September 2001

Features

• News & Notes: A Victory for Cheese Choice - Raw-Milk Cheese

• News & Notes: Bookmark | Taking the Cake

• Rating Zagat

  They're the nation's best-selling restaurant guides. but can you trust them? To uncover the truth, a restaurant critic crossed the country on an eight-city eating tour—and found much that was hard to swallow.

• Ismail Merchant's Trinidad

  Who makes the best kingfish bus-up-shut in the Caribbean? Ismail Merchant knows. As location shooting on his upcoming movie wraps, the filmmaker leads a tour of Trinidad's wild, multicultural food scene.

• A Sweet Spot Shows Its Savory Side

  Who'd buy rice-noodle salad at a bakery? We would. That's because the savory dishes at Manhattan's City Bakery are as delicious as the pastries.

• Art of the Party

  At his San Francisco gallery and design store, Dan Friedlander spotlights cutting-edge work. But in his restaurant and at his parties, he features California's own brand of comfort food.

• World's Best Wine Bargains

  Most maps plot out national borders and other geographic details, but the maps on these pages go one step further: They'll help you find the best wines under $15, spotlighting the regions that offer great buys and naming the most trustworthy producers in each.

• Your Own Private Gascony

  Renowned for Armagnac and foie gras, this corner of southwestern France has a new claim to fame: Castelnau, a thirteenth-century village that has been transformed into a private retreat with 16 cottages for rent, each with its own kitchen garden.

• Tastemakers: Alessandra Carelli, Porcelain Painter

• The New European Hotels

  The boutique-hotel-with-restaurant trend moves forward in Europe, but there's no herd mentality at these 10 quirky new places.

• Tomato Lust

  When the late summer fruit is at its sweetest, tomato lovers can go to extremes that only other tomato lovers understand.