I’ve learned never to argue with a man holding a machete. So when one of our guides, Mark Franco, Jr., whipped out his blade and said “Hey, you want to see something neat?” I simply hung my helmet on the handlebars of my rented Specialized Rockhopper and followed Mark into the jungle. Five minutes of hacking later, we arrived at […]
Why are there a dozen people crammed into Sorelle Picchi, one of many little salumerie (delis) along Parma’s Via Farini? More to the point, why are none of them ordering three etti of prosciutto, a kilo of pecorino, and a box of homemade pasta from old Claudio, who stands behind the counter carefully bundling up giant wedges of aged parmigiano […]
Sorrento is one of the very few places in Italy where it is easier to eat badly than well. Mark it down to a constantly changing clientele—why bother putting yourself out to cook a great meal when the tourist you’re making it for is going to be gone tomorrow, never to return? The food at Hotel Loreley was just a […]
I decided to skip the most famous town on the Romantic Road, Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Last time I was there, dragging the boy scouts through Europe, I ended up in a shouting match with a giant tour bus. Well, the bus mostly just shouted, “BEEP!” It was one of those double-high jobbers where the passengers sit way up, leaning […]
They call the Pegnitz a “river,” but on my drive downstream I didn’t see it get any wider than about 35 feet, if that. Most of the time is remained a little brown brook meandering through the wildflowers and half-timbered hamlets. It moved so slowly that stretches of the surface were flecked with lilypads topped by tiny white blossoms. Parting […]
After many oddly wine-centered meals in Germany, I am sure I’ll be for a beer in my future tonight. That’s because I am staying at Burg Veldenstein, the castle on the hill above Neuhaus am Pegnitz, a village of smart little red-rooved houses each painted a different pastel shade—robin’s egg, peach, canary, mint, pink. The lynchpin of the local economy […]
The Rhine is one of Germany’s wine-producing regions. So was the Mosel, two nights ago. So will be Franconia, two days hence. Sometimes it seems every Teutonic nook and cranny has been declared “one of Germany’s best wine-producing regions.” That is all fine and well as far as it goes, but it means waiters are always trying to foist off […]
Most menus in Germany are suspiciously similar: a half-dozen variations on the schnitzel theme swamped in a creamy mustard sauce, some veal (usually subjected to the same inundation of sauce), a steak or two, venison stew with wild mushrooms, and whatever the local wurstel is. Each dish is accompanied by any of a number of preparations of potato or a […]
Seven years ago, I immensely enjoyed a dinner at U Bossu, and accordingly gave Enzo’s seven-table restaurant on a forgotten Taormina side-street a star rating in the Frommer’s guide I was researching at the time. Enzo was gregarious, friendly, jocular, and overall a genuine impresario for his little trattoria—and the food was fantastic, especially for a moderately cheap joint. At […]
