 Blackwell Street Tobacco District, Durham Website Lunch: $9–$15 L’Uva opened in the American Tobacco District last year, replacing a sushi restaurant that didn’t seem able to adapt to the crowds from the Durham Performing Arts Center. In its place is an upscale spot that focuses on using local ingredients to bring together
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La Volta 411 Fayetteville Street Downtown Raleigh Website Entrees: $13–$20 La Volta is an Italian restaurant on Fayetteville Street, right off the pretty City Plaza stretch of downtown Raleigh, which means it’s a prime location for people watching, especially if there’s a costume convention in town. There are plenty of outdoor tables, but I found
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Panciuto 110 South Churton Street Downtown Hillsborough Website Entrees: $22–25 Panciuto is an upscale eatery with Italian flair on the main strip of Hillsborough. They display the names of the farms they source from proudly on the tables. It’s a cozy space with brick and cream walls, dark wood, a fireplace, and a subtle, curvy
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