Category: Columns

WINE: Raise your wine IQ with rare and affordable wines worth discovering at Esther’s Kitchen

It happens all the time. We get obsessed with a favorite wine and we end up ordering it over and over again. With a little sense of adventure, we can leverage our obsession with our favorites and use it as a springboard to explore. What’s more, newly discovered wines – whether they be old world gems or a new world up-and-comers – are bound to raise both our eyebrows and our wine IQ. When a wine list clearly states that…

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Things of Beauty: Barolo Chinato and Valentina Abbona

Her appearance is as familiar as the girl next door. Yet, Valentina Abbona is bright, worldly, passionate and the face of the sixth generation of the Marchesi di Barolo estate. She and her family inherited a long-standing winemaking tradition of creating world-renowned wines. Overlooking the quaint village of Barolo located in Piedmont, Italy, it’s hard to miss the canary-yellow building finished with forest-green shutters marked in distinguished, large letters “Marchesi di Barolo.” The name is certainly rooted in history dating back…

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Collisioni 2018 shines bright with the Vino & Food Project

I saw a firefly for the first time in my life. While taking an evening stroll with colleagues after a sumptuous dinner at the Michelin Star Laconda del Pilone, as if like a miniature shooting star, the firefly appeared amongst the grape vines under June’s waning moon.  Quite literally, this was the spark that marked the beginning of my experience at the 2018 Collisioni Festival Vino & Food Project. More than 70 selected wine experts, writers, and importers, sommeliers from 11 countries…

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Tasting the flavors of Piedmont

Piedmont, like other regions of Italy has a good problem.  Location. It’s because of Italy’s geographically varied landscape, the 20 regions are distinct in every way. Situated in the northwest corner of Italy, Piedmont is bordered in the north by the Swiss Alps, on the west by the French Alps,  and to the south, the Ligurian mountains. This unique isolation has served to preserve their extraordinary cuisine. Highly influenced by France, dishes are rich with milk, butter, cream, meat, and…

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Tasting Giada Vegas

Light, fresh and simple. This is Giada De Laurentiis’ style.  And inside Giada Vegas at The Cromwell, she greets summer with seasonal dishes that stay true to Italian classics with a casual California spin.  New tastes to discover is the generously portioned charred octopus panzanella, prepared with tomato, asparagus and charred tomato vinaigrette.  Pair it with Borgoluce’s prosecco superiore for a little effervescence. For the secondi, the fettuccini with sweet garlic scampi with heirloom tomato. With a light touch of…

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Discovering Ruchè

Wine made from the Ruchè grape has a beguiling aromatic promise of delicate, fresh blossoms of violets, geranium, lavender — sometimes expressing white fruits of quince and fig — while capturing cinnamon, spice and black pepper. This distinctive beauty harnesses wildly redolent red berry characters and delightfully fits the demand for a light- to medium-bodied red wine that can be served slightly chilled and stir conversation. “Rarely does one encounter an aromatic red variety boasting such remarkable structure and balance,” said Cameron…

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Thomas Schlumberger shares the beauty of Alsace

The Alsace region of France is so charming, it might as well be in a fairy tale. Set against the backdrop of the forested Vosges Mountains, quaint villages and storybook hamlets with little clusters of pastel-painted, half-timbered houses adorned with colorful flower boxes bring cheer to the picturesque landscape. Nearby vineyards display gorgeous scenery where exquisite wines are produced from a rolling landscape of green ribbon that enjoys precise alignment of the vines, which catch every minute of life-giving sunlight.…

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Fetching bottles from Aureole’s wine tower is no easy task

Photo by: Krystal Ramirez This story first appeared in VEGAS SEVEN magazine. If you ask me to ascend four stories while dangling from discernibly thin cables, I’d more than likely pass on the opportunity. Not just because I’m fearful of heights, but really, why would I want to do that in the first place? Unless of course, some form of fermented grape juice was involved. In all honesty, nobody had to twist my arm to be a Wine Angel for…

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Mass Osteria’s tasting menu, Egyptian pots and Jaleo’s pre-show bites

Chef Scott Conant doesn’t like the word concept when referring to restaurant style. It’s too sterile, he says. His new dining spot Masso Osteria is a simple Italian restaurant that offers “place of conviviality—a place for guests to have fun and enjoy themselves.” That includes the ambience of an inviting open kitchen supported by food with aromas and flavors that make you feel right at home. Just about everything is made in-house and with a whole lot of love. Case…

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Holy Hot Smoked Trout at The Kitchen at Atomic

Originally published in my weekly column, Dish & Tell,  at VEGAS SEVEN MAGAZINE.   The menu changes when “the mood strikes” the staff at The Kitchen at Atomic,where fine dining meets elevated bar food. And with a flash, now you can enjoy brunch. Chef Justin Kingsley Hall, formerly of Sparrow + Wolf, struts his own style, which is best described as refined rustic. He drew inspiration from the places where he’s lived and the people who have influenced him over…

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