(Roberta Deen) My sister and I are half Irish on my father’s side, from where and when we don’t know because family history was just never spoken about. We do know that at least three generations back. This past summer I had a chance to visit the Emerald Isle (below). The family landed in the middle of […]...
(Gerry Furth-Sides) Ambitious fundraiser, Cochon 555 (“5 chefs, 5 pigs, 5 winemakers”), trumpets itself as a national ten-city tour as “North America’s most talked about culinary competition.” The one-of-a-kind stand-up tasting reception features five local celebrity chefs cooking five heritage b...
WalletHub today released its annual St. Patrick’s Day By the Numbers report. This report highlights the green germane to this costly celebration – from the $4.4 billion that we’ll spend on St. Paddy’s Day 2016 to the $1.2 million market value of a pot of gold. Highlights include: $35.4: Average amount each St. Patr...
(Gerry Furth-Sides) When we voted first-place for taste to the Drago chefs’ Mushroom Truffle soup recently, we didn’t know we could (try to) duplicate it at home with the new Sabatino Tarfufi’s new truffle zest seasoning. In fact, we found that the claim is true of “just a very small amount elevates any dish to [&hel...
SUCRE Sweets Parisian Ice Cream & Bakeshop with its treasures of Syrian-influenced pastries sits demurely through the archway from Souk Shawarma, it’s savory “big brother” next door. And well it should — owner-pastry chef, Lauren is the younger sister of chef-owner, Andrew Faour, who partners with...
(Gerry Furth-Sides) “Souk” (market in Arabic) is an intriguing enough name to draw restaurant. What brings people back to the recently opened Souk Shawarma Cafe is the soul-filled food of chef partners (Syrian-American ) Andrew Faour and (Jamaican-American) Matt Carpenter. Souk stands as the only U.S. restaura...
(Gerry Furth-Sides ) Already at the age of seven, after the kids at school assumed my mother, who arrived in this country on a luxury liner, was “a gypsy” because she had dark hair, some sort of an accent and was wearing a beret, I knew there had to be a better word for “foreign-born […]...
(Gerry Furth-Sides) The best indication of SOL COCINA’s personality was already seen on opening nights when the restaurant pulled out all the stops — like offering a tray of tequila drinks as a guests greeting even before they stepped in the door. The third location of this Arizona based co...
Birch Chef, Brendon Collins (Gerry Furth-Sides) When people ask me for favorite restaurants of mine to try I recommend going to an events and try a lot at one time! For everyone looking to sample a number of gourmet global dishes from a variety of unique restaurants in the Pasadena area, as well as new restaurants to [&h...
(Gerry Furth-Sides) Ten to try European desserts either on the way to becoming American mainstream or there already are a welcome addition to the “usual suspects” stuck on too many restaurant menus. Even if you are not a dessert lover, these might change your mind; they did change mine. Canales at Proof, Atwater; ...
Gerry Furth-Sides 
Barbara Hansen 
Chef-owner Alain Cohen 
Roberta Deen 
Jose Martinez 
Nivedita Basu 