Pat, Author at Hungry Travelers

Pat

Author or co-author of more than 30 books and several hundred articles about travel and food, Pat was an arts administrator, a museum docent, and a tour guide before she embarked on her career as an author.

In praise of the Prinsesstärta

Posted on June 15, 2024June 15, 2024 by Pat

When I was in my late 20s, I lived in Pasadena, California. At least once a week, I would head to the very exotic-seeming Konditori where I would always order the same thing: a beautiful slice of Princess cake. I left Pasadena and Princess cake behind after a couple of years. I remembered it fondly but never encountered it again in my travels in the United States — or in western or even eastern Europe. It is an understatement to say that I'm delighted to discover that Prinsesstärta is practically the national dessert of Sweden. There are tempting slices and whole cakes at every konditori in town — and there are plenty of them. There are even whole cakes in the grocery stores. Could the...Read More

Home might have tasted like this, if only…

Posted on May 18, 2024May 18, 2024 by Pat

When I learned that baker Cherie Denham grew up in Northern Ireland watching her grandmothers and great aunts baking, I knew that I had to have a copy of the cookbook, The Irish Bakery. My own grandparents emigrated from County Armagh in Northern Ireland to work in the silk mills in Manchester, Connecticut. My mother had fond memories of her mother, Rebecca, standing at the stove cooking triangular soda bread farls on a cast iron skillet. But that was one of her few home cooking memories. Rebecca died young and was never able to teach her three daughters to cook. Whenever I visited Northern Ireland, I had strict instructions from my mother to bring soda bread farls home in my suitcase so that she and...Read More

Bourbon House knows the season’s spirits

Posted on December 22, 2023December 20, 2023 by Pat

I didn't make it to Dickie Brennan's Bourbon House (144 Bourbon St., New Orleans, La.; 504-522-0111; bourbonhouse.com) for a Reveillon dinner. But there was always lunch. I didn't want to leave New Orleans without enjoying a plate of shrimp and grits. One of New Orleans top seafood restaurants seemed like just the right place. With plump shrimp, spicy sausage, and creamy grits, the dish (at right) hit all the right flavor notes. I'd always assumed that the restaurant took its name from its location on the French Quarter's fabled Bourbon Street. But it turns out that proprietor Dickie Brennan, scion of a celebrated family of New Orleans restaurateurs, is a Bourbon connoisseur. The bar stocks about 250 American whiskeys. It's said to be the most...Read More

Delving into Revillon’s historic connections

Posted on December 20, 2023December 20, 2023 by Pat

New Orleans' Reveillon dinners are a link to the city's past. Tradition holds that during the mid-19th century, well-to-do families would feast on an elaborate meal after Mass on Christmas Eve and again on New Year's Eve. The practice had all but disappeared until the city's restaurants revived it with special Reveillon menus. The four-course meals range from $40 to $150, putting them in reach of many pocketbooks. I like a taste of history with my meal, so one afternoon, I visited the Gallier House museum (1132 Royal St., New Orleans, La.; 504-274-0748; hgghh.org) to see how a French Quarter family would have lived more than 150 years ago. The townhome with elaborate wrought iron balcony was designed by noted architect James Gallier, Jr. and...Read More

New Orleans feasts make merry at Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2023December 20, 2023 by Pat

Decorating a tree and baking cookies are fine Christmas traditions. But New Orleans has an especially festive — and tasty — tradition that I wish other communities would adopt. In this city where people's love of good food is exceeded only by their love of a good party, about 50 restaurants offer the chance for both. Starting after Thanksgiving and running through December, they create fixed-price four-course menus that are too good to resist. That was certainly the case for me and my friend Patti as we enjoyed a holiday reunion earlier this month. Click here for the full Reveillon list. Families, friends, and work colleagues fill many of the tables, but visitors are warmly welcomed. If you want to really fit in, wear something...Read More

Why not red chile with pancakes?

Posted on February 3, 2023January 21, 2023 by Pat

As a New Englander, I thought I knew everything that anyone would need to know about pancakes. They are pretty simple, really. Just pour on plenty of Vermont maple syrup, add a little pat of butter for good measure. And dig in. But Cafe Pascual's (121 Don Gaspar Avenue, Santa Fe, 505-983-9340, pasquals.com) in Santa Fe taught me a thing or two. For more than four decades, Cafe Pascual's has been serving three meals a day in a historic adobe building just a block off the main plaza. The colorful wall murals and old Mexican tiles make it a particularly cheery place to start the day. (Late risers can order off the breakfast menu until 3 p.m.) Like Rancho de Chimayó, it's a James Beard...Read More

Enjoying the culinary versatility of green chile

Posted on January 27, 2023May 15, 2023 by Pat

At home, we make a pretty traditional version of green chile cooked with onion, garlic, a little ground beef, and freshly crushed cumin and coriander seed. (We also add puréed tomatillos, but that's another story.) It's a staple of our diet, served over rice and topped with a bit of sour cream to soothe the heat. Or we spoon the sauce over eggs and tortillas as a verdant variation of huevos rancheros. My last visit to Santa Fe proved that green chiles are much more versatile. They can star equally in both casual and fine dining. The green chile cheeseburger, for example, has become an icon of New Mexican cuisine. The state tourism office modestly admits that it didn't invent the hamburger sandwich. (That honor...Read More

Going green (chile, that is) in northern New Mexico

Posted on January 20, 2023January 18, 2023 by Pat

Green chile is the signature flavor of New Mexico. The plant seems to thrive in the thin soils along the river and stream valleys feeding into the Rio Grande. Many cultivars are named for the towns north of Santa Fe, like Española and Chimayó. Albuquerque-based Hatch Chile Company has become synonymous with the best green chile peppers on the planet. Simply put, chile is the cornerstone of New Mexican cuisine. To get a taste of the state's traditional cooking, my friend Patti and I drove about 25 miles north to the little town of Chimayó. Situated in a valley of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, the town is perhaps most famous for the Santuario de Chimayó, a Catholic chapel some believe to have healing powers....Read More

Toasting Santa Fe’s Day of the Dead

Posted on January 13, 2023January 10, 2023 by Pat

Someday I'll look back and say that I was there at the beginning. When my friend Patti and I left San Antonio, Texas, we flew to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for that city's first official Day of the Dead observances. Santa Fe's two-day gathering was more modest that San Antonio's well-established event. But what it lacked in size, it made up for in heart. We missed the Friday-night kick-off, but were on hand for the full-day of events on Saturday. Early in the day, people gathered in Santa Fe Plaza to prepare ofrendas (as the altars to deceased loved ones are called), listen to strolling mariachis, and have their faces painted as skeletons and Catrinas. As darkness fell, lights twinkled from the trees and the...Read More

Pharm Table restaurant makes healthy eating fun

Posted on January 6, 2023December 30, 2022 by Pat

Say “Texas” and most people think “beef.” So the quality of the beef that I enjoyed in San Antonio was in line with my expectations, even at the iconic fast-food joint Whataburger (see previous post). But Pharm Table restaurant (611 S Presa St., Suite 106; (210) 802-1860; pharmtable.com) was a delightful revelation. Chef Elizabeth Johnson is on a mission to surprise diners in this beef-centric state with plant-forward dishes that are delicious, satisfying, and fun to eat. That's not to say that Johnson doesn't take healthy eating seriously. Her plant-forward cuisine is informed by research from the Harvard School of Public Health, among other institutions, and by the principles of Ayurvedic eating. “I realized that it was my calling to bring vegetables and plants back...Read More