Where: JoLe: Farm to Table, Calistoga in Napa Valley Why we went: Napa Valley may be Michelin-star central, but JoLe caught our eye because its chef owners - Matt and Sonjia Spector – ran the insanely popular Matyson Restaurant back in Philadelphia. Since the husband-wife team moved to Calistoga,...

Used to be, visiting wineries in Napa Valley required some planning. You’d scout out the wineries you wanted to visit, made appointments when possible, and then made sure that someone in your group stayed sober enough to drive you between the different vineyards.So I was surprised (and yet intrigued)...

If you’re the type of couple that lives for great food and wine – and has the means to spend serious cash on it –  I’m not sure there’s anything more romantically decadent than a Napa Valley weekend. At least that’s how I felt on our May trip to California wine country....

 A Mayan pyramid in the middle of Argentina? Huh? That’s the first sign you have that Bodega Catena Zapata winery sees itself a little differently than the other Mendoza wineries.Luckily when you turn around, you get a sweeping view of the Andes….and the vast holdings of the Catena...

I’ve had some gluttonous experiences in my day. A four-hour extravagant dinner at Guy Savoy Paris. A multi-day rampage through New Orleans’ po-boy shops. A tasting menu with wine pairings at Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia that cost half our mortgage.But for sheer richness of food consumed,...

By Andy Hayes, contributing writer You’re likely familiar with Los Angeles’s big league food and drink scene – some of America’s most famous restaurants are here, not to mention see-and-be-seen bars and celebrity haunts.  But if you’re a foodie looking for the latest trends in California...

It was hard to miss Thirsty Girl at the New York Wine Expo last weekend: With banners, stickers, attention-getting T-shirts (“I don’t spit…”), the booth manned by high-energy women dispensing champagne was the buzziest corner of the room.   Thirsty Girl is the latest brainchild...

Of all the luck: the New York Wine Expo was going on at the same time as the New York Times Travel Show – in the same building, no less. So after the travel show, I headed to the other side of the Javits convention center for the Expo’s first Grand Tasting.

We had another fabulous night of cheese and charcuterie at Cheesetique, the cheese shop just down the street from us in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria. For $25, they put together a board of 3 cheeses and 3 meats, along with mustard, quince and cornichons. Here’s the lineup: Cheeses Brebirousse....