Entries from July 2008

July 30, 2008

Sipping Chianti Amid Met Treasures-A Summer Pleasure

One of my favorite places to have a drink in New York is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The food is not great, the olives are always too spicy and the wine is so-so but there is something about sitting in that space that brings me to other lands and adds a sense of grandeur [...]

July 28, 2008

Ferrari and Bruce

In addition to being an italophile of the first order, I am also a crazed Bruce Springsteen fan. Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking my mother to her second Bruce concert. Seeing Bruce 10 minutes away from home, surrounded by thousands of people who love him as I do, is one of the very [...]

July 26, 2008

Not Just For Tourists

I saw this sign as I was taking a walk in Trastevere in June of this year.  I guess this was supposed to make you want to eat in the restaurant but I confess, it didn’t inspire me. It is true that tourists are often treated to ridiculous prices and not great food in some [...]

July 24, 2008

Sara Perez, A Young Female Enologist From Mas Martinet and Venus La Universal

I met Sara Perez of Spanish wineries Mas Martinet and Venus La Universal at the Society of Wine Educators conference in New Orleans in May of this year. She was speaking on a panel entitled Female Finesse: Outstanding Women Winemakers about her wines and the difficulties that female enologists (winemakers) encounter. She was the first [...]

July 21, 2008

Appellation NYC- Gravner & Co.

Yesterday I was melting in the heat with a friend on 10th avenue when lo and behold I saw an apparition  in the distance- Appellation NYC. I had been hoping to visit this wine store for a bit but had never gotten around to it. I wasn’t disappointed. Scott Pactor has created a truly different [...]

July 18, 2008

Nizza – A little je ne sais quoi…

I recently had a drink with a friend at the very trendy wine bar/restaurant that is part of a growing restaurant empire known as the Tour de France Restaurant Group. I had no idea that the super crowded Nice Matin on 79th/Amsterdam had relatives all over the city including Marseille right on 44th street next [...]

July 15, 2008

Anniversaries in NYC

Every family has restaurants that are the scenes of family birthdays, anniversaries and a variety of celebratory experiences. When I was a child, my family used to celebrate occasions in Manhattan at a restaurant on 72nd and 3rd called Faye & Allen’s. I loved the blue and white decor, the sesame seed bread sticks my [...]

July 15, 2008

Vernaccia di San Gimignano & the Mona Lisa- What do they have in common? The Guicciardini Strozzi Family

Principessa Natalia Guicciardini Strozzi I had the good fortune to meet Natalia at the Society of Wine Educators conference in New Orleans in May of this year. She was on a panel entitled “Female Finesse: Outstanding Women Winemakers” together with Catherine Faller of Domaine Weinbach in France and Sara Perez of Mas Martinet in Spain. [...]