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

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 […]

Frank Panza – Last Of The Great SoCal Bartenders

Waxing sentimental is definitely my default setting and Santa Anita plays to it in spades. It’s not the chandeliers upstairs, the dusting of new snow on the backdrop on the San Gabriels opening day or even the fact I grew up nearby on a street named after Johnny Longden, the jockey who wrecked his horse […]