"Authenticity” is a word some foodies love. It’s the magic juice that lends weight to opinion and gives prejudice the power of authority. Calling a place “inauthentic” is almost the equivalent of labeling it “worthless.” Is it just? Is it right? Those are questions raised, and … [Read more...]
SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT: BEST OF SAN DIEGO (Racing at the velodrome and…vegetable foraging?)
Every year San Diego CityBeat, for which -- you might have noticed -- I regularly write, features a "Best Of" issue. As Editor Seth Combs put it: "In honor of our 15th anniversary, we asked some of our regular contributors to give us 15 reasons, in no particular order, why they … [Read more...]
TRAVEL: Top Dishes From a Long Weekend in Portland
Portland is many things. It is beautiful in summer and it is rainy when not. It is one of America’s – if not the world’s – microbrew capitals. It has made an art form of political correctness in all its glory and much of that which is not glorious. It is … [Read more...]
RECIPE: Pork, Poblano and Corn Tamales Roasted Tomato-Jalapeño Salsa
Two weeks ago I wrote in the space about our trip to Sedona and the best restaurant in town, the Elote Café. Last week I wrote about my version one of the better dishes we tried there, the dish for which the place is named: elotes (sweet corn). But the best dish we had at the … [Read more...]
TRAVEL: In Search of the Vortex, Beauty and a Good Meal in Sedona
It was only 10:30 in the morning and I already had proof there really is such a thing as a stupid question. He was white, middle class and pasty—I could pretty much peg him as a Trump voter—and, pointing at a gorgeous red standstone butte formation, he asked a fellow white, … [Read more...]