Category Archives: Great Finds

Artisan Chocolates with Filipino Flair

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If life is like a box of chocolates, this one will transport you to a far-off land.
If life is like a box of chocolates, this one will transport you to a far-off land.

It’s hard to believe that as a kid, Daniel Corpuz refused to eat anything except plain white rice.

Because what he creates now as an adult is full of brilliantly bold flavors.

His medium?

Chocolate. As in dazzling, hand-crafted bonbons with many fillings inspired by his Filipino heritage.

He started Daniel Corpuz Chocolatier in New York City after working as a pastry chef at renowned fine-dining establishments, The Modern at MoMA, Manhatta, and One White Street.

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, he shifted to concentrating on chocolates following the pandemic. It landed him a spot on Netflix’s “School of Chocolate” in 2021, hosted by the celebrated pastry chef, Amaury Guichon.

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For The Love of Crispy Bits

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Use your oven and a preheated sheet pan for the crispiest fried rice you'll ever enjoy.
Use your oven and a preheated sheet pan for the crispiest fried rice you’ll ever enjoy.

Raise your hand if you covet those cooked grains of rice that turn golden and ever so crispy on the bottom of the pan.

Then, “Sheet Pan ‘Fried’ Rice” is made for you.

Because this is fried rice that’s cooked not in a wok or saute pan on the stovetop, but in the oven on a sheet pan that’s preheated until it’s blazing hot.

That means far more surface area for the rice to come in contact with to turn exceptionally toasty and crunchy.

This genius recipe is from “Hot Sheet” (Harvest), of which I received a review copy.

The cookbook was written by Olga Massov, an editor at the Washington Post’s Food section; and Sanaë Lemoine, a novelist and former cookbook editor, who worked at Martha Stewart and Phaidon Press.

As the title implies, this book is all about recipes made on a sheet pan, one of the hardest working and most useful pans in our kitchens.

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Experiencing The Inn At Newport Ranch

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A picnic-like dinner delivered to my room at the Inn at Newport Ranch.
A picnic-like dinner delivered to my room at the Inn at Newport Ranch.

Fort Bragg, CA — Will Jackson, a retired Wall Street investment manager on the East Coast, had never set foot on this rugged and picturesque Mendocino coast before. Even so, when he spied a for-sale ad in the Wall Street Journal in 1985 for an 850-acre cattle ranch here with more than a mile of oceanfront land, he grew intrigued.

So much so that he called a friend who lived in the area and asked him to go investigate. The friend’s verdict? That Jackson ought to high-tail it out this way to snap it up.

He did just that, falling in love at first sight. In 1986, Jackson took over the property, which back then had only a small B&B.

In 2016, he officially opened The Inn at Newport Ranch, an intimate luxury inn that boasts 10 distinct accommodations, plus a gourmet restaurant that’s open only to guests.

Over the years, he’s expanded the property to more than 2,200 sweeping acres. I had a chance to explore this secluded property recently when I was invited to stay as a guest of the inn.

The inn.
The inn.
A sitting area inside the main building.
A sitting area inside the main building.
The more formal private dining room.
The more formal private dining room.

About a 3 1/2-hour drive north of San Francisco, the last mile or so on Highway 1 will take you on winding turns surrounded by breathtaking, old-growth redwoods. The oft-present foggy mist will eventually reveal the California ranch-style inn built next to a majestic cypress tree that’s more than 130 years old.

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Michelin-Acclaimed Vancouver Eats, Part II: Pidgin

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The incredible foie gras rice bowl at Pidgin.
The incredible foie gras rice bowl at Pidgin.

Vancouver, CANADA — Should I admit that I ended up booking a reservation at Pidgin solely because of one dish that I spotted on the menu?

That dish is pictured above in all its majesty: foie gras rice bowl with unagi glaze.

And I’m here to report that it was epic.

You see, my husband and I, unfortunately live in a state in the United States that has for years has banned restaurants from serving and selling foie gras. So, when we were planning a trip to the Great White North, the first thing my husband uttered was “I’m eating some foie gras!” And did he ever. Not just here, but at our hotel restaurant, the Alouette Bistro, where he chowed down on a bountiful burger with a small lobe of seared fatty duck liver on the side.

The bar at Pidgin.
The bar at Pidgin.
Michelin fun.
Michelin fun.

Foie gras is not the only thing to celebrate about Pidgin, which, after all, is Michelin Guide-recommended.

There’s so much more to relish at Chef Wesley Young’s restaurant, where the food is bold and at times irreverent.

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Michelin-Acclaimed Vancouver Eats, Part I: Published on Main

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Fragrant, Thai-style squid at Published on Main.
Fragrant, Thai-style squid at Published on Main.

Vancouver, CANADA — The Michelin Guide is a newcomer to this city, having debuted its first dining guide only in 2022. Among the first eight restaurants to garner a Michelin star for the first time in is Published on Main, which has continued to maintain that achievement.

Serving elegant, contemporary Canadian cuisine with global influences and an emphasis on sustainability, it was opened in December 2019 by Executive Chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandon, a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who worked at Michelin-starred restaurants in Germany and spent a summer working at restaurant Noma in Copenhagen.

It’s located in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood that’s plenty pleasant, indeed, with an abundance of parks, gastropubs, bakeries, and restaurants.

The restaurant, done up in white, gray, and black, sports bar-height chairs throughout the dining room that are quite comfortable, too, with built-in bars to rest your feet.

The real Michelin star plaque hangs on a different wall, but this whimsical one can be found on a shelf above the bar.
The real Michelin star plaque hangs on a different wall, but this whimsical one can be found on a shelf above the bar.
The dining room.
The dining room.

Choose either a tasting menu or a la carte dishes that are easily shareable. The latter is what my husband and I chose. With a favorable exchange rate, we ate like kings, too (and queens).

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