Restaurant Review

It’s Time for Some Comfort Food

/ wcollins / 6 Comments

“As you read this, the fires in wine country continue to burn. They’ll burn for a while yet. If you don’t live in Northern California, I’d guess you are hearing less and less about them on the news.” – Ron Washam, HMW – HoseMaster of Wine.

Sometimes the best way to work through a tragedy is to immerse yourself in a familiar routine. Personally, I need comfort food. So, today I am going to talk about one of my favorite restaurants and probably the best deal on the planet: Las Cuatros Milpas. For me, and many others, the front door of this restaurant is a time-warp portal. I walk through and step back in time. Whenever I am in San Diego, this is always one of my “go to” stops.

Continue reading →

Cantinetta Luca

/ wcollins / 1 Comment

“My dream places me inside a brick-walled wine cellar, or cantinetta, fashioned into an upscale trattoria, where I’m happily sipping Barolo from a globed glass. Torpedoes of cured meat hang from the ceiling in a glass-enclosed aging room, table vases bloom with elegant breadstick stems and we snack on warmed, fat Sicilian olives. I’m in full view of the kitchen’s heart, the 700-degree, wood-fired oven, where three black-hatted, squatty men with no arm hair perform a balletic ritual near the narrow opening that releases vapors of heat and wisps of wood smoke.” – Mike Hale, Monterey Herald

Continue reading →

Osteria Francescana – the Food

/ wcollins / 1 Comment

Chef Massimo Bottura and a pleased diner.

“…in the kitchens of Osteria Francescana we pry, poke and question the authority of our culinary traditions. We take a step back, then come in closer, and make inquiries about texture, flavor, and form. We see ingredients and recipes at a distance and through a magnifying glass, we throw out the recipes and start from scratch. Most importantly of all, we never stop questioning.” – Massimo Bottura, Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef

Continue reading →