Lovers of award winning wines and world-class art can now indulge both passions at the newly expanded Salerno Winery in the scenic hills of Ramona, CA, in San Diego’s East County. Continue reading
By Wendy Lemlin
I’d be willing to wager that for most of you reading this, downtown Chula Vista is not the first place you’d think of—or at all— when deciding where to go for a fantastic dinner and amazing wine selection. Yeah, me neither—that is, until my recent visit to Zarco, Cocina De Baja, in the heart of Chula Vista’s 3rd Avenue shopping district. There, among shops whose windows display the most colorful of flouncy quinceanera dresses, Chef Flor Franco has converted the commercial kitchen of her highly successful Indulge Contemporary Catering company into a first rate showcase for her take on the much acclaimed cuisine and wines of Baja California. Continue reading
by Wendy Lemlin
Ingrid Croce and Bernard Guillas will once again judge the culinary creations of competitors in the 10th Annual Chef Showdown.
To see “whose cuisine will reign supreme”, be sure to mark your calendar for the 10th annual Chef Showdown on Thursday, September 18th, when two teams of San Diego’s top chefs and mixologists will once again compete in an Iron Chef-style culinary battle, while an expected 5-600 guests will enjoy delectable tastings from 45 restaurants and specialty food and beverage vendors. This one-of-a-kind fast paced, intense, and yet friendly competition will benefit the programs and services of Center for Community Solutions, a San Diego nonprofit that provides advocacy, legal support, healing and prevention services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and elder abuse. Continue reading
San Diego Hosts the Largest Latin Food, Wine & Spirits Event in the U.S.
By Wendy Lemlin
It has passion, it has flavor, and it has sass. You could say it’s downright sexy. Latin cuisine is super hot in the culinary world these days, and we’re not just talking about the chiles that give heat to so many of the dishes.
Here in San Diego, we tend to think of Latin food as “Mexican”. The Latin world, however, is a big one, and the food of Spain is very different from the food of Peru, while Puerto Rican cuisine differs markedly from Argentinean.
To showcase the full diversity of flavors from Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America, on September 11-13, the 2nd annual ¡LATIN FOOD FEST!’s culinary extravaganza will take place in downtown San Diego, featuring some of the world’s best chefs, distillers and vintners, as well as the region’s top Latin restaurants. ¡LATIN FOOD FEST! will once again educate palates and entertain patrons in high style at six events, including an Opening Party, Educational Seminars, Cocktail Parties, Chef Dinner, Chef Demonstrations on the Celebrity Cooking Stage, Silent Auctions, Culinary Grand Tasting Event, and Wine Reception. Continue reading
by Wendy Lemlin
(Published in San Antonio Express-News, 8/24/14)
At the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea, couples enjoy a blissful massage together Credit: Fairmont Kea Lani
To be perfectly honest, it’s darn near impossible not to feel romantic on Maui. Maybe it’s the soft kisses of the tropical tradewinds on your cheeks, enticing with a subtle moistness, languid and energizing at the same time. Maybe it’s the gentle perfume of plumeria, orchids, frangipani and other island flora, wafting on the breezes from gardens, arrangements on hotel tables, and leis around your neck. It most definitely has to do with the constant views of multihued blue ocean waters—here a sheltered cove of the quintessential clear turquoise, there a deep indigo, and out there, maybe a few whitecaps on sapphire waves. The humpback whales cavorting between the shore and the horizon are that much more of an added benefit, spouting great sprays of vapor, fluking their enormous tails, and raising massive heads above the surface. Even they feel the romance—they come to these waters from December to May to reproduce and bear their young, singing their plaintive songs which, if you’re really lucky, might circle around your ears from a distance as you and your honey snorkel hand in hand in the warm waters closer to shore. Continue reading
By Wendy Lemlin
Vessel, the flagship restaurant at Kona Kai Resort and Marina on Shelter Island, has set sail with a new look, a new chef, and soon, a new menu.
By Wendy Lemlin
When I think of Baja, I think in vivid Technicolor.
Vibrant cobalt on glassware rims … intense greens, yellows, blues, and oranges on pottery and tiles …the kaleidoscopic floral designs of textiles adorning pillows and table linens…staircases of geometric tiles…vivid stucco walls…
Ropes of crimson chile peppers and white garlic drying in the sun…gardens of red, violet, and pink bougainvillea cascading over ochre courtyard walls… … leafy vines heavy with purple grapes…. The colors of Mexico whirl around my brain like a fiesta of folk dancers.
by Wendy Lemlin
So—you know what it’s like when you run into someone you used to be friends with, but, for one reason or another, haven’t seen in a couple of years, and in the meantime she’s lost 25 pounds, had some major “work” done, colored her hair, completely changed her style of dressing and now, all of a sudden, is bubbling with energy and personality and looking all stylish and hot? On one level, she is still the same friend that you’ve always known and loved, but on another level you’re like, “Damn, who IS this person?”
Well, that’s how I felt when I walked through the new doors of the re-concepted and remodeled Indigo Grill on the corner of India and Cedar Streets in San Diego’s Little Italy for the restaurant’s big reveal party. First opened in 2001, Indigo Grill was one of the earlier collaborations between the Cohn Restaurant Group and Chef Deborah Scott, and for years was the only trendy, non-Italian cuisine eatery in the newly-hip neighborhood. Continue reading
A Hike on Kuchimaa, aka Mt. Tecate
by Wendy Lemlin
As I passed back into the U.S. from Tecate , Baja California, the Customs and Immigration officer asked why I had been in Mexico. When I answered that I was checking out the interesting places around the town, he looked at me incredulously and asked, “Really? What is there to do in Tecate?”
As Mexican border towns go, Tecate may be Baja’s best kept secret. Continue reading
by Wendy Lemlin
A border can be anywhere. It can be a fence between countries or an intersection that defines a neighborhood. A border can flavor a cuisine and enliven a culture. It can have a recognizable soundtrack or certain design aesthetic. A border can be a physical demarcation or merely a state of mind.
The best borders are porous, engendering understanding and cross pollination of ideas and customs, but even when they are not, when walls separate and visas restrict, the crossing over or through becomes all the more exciting,
I live in San Diego, CA, about a 15 minute drive from the US/Mexico border in Baja California, a border which I cross often. I love that I can be in another country— with customs, cuisine, language, and lifestyle often so different from my own—in less time than it takes for me to drive to the northern or eastern reaches of San Diego county, which also are borders in and of themselves.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been afflicted with an active case of wanderlust. Whether traveling to the far-flung corners of the globe, or the near-flung corners of my county, I constantly seek out unique experiences—geographical, cultural and culinary. I’m fortunate to have the great pleasure of writing about these places and times in hopes of inspiring others to cross their borders and enjoy the world as well.
When I was a child, I was the pickiest of eaters. Not any more! I love food that is creative, healthy, and often decadent. I devour with my senses. I’m enamored with aromas, titillated by tastes, and excited by the sight of a beautifully prepared dish or a perfect piece of produce. International cuisines and regional specialties inspire my wanderlust.
I’m an almost-vegetarian–I don’t eat mammals—so, you won’t be reading any reviews of meat dishes on this blog. But, having grown up in the seaport of New Bedford, MA, I will probably never stop eating seafood, and on my yearly visits “back home” I have a list of the “must eats” that are always a part of every trip there and that I enthusiastically splurge on: North Atlantic lobster roll, mixed with just a hint of mayonnaise served in a toasted, buttered hot dog bun; Maine steamer clams, dunked in their own broth and melted butter; New England clam chowder whose broth is thickened only with the cream and slivers of potato; seared scallops fresh from a New Bedford ship, golden fried whole belly clams; and broiled scrod, minimally seasoned and moistly flaky. I have never tasted fresh corn on the cob anywhere else in the world that can compare to the ears of Silver Queen or Butter and Sugar eaten barely steamed within a few hours of having been picked on a Massachusetts South Coast farm in August. Yes, my cholesterol is about 1000 when I come back to San Diego, but do I care? No! And am I salivating now as I write this, happily anticipating the meals I will have there in about a month? You betcha!
As a food writer, of course I’m opinionated about my dining experience, what’s on my plate, and ultimately, in my mouth. I’m not impressed by pretention. Except for my sugar addiction—don’t even get me started on chocolate or pastries—-and my occasional “vacation lapses”, I’m a strong proponent of healthful, whole food eating, and I see no reason to eat processed food at bad restaurants–or even, “just okay” ones, when there is so much incredible creativity out there. If an eatery considers iceberg lettuce to be the main attraction in a “garden salad”, I pretty much know I’m not going to like anything else they serve me.. That is, except for the little Greek pizza place in my hometown that coincidentally makes the best fried clams around.