Oh, how I wish I could make it to every luxurious food, wine, and spirits event there is. Flying to and fro – Europe, Asia, Australia – eating, traveling, writing. It took Bourdain a few years to finally get to that point, and it’ll take me a few years to get to that point, too, so until then, I’ll just wrap up pleasant little posts on my favorites so that the rest of you can imbibe and gallivant to your heart’s content. Or at least dream about it with me.
We …

Today, we’re kicking off a new feature on Daily Blender, with the inaugural Quick Spin – a series of condensed Q&As with food and drink folks kicking ass across the country, including restaurateurs, chefs, bartenders, vintners, distillers, farmers, producers, authors, and filmmakers.

I met chef Scott Popovic on my first visit to the Cayman Cookout in 2010. Scott and his always-effervescent colleague, Maggie O’Quinn, were absolutely delightful additions to an already spectacular food and wine weekend, and I was thrilled to see them both again on my visit to this year’s …

Sunday’s Moët & Chandon Champagne Brunch was perhaps one of the loveliest events of the Cayman Cookout. Closing a weekend of spectacular parties, demos, and tastings, the brunch always sells out, offering the opportunity to gorge on luxury items like caviar and made-to-order blinis, a fully-stocked seafood cold bar, sushi and dim sum, and a bevy of other brunch items from greens to tartare. While inhaling the best food and champagne available, guests are treated to a live culinary competition judged by a panel of celebrity chefs, food and wine …

In writing Daily Blender, I’ve occasionally found myself in the middle of a handful of situations I hadn’t considered. Exiting a New York City Food & Wine Festival soiree, only to bump into Billy Joel waiting for his towncar. Amid local celebrities and Hollywood producers at the opening reception of the Maui Film Festival anxiously awaiting the arrival of Megan Fox. And this past Saturday evening, when I arrived at Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink for a Cayman Cookout dinner event, only to find that I had been seated squarely …

Even in a collection of islands, from the Bermuda Triangle to the Gulf of Mexico, Grand Cayman manages to stand apart. Despite its outward resemblance to every other island nearby – sandy beaches, restaurants of every kind, hotels and resorts lining the waterfront – the island is a business mecca, with banks and international conglomerates at every turn. As the honorable McKeeva Bush, Premier of the Cayman Islands, explained to me on Saturday evening, the goal is to create an ever-growing, business and family-friendly destination, a place where you won’t …

And, here it is, folks. The last week of the year. A time for introspection. A time of reflection. A time to open that bottle of wine you’ve been coveting all year. It’s been a long year – for many – both personally and professionally, and I’m feeling all hopeful that the new year will bring a bevy of blessings and wishes.
Here on Daily Blender, I’ve been busy whittling away at the noise and honing in on what really makes this place a favorite destination for food, wine, and spirits …

Early Wednesday night, as Portland State students crammed in a few more hours of finals week studying and nearly-intravenous caffenation, I made my way through downtown to The Cleaners event space to celebrate the release of the PDT Cocktail Book from Jim Meehan and Chris Gall. But while the beverages being stirred and sipped at the evening’s soiree weren’t caffeinated, there was certainly a similar nervous excitement in the air.
In coordination with the week’s BarSmarts Live events, Meehan’s Stumptown celebration brought together some of the most talented bartenders from across …

At the insistence of friends, my day two of Flavor! Napa Valley began with a quick bite at Bouchon Bakery in Yountville. The location, recently hit by a small fire that wiped out their baking area, is certainly cozy, but with the rain holding off, we enjoyed a bit of pumpkin brioche in the adjacent courtyard before venturing off to the CIA.
Joining the late morning interactive luncheon, I was a bit taken aback to see chef Scott Conant on stage when I arrived. Like many of the luncheon guests, I …

Flavor! Napa Valley has been on my calendar for nearly a year. The inaugural event, the brainchild of Karlitz & Company, piqued my interest from the very beginning. A food and wine event in Napa seemed a natural choice – the mecca of spectacular food and wine in this country, where some of the finest wines in the country are created next to some of the finest restaurants in the country.
And in the fall, no less!
It was the colorful countryside that met me upon my arrival this last Tuesday to …

Chef Michael Chiarello wears a bevy of hats – cook, restaurateur, vintner, businessman, food personality, father, husband – and he does it with aplomb.
Over the last twenty years, the gregarious chef has managed to stake a solid claim in an already-revered mecca of food and wine – California’s Napa Valley. As owner and chef of Bottega, he’s been applauded for his dedication to locality and sustainability, with a cuisine highlighting dishes from his Italian heritage. As a vintner, Chiarello has built his own respected wine estate, cultivating a handful of …

Season four was the first Top Chef season I ever watched. Introduced to a dozen great chefs from around the country, it was the first time I learned who Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons were, and the first time I was introduced to chef Stephanie Izard.
With fans across the country, I cheered for Izard, and her many now-familiar competitors, throughout the season and watched the final episode as she secured the Top Chef win from competitor Richard Blais. I almost immediately scoured the web for contact information for the winning …

By the time Sunday began, I was ready for a little leisurely imbibing. With the weekend coinciding with the Great American Distillers Festival, I dropped in to Portland’s Leftbank Annex to check out the selection of distillers and distributors bringing the best spirits to Stumptown. My plans, however, were a bit thwarted when Oregon Bartenders Guild president David Shenaut asked me to step in to judge the final round of the GADF cocktail competition. Joining fellow judges Ali Tahsini, who took home first prize in last year’s competition, and Paul …

As an observer, it has been a fascinating experience to mix and mingle with bartenders from around the country at various spirits events. While I can comprehend the thinking and planning of chefs and their dishes, drink mixing still remains a bit out of my grasp. Much like traditional cooking, there are a multitude of ingredients – bitter, sweet, spicy – as well as particular techniques to pouring libations…and I’m still trying to get the hang of it.
In an effort to better understand the moving and shaking of a bar …

Is there anything better than a train car full of bartenders? Arriving to the Portland Amtrak station on Thursday night to kick off the start of 2011 Portland Cocktail Week, a bevy of guests were met with a grand Pernod Ricard gala at the adjacent Wilf’s restaurant. Complete with drink master Dale DeGroff slinging Negronis from a push cart (and crooning a few jazz tunes!) the opening event offered a warm welcome, with mixologists, writers, and cocktail aficionados starting the weekend with a little classic imbibery.
Not so very early the …

A longtime supporter of Share Our Strength and its many outstanding initiatives, including Taste of the Nation, the Great American Bake Sale, and National Dine Out, I was thrilled to see that Portland’s own Sarah Schafer would be hosting a “No Kid Hungry” dinner here in Stumptown this fall featuring an all-star lineup of accomplished female chefs.
“People in Portland love everything local, so I thought the best thing to do for the first year was to only have local chefs. I remember talking to someone who said it was difficult …