http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/tasting-room Ray Isle's Wine Blog en-us Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:16:06 -0500 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:40:31 -0500 BlogCFC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/12/23/NYC-Escape-from-Shopping-Madness Midtown Manhattan this time of year is one of the more frenetic places one can find oneself, but I've found an excellent escape hatch. Go to the I. M. Pei-designed Four Seasons Hotel on 57th Street, go through the revolving doors, up the stairs, ... Restaurants Wine Bars Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:40:31 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/12/23/NYC-Escape-from-Shopping-Madness Ray Isle http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/11/19/Drinks-at-Drink I finally made it to Boston this weekend so that I could grab a stool at Barbara Lynch's newest spots, Sportello and Drink. The dishes at bright, modern Sportello was the sort of homey, upscale comfort food found at all of Lynch's restaurants... Red Wine Spirits Restaurants Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:27:00 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/11/19/Drinks-at-Drink Megan Krigbaum http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/9/21/Balvenies-New-LimitedEdition-Whiskey When a friend invited me to a five-course, whiskey-paired dinner at Eleven Madison Park last Wednesday, I hesitated before accepting. I’ve been to plenty of wine- and beer-paired dinners, but sipping whiskey through a meal sounded a little inte... News Tastings Spirits Biodynamics Pairings Restaurants Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:41:00 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/9/21/Balvenies-New-LimitedEdition-Whiskey Jen Murphy http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/9/14/Ommegangs-Brew-News Last night, supertalented chef Bobby Hellen of NYC's Resto teamed up with Phil Leinhart, the brewmaster at Cooperstown, New York’s Ommegang brewery, for a gluttonous, nose-to-tail feast. It was the first of a series of Zagat-sponsored, craf... News Beer Chefs Pairings Restaurants Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:50:00 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/9/14/Ommegangs-Brew-News Jen Murphy http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/8/28/Cocktail-vs-Wine-Pairing-Smackdown Because I'd been away for a while, spending a placid few days kayaking on the waters of Maine's Somes Sound, it seemed to me (for some lunatic reason) like the proper way to effect a New York re-entry would be by attending a cocktail vs. wine... Spirits Sommeliers Pairings Restaurants Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:09:05 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/8/28/Cocktail-vs-Wine-Pairing-Smackdown Ray Isle http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/8/19/Drinking-Through-a-Recession Yesterday on WNYC, radio host Leonard Lopate discussed the subject of running a restaurant during this recession with chefs Daniel Boulud of Manhattan’s DBGB Kitchen & Bar and Sosie Hublitz of Brooklyn’s Watty & Meg, as well as Na... News Chefs Restaurants Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:24:56 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/8/19/Drinking-Through-a-Recession Emily McKenna http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/7/28/Fonda-del-Sol-Smart-Pairings-Terrific-Food I've been to Fonda del Sol a few times now—it's just down the street from our office, conveniently—and it seems to be on an ever-inclining curve towards extreme tastiness. That's not a surprise to me. When I first met the rest... White Wine Sommeliers Red Wine Chefs Beer Pairings Restaurants Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:21:50 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/7/28/Fonda-del-Sol-Smart-Pairings-Terrific-Food Ray Isle http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/7/15/Tequila--Ice-Cream I stopped by NYC's Hill Country Barbecue & Market last night for a semi-impromptu blind tasting of tequilas (no rest for the weary, indeed). The general gist of the thing, concocted by Hill Country bar director extraordinaire Jessica Stone an... Tastings Spirits Pairings Restaurants Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:47:00 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/7/15/Tequila--Ice-Cream Ray Isle http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/3/24/Lou-A-Great-Little-Wine-Bar When I was in Los Angeles recently, I had the good fortune to stumble upon what should be my favorite new winebar (it was sort of directed stumbling, in truth; Minneapolis Star-Tribune food critic Rick Nelson's uncle is the chef, and he sent me t... Restaurants Wine Bars Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:34:00 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/3/24/Lou-A-Great-Little-Wine-Bar Ray Isle http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/2/9/Cocktails-Macaostyle I stopped in the other night at the Macao Trading Co., which occupies a desolate block of the Tribeca landscape (or at least it seems desolate at 11 PM when there's sleet blowing in your face). It's a neat trick, then, to walk in and abruptly... Recipes Spirits Restaurants Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:36:00 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2009/2/9/Cocktails-Macaostyle Ray Isle http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2008/11/20/Stunningly-Good-Champagne Sometimes a wine is so good that you immediately have to get on a plane and fly to Italy for five days just to calm down, which is apparently what happened to me after I went to the Champagne Jacques Selosse dinner at 11 Madison Park about a week and... [More] Wines Above $40 Restaurants Champagne Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:23:20 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2008/11/20/Stunningly-Good-Champagne Ray Isle http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2008/7/8/Good-Times-for-Italian-Wine-Lovers-Scarpetta-Bar-Milano-DellAnima Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of how radically wine lists in restaurants have changed over the past, oh, fifteen years or so. I've been on a sort of Italian-resto-spree lately, and I'm coming out of it thinking that I'm either dre... White Wine Red Wine Chefs Restaurants Sparkling Wine Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:51:08 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2008/7/8/Good-Times-for-Italian-Wine-Lovers-Scarpetta-Bar-Milano-DellAnima Ray Isle http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2008/3/13/Great-Steak-But-How-About-That-Creamed-Corn It’s heartening when one’s home state strikes a powerful blow against the forces of darkness. And I’m here to tell you, if you want the forces of darkness whisked from your view like yesterday’s dust-bunnies, you’d bette... Restaurants Chefs Wines $20 to $40 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:31:00 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2008/3/13/Great-Steak-But-How-About-That-Creamed-Corn Ray Isle http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2008/2/29/A-Nice-Wine-Quote-and-Some-Terrific-Amarones I had lunch the other day with Sandro Boscaini of Masi, the Italian Amarone producer, at Manhattan's Alto restaurant. Boscaini has a bit of that same mischievous twinkle in his eye that the late William F. Buckley, Jr. had (which David Remnick me... Tastings Red Wine Wines Above $40 Restaurants Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:37:00 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2008/2/29/A-Nice-Wine-Quote-and-Some-Terrific-Amarones Ray Isle http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2008/2/19/Duane-Park-Revisited I have a long history with the restaurant that used to be Duane Park Café and is now simply Duane Park. In 1998, when I was selling wine in NYC (back when the thought of paying my bills by way of journalism was a joke at best), I lived down the ... News Restaurants Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:59:00 -0500 http://172.31.0.190/blogs/tasting-room/2008/2/19/Duane-Park-Revisited Ray Isle