Restaurants Archives - Page 10 of 27

Restaurants

Cafe Pasqual’s in Santa Fe also feeds the spirit

Posted on September 6, 2018September 3, 2018 by Pat and David

There's a tradition in the pantheon of Catholic saints to consider San Pasqual as the patron saint of cooks and kitchens. Paschal Baylón was a late 16th century Spanish lay Franciscan brother who was known for adding vegetables, meat, and pieces of bread to the thin broth given to the poor. Cafe Pasqual's (121 Don Gaspar Ave., 505-983-9340, pasquals.com) has been dishing out three meals a day since 1979. Founder and executive chef Katharine Kagel, originally from Berkeley, California, has kept up the charitable heritage. She helped create Santa Fe's food bank and co-chairs the capital campaign for Kitchen Angels, the group that provides free hot meals delivered to Santa Fe's homebound. In 1999, just the second year of awarding America's Classics awards, the James...Read More

Santa Fe’s Shed earns its James Beard Classic stripes

Posted on September 3, 2018September 2, 2018 by Pat and David

We've learned to trust the James Beard Foundation for more than pointers to chefs on the cutting edge or up-and-comers bound to be the culinary superstars of tomorrow. The “James Beard America's Classics” honors tradition by highlighting a few top practitioners of regional cuisine. So when we were in Santa Fe for Indian Market last month, we made a beeline for that city's two Beard Classics. We began at The Shed (113 E Palace Ave., 505-982-9030, sfshed.com). If you're strolling up East Palace Avenue under the arcade to stay out of the sun, The Shed is hard to miss. A colorful sign under the arcade points you inside to Prince Patio, a 1692 hacienda where the restaurant occupies the patio and several of the surrounding...Read More

Fundraiser gala fare channels Shaker spirit

Posted on August 15, 2018August 9, 2018 by Pat and David

In early August, we had the pleasure of attending the annual fundraising Gala at Hancock Shaker Village (hancockshakervillage.org). One of the more prosperous of Shaker communities in the Northeast, “The City of Peace,” as its inhabitant called it, reached its height in the 1830s. More than 300 Shakers worked 3,000 acres of land just west of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the heart of the Berkshires. Since 1959, the community has been a history museum with 20 original buildings, a working farm, a wealth of Shaker artifacts, and many excellent interpretive programs. The village's signature building is the Round Stone Barn, pictured at the top of the post. It's a landmark structure in America vernacular architecture. We ate dinner at tables in the hayloft level. Shaker beliefs...Read More

Two new cookbooks pique our appetite for travel

Posted on July 17, 2018 by Pat and David

For the last couple of weeks, we've been staring at a pair of cookbooks on our living room coffee table. One is Gunpowder: Explosive Flavors from Modern India, the other Levant: New Middle Eastern Cooking from Tanoreen. But instead of inspiring us to rush to Whole Foods and stock up on ingredients, they're making us consider booking some airline tickets. We tend to read cookbooks the way some people read guidebooks. We realize that this tendency works against our long-term interests, since we actually write guidebooks and don't write recipe books. But we can't help ourselves. Food is the easiest gateway into culture, and as we read the recipes, we imagine ourselves in distant kitchens. It doesn't hurt that both books are written by expatriate...Read More

Chinatown noodles fortify jazz buffs

Posted on July 1, 2018June 30, 2018 by Pat and David

Montreal's small but bustling Chinatown sits between the east end of downtown and Old Montreal. It's literally steps from the Place des Festivals where outdoor concerts and performances take place during the Jazz, Circus, and Comedy festivals. The neighborhood is a remnant of the days when Chinese laborers helped build the Canadian railroads, which were headquartered in Montreal. Like most Chinatowns in North America, the community has welcomed immigrants from Southeast Asia. (Montreal is a worldwide magnet for people leaving former French colonies, including Indo-China.) Nonetheless, the neighborhood still maintains a Chinese identity. Pedestrian rue de la Gauchtière is lined with all manner of gift shops, grocers, and restaurants. But at lunchtime (any day but Monday), we like to detour to Restaurant Noodle Factory, a...Read More

Indoor casual food alternative during Jazz Festival

Posted on June 30, 2018June 29, 2018 by Pat and David

No one needs to go hungry or thirsty during the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. Lots of festival food vendors are posted throughout the pedestrianized areas within the Quartiers des Spectacles. The kiosks scattered throughout the plazas between stages have plenty of pulled pork, pizza, poutine, giant hot dogs, beaver tails, ice cream, beer, and wine for sale. But sometimes it pays to look beyond the obvious and duck indoors to find some less predictable food. The Complex Desjardins is located on rue Ste-Catherine right in front of the Rio Tinto stage and across the street from MAC, the Musée d'Art Contemporain. The stage inside Desjardins is oriented to music for youngsters at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. College musicians perform at 5 p.m....Read More

Multiculturalism jazzes up the menu on the Plateau

Posted on June 28, 2018June 30, 2018 by Pat and David

Like many Montrealers, the new gentry of the Plateau prize authenticity. How else to explain the nostalgic appeal of old-fashioned restaurants from an earlier era? Francophone points of reference like La Binerie and Jewish touchstones like Schwartz's are treasures for the whole city, but they cannot be separated from the Plateau. Here are three spots to get historic tastes of Montreal when you're visiting for the Jazz Festival. Schwartz's Smoked Meat There's nearly always a line out front of this narrow deli that has occupied the same spot on The Main (as Anglophones used to call boulevard Saint-Laurent) since 1928. But it rarely takes more than fifteen minutes before you'll be seated family style at a long table. Then things move pretty quickly. Everyone orders...Read More

Sentimental Journey: Old neighborhood tastes of Mile End

Posted on June 25, 2018June 30, 2018 by Pat and David

Sometimes we pine for the old days of Montreal tribalism. Living on Le Plateau meant you spoke French at home and ate feves au lard every Saturday night. Growing up in Mile End meant you spoke English at home (with maybe a little Yiddish) and were by birth an expert on bagels. Mind you, the two neighborhoods are so close that Montreal Tourism lumps them together. Mile End extends east from Parc Mont-Royal to boulevard Saint-Laurent, and north from boulevard Saint-Joseph to the railroad tracks. Through most of the twentieth century, it was home to aspiring immigrants, including many Central and Eastern European Jews immortalized in the novels of native son Mordecai Richler (The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz). Nowadays, it's pretty cosmopolitan, filled with good...Read More

Tea with a Scottish burr in the Balmoral’s Palm Court

Posted on May 19, 2018May 17, 2018 by Pat and David

Any visitor who relishes the Scottish baronial architectural style of Edinburgh's central core has imagined a night at The Balmoral Hotel (1 Princes Street, Edinburgh; + 44 (0)131-556-2414; roccofortehotels.com/the-balmoral-hotel). The grand railway hotel opened in 1902 to complement Waverly Station and remains the most storied hotel in the city. With rooms starting around $325 and quickly rising, its elegant comforts are out of reach for many. But the hotel offers one sweet, not quite so dear indulgence. Book afternoon tea in the Palm Court, one of the classiest, most elegant rooms in Edinburgh. You can take in the surroundings as you linger over a tiered tray of sandwiches and savories, hot scones with clotted cream and preserves, a seasonal selection of pastries, and a choice...Read More

Gourmet pioneer Cafe Gandolfi a Glasgow must

Posted on May 2, 2018April 30, 2018 by Pat and David

Every city's gastronomic revolution has its pioneers, and one of the most important in Glasgow is probably Cafe Gandolfi (64 Albion St., 0141-552-6813, cafegandolfi.com). When photographer Iain Mackenzie opened the restaurant in 1979 in the city's old cheese market offices, he was running against the tide. Adventurous foodies would take a taxi from Central Station, about a 10-minute walk, because the old Trongate neighborhood was so shady. Now Gandolfi is one of several good restaurants in “Merchant City,” the newish moniker for the redeveloped district. The current owner, Seumas MacInnes, came to work as a kitchen hand in 1983 and took over the reins from Mackenzie in 1995. By all accounts, it was a seamless passing of the baton between two Gaels whose families hail...Read More