A Food, Spirits & Wine Blog

We’re back for my semi-annual restaurant review series – fall 2026 edition! There’s alot of ground to plow here with six new restaurants, along with six other local restaurants that Laurie and I have just recently gotten around to visiting! Let’s dive right in!! Selva Bar at University Town Center Chateau 13 Chateau 13 in downtown Bradenton Chef Presentation of the Tomahawk Chop Watermelon Salad 4-Ways Chateau 13 has been our list of "must visit" restaurants for years now,

I love pizza in all of its forms, but the best pizzas are the ones that can be made easily and quickly at home! Here’s a recipe that provides a fresh take on the classic by ditching the traditional pizza dough, red sauce, and pepperoni for ciabatta bread, a fresh arugula-parsley pesto, and chicken sausage. Retirement can be tiring! I mean, a brisk walk in the morning, followed by reading the papers, running errands, going out for lunch with Laurie, lounging in the pool while

What do you think when you hear the word ‘Zinfandel’? Do you think about your first ever taste of wine, a cloyingly sweet white Zinfandel, or do you instead think about a rich, robust, fruit-forward red wine that pairs wonderfully with a wide range of foods? Turns out the answer is “both” for me! Let’s talk about why I absolutely love the Zinfandel grape, in all its variations and styles!! A year or two ago, I wrote a blog series on the Chardonnay grape, and my plan has been

As we approach the end of summer, It’s definitely time for the summer 2026 installment of my blog series, “The Whiskeys I’m Drinking Now”. All four of these whiskeys are a bit rare and difficult to find, but they are out there if you really want to get your hands on one or more of them! Let’s talk rye and bourbon! Wattie Booke & Sons Small Batch Ancient Reserve Bourbon Whiskey 1776 ($90). I discovered this unique bottling at a local liquor store (Manhattan Liquors) that alway

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It’s hard to believe that 25 years have gone by since that terrible day in American history – it still seems like yesterday for Laurie and me. For this week’s blog, we’ll forego the topic of food, wine, and spirits and instead share our personal recollections of 9/11 and how it impacted our lives. Everyone seems to remember where they were, and what they were doing on the morning of 11 September 2001 when two pla