The Why – Part One

we’re chewing up dots and chasing flashing monsters without asking the question of who’s behind the joystick, where that quarter came from or even what those dots mean

The Five Worst Reasons to Open a Restaurant

First off, owning a restaurant is a lot like owning a car or a house. You’re gonna say you own it, but in fact, you’re probably just making the payments. And more importantly, at least at the outset, your shop will own you just as much as you supposedly own it. That is a fact.

Getting The Edge On Your Local Watering Hole

Your knight in shining armor, doing battle with The House, is your friendly neighborhood bartender.

Love And Loss At Santa Anita’s Turf Club

Out of courtesy (and readership) I generally try to keep my writing OC-focused but once in awhile an out-of-county topic jumps onto my radar. One of my very first pieces here at The Weekly was about Laguna Beach’s Frank Panza, the beyond-legendary bartender at Santa Anita’s Turf Club. That room has hosted the best of […]

Epic Tiki Charm At The Tonga Room

San Francisco’s Tonga Room is hardly a secret (especially since Tony Bourdain shone his spotlight on it awhile back) but it is off the grid for most uninitiated travelers, especially in a city awash in great restaurants. In fact, The City has 39.3 eateries for every 10,000 households which crushes the number two spot, (Fairfield […]

The Rise of Ryes

“Beer is for women, wine for men and rye is for heroes” – Bismarck Even the utterance of the word “prohibition” is enough to curl me up like a dead spider, dried and contorted with a blank stare and grimace on my face. This chapter in the history of our great country had to be […]

The Why

“Because to each one of us is given just so many years, and hence just so many opportunities to enjoy just so many meals, a poor meal is an opportunity lost forever” – Neill Beck, The Farmers Market Cookbook, 1951 I talk about it all the time in the kitchen and it drives people nuts. […]