Ethnic Dining Archive

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THESE / 12 memorable meals from the year gone by

By Larry Levine – “You’re lucky, eating so many great meals in great restaurants.” I hear statements like that frequently from people who assume I created a restaurant web site (atLarrys.com) and this online food magazine as an excuse to eat great meals in great restaurants. They have it backwards; the great meals in great [...]
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FUSION WITHOUT CONFUSION / from youthful necessity to Hawaiian sophistication

By Larry Sheingold - I was a fusion food pioneer. Didn’t intend to be. But surviving the 1960’s on dollars a day meant recipes-of-necessity. And that often called for blending culinary cultures. So blend I did. Spaghetti topped with canned chili. Tortillas and peanut butter. Or my staple: “idiot’s delight,” an inspired sauté of cabbage, [...]
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FEAST OF THE 7 FISHES / In memory of Jim Tabilio

(We first published this article in January 2011 – a bit late for the 2010 holiday season but we found it warm and tender. Marika Tabilio is the daughter of the late Jim Tabilio, who was one of the original co-hosts at the restaurant recommendation web site atLarrys.com. Some six weeks after we published this [...]
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37 QUINTESSENTIAL RESTAURANTS FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA

By Larry Levine - What is the quintessential restaurant in San Francisco? How about Los Angeles? Sacramento? San Diego? New York? Chicago? Boston? We put those questions to the co-hosts of our sister web site – www.atLarrys.com, where we do restaurant recommendations – and quickly learned the answers get more complicated the more you think [...]
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IT STARTED WITH TAPAS / how small plates swept the nation

By Larry Levine – It started with tapas. About 10 or 11 years ago the Spanish appetizers hit the shores of the U.S. in a big way and quickly spread across the nation. First it was a spate of tapas restaurants. They did so well that other restaurants felt pressure to include tapas sections on [...]
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BUT I STILL LOVE TO EAT – The journey back from the operating table to the dinner table / Chapter 9 / CRUISE SHIPS – where diets go to die

By Larry Levine – (BUT I STILL LOVE TO EAT is a memoir in progress being published in draft form in this magazine.) I was doing fine, feeling smug about my ability to stick to a responsible diet – low fat, low cholesterol, low sodium. Then until Jennifer and I set sail on a 16-day [...]
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BUT I STILL LOVE TO EAT – The journey back from the operating table to the dinner table / Chapter 4 / A Chicken Soup Disaster and the cardiologist who blessed a heart-healthy chicken soup recipe

By Larry Levine The full wisdom of my son Lloyd’s words about low vs. no fat/cholesterol/sodium (see Chapter Three) had not yet completely sunk in, when my sister Elisa came to visit two weeks after my quadruple coronary bypass surgery in July 2008. Elisa and I each took pride in our homemade chicken soup recipe, which [...]
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RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK – Biba

By Larry Levine - As Sacramento has grown into an outstanding restaurant town, Biba has remained a mainstay, attracting a loyal local following that includes many of the state’s political and governmental leaders. Biba is one of my two favorite restaurants in California for a whole host of reasons. Each time I visit Biba – [...]
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A FOOD LOVER’S JOURNEY / ZINGERMAN’S DELICATESSEN, ANN ARBOR, MICHGAN – It asks the question: when is a deli a deli?

By Larry Levine - (Number 3 in a series of articles - A FOOD LOVER’S JOURNEY.) As a place to find excellent Jewish rye bread, Zingerman’s sets a high standard. As a place to select from an impressive assortment of cheeses and a variety of specialty hams, Zingerman’s Delicatessen is worth a visit. But is Zingerman’s a true [...]
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BOMBAY BAR AND GRILL – Restaurant of the Week

By Larry Sheingold – For anyone doubting a review’s influence on local dining choices – and sometimes the success or failure of a restaurant – I offer you Sacramento’s Bombay Bar and Grill, purveyor of Indian cuisine. My wife and I go there often. We like the food, the sauces, the garlic basil naan. We [...]
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