Green flash or no, Michigan's dune country is cool and homey
Geologists say the Sleeping Bear dune that towers 300 feet above Lake Michigan's blue-green waters here is simply a few billion tons of sand ground fine by glaciers, tugged down by gravity and piled...
View ArticleWinning the peace in Russia
The national sport of the Soviet Union, as you know, is drinking. The country's national obsession is not politics; it is drinking. Its current national crisis is neither the economy nor the...
View ArticleSnapshots of South Africa
How could I absorb a country in a week? Especially one as complex and contradictory as this? I couldn't. Dashing frantically from sensation to exotic sensation, at the peak of endurance every 18-hour...
View ArticleTaking a South Africa dining safari
An American dining in South Africa might not realize at first that he or she is away from home. Most of the food is that familiar. But just a little digging turns up some exotic differences.
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The wines of Chile
Standing atop the stone staircase on Cerro Santa Lucia, the hill on which this city was founded in 1541, looking east past the verdant vineyards that dot the suburbs, you can see the dramatic,...
View ArticleNew York's wine country
It's a cool, sunny morning, and the wineries of the Finger Lakes Wine Trail, in the rolling, vine-covered hills that slope down to deep blue Keuka, Seneca and Cayuga lakes in central New York, are...
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Vegas cuisine: New restaurants advance the city's reputation
A waiter at Picasso, the elegant restaurant in the Bellagio Hotel whose walls boast eight real (if minor) paintings by that fabled artist, reports that one diner recently ordered six $19 servings of...
View ArticleFor richer or for poorer, New Orleans won't lighten up
New Orleans, "The City That Care Forgot," clings proudly to the cuisine that time forgot, its huge portions, rich sauces and decadent desserts, be they in the Creole tradition of the seafood gumbo at...
View ArticleStunning wines, rich and opulent, emerge from Priorato
High in the Serra de Montsant mountains 100 miles southwest of Barcelona, an intrepid group of winemakers has banded together to take an ancient, fallen wine area and restore it to past glories. It's...
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Cuisine mirrors savory Thai culture
"You can eat spicy, sir?" Every time I order in a restaurant in this noisy, steamy, teeming, traffic-clogged, friendly and fascinating city, they ask me that. With the sweetest of smiles. But I'm...
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Castles of Tuscany now welcome (tourist) invaders
In the rolling hills of Tuscany, where the sun casts a yellow-green glow over the landscape, causing the grape vines and olive trees to vibrate with color, every good-sized hilltop sports an ancient...
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Hip sips: A guide to South Florida wine tastings
Listen carefully. That slurping sound you hear is from all the wine tastings -- a score or more -- happening at shops, restaurants and hotels around South Florida each week.
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Washington State: The nation's other wine country
When hard-charging former Texas Instruments exec Kathy Charlton offered Bordeaux winemaker Benoit Murat a job in her new winery on the Pacific Ocean side of Seattle in 1999, he wondered if she was...
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Fred Tasker on wine: Merlot is a softer alternative to cabernet sauvignon
Why drink merlot when most people agree cabernet sauvignon is the king of wines? Here’s why. When I throw a big dinner, it's surprising how many guests say cabs are too tannic and powerful, and...
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Fred Tasker on wine: Italian wines for your best meals
Years ago, preparing to go abroad, I bought a 300-page book on Italian wine and painstakingly wrote down the name of every wine in it.
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Fred Tasker on wine: Sauvignon blancs range from tart to sweet
France, New Zealand and Chile make some exceptional and affordable bottles.
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Book it: A summer reading list for wine fans
What kind of person reads a 620-page book listing all 2,000 native Italian grapes? Or an off-the-wall mystery that involves murder in a vineyard in Provence?
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Pop prosecco for backyard grilling sessions
Men, for good or ill, are twice as likely as women to do the family’s outdoor grilling — a stat that hasn’t changed in decades, according to a national poll by market-research group NPD.
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For the World Cup, fill your cup with South American wines
U.S. foodies love wines from South America. We think of them as rich, fruity, friendly to our palates and pocketbooks.
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Summer white wines are cool to drink cold
When the heat of summer arrives, fashionistas break out their white clothes, and we foodistas break out our white wines. Not just any whites. We avoid the powerful, oaky chardonnays with full body and...
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Eat what you like for July 4th, and drink accordingly
A big advantage to the fact that America is a melting pot is that there is no single great national dish. One of the freedoms we enjoy on the Fourth of July is to eat anything we want.
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Like drinking wine, interacting with a sommelier should be stress-free
Just what is a sommelier and how do you use one? It’s important if you’re having dinner in an elegant restaurant with your boss, future in-laws or new squeeze you’re trying to impress.
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Drink better Beaujolais beyond the holidays
If you’re a wine fan and a party animal, you probably stayed up until 12:01 a.m. last Nov. 21 and drove to your favorite wine shop to buy a bottle of the 2013 Beaujolais Nouveau on its official...
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It’s time to give syrah another shot
Speaking of a St. Louis restaurant years ago, Yogi Berra famously said, “Nobody goes there anymore; it’s too crowded.”
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Prosecco production bubbles past champagne
The king is dead; long live the king! The French invented the term long ago to bid farewell to a deceased monarch and pledge fealty to a new one.
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Crisp and affordable, Spanish white wines won’t dent your wallet
When we talk about Spanish wines, it’s easy to think only of its reds — the flagship tempranillos of the Rioja region, the august wines of Ribera del Duero, the trendy new offerings from Priorat.
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Marvelous malbec deserves to be discovered
In a restaurant in Buenos Aires, I ordered a “half” parrillada, so they plunked down only about five pounds of beef on the grill on my table.
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Start your diets, save your dimes: South Beach Wine and Food Festival unveils...
10 highlights from the newly announced lineup
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Northern Italian red wines are big, bold and hearty
Italians eat heartily. Well, a lot of them do. Wild boar bagged by hunters in the mountains. Big steaks scented with garlic and rosemary. Tripe in tomato sauce. Pasta dishes heavy with butter, cream,...
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