It took much of my life to fall in love with bourbon, but my courtship with rye was a one-and-done event. I fell for it from the start: its lighter body, fruity roundness and tingly, busy edges sharpened further by pepper and herbs. Good rye is a boss in cocktails, an attention-commanding star of the show […]
Could Josh Moore’s ‘Chopped’ victory win me to TV food competition?
Outside of “Iron Chef,” I’ve never liked TV head-to-head chef competitions much. Such shows are commonly contrived events made barely interesting with ridiculous challenges, hyper-vocal commentators, absurd time constraints and mystery baskets of “who the hell eats these?” ingredients. And when it was announced that Volare Italian Restaurant executive chef and partner Josh Moore would […]
VPN certified or not, Pizza Lupo does Neapolitan pies masterfully
Pizza Lupo partner and pizzaiolo Max Balliet stands in his dining room wondering aloud whether to obtain the Vera Pizza Napoletana (VPN) certification for his young Butchertown pizzeria. After all, he claims to serve Neapolitan pizza, so what better way to assure guests they’re getting a version that’s as close to that served in Naples, […]