North Woods Inn Take Me Home

There really isn’t anywhere like The North Woods in left around. A wonderful remnant of a bygone era where everything tasted like Lawry’s seasoned salt and smelled like Worcestershire sauce. Founded in 1958 it’s a welcome trip back in time to a simpler culinary era. Most people are unaware I grew up in Arcadia. My […]

Grandma Lola’s Old Fashioned Recipe – Still The Best

It seems the Sazerac and Old Fashioned are the Gamera and Godzilla, respectively, of the cocktail Monster Island, locking horns in a duel for supremacy while Godzuki, the lowly Manhattan, looks on (although it’s on my go to list). There is lively debate about which came first and who reigns as the oldest and classic […]

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. […]