the_maestro
- Mar 7
- 3 min
The Charter Oak – St. Helena, CA
In 2020 the Glass Fire tore through northern Napa and Sonoma in an unprecedented disaster for California's epicenter of wine growing....
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the_maestro
- Dec 21, 2022
- 7 min
The Back(b)log: Tasting Wine on Colorado's Western Slope
It's a small obsession of mine to find places making wine where you'd never assume excellent grapes would grow. Most recently I visited...
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the_maestro
- Dec 17, 2022
- 6 min
Mom's 65th at Angler – San Francisco, CA
Since Josh Skenes stepped away from the kitchen at Saison, his new flagship project is the mini-chain of Angler restaurants in San...
28 views0 comments
the_maestro
- Dec 14, 2022
- 6 min
Back(b)log: Roister and Aviary – Chicago, IL
One of the evenings I missed writing up in the shuffle of my big move out west was a combo dinner and cocktail night during Chicago Pride...
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the_maestro
- Dec 11, 2022
- 5 min
Nari – San Francisco, CA
Most often, the experience at eating at a Thai restaurant in any given city in America is largely predictable––inexpensive food in strip...
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the_maestro
- Nov 20, 2022
- 4 min
Boulevard – San Francisco, CA
Nothing could have made me happier than a visit from my mother and sister a few months after my move to northern California, even more...
103 views0 comments
the_maestro
- Oct 11, 2022
- 5 min
The Maestro in California
I finally left academia after my rather disastrous and traumatic experience teaching at Davidson College. Making woefully little money,...
202 views0 comments
the_maestro
- Jul 18, 2022
- 16 min
Blue Hill at Stone Barns (2) – Pocantico Hills, NY
Regular readers of the blog have doubtless come across at least one of the reviews of my meals at the Stone Barns Center for Food and...
194 views0 comments
the_maestro
- Jul 13, 2022
- 6 min
Comparing Impossible and Beyond Burgers
I confess I was a shameless ridiculer of the new meat-substitute products that have flooded the market and taken even fast food...
392 views0 comments
the_maestro
- Jul 4, 2022
- 11 min
The Inn at Little Washington – Washington, VA
Decades before the widespread propagation of the very idea of "fine dining" in America, DC native and self-taught chef Patrick O'Connell...
248 views0 comments