Charleston is a food town, so you do not have to go far to get great food. Summerville is only 30 miles from where we live, but it might as well be Iowa. We very rarely ever go there. Summerville is a suburb; like most suburbs, there is no reason to go if you live elsewhere. That is until Laura opened. In the Spring of 2022, French Master Chef Nico Romo opened Laura, a rustic Italian restaurant celebrating his maternal grandmother- Laura’s heritage, culture, and foods. This is his third restaurant in the area, The first two being Nico in…
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Allie Ketcham comes to Charleston. We meet for lunch and sample three wines. Recently, Gary and I had the opportunity to meet up with Allie Ketcham, owner of Ketcham Estate—a woman-owned winery with a female winemaker in the Russian River Valley. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Ketcham Estate, a very brief history Mark Ketcham’s (1955-2020) dream of owning a vineyard and making wine began in the year 2000 with the purchase of 17.5 acres (13 planted to vine) in the heart of the Russian River Valley. Four years later, he founded Ketcham Estate. Mark was a hard-core fan…
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My last post was a month ago. Yikes, sorry! But it’s all good! I wish I could write more quickly and be able to post a minimum of once a week, or at least stockpile some posts for times like these, but that is just not me. I am a thinker—a ponderer. So instead, I process everything in my head for a while, and then I write. And trust me, it takes a bit for things to slosh around up there before I can spit the words back out. And when I have other big projects on the “to do”…
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After last week’s post – Dear New Wine Drinker – I realized that I should give my Charleston reader’s information about the independent wine retailers where I shop. These are the places where I buy wine for Gary and me and my concierge clients and some wine tastings. There are times I visit two or three of them on a single wine buying trip because they all offer something that the other does not. To categorize, I would say that my primary stores are The Wine Shop of Charleston and Edmund’s Oast Exchange. These two stores work hard at relationship…
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Charleston has a new french bistro and it’s a great new addition to our food scene. I have been twice and can not wait to go back. It’s called Bistronomy by Nico. There is a story behind it, so indulge me. After you read this make your reservation. We all know that the pandemic has wreaked havoc on families and businesses across this country. Hundreds of thousands have died, millions sick, and businesses everywhere have closed – many for good. Restaurants and bars have been hit especially hard due to the social and sharing nature of those businesses. With time…
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* New Ownership * As most of my Charleston following know, Gary and my journey creating this blog, our in-person and virtual wine tastings, and now our wine concierge services started when Gary began his three-year stint working at The Wine Shop of Charleston. We recommended and sent many of you there to purchase wine. If Gary was there when you came in to shop, or it was one of the previous owner’s good days, all was grand. But if it wasn’t, many of you had an unfortunate encounter with her that left you bewildered or annoyed. Thus you found…
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This covid-thang has not been easy for any of us. Small family-owned businesses like restaurants have been hit especially hard. Now imagine opening up your longtime dream restaurant Savi Cucina & Wine Bar, that you have been planning for years in November of 2019. Your thought is, the first couple of months will allow us to test our processes and then hit the holidays. Over the winter, we fine-tune what needs adjusting. By spring, we will be ready to kick butt and take names. (at least that is what I imagined they’d do) And then, Covid. If it were me,…
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… before the citywide closures. On Sunday, March 15th Gary and I went to Herd Provisions for brunch with a group of dear friends. This was just two days before the city asked all restaurants to close for in-restaurant dining. I was going to hold off on posting this until things got better, but that looks to be a while longer, and I did not want to wait. Besides, last week we got a flyer from a couple of high schoolers looking for work. We hired them, and when chatting, I learned that one of the young men works at…
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