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Well, I guess I can go ahead and retire. Not that I want to—professional bon vivant isn’t the worst job in the world—but, unfortunately, wine experts like me are being rendered obsolete by technology even as you read this. By robots. Yes, I know robots can built automobiles and even vacuum your floor these days, but now it seems some ingenious Japanese inventors have come up with a robot with the ability to discern good wine from bad. Not only does this tin-can connoisseur assess the quality, it can even name the specific brand . . . and recommend a cheese to pair along with it. “Danger, Will Robinson! Cabernet Franc does not go with Gruyère!” Researchers at NEC System Technologies are the geniuses who came up with this silicon sommelier substitute. The robot uses an infrared spectrometer to determines the wine’s chemical composition. Once the wine is identified, the robot offers a little descriptor—perhaps “oily” for a Chardonnay?—and recommends what to pair it with. Buying one currently costs as much a new car, but at least I can enjoy my retirement without the aggravation of having to pick out my own cheese.

Nearly ten years ago I reported on a phenomenon that was sweeping New York restaurants faster than a grease fire – ostrich. In the mid-1990s, this tall, gawky 200-pound flightless fowl was trotting onto trendy Manhattan menus as ostrich steaks and even as ostrichburgers. If the thought of ordering an ostrichburger sounds just plain weird, consider this: a four-ounce serving contains just 3 grams of fat – considerably less than pork, beef, chicken, or even turkey. Yes, ostriches are birds, but their meat is red and tastes more like beef than poultry.

Although ostrich still appears occasionally, the trend seems to have petered out sometime after the millennium. Too bad. It was one of the best-tasting of the alternative meats. If you see it, order it. Ostrich eggs, by the way, weigh in at around 4 pounds. Ostrich omelette, anyone?

Recently I visited two of my old favorites - places I have been going to for years.

The Grand Central Oyster Bar is better than ever. I sit at the counter and eat a mixed selection of a dozen or more fresh oysters. New York’s best food bargain is the oyster pan roast - incredibly delicious, enough to feed two and only $9.95.

El Faro at Horatio and Greenwich - just a block from the trendy meat-packing district - is about to be 80 years old. It is hard to decide which is more delicious, the mariscada ajillo or the mariscada with green sauce - two spectacular seafood stews that will cost you about $13 each. And don’t miss il gigante pitcher of sangria and the creamy natilla for dessert.

El Faro and the Grand Central Oyster Bar - still two of the best.

Great restaurant don’t just happen. They are the result of years of experience and sharpening of skills. Nick Peyton has worked the front of the house in a number of fine restaurants including the dining room at the Ritz-Carlton. He was a partner in GARY DANKO and then opened MARKET in Napa with chef Douglas Keane. As it turns out, all of this was preamble to CYRUS, the remarkable new restaurant in Healdsburg in Sonoma County that these two - Nick Peyton and Douglas Keane - opened last year. This superb place is the equal of any other restaurant in the area and, perhaps, one of the best in the country. Greatness doesn’t happen over night, and when it does it is preceded by lots of hard work. CYRUS is worthy of a special trip to Sonoma.

Great restaurant don’t just happen. They are the result of years of experience and sharpening of skills. Nick Peyton has worked the front of the house in a number of fine restaurants including the dining room at the Ritz-Carlton. He was a partner in GARY DANKO and then opened MARKET in Napa with chef Douglas Keane. As it turns out, all of this was preamble to CYRUS, the remarkable new restaurant in Healdsburg in Sonoma County that these two - Nick Peyton and Douglas Keane - opened last year. This superb place is the equal of any other restaurant in the area and, perhaps, one of the best in the country. Greatness doesn’t happen over night, and when it does it is preceded by lots of hard work. CYRUS is worthy of a special trip to Sonoma.

I was watching a game over the weekend and I was shocked by a Taco Bell commercial. What could be shocking about an ad for burritos? I’ll tell you: the ad’s big claim is not that the food is delicious, or it’s good for you, or it’s made with top quality ingredients. No, the commercial proudly trumpets the fact that this food will make you FULL. Since when is being full a criteria for dining excellence. I guess it is, in some circles. Have we come to this? A sorry state of affairs. Of course, many love food that is prepared with skill, imagination and love. But, it’s sad that there are those whose only reason for eating is to be full? Especially now, when great food abounds and is cheaper - as a percentage of income - than ever before.

In judging restaurants, price is an important part of the critical equation. It is just a bit easier to forgive gaffs and omissions at lower prices. A $30 pasta had better be extraordinary. A $10 pasta should be good, but it needn’t be transcendent. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that the very best restaurants are – usually, but not always – the most expensive. Fine decor is expensive, good waiters are expensive, the best fresh ingredients are expensive, and the best chefs are expensive.

These costs of doing business are passed on to the consumer. And remember: even with a high-priced menu, these establishments are often not always making a killing in sheer profit. If you think you want to get into the restaurant business, call up an experienced restaurateur and discuss it first. He or she will probably give you a reality check.

For more than twenty years the LAUNDRY restaurant was a fixture in East Hampton. It was located in an old laundry, thus the name. Now it’s moved into crisp, lovely new quarters and doubled its size. Clearly chef Andrew Engle and his staff were up to the challenge; the new LAUNDRY is superb. Start with one of the fresh, inventive salads or a serving of the transcendental baby back ribs. Crab cakes are splendid too. Among mains the Iacono Farm chicken is no ordinary chick and the sauteed calf’s liver is heavenly. There are lovely gnocchi pillows with a seafood ragout and a whole fresh branzino grilled perfectly. And there’s always the massive Laundry hamburger with fries. This is wonderful, skillful food. The wine list is loaded with gems and service is pleasant and professional. The new LAUNDRY is in the running for best restaurant in the Hamptons.

If business trips make you think of bland walls and worse food then take a hint from these two Chicago hotels. The Sofitel Chicago Water Tower angles distinctively outward as it rises from downtown Chicago. Modernity is what this hotel is about; from the sweeping rooms and bold colors to the contemporary French cuisine that satiates stylish hotel guests. Rooms are unique with bright color schemes and the dining is friendly, elegant and fun. The James Hotel is more minimally modern with its calming tones of tans and whites. The hotel is a result of a corroboration between the founder of Equinox Fitness Clubs, and a founding member of W Hotels. Warm, clean and modern, the James Hotel with its superb David Burke Prime restaurant, is the other choice for the traveler who lives for more than just business.

There are nearly 2 million farms in the United States, and around 80 percent of those are small farms, many of them family-operated. Living in the city, you don’t usually know where your produce comes from, but if you want to connect to the farmers who actually grow the products you eat, you can do it by going to the Local Harvest website, at localharvest.org.

This organization is a clearinghouse for information on organic farming, small farms, farmers markets and sustainable agriculture. You can use localharvest.org to search for specific products or to connect to farms that are part of the Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, network. These farms work by subscription – subscribers receive a weekly or monthly basket of fresh produce direct from the farm. Subscribers are actually shareholders in the CSA. For all the details, visit localharvest.org.

On a recent flight to Tokyo I was flying Business Class on a United 747. I noticed that the flight attendant was taking dinner orders in what seemed like a random order; she was skipping all over the cabin. Then she asked the man seated next to me and started walking away. “Excuse me,” I said. “Aren’t you going to take my order.” “Eventually,” she said. “But these other people are our 1K flyers and people who paid more for their ticket than you did.”

I asked her if I could give her my meal choice then and she said: “Sure, I’ll take it, but you probably won’t get your choice.” I was stunned. I was traveling on a pretty expensive ticket yet being treated as a second-class citizen. Weird. I guess the “friendly skies” aren’t equally friendly to everyone.

Foodies follow the careers of chefs just like baseball fans follow their favorite pitchers. It dawned on me that this obsession could lead to a new parlor game – I call it “Who’s the Chef?” One person will throw out the name of a famous, or not so famous, restaurant. The other players try to name the current chef. That’s the easy part. More points are awarded for naming establishments in which that chef worked before arriving at this particular restaurant. The game really gets interesting when players try to name the restaurant’s previous chefs, in reverse order of their employment. You also get bonus points if you can name sous-chefs who have passed through that kitchen and gone on to start their own restaurants. And don’t forget the companion game – “Who’s the Maitre d’?”

Yes, caviar is one of the pricier foodstuffs, but there’s something even pricier, ounce per ounce – edible gold. Yes, you can eat gold. It’s an inert metal and is not absorbed by the digestive system.

In fact, throughout history, the rich and powerful have entertained with food covered with gold. In Venice, for example, at a dinner party given for the Prince of Bisignano in 1561, ostriches were covered with gold and served. And Wolfgang Puck served gold on dishes at the Governor’s Ball after this year’s Academy Awards.

There’s a brand of 23-carat edible gold called Oro Fino, from Italy, available at Sur La Table and other specialty stores. It comes in sprinkles, flakes and sheets. Yes, ounce per ounce, gold is expensive, but you only need a tiny amount. There’s Argento Fino edible silver, too.

When it first opened in the early 1980s, I was one of the first to sing the praises of Lidia Bastianich’s wonderful FELIDIA at 243 East 58th Street. Over the years I have had many memorable meals there. Recently I have been so busy trying all the places that Lidia’s son Joseph and his partner Mario Batali have opened that I have neglected the original. So, I revisited FELIDIA and guess what? It’s still wonderful. The menu reflects Lidia’s Istrian heritage and it’s masterful. I was particularly impressed with a dish of black and white pasta with crisp softshell crab. I always love krafi, the wedding pasta that is stuffed with raisins, ricotta and orange rind. Veal, tripe, beef is all great The wine list is superb, especially if you love Italian wines. It’s no surprise - FELIDIA is still one of the best.

We spend about a third of our lives sleeping, which means we’re likely to spend most of our time in the bedroom. But it’s really the kitchen that’s the heart of any house. It’s the place where families congregate; where they swap news, gossip and jokes; where they sneak a midnight snack out of the fridge or warm up hot cocoa on the stove. My family even watches TV in the kitchen, especially afternoon soaps. And think of how many parties you’ve been to, where guests tend to gravitate toward the kitchen. It’s no surprise that the kitchen is the most popular room in the house: it’s where the food is! If you haven’t hung out in your kitchen lately, you’re missing out on what it means to be home.

the Hospices of Sonoma Pinot Noir Barrel Auction is modeled after the famed Hospices de Beaune in Burgundy. This year's edition started with a walk-around barrel sampling of some preeminent Sonoma Pinot Noir offerings. From Siduri to Flowers, Deloach to Wild Hog Vineyard, the 2005's out of barrel were surprisingly complete offerings full of richness, depth and vibrance. The quality of wine in barrels translated directly to the quantity of dollars spent on the half-barrel lots being bid on – including a high of $20,000 for the host winery Goldridge. Like its Burgundian brethren, the auction proceeds went to a charitable cause; in this case the $357,000 raised by the event will benefit the WCC House which provides temporary housing to needy families with children in Sonoma County hospitals. Here’s to drinking for a cause.

Just in time for summer, I just got my yearly update from the National Watermelon Promotion Board. (Yes, Virginia, there is a National Watermelon Promotion Board, and these people know everything there is to know about watermelons.) For example, did you know that watermelons are 92 percent water? That’s why they make such great hydrators, especially for kids and other active types. Watermelons originated in Southern Africa. They’re a great source of vitamins A, B6 and C, and they get their red color from lycopene, a powerful antioxidant. They’re also cholestrol-free – I think I could have figured that one out all by myself – and low in sodium. If you go to the National Watermelon Promotion Board’s website at watermelon.org, you’ll find lots of creative ways to serve watermelon. But for me, the best was is just slice it and eat it.

When Wolfgang Puck opened Spago in Las Vegas in 1992 at Caesar's Palace other famous chefs were amazed. Nobody wants fine dining in Las Vegas, they said. The people there just want to make a quick trip to the buffet and then return to the slot machines. Were they ever wrong! Today, 14 years later, Las Vegas has become one of the world’s great culinary destinations. In fact, I would go a bit farther: the best restaurants in the United States are now in Las Vegas. Without question. With the recent openings of Joel Robuchon’s Robuchon at the Mansion, Alain Ducasse’s Mix, and Guy Savoy - three of France’s famed 3-star Michelin chefs have now put down roots in the desert. But they’re not the only ones. There must be fifty restaurants in Vegas that would be the best restaurant in town any place else.

I’ve already mention on my radio show that America’s big breweries seem to think their customers are morons - based on their TV advertising. Anheuser Busch introduced Budweiser Select with the claim “has no aftertaste.” Kinda like water? That route has been abandoned, but they still characterize beer drinkers as stupid fratboy types who think taunting a caged animal is fun. Now Coors has joined the party by trying to tell us that “cold” is a taste. Their beer tastes cold. Duh. If you refrigerate it. Is theirs colder than Bud if they both are in the fridge? No wonder the breweries’ target audience is moving over to wine and cocktails. Last year, for the first time, more dollars were spent in this country on wine and on spirits than on beer. Wine can be cold too.

Hugh Johnson has always written fascinating reference guides on wine. His wine atlases are the industry standard. Now, with nearly 50 years of wine writing experience under his belt, the master has chronicled these experiences in a lively and page-turning memoir, called A Life Uncorked. From his very first experience with wine – when his college roommate brought home wildly different-tasting Burgundy bottles produced across the road from one another – to his feelings about the best time to enjoy sweet sherry (the middle of the morning), Hugh Johnson’s A Life Uncorked is a riveting read. Fifty years of wine writing memories is a lot to ruminate upon, and Hugh Johnson gets a lot in here. As Hugh says about wine: “Embrace even the mythology: it adds to the colour of life.” A Life Uncorked lists for $35.

You ever have one of those days where you just can't seem to get it all done? I had one yesterday. I was half-way through the morning emails when Michael Polenske came by to taste me on the inaugural vintage of his ultra-premium Blackbird Vineyards Merlot, as well as the stellar 2004 barrel sample, both finely made by Sarah Gott.

After they left, the people from Plantation Rum brought over five of their impressive single-estate rums. Just after I plowed through my snail mail, Kathleen Inman stopped in to taste me on her lovely Inman Family Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.

And when I finally thought I might be able to start writing, the head salesman for Joel Gott Wines arrived to show off their delicious line-up. Boy, the day can get away from you when you’re a wine writer.

DEL POSTO, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich's new place at 85 10th Avenue, is a new concept for New York - an ultra-premium Italian restaurant with huge ambitions. And like other ambitious restaurants - ALAIN DUCASSE at the ESSEX HOUSE comes immediately to mind - it’s had its share of knock and pans. Yes, it’s had some growing pains since it opened, but the signs all point to the fact that, soon enough, DEL POSTO will achieve the stardom that it aspires to. The decor is indeed grandiose and service is a bit ragged, but the potential is there. Start with sweetbreads or roasted root vegetable salad. Fritto misti is appropriately crisp but the bagna cauda sauce needs confidence. Chestnut ravioli are a revelation but risottos need work. Guinea hen with porcini is brilliant, but bollito misto needs to step up the intensity of the condiments. DEL POSTO’s wine list is already superb. Stay tuned.

Since the new Matthew McConaughey movie, “Failure to Launch,” is doing so well at the box-office, I've come up with my own sequel. “Failure to Launch” revolves around a thirty-something guy who refuses to move out of this parents’ house. My sequel is called “Failure to Lunch.” The hero has finally moved away from Mom and Dad . . . so far, so good. But he just can't seem to find the energy to go out to lunch. Instead of “doing lunch” – which is pretty much obligatory in LA – he eats tuna sandwiches in his office cubicle. His co-worker, Biff, urges him to try the smoked salmon pizza at Spago, but no go. . . . I won’t divulge how Biff finally entices the hero out for lunch. “Failure to Lunch” – expect it on a screen near you as soon as I ink my deal with Paramount.

Want a great night's sleep in New York. Look no further than the Benjamin, a luxurious and supremely comfortable boutique hotel in midtown Manhattan. Whether you're traveling for work or pleasure, why not get as good a night of sleep as you can? The Benjamin even guarantees that if you don’t get a good night’s sleep, you’ll get your money back. Of course, it’s hard not to sleep well when you have a “sleep concierge” on hand to offer 11 types of pillows, spa treatments and milk and cookies, as well as a Serta mattress specially created for The Benjamin. And now the mattresses are available for sale to guests so that you can sleep as well at home as you did on your trip! If you’re heading to New York, be sure to get a great night of rest at The Benjamin.

Located in the heart of San Francisco’s shopping, arts and culture, and financial districts is the boutique hotel Campton Place. Created from two historic 20th-century buildings, Campton Place offers an oasis for both business travelers and vacationers. And, tucked inside the hotel is one of San Francisco’s best dining rooms, Campton Place Restaurant. Peter Rudolph, following in the tradition of Bradley Ogden and Daniel Hum, is the newest chef to take the helm, after 10 years with the Ritz Carlton. Peter’s energy and passion are an ideal fit for a restaurant known for its adventurous and skillful dishes. He has created a global style with light and concise flavors that can be tasted in the in 3 and 4 course tasting menus or in a-la-carte dishes. If you’re heading to San Francisco, check out the Campton Place Restaurant.

It’s Vouvray’s 70th birthday. Who is Vouvray? Actually, Vouvray is a “what,” not a “who” – it’s a white wine appellation in the Loire Valley. The appellation was only created in 1936, a relative youngster in terms of French wines. The wines are made from Chenin Blanc, a grape that’s been abused by overproduction in many parts of the world. But Chenin Blanc finds its heart and soul in Vouvray, where it exhibits notes of white fruit, citrus and minerals. There are also sparkling versions, which are delicious aperitifs, and there’s also a rich, sweet, full-bodied version known as Vouvray Moelleux, which in French translates roughly to “mellow Vouvray.” You can really surprise your wine geek friends by serving Vouvray from a great producer such as Domaine Huet at your next dinner party.

The Australian wine industry got its start in the country’s southeastern region, where most of it is still concentrated. But the trendiest wines in Australia are now coming from the Margaret River appellation, in far Western Australia. The first commerical winery in this area was Vasse Felix, first planted in the mid-1960s. Today, Vasse Felix, is a popular brand in Australia, and is becoming better known here in the States. The Vasse Felix Adams Road Chardonnay, at around $17, is bright, nervy and delicious. The higher-end Chard, called “Heytesbury,” is a $30 beauty with oak complexity and balance. Among reds, look for the attractive $30 Vasse Felix Cabernet, with dense, herbal fruit.

On Thursday, March 9 I'll be hosting a dinner at Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain at 152 West 52nd Street. It is a special, one-time-only winemaker dinner. Michael Trujillo, president and winemaker for Sequoia Grove Winery in the Napa Valley will be on hand. He will be providing wonderful Sequoia Grove wines to compliment Bobby Flay’s food. Plus Taittinger Champagne and Taylor Fladgate port. This fabulous four course dinner begins with cocktails at 6:30 and a fantastic meal at 7:00. Michael and I will talk about the wine, the food and anything else you want to discuss. Come join us. The all-inclusive cost - including dinner, wine, tax and tips - is $145. You can RSVP at 1-800-338-7819. It’s going to be great fun. Bobby’s food is wonderful and the wine is terrific.

It’s a drag spending big money on a fancy wine and then finding that it’s “corked.” A “corked” wine is a wine that’s been spoiled by a bad cork. The culprit is trichloroanisole, or TCA, a nasty chemical with a smell similar to skunk. The solution seems simple: don’t use corks. The ideal wine closure has been around for years. It’s easy to use, requires no tools, and is airtight and easily re-sealable: it’s the screwcap. Screwcaps are perfect. The myth that wines need to “breathe” through their corks in order to age properly has been debunked, by the way. The entire New Zealand wine industry has embraced screwcaps, and more domestic wineries --including Pepi, Bonny Doon and Hogue –- are joining the revolution every week. Screwcaps are now found on bottles from $5 to $150. Screwcaps are the wave of the future.

I just had a nice chat with Thom Jones – not the singer, the vintner.
Thom Jones, former Northrop CEO, is owner of Moraga Vineyards, which is located right in L.A.’s posh Bel-Air neighborhood. Moraga isn’t open to the public, so don’t go traipsing up there, but you can see the vineyards from the tram that goes up to the Getty Museum – they’re just across the 405 Freeway. Moraga is one of the California’s most exclusive wine labels, and Thom is just about finished with the wine making facility on the property. With a limited production, these wines are hard to find – Wally’s on Westwood Blvd. is one of the few wine shops that carries them – and they’re not cheap. The gorgeous Sauvignon Blanc, one of the best I’ve ever tasted, is around $65. The Moraga red, at $125, is a lush and complex Bordeaux-style blend with great aging potential.

It's getting harder to get excited about the arrival of yet another celebrity chef in Las Vegas. It's kinda like spotting yet another Lamborghini in Beverly Hills. But once in a while, even the most jaded foodie can get jazzed about a new Vegas restaurant. After some delays, Caesars Palace is prepping for the arrival, this May, of Restaurant Guy Savoy, the only American restaurant of three-star Michelin chef Guy Savoy. His three-star restaurant near the Etoile in Paris is just one of five restaurants this chef helms in the French capital. Savoy is sending his son, Franck, to oversee the Las Vegas restaurant, and his right-hand man in Paris, Damien Dulas, will be chef de cuisine. In typical Vegas fashion, the restaurant promises to "replicate the original Restaurant Guy Savoy experience." I'll report on how successful they are later this year.

The selling of bottled water in restaurants has become a major revenue stream and it looks an awful lot like a scam. You sit down at the table and the server asks: "Sparkling or still water?" Most people say one or the other. In each case, you are adding a big charge to your check. "Tap Water" which is free, is usually not offered. Then a bottle of Perrier or San Pelligrino or Evian or Fiji or Voss is poured, and $6 to $14 is added to your bill. But it doesn't stop there. Suddenly, without asking for it, your table is consuming bottle after bottle of bottled water. At the end, when you are presented with the check, you discover that you have spent $60 on bottled water..... plus a $12 tip. Ouch! We are drowning in the stuff.

Charles Back is one of South Africa's most colorful winemakers, a third-generation vintner from Paarl and owner of the Fairview estate. Fairview is not just a winery – it's also home to 600 goats and it has a very active cheese production program. Charles has a wonderful sense of humor and manages to work the goat connection into wines made under the GOATS DO ROAM label. The dense, minerally 2004 Goats do Roam in Villages is an affordable Côtes du Rhône Villages knock-off made from Shiraz and Pinotage, with bright, juicy blackberry fruit and peppery spice. The smoky 2003 Goats Roti is a spicy Shiraz-Mourvedre-Viognier blend. Back's newest wines are a Bordeaux-style blend called Bored Doe and the Burgundian-style Chardonnay Goat Door, both of which are sure to make the French very happy.

I just got back from a week in Gascony, in southwestern France. Kathy and I were staying with friends in their family’s chateau, not far from the prosperous town of Toulouse. Toulouse has amazing markets where you can purchase beautiful produce, so we wound up cooking many of our own meals in the chateau’s large kitchen, complete with a walk-in fireplace. Gascony is famed for its superb foie gras, which you can buy from any number of local farmers. The signature dish of the region is a long-simmering stew of beans, meats and sausages called cassoulet. Every cook in Gascony has his or her own special secret recipe. The cassoulet we had at PAPILLON near Auch was spectacular. If you’re curious about Gascon food, check on the new edition of Paula Wolfert’s classic book, The Cooking of Southwest France, just out from Wiley Publishing.

GARNIER is in a less than chic location, across the street from the busy St. Lazare railroad station, but the seafood is as good as it gets. The decor is modern - all glass and brass - and the food is sublime. Start with a selection of oysters. I guarantee they will be the crispest, freshest you’ve ever had. There is a complete menu of ultra-fresh seafood including cod, exquisite sea bass, and mind-blowing Dover sole served Meunière - boned and sauteed with parsley and white wine. The accompanying copper pot of mashed potatoes reveals the roots of the young chef. The potatoes are the same incredible buttery creation that brought fame to Joël Robuchon. A risotto with tender langoustines in a rich, creamy sauce is perfection. GARNIER is a place you shouldn’t miss . . . and it’s open late.

CHEZ DUMONET used to be called “Chez Josephine” but Chef Dumonet is making a name for himself in a big way. (His brother is a top chef in New York.) This small, cozy restaurant is a classic Parisian bistro, but the food is well above the average. Start with plump morel mushroom stuffed with foie gras, or a stunning salad of artichoke hearts in an unctuous lemon sauce. There is also a big crock of marinated herring. You can help yourself to all you want accompanied by lovely potato salad. Main courses include wild duck, superb calf’s liver, perfectly grilled bass, tender grilled veal chop, and a huge steak for two that they will only serve rare. Desserts include the best Grand Marnier soufflé ever. CHEZ DUMONET is an exceptional restaurant. Don’t miss it when you’re in Paris.

Occasionally, I will eat at one of the two or three-star fancy restaurants of Paris - if someone else is buying - but I still spend most of my days in that fabulous city in bistros. These casual, charming restaurants provide the real flavor of Paris. Here are two of my favorites: CHEZ ALLARD. In the heart of Saint-Germain this ancient bistro is back from the dead. After years of floundering, ALLARD now can be relied on for wonderful escargots, splendid salads, coq au vin - chicken in a red wine sauce that is almost black, and duck with olives. AUBERGE D’CHEZ EUX. Just behind les Invalides, this charming restaurant offers the best selection of charcuterie - sausages, and other pork products - salads, and desserts. When in Paris do as the Parisians do: eat in a bistro.

Staying in a big hotel in Paris can be nice, but sometimes it’s fun to find a small jewel where you can be pampered on a different scale. HOTEL DANIEL is an exquisite gem near the Champs Elysées. It has only 26 rooms and each is decorated with beautiful Chinese antiques. Bathrooms are state-of-the-art since the hotel was completely renovated a year ago. The lobby with its opulent Chinese silks is a place you want to spend some time, not just pass through. Afternoon tea is a must when you return from maxing out your credit card on the Faubourg St. Honoré. HOTEL DANIEL has a lovely bar and a small dining room offering modern French cuisine, nicely prepared. The charming staff will tend to your every need. HOTEL DANIEL is the newest member of the prestigious Relais & Châteaux group. For further information go to relaischateaux.com.

Landing there is not as hair-raising as it used to be. Instead of the stimulating landing over the city into the cramped and antiquated old airport, Hong Kong now boasts one of the world’s most modern and beautiful new airports. As you buzz into the city on the dramatic new highway you will pass the site of the world’s newest Disneyland. The approach to the city may look like Futureworld, but the city itself has retained is spectacular old world charm. Once you are there a trip on the tram to the top of the peak is one of the world’s most breathtaking views and crossing to Kowloon on the Star Ferry is equally picturesque. And the food is great. Hong Kong is truly one of the world’s most fascinating and delicious cities.

A lively, happening restaurant in Santa Monica.
Jared Simons is one of the youngest chefs in town and his restaurant VIOLET has really caught on. Located at 3221 Pico Boulevard near 32nd street, this small, modern restaurant offers a menu of twenty-five small plates meant to be shared. The food is interesting and delicious and lots of fun for a large party to share. There are wonderful thin fries with a curry aioli dipping sauce, multi-colored beets with goat cheese, tuna tartare with a fritter and creamy cucumbers, seared scallops with raisin puree, lovely short ribs, super chicken with parmesan potatoes and, best of all, lake Superior whitefish with creamy polenta. All of these goodies are supported by a good wine list and prices are on the very reasonable side. VIOLET has been discovered, but it is sure worth reserving in advance.

Here come the biodynamicists. Biodynamics is really catching on in the American wine industry. For years now, the French have been big advocates of this earthy, holistic approach to winegrowing, based on the teachings of German educator and thinker Rudolf Steiner. But now the Americans are getting on the biodynamic bandwagon in a big way, especially here in California. Benziger Winery in Sonoma now has three certified biodynamic vineyards, and other wineries such as DeLoach, Beckmen and Quivira are using the techniques as well. While some people think that biodynamics borders on a cult – planting with the cycles of the moon, burying horns in the vineyard and other seemingly weird practices – according to Mike Benziger it’s really about getting back to vineyard authenticity. It gives you a sense of awe for how nature works, he says, and a responsibility to the earth. The bottom line? Biodynamics often makes better wines.

The best cookbook of the season. The best cookbook is the work of talented Los Angeles chef Suzanne Goin. It is called SUNDAY SUPPERS AT LUCQUES. This handsome book - complete with lovely photographs - offers 130 recipes organized into thirty-four seasonal menus that have been served family style at Lucques - Suzanne Goin’s superb restaurant on Melrose Avenue. These are thoughtful, easy to follow recipes that make sense for the home cook. Not only is this excellent food - it’s the kind of food that works really well in the home kitchen. How about braised beef short ribs with potato puree, swiss chard, and horseradish cream, or devil’s chicken thighs with braised leeks and dijon mustard. This is food that is delicious, sensible and terrific. SUNDAY SUPPERS AT LUCQUES by Suzanne Goin is superb. Check it out. It’s published by Knopf and sells for $35.

The master of Zinfandel. I’m all for the Pinot Noir craze occasioned by the movie Sideways, but let’s not forget the other red varietals. A red grape that’s sometimes overlooked these days is Zinfandel, and there’s one winery that’s still the best all-round Zin producer in the business – Ravenswood. Joel Peterson has been making ripe, rich Zinfandels since 1976, most of them sourced from independent growers. The winery is now part of the large Icon Estates group, but the wine making is, if anything, more personal and accomplished than ever. Ravenswood's affordable and delicious Vintners Blend is its most visible product, but the real thoroughbreds in its stable are the series of seven vineyard-designated Zins, such as the gorgeous Old Hill, at around $60, and the superbly delineated Teldeschi, at around $30. For more on Ravenswood and other Zinfandels, check out my new Pocket Guide to Wine 2006, at bookstores everywhere.

A club for sausage lovers. Here’s a great idea for that sausage fanatic in your life: membership in the Sausage of the Month club. D’Artagnan, the gourmet provisioners, created this club for people who just can’t get enough sausage. A six-month membership costs $300, and that includes UPS next-day air shipment. Each month, the lucky sausage fan will get a shipment – usually 8 links per shipment – of D’Artagnan’s gourmet products. The sausages are seasonal: there’s Duck Foie Gras Sausage for January and Chicken Truffle for February. There’s Rabbit Ginger sausage in April and Lamb Merguez in May. In the summer there’s Andouille and Chorizo, and come fall, the offerings include Wild Boar and Venison-Cherry Sausage. Let me tell you - these are exceptional and delicious. D’Artagnan has lots of other gourmet products, too. For complete info, check out www.dartagnan.com.

The latest buzz in the restaurant world. There’s a huge buzz about the new Michelin Red Guide to New York. This is the first Michelin restaurant guide to a U.S. city. I was at the launch party at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and ran into the likes of Martha Stewart, Alain Ducasse and Todd English. Michelin’s longstanding and sometimes controversial rating system – assigning one, two, or three stars to the very best restaurants – has enormous influence. Just being listed in the guide is an honor. The new guide lists 507 of New Yorks’ 23,000 restaurants. Of these, 31 received one-star ratings. Four restaurants got two stars. And four others – Per Se, Le Bernardin, Jean-Georges, and Alain Ducasse – got the coveted three stars. The ratings are, as to be expected, extremely controversial. The Michelin Red Guide to New York sells for around $17.

A great value in Bordeaux. When the Japanese multi-national Suntory acquired Chateau Lagrange in 1983 for $10.8 million, the estate was in a pretty sorry state. Less than a third of the vineyard was planted, the winemaking facilities were decrepit, and not a single cask was worth re-using. Despite the condition of Lagrange, the French government was reluctant to let Suntory buy the property. It took two full years of negotiations for the deal to be finalized, and as part of the arrangement, the Japanese conglomerate had to agree to invest $4 million in upgrades. Suntory would eventually lavish over $40 million on the property. The result was one of the most rapid and complete turnarounds in the history of Bordeaux thanks to General Manager Marcel Ducasse. At around $30 a bottle, Chateau Lagrange is now one of the best buys in Bordeaux.

A great American Winery. I tasted through some recent releases from Patz & Hall recently with winemaker and co-owner Anne Moses. This has been one of my favorite wineries for a while now, and the current Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays show Patz & Hall still at the top of their game. There’s a definite style that runs through all the wines that Anne crafts, using grapes from quality vineyards in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and as far south as Monterey. The current Napa Valley Chardonnay is juicy and fresh, with lovely balance. The stunning Pisoni Pinot Noir is huge and chewy – one of California’s great Pinots. These wines tend to sell out, so check the Patz & Hall website for info on how to order. For more info about wine, check out my new book, Anthony Dias Blue’s Pocket Guide to Wine 2006, at bookstores now.

The ultimate westside scene. WHIST at the Viceroy hotel at Ocean and Pico in Santa Monica is an unbelievable scene. How many places do you know where these’s a 30 minute wait for the bar? The place is filled with the young and beautiful. The restaurant begins indoors but it spreads out to the rear patio and around pool side. Large parties are seated in lovely open-sided tents. Which brings us to the food. Executive Warren Schwartz has created a menu of easy American food that is mostly successful. Start with the nice charcuterie plate or the figs wrapped in Serrano ham. Among main courses, the grilled ribeye is appropriately juicy and the wild salmon is excellent. A dish billed as “paella without the rice” was disappointing. Desserts are good, service is fine and prices are high. Taken as a whole the WHIST experience is entertaining and fun.

Fantastic fusion on Sawtelle. ORRIS is a small but comfortable restaurant at 2006 Sawtelle that is the showcase for the astonishing creations of chef Hideki Yamashiro. This skillful chef has created a unique cuisine that is all his own. His food is fresh, interesting and all about flavor. Start with the seafood salad tossed with tosaka seaweed, cucumbers and green beans; or the albacore lettuce cups with jalapeno aioli and microgreens. The plates here are small so you can construct a meal of many tastes. Fried shishito peppers topped with prosciutto and Parmesan cheese are sublime and basil marinated black cod served over basil mashed potatoes is amazing. Grilled New Zealand lamb chops are infused with mint and garlic and filet mignon skewers are doused in roquefort butter. Amazing. There is a good wine list and service is enthusiastic and speedy. ORRIS is a true original.

Back to San Fran and a (too speedy) drive down to Monterey for the
SENTIENT JET opening party for the Concours d'Elegance. I helped to
host this lovely party at the beautiful CASA PALMERO (a lavish resort
within the PEBBLE BEACH RESORT). Attending were some of the top
car collectors in the country. We served 2002 Staglin Family Vineyard,
20th Anniversary Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley ($120) -
dark and dense, rich and velvety with intense plum and blackberry fruit;
lush, long and complex with notes of chocolate, spice and tobacco;
supple, complex and layered. This wine should continue to improve in
the cellar over the next two decades.(94 points)

Also the 2002 Staglin Family Vineyard, Salus Cabernet Sauvignon,
Napa Valley ($55) - dark and lush with lovely blackberry/blueberry fruit
supported by juicy and pure acidity; fresh and rich, silky, long and very
approachable now with notes of chocolate and vanilla; should continue
to improve in the cellar over the next decade.(92)

2003 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, Napa Valley ($35) - snappy, tangy,
crisp and fresh; racy, clean, pure; bright, complex minerals and lively
citrus fruit flavors. Because it saw no malolactic fermentation, this
perfectly balanced wine will retain its freshness for at least a decade.(91)

2001 Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley ($125)
- bright and edgy; showing rich, juicy plum and cassis fruit; racy acid
structure makes this wine long and balanced, with fresh and tangy notes
on the finish; the firm structure should easily carry this intense wine into
the next decade and beyond.(92)

After the party a large group of us dined at STILLWATER BAR & GRILL
in the Lodge at Pebble Beach. This is a very attractive and airy restaurant
with views of Carmel Bay and the 18th green of the Pebble Beach course.
The food by chef Steven Tevere is creative without being fussy; the flavors
are intense and clean and the preparations are skillful. Start with yellow fin
tuna carpaccio with fennel salad and celery vinaigrette, or lush New England
clam chowder with leeks and corn, or crispy Monterey bay calamari with a
chipotle aioli to dip them in. Main courses include pan-seared diver scallops
with sweet garlic and mushroom leek stew, roasted stripped bass with Dungeness
crab risotto, or peppered tuna steak with eggplant confit. Desserts by Mark
Ainsworth include a rich chocolate fondue and a warm apple tarte tatin. The
winelist by John Linfield is loaded with rareties. We loved the 2003 DuMol
Russian River Valley Pinot Noir; it's bright and racy with lovely earth, spice
and cherry fruit (92).

. . . for a Bon Appétit event. Stayed at the SORRENTO HOTEL
(900 Madison Street, 1-800-426-1265) a stylishly
refurbbed 76-room boutique hotel not far from the waterfront. Very nice
welcome and a great bed.

Did a tasting of Pinots from different regions - Burgundy, New Zealand,
Oregon and California. The majority of people liked the 2004 WHITEHAVEN
made in Marlborough, New Zealand. It's a spicy, lifted wine with medium
weight and lots of bright cherry fruit. Around $30.

IL GRANO (11359 Santa Monica Boulevard in West LA)is a real success story. When I first went there
it was a dumpy Italian restaurant in a so-so neighborhood. There was
- even the - the spark of talent in young chef Sal Marino's food. Now
the place has been renovated - it is stylish and attractive - and Sal has
come into his own. He is a master of crudo - the Italian version of sashimi.
His food is among the best Italian cooking in town, and now he is tackling
tomatoes - 34 varieties of tomatoes. Every Wednesday night until the end
of tomato season in October, Sal is cooking up a special tomato menu.
Start with green gazpacho made from Zebra tomatoes. There's Oxheart
and Cherokee with prawns; Early Girl soup with oysters; grilled branzino
with Juliet Grape tomatoes; even tomato gelato for dessert. It's all good.
SAGRA DEL POMODORO - tomato feast at IL GRANO every
Wednesday night.

Went to GATE OF INDIA (115 Santa Monica Blvd. at
Ocean) after the movies (saw JUNEBUG an impressive directorial
debut for Phil Morrison and a shimmering performance by Amy Adams).
The main dining room is long and narrow and the chairs are
uncomfortable, but the food is really good and very reasonable.
I love the chicken Korma at this place. Nicely cooked chunks of
chicken in a thick, creamy sauce that would make a golf ball taste
good. Sag Paneer is a delicious dish of spinach with little cubes
of cheese. A creamy dahl of lentils is also wonderful. Accompany it
all with cool yogurt raita, mango chutney and chewy garlic naan,
soft baked bread. Tandoori dishes - particularly chicken - are good.
Service is cheerful and competent and the price is right - about $20
a person. GATE OF INDIA is always very satisfactory.

Ate at LITERATI II, the delightful new restaurant
dedicated to writers and readers at the corner of
Wilshire and Bundy. The chef is Chris Kidder who used to
cook at CAMPANILE. He really knows his way around a
contemporary menu. The salads are really great and quite
creative and unusual. There is an amazing salad of cauliflower
and a special today was a salad with greens, warm potatoes and
grilled fresh sardines. Fabulous! Other good starters include
steamed mussels and bruschetta with baby octopus. Main courses
are great - halibut, pork chop, and best of all - hangar steak
marinated and grilled, served with crispy fries. Desserts by
Chris Kidder's wife are fantastic, especially the lemon tart,
the crisp churros with chocolate sauce, and the humongous slice
of chocolate layer cake.

Returned to PROVIDENCE at 5955 Melrose over near
Paramount, the dazzling new restaurant of the talented
Chef Michael Cimarusti, the former WATER GRILL star. It's
been a month since my last visit and the potential I saw then is
beginning to be realized. This was a much better dining
experience. The place is beautiful. They have done a good job of
softening the hard-edged, sterile atmosphere the place had when
it was PATINA. Donato Poto, the general manager and a partner,
is a delightful host. Start with ayu, a small Japanese fish that is
butterflied and crisped, or the rich and perfectly cooked pork belly,
or a bowl of superb, intensely flavored clam "chowda'." Cimarusti's
main course fish preparations are, as they were at WATER GRILL,
inventive and intricate. The wine list and the cheese cart by Thierry
Perez are very good and service is excellent. My only quibble is with
the desserts - I don't like them. Bring money when dining at
PROVIDENCE. You can expect to spend over $100 a person
before wine. But the place is on its way to becoming one of the
best in LA

Tried a splendid new Sunset Strip spot. The lovely art deco
Argyle Hotel has been renovated (yet again, and has taken its orignal name, SUNSET TOWER once more) and the TOWER
BAR has been installed on the ground floor.
Anyway, it's where FENIX used to be and it's a great improve-
ment. The restaurant is warm and cozy with great overstuffed
pillows and dark paneled walls. The windows in the back offer
a dramatic view of LA below. There's a dandy bar the length of the
room and the drinks are big and well-made. But the food is the real
attraction with chef Piero Morovich, formerly of AMMO, at the
stove. Proscuitto with figs and melon was lovely, a thin crust
pizza with various toppers is a good starter, and there's a fine
heirloom tomato bisque. Main courses include a superb, beautifully
sauced turbot and a tender korabuto pork chop with a gentle fruit
sauce.The wine list is good and service is excellent. TOWER BAR -
the new hot spot on Sunset.

Back in L.A. Had a lovely homecoming lunch outside at the
superb BEL-AIR HOTEL with Etienne Bizot, Managing Director
of CHAMPAGNE BOLLINGER one of my favorite champagne
houses. "Bolly" is one of the last major houses that is still family
owned and Etienne represents the sixth generation of the Bollinger
family. We drank the lovely non-vintage Special Cuvée ($52), a rich
wine made from 75% red grapes. It is toasty and ripe with elegance
and lovely fruit. Then we moved on to La Grand Année 1997 ($120).
Bollinger may be the only house to make a vintage wine in this
difficult year. The result is quite wonderful: lush and sensual
with excellent structure and finesse. Great now, perfect for aging.
We finished lunch with the 1995 R.D. (recently disgorged) ($170)
a spectacular wine (as all R.D.s generally are) with layers of flavor,
great power, and remarkable finesse. What a nice lunch.

THE PALM (94 Main Street, Easthampton, in the Huntting Inn)
has been feeding Hamptonites for years. Although it is now part of
a chain, this PALM is one of the best of them and a real Hamptons
tradition. You will be seated by Tomasso. Start with the chopped
tomato and onion salad, topped with thick bleu cheese dressing, then
plunge into a great steak or a huge lobster. The porterhouse is massive
and very flavorful, but nothing beats the sirloin strip for two - an
enormous slab that easily feeds four. Lobsters are three to five pounds
or more and perfectly steamed. Fried onions are delicious and the
creamed spinach is exquisite with its addition of parmesan cheese
My only quibble is with the fried potatoes which are overly crisped.

During our sojourn in the Hamptons, we tooled around in a 2006
LEXUS LX 470, the Pavarotti of SUVs. There's nothing particularly
high-styled about the exterior, in fact, the design has barely changed
in years, but this beautifully crafted machine makes most others of the
genre seem like something your kids should be driving. It's not obvious
like a Hummer, or sporty like an X5. It's just state-of-the-art in a quiet
understated way. At $72,000 it should be good, but it's more than that.
Smooth, powerful and a pleasure to drive. Tight, more comfortable than
anyone deserves. Loved the rear camera, the great sound system, the rear
seat DVD player, the flawless GPS. An SUV for grown-ups.

There are things about the Hamptons that just can’t be beat: fresh
steamed 2-pound female lobsters from THE SEAFOOD SHOP in
Wainscott; Sweet corn from Jimmy Pike’s farm stand on Sagg Main
Road are two of them.

The great tragedy this year is the fact that Rudy Di Santis closed his
wonderful DREESEN’S MARKET. It’s now another trendy clothing
emporium. There never will be better steaks (or more expensive ones)
than the ones Rudy cut. You can still get the famous doughnuts at the
ice cream store in the same building, but it’s not the same.

THE FISH FARM (Nepeague) This dump makes Sanford & Son
look classy. Hamptonites like to go slumming - at least at lunch. You
order off a hand-painted menu/sign. Then you go to one of the picnic-
style tables and wait for the food to come. Eventually it does. The guy
who serves you - I guess he’s the owner - is a bit short on personality
and people skills. The Good: the steamers and little neck clams are
superb, the clam belly roll is good too; the Bad: lobster roll ($14) was
mediocre at best and some other things were completely unmemorable.
The Ugly: After spending $160 for six, the cretan chased after us and
made us pay 75 cents for three polystyrene cups we had taken in order
to drink the wine we had brought. “These are expensive,” he bleated.
What a charmer.

It wouldn’t be summer in the Hamptons without a meal at
NICK & TONI’S Restaurants come and go on the South Fork,
but NICK & TONI’S is the still the best. This bustling road house
has honed its act to perfection. Start with the charming Bonnie
Munschin at the door and the lively ambiance inside. The crisp zucchini
chips with drinks get it going. I had a delicious crisped soft shell crab
to start. Salads are bursting with freshness with most herbs coming from
the chef’s own garden. A perfectly cooked whole dorade was sublime,
but nothing tops the signature chicken cooked in a brick oven with whole
garlic cloves and crusty potatoes. The wine list is excellent and the panna
cotta for desert is worth a special trip. Service is friendly and very
professional. In all, NICK & TONI’S seems to be getting better, even after
fifteen years.

DB BISTRO MODERNE (55 West 44th Street) At last I get to
try the famous DB Burger. First a tomato tart tatin, a stunning
pastry tart filled with roasted tomatoes sweet from caramelization.
Exquisite. The burger is good too with its center of foie gras and
short rib. The whole thing - if your mouth is big enuf (mine is) to
bite everything at once - is a delicious combination of flavors and
texture. It’s $29. (I still like the burger at FATHER’S OFFICE in
Santa Monica the best.)

BETTE (461 West 23rd Street) Amy Sacco’s latest hip scene
attracts a smashing crowd of young lovelies and, here’s news,
the food is not bad. The celebrity quotient is high and some of
the customers look like they’re still in high school, but no matter.
Start with parma ham and watermelon, clever combination, or the
splendid crispy chicken liver dumplings. The iceberg lettuce wedge
with chunky roquefort and crisp bacon is lovely. Homemade pasta
with caviar and smoked salmon is fine and the grilled strip steak is
one of the better pieces of meat I’ve had lately. Poached cod with
morels and asparagus is appropriately delicate and truffled frites are
not to be missed. The wine list at BETTE is good and service is
attentive and smooth. Be sure to wear black.

Back in the Big Apple for the kick-off party for my new book
ANTHONY DIAS BLUE’S POCKET GUIDE TO WINE 2006.
A very good turnout at the MANHATTAN OCEAN CLUB where
chef Craig Koketsu offered a superb selection of creative finger
foods. The book should be in stores by mid-September but you can
already pre-order at Amazon.com. Simon & Schuster is the
publisher.

AUBERGE D’CHEZ EUX (2 avenue Lowendal) In the École
Militaire region of the 7th, this friendly bistro offers the best
selection of charcuterie in Paris. Order the rolling cart of
cochonailles and you get slices of ten different sausages, rillettes,
head cheese, paté and a warm blood sausage to finish - and this is
normally just an appetizer! The cart of salads is equally amazing
a bout sixteen different choices. Main courses, if you get there,
include excellent frog’s legs and other hearty fare. The owner,
M. Court, seems to be always there and the meticulous service is
provided by waiters in blue smocks. Despite the fact that this place
is reportedly Jacques Chirac’s favorite, it is not to be missed.

L’AMI LOUIS (32 rue Vertbois) Still my favorite after all these
years. A dumpy bistro from the 1920s in the Marais that features
the finest foie gras, the best and biggest escargots and the
heartiest cooking in Paris. The chicken is legendary and is enough
for three hungry people. The duck confit is sublime and the
steak looks like it came from a mastodon. I usually have the
baby lamb which was out of season, so I had the veal chop in a
mushroom cream sauce. The wine list is excellent with real strength
in Bordeaux and Burgundy. Wine prices are good; food prices are
high. Figure around $125 a head.

ATELIER MAÎTRE ALBERT (1 rue Maître Albert) I can’t believe
I managed two really disappointing meals in a row. This modern
trendy place is Guy Savoy’s rotisserie. It is sleek and stylish and
lacking in any kind of charm. Service is perfunctory and not very
efficient. The food is minimalist. Order the beef and that’s what
you get, a slab of beef sliced off a roast. The meat is not even
done to the requested degree of doneness. One member of our
party had to send his back twice (he finally gave up). The rotisserie
chicken was decent but unremarkable. The wine list was uninspired
as well. Bummer.

L’AMI JEAN (27 rue Malar) This small Basque restaurant in the 7th
has gotten lots of attention lately. It was crowded on a holiday
weekend when most everyone was out of town. Things started
downhill with the welcome - there was none. The unattractive hostess
was too busy on the phone to greet us or seat us. When she hung up
she just shrugged. The place is grungy and unattractive. I was seated
on a banquette that had split and was bleeding stuffing. The meal
began with oily, mayonnaise-y brandade de morue that lacked the
lovely balance between salty baccala and potatoes that it should have.
Breast of veal was decent but the chicken dish was dried out and
ordinary. Not much else