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Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner – Goodbye Joe Six Pack
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Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner – Goodbye Joe Six Pack

Food & Drinks, Other happenings, xyz misc

Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner – Goodbye Joe Six Pack

Joe the Plumber has been the latest buzzkill term of the never-ending presidential election. Well Samuel Adams thinks both the plumber and Joe Six Pack need a break and an upgrade. Say hello to 'Joe 4-pack'; introducing to the world, the Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner. This specialty brew is only available in 4 packs. If you're thinking that just sounds like two less beers, you're already underestimating the fullness of this Pilsner. Sam Adams uses an enormous amount of only the best hops available, letting Joe’s everywhere give up on having to settle for “average.” If you are a standard 'lite' beer drinker, this is going to be a [...]

By Bryan from BiteoftheBest.com|2017-08-31T16:20:54-04:00November 5th, 2008|Food & Drinks, Other happenings, xyz misc|1 Comment

ROOT Restaurant – Philadelphia Dining
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ROOT Restaurant – Philadelphia Dining

USA Restaurants, xyz misc

ROOT Restaurant – Philadelphia Dining

I went to school in Philadelphia and immediately fell in love with the city's food culture. Like any good food city, Philly is a cultural melting pot with all different communities contributing to the vibrant street fare and fine dining. From the iconic Italian Market to to Le Bec Fin (arguably one of the country's best restaurants), Philadelphia challenges for honors among America's top food meccas. One of the newest restaurants to open is Root. Chef Christopher Hora (of Wolfgang Puck tutelage) is in the kitchen, with minimal design and hand-made finishes adorning the dining room. The message is straight forward and the MO is clear; simple presentation of the [...]

By Bryan from BiteoftheBest.com|2017-08-31T16:20:55-04:00October 17th, 2008|USA Restaurants, xyz misc|0 Comments

Buy Local – Cedar Springs Farm

Buying local is a bit of a new catch phrase for foodies, which is hilarious because only two generations ago most of the world didn't know anything but local food. Along the 'buying local' theme, I recently had my two online worlds collide when I met the owner of one of my newest villa rentals, Caribbean Eden. The gentleman was local and wanted to meet me in person (very rare in my global business). What should have been a 10-minute chat turned into an hour-long conversation about life, travel and food. I came to realize that he had taken up raising organic beef nearby, I was intrigued and read more.. [...]

By Bryan from BiteoftheBest.com|2017-08-31T16:20:55-04:00October 6th, 2008|Food & Drinks, Other happenings, xyz misc|0 Comments

More Starbucks New Healthy Breakfast Menu

Starbucks launched a new, nutritious breakfast menu this past month. It is definitely true that a good breakfast can be the basis for a healthy eating routine (and weight loss). Many large franchises are finally beginning to cater to the more health conscious, as people more and more come to realize that they really are what they eat. We've seen Dunkin' Donuts launch their Smart 'DD' Menu with egg white flatbread sandwiches and now Starbucks is trying to dissuade you from that chocolate chip cookie with your morning cup. New selections include: baked berry stella (tart), chewy fruit and nut bars, multigrain rolls w/ assorted spreads (try almond butter or [...]

By Bryan from BiteoftheBest.com|2017-08-31T16:20:56-04:00September 29th, 2008|Other happenings, xyz misc|1 Comment

Fox River Rice – Porcini Arborio

Most of the rice I've tasted of late has been of the instant variety. In our madness to try and get an entire meal together and on the table in 20-minutes, we've created faster and faster ways to 'skin a cat'. I am very much a fan of these products, as long as they remain tasty.. and they pretty much have, at least for Bite of the Best (relatively speaking, I mean, you always make trades when achieving reduced cooking time). On the flip side of this; I recently had the pleasure of slowing down with a more traditional rice from Fox River. I received a few samples, but immediately [...]

By Bryan from BiteoftheBest.com|2017-09-01T16:49:14-04:00September 25th, 2008|Food & Drinks|1 Comment

Top Chef Richard Blais

For all of you eagerly awaiting the next Top Chef season like I am, I thought I would engage in some fond memories of last season. A while ago I dined at Home Restaurant & Bar, a newer release from one of Atlanta's established restaurant groups. I'm not the biggest fan of the group but I'm not down on them either; their restaurants are always pretty good for food quality but their ambiance can be a bit 'mall'. I was excited though as Home had recently taken on Richard Blais (Top Chef finalist) as their head chef I started with the most interesting twist, foie gras torchon with fruit preserves [...]

By Bryan from BiteoftheBest.com|2017-08-31T16:20:56-04:00September 22nd, 2008|Foodie Interviews, USA Restaurants, xyz misc|0 Comments

Regent Palms, Turks & Caicos

On a recent trip to the Caribbean, my friends and I toured Provodenciales, the main island of the Turks & Caicos. The island is up and coming, still attmpting to pull into the upper echelon of luxury beach destinations. Though the island is currently more well-known as a laid back 'beach town', there are a number of finer establishments flexing their culinary muscle, adding quality food experiences to this tropical paradise. After sampling our share of beach bar foods like chicken sandwiches and fried conch, we wandered our party into the Regent Palms, a recently upgraded hotel located directly on Grace Bay Beach. The main dining establishment, Parallel23, wasn't open [...]

By Bryan from BiteoftheBest.com|2017-08-31T16:20:58-04:00August 17th, 2008|USA Restaurants, xyz misc|0 Comments

Slow Food Nation – San Francisco

I'm almost a bit ashamed to admit that I had not heard about Slow Food until a few weeks back. The movement was started in Italy in 1986 as a counterbalance to what the founding members saw as the degradation of their food culture by fast-food and prepackaged supermarkets. Though, like every group, they've got some oddities... I found Slow Food to be quite interesting; here is a bit about them and their upcoming festival. The movement notes their philosophy in saying, "We believe that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible. [...]

By Bryan from BiteoftheBest.com|2017-09-01T16:48:58-04:00July 28th, 2008|USA Travel|0 Comments

The $250 Neiman Marcus Cookie Story

Some of the girls in my office were recently chatting about chocolate chip cookies, not any cookies though... outrageously priced Neiman Marcus cookies. My colleague forwarded me the email she had just received (displayed below). I had not heard the cookie story before, but was very interested and had to research it. It appears the email's claim is more 'urban legend' than culinary spite, but I just love how people have kept this recipe alive; the story is actually an adaptation of a 1940's myth about Red Velvet cake from the Waldorf-Astoria (read more at Wikipedia). Submitted here for your reading... the infamous Cookie Story, and a pretty good cookie [...]

By Bryan from BiteoftheBest.com|2017-08-31T16:20:58-04:00July 27th, 2008|Endings, Recipes, xyz misc|3 Comments

Horned Dorset Primavera Restaurant

As you may or may not know, I also help run a travel company, www.VillasCaribe.com. We specialize in luxury vacation rentals across the Caribbean and Mexico. One of the best parts of my job are the travel perks; and my island-hopping allows me to find a variety of foods and restaurants I would never come across otherwise. I was recently invited to Rincon, Puerto Rico. The destination lies on the far West Coast of the island; a lush beachtown generally frequented by surfers and European tourists. Hillary Clinton beat me there by one day (it was the weekend of the Puerto Rico primary) , but I got to experience the [...]

By Bryan from BiteoftheBest.com|2017-08-31T16:21:01-04:00June 19th, 2008|USA Restaurants, xyz misc|0 Comments