Spain’s Bobal Wines for the Summertime
For those of us who love red wine—and need an excuse to drink even more of it—consider the grape called Bobal, which is loaded with one of the highest concentrations of resveratrol. Depending upon which studies you’re reading (or ignoring), resveratrol…
Vienna’s Mühlbauer, Hatmaker to the Stars
During the Depression in Vienna, it was not uncommon for the Viennese to keep rabbits and chickens on their apartment balconies—not only for food but also for their skins and feathers. Klaus Mühlbauer, the fourth-generation owner of Mühlbauer, remembers…
Spain’s Bobal Wines for the Summertime
When you encounter a wine grape previously unknown to you, it’s like discovering a new destination. One of Spain’s three most popular grapes, Bobal is grown in the sun-drenched D.O. of Utiel-Requena in the interior plains of the province of Valencia. In…
Natsumi Tapas From the Folks Who Brought You Joe’s Shanghai and Haru
Not long after the original Haru opened in 1996 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, my husband and I dined there with an out-of-town friend—and before long, it became apparent that the staff was convinced that my husband was a celebrity. In spite of our…
Bella Luna Reopens (with a Prohibition Mural)
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 in New York.” Earlier that…
Velvety Vini at Velenosi Ascoli Piceno
Less than three hours’ drive from Rome in the southernmost province of Le Marche, Velenosi’s hillside vineyards in Ascoli Piceno are situated approximately 1,000 feet above sea level, where they benefit from a composite of white clay and limestone soil.…
Marsden Hartley Goes Home to Maine at the Met Breuer
Throughout my childhood, Maine was home to the farm where Wilbur the pig and Templeton the rat dictated words to the spider Charlotte, a bucolic state where Fern lived with her family in pastoral bliss. So perhaps it was no surprise that I married a man…
Turner Sails Into the Frick
Some decades ago, as a university student studying in Europe, I stood mesmerized in front of a painting by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) that hung at Tate in London. As a budding aesthete, I had dabbled in watercolors—and it was something of a dream…