CHEWING THE FAT

Jaw-dropping luxury. Between Positano and Amalfi, perched on the edge of a cliff between sky and sea, sits the majestic Monastero Santa Rosa, a 17th century monastery transformed into one of Gulf of Salerno’s 21st century most exclusive hotels.   If you can tear yourself away…

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The Hassler is at the Right Hand Side of the Spanish Steps At the top of the newly refurbished Spanish Steps in Rome, sits one the Eternal City’s most extraordinary hotels. The Hassler Roma has entertained everyone from Dwight Eisenhower to Grace Kelly and, quite…

Florence Fabricant I started out with a recipe for this dish from Florence Fabricant of the New York Times.  Ms. Fabricant, whom I have had the pleasure of meeting, is a food and wine writer who contributes to the Times weekly with her columns “Front…

Cinco de Mayo, that most American of all Mexican Holidays, has been the subject of an annual post since Chewing the Fat began. In fact, one of the recipes I posted for Cinco de Mayo remains one of the most popular of the entire 747…

Campanile in Chaplin’s Day I used to spend a lot of time in Los Angeles, sometimes for weeks on end. As an Advertising Agency creative, I was there making TV commercials for everything from Coca Cola to Johnson’s Baby Shampoo.  Inevitably, we had clients along…

They line up down the block the Halal Guys Chicken and Rice Chicken and Rice in one form or another may be one the world’s most ubiquitous foods.  You can find it in many guises. Claypot Chicken Rice is popular from Southern China to Singapore…

If this post looks familiar to some of you, it’s because it was published last Tuesday, National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day, at The Daily Meal.com.  Since they edited it and didn’t include the recipes, I thought I’d send you the complete article, along with 3…

Gai Lan, Chinese Broccoli. I love Beef with Broccoli. It was one of the first Chinese dishes I ate when I came to New York.  Those were the days before Hunan and Szechuan restaurants took over from their Cantonese forbearers and forever changed the way…

  Pasta is one of my comfort foods.  There is something so satisfying about a big bowl of pasta, the flavors of the sauce melting into the noodles, grated or shaved Reggiano Parmigiano cheese topping the dish and there, at the bottom of the bowl,…

I like Bobby Flay.  For quite a few years, I worked above his ‘store’. That would be his late lamented Mesa Grill. At Mesa, his take on Southwestern cuisine virtually introduced New York to the flavors of that part of the country.  Of course, along…

St. Barthelémy, or St. Barth, as its habitués call it, is an island slice of paradise just 12 harrowing minutes by plane from St. Martin.  But once you survive the plunge between two hills and what must be the world’s shortest runway, you’ve landed somewhere…

“Dinner”, Melissa Clark’s latest cookbook, is among the most highly anticipated cookbooks of the year.  Its author is a staff writer for The New York Times and pens its highly popular “A Good Appetite” column which is eagerly awaited every Wednesday in the newspaper’s “Food”…

Letizia Mattiacci: The Umbrian Cook on an American Tour By Monte Mathews Staff Writer Learn how to cook the cuisine of this Italian province from a native cook and teacher. Then you can make dishes like this gorgeous Melanzane alla Parmigiana…Eggplant Parmigiano Experience Umbrian cuisine…

By Monte Mathews Staff Writer  This private island retreat makes the perfect base for exploring Venice   Ask anyone who has been to Venice lately and you’re sure to hear that “La Serenissima” is hardly serene. Every year 22 million tourists flock to the city,…