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 …

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 …

Take a few thousand spirits professionals, a bunch of hardcore cocktail enthusiasts, and a couple hundred bloggers, journalists, and reporters – and drop them all in the French Quarter for one hot and sticky week in July – and you have Tales of the Cocktail.  I’m sitting on my plane headed down to New Orleans via San Francisco and Atlanta – look, the ticket was cheap and one means one more city to get a drink in, preparing for the madness. This is my fourth time headed down for this …

Born and raised on Maui, chef Isaac Bancaco embarked on a grand adventure to begin his culinary career. Growing up in a family, and a culture, where food and history are so revered, Bancaco made the early decision to pursue a life on the line. Shortly after high school graduation, the chef departed for Portland to pursue his culinary education at the city’s Western Culinary Institute (now Le Cordon Bleu), finagling an externship at Ming Tsai’s Blue Ginger in Boston and working four years through the restaurant’s kitchen ranks before …

At first sight, chef Eric Faivre was nearly intimidating as he walked toward me during my visit last month to Maui’s Grand Wailea Resort. Amid the empty chairs of the hotel’s central bar, Faivre appeared for the afternoon interview in the ever-recognizable white chef coat and striped pants, his six-foot-plus stature seemingly more Viking-like, of the Nordic or Minnesota variety, than that of a chef. I wondered, as I always do with chefs I haven’t met before, whether he would be disagreeable – stuffy, preoccupied, cranky about being wrangled into …

I have to say I was quite sad by the time I reached my last day at Kapalua. The sun shone across the gorgeous seaside hills Sunday morning as I made my way to the last wine tasting session of the weekend, titled “You say Shiraz, I say Syrah.” Another stellar lineup of wines were featured, including an Amavi Cellars Syrah, Scherrer’s “Sasha” Syrah, Waters’ “Loess” Syrah, and Penfolds’ St. Henri Shiraz, with panelists like Jamie Brown of Waters Winery, Pax Mahle of Wind Gap Wines, and Fred Scherrer of …

After a morning rainstorm – a regular occurrence on that side of the island, I’m told – I began my Saturday morning with a bit of snorkeling as part of the Jean-Michel Cousteau Ambassadors of the Environment program. After a few hours of floating along with the sea turtles in the blue waters off the coast of the Lahaina, I returned to the Ritz for the afternoon’s wine tasting session, A Drive up Highway 101. Featuring a handful of some of California’s best wines, panelists like Ted Lemon of Littorai …

An avid traveler, I’ve been around the world, from the sandy beaches of the Caribbean to high humidity of Kuala Lumpur, the icy glaciers of Alaska to the blue waters of Australia. But Hawaii is clearly something special.
Landing in Maui on Thursday afternoon for my first trip to the islands, I was a bit wary for my Hawaiian adventure, personal trials and tribulations weighing heavy on my mind. But that first step off the plane, with breezy palm trees blowing in the wind surrounded by green rolling hills and plenty …

During my visit to Uncork’d, I was most interested in covering Saturday’s Viva Las Vegan event hosted by the newest addition to the hotel’s supervisory culinary team, Chef Tal Ronnen. At the request of owner Steve Wynn, Ronnen, who has spent his career focused on vegan and vegetarian recipes, was recently brought on board to help with the development of vegan dishes at all of the location’s fine dining restaurants.
According to Wynn, who welcomed guests to the afternoon luncheon, it was a video on veganism that helped to change his …

This ain’t your Mama’s reheated meal! From now through the end of 2011, travelers aboard Lufthansa Airlines will be treated to meals designed by chefs of the luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel line. With rotating menus, the airline’s “Star Chefs” program will feature a chef from a different property each month. Through April 30th, a dishes designed by chef Josh Becker, chef de cuisine at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach’s DiLido Beach Club, are offered on the cross-Atlantic flights, with menu selections including tuna confit ajo blanco and roasted grapes; …

By the time I made it to Sunday, my brain was swimming with all the fantastic moments that had happened throughout the weekend. The 2011 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival had proven to be a spectacular event, with my first trip to Miami an adventure that did not disappoint. As an easy close to my busy festival schedule, I ventured out for the afternoon’s Grand Tasting. The expansive Whole Foods Market Grand Tasting Village spread across the beach with stages, book signing booths, and sponsors galore, alongside …