Regular readers have met my good friend, Jonathan Breul, most recently here. When not eating barbecue or lobster, Jon is a leading expert in government organization and efficiency. No, really. There is such a thing. At least Jon tells me there is. I’ve never seen it, but Jon has made a distinguished career out of it. Leading governmental and academic institutions suffering dysfunction hire Jon for his … Continue reading Best Government Response to Lockdowns
Max McMullen Clark is one of London’s rising young chefs. Nancy and I know him through our close friendship with his grandparents, Debbie and Jeremy McMullen. You caught a glimpse of Jeremy, now, alas, deceased, here (scroll down for the glimpse), and, more recently, Debbie was our companion and expert restaurant guide when were in Paris together all too briefly last year. See here and here. … Continue reading Max McMullen Clark’s Curried Chick Peas
Let’s try this — on Thursdays, I plan to re-post reviews of restaurants from earlier days of the Blog as a service to our more recent readers. Here’s a post on the best barbecue place in Europe, and a Top Place by any standard. ### Wow! That was my reaction to my first bite of brisket at Pendergast Smokehouse in Amsterdam. I was stunned by … Continue reading A Look Back at the Best Barbecue in Europe: Pendergast Smokehouse, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The blog relies heavily on our Senior Correspondents, and perhaps the most faithful are our Senior France correspondents, Barbara Somson and Ross Eisenbrey. Ross surfaced recently across the border in Switzerland in the medieval village of Gruyères, which, of course, is most famous for the cheese. The Gruyerois started making cheese there in the 12th century, and after 1,000 years or so of practice, they’ve … Continue reading Fleur de Lys, Gruyères, Switzerland
One of the joys of travel in France is, of course, gazing longingly at the food in the markets and in shop windows. A greater joy is eating that food. At one level, you can just grab a baguette and a piece of camembert and some pate and head for a park, a bench, or back to your hotel room for an indoor picnic. But … Continue reading Dining Chez Eisenbrey-Somson in France
The latest restaurant report from our Senior France Correspondents, Barbara Somson and Ross Eisenbrey, is on their dinner at Chez Simone, a restaurant set on the harbor in Collioure. The view is of the sea, sailboats, and the local Notre Dame, with its church tower that used to be a lighthouse. Collioure is a lovely town near Port Vendres, a few miles from the Spanish border. … Continue reading Chez Simone, Collioure, France
Our peripatetic Senior France correspondents, Ross Eisenbrey and Barbara Somson settled down for a bit in Port Vendres, a city on the Mediterranean in southeastern France, where the mountains come down to meet the Mediterranean. They were just across the border with Catalonia, the northeastern corner of Spain, and the Catalan influence naturally bleeds into France. Barbara reports from the pretty little Pyrénées town of … Continue reading La Galerie, Cèret, France
I am back from the beach and sorting through reports from our Senior France Correspondents, Barbara Somson and Ross Eisenbrey as they travel about France, often well in advance of their luggage. Their first, understandably laconic report was from Orleans: In Orléans, at L’Étage, we had a light supper of (risotto aux écrevisses, pois gourmands et chips de jambon cru accompagné d’un jus de viande, … Continue reading L’Étage, Orléans, France and La Cave Ô Délices.Montauban, France
This is the 13th and final post of our 2019 trip to France. The number 13 could not be more appropriate. What do you do when you have to wake up at 2:15 to put out your suitcases to be taken to the bus that will whisk you to the Marseilles airport in the dead of night, and, after a quick flight, find yourself in … Continue reading Anton and Anni’s, Frankfurt Airport, Germany
As promised, here’s a post on the food on our Viking river cruise down the Rhône from Lyon to Arles (and back to Avignon for the departure). I did not catalogue all of the dishes available, or all of the dishes Nancy and I ate, but this should give you a good idea of what to expect when you take a river cruise. I’ll say … Continue reading The Food on Viking River Cruises
