Best Pizzerias in Naples – What makes Neapolitan Pizza so special? When is a pizza more than leavened bread with a choice of toppings? When it is cooked by a pizzaiolo (pizza maker) from Naples, for whom it is a memory of childhood, a history of the city, a key to socialization, or a lifeboat …
Sfogliatelle is the hard-to-pronounce name for a delicious filled pastry that is as Neopolitan as Neopolitan pizza. Food lovers in Naples might traverse the town, sampling from the most famous pasticcerias (pastry shops) and comparing the sweet fillings and flaky crusts. But me? I first discovered sfogliatelle quite accidentally when I wandered into the café attached …
Paris is known for its many wonderful restaurants; after all the French are the connoisseurs of the good life. It has been said “you can’t get a bad meal in Paris”. Well, we have had several bad meals (especially in some of the tourist trap restaurants of the Latin Quarter). We would like to amend the …
Paris has a myriad of restaurants, bars, and specialty shops clustered throughout the city’s twenty arrondissements. In need of a French comic book or two? Visit the row of comic book shops on rue Dante in the 5th Arrondissement. In Paris, restaurants featuring a wide variety of cuisine are also found gathered together in concentrated areas. …
Every restaurant in Spain (except for the few vegetarian places) serves ham. Not just any ham, not thick slices of Virginia country ham, nor Italian prosciutto style—no, the ham in Spain has its own very distinct flavor and tradition. Spaniards take great pride in their Jamón Serrano and Jamón Ibérico. On a recent visit to Madrid, …
The Rioja region (in the north central part of the country) is Spain’s most famous wine-producing area. While there are over 500 wineries in the area, many are no-nonsense operations that haven’t yet caught on to the idea of wine tourism. Few have websites or offer tours and the majority that do require advance …