During the dog days of summer in 1988, my friend who lived on 87th Street called and invited me to lunch. “There’s a brand-new Italian restaurant that just opened on 88th and Columbus,” he said, excitedly. “A piece of Tuscany … Read More
Years ago, on the Upper West Side, an unknown actor named Bruce Willis tended bar at Café Central, while a few blocks away Ruelles hosted the likes of Calvin Klein, Warren Beatty, and Robert De Niro. Barbra Streisand dined on … Read More
During a year that commenced with an early morning Alpine snowshoe expedition to the peak of Muottas Muragl in Engadin St. Moritz, Switzerland and ended with a (pre-election) Jazz Era, Gatsby-themed weekend at Glenmere in the Lower Hudson Valley, we … Read More
At the court of Versailles, the wines of Fronsac were known as the king’s favorite. Located about 20 miles from Bordeaux in the east of the Bordeaux wine region, Fronsac is notable for its bucolic woodland, which so charmed the … Read More
While you may think that you don’t know Navarra, it’s likely that you’ve heard of its capital, Pamplona, home to the running of the bulls festival about which Ernest Hemingway wrote so eloquently in The Sun Also Rises (1926), a … Read More
Sometimes fate shines favorably on romantic whims. Take Glenmere, for example, the historic hilltop mansion built by the Gilded Age magnate Robert Goelet at the behest of his wife who yearned for her own Italian villa in the States. … Read More
For oenophiles, the discovery of a new wine can be a revelation—and when that wine opens up an appreciation for an entire region, the rewards are manifold. Those who know Lugana in Northern Italy know that the region around Lake Garda … Read More
If we’re lucky as children, we’re taught which fork to use at the table, as well as proper table manners and eating utensil etiquette. And if we’re very lucky, we’re also taught how to be a gracious guest and an … Read More
