Five Specialty Food Stores to Visit
Whenever I travel, I make a point of finding and visiting specialty food stores, farmer’s markets, or independent grocery stores because these stores carry regional and high quality food products that are otherwise unavailable locally. Usually in a downtown area and typically limited to medium to large-sized cities, specialty food stores are like good bookstores: a relaxing place to spend a few hours and take away a special something to enjoy later. The following specialty food stores are worth visiting: Read more 
Dark Chocolate Covered Dried Mangos
One of our favorite places to eat lunch or dinner in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida is Christopher’s Kitchen – a restaurant whose mission is to serve high quality, organic plant-based food. Fresh squeezed raw cold-pressed juices, nut milks, salads, veggie burgers, rustic pizzas, tacos, burritos, bowls, noodles and more are served at this casual, light-filled restaurant.
Christopher’s Kitchen also offers a wide variety of homemade desserts including dark chocolate covered mango, which is decadent and delicious: chewy, dried mango slices covered in rich dark chocolate. At $4 an ounce (or $64 per pound), the dark chocolate covered mangos at Christopher’s Kitchen are expensive so I decided to make this treat myself – a super, easy task that brings the cost down to about $11 a pound using premium dark chocolate and dried mangos). Read more
Going to Boston? Go to Veggie Galaxy!
What is it that makes a diner a diner? Is it the feisty, but warm waitresses, quick with a cup of coffee and assumed familiarity? Is it the curved ceiling, the tiled floors, the classic stainless steel exterior? The cozy booths, the counter with stools that puts you right near the action at the grill? The reassuringly familiar menu? Breakfast-all-day? The wide range of customers, who mirror the diversity of America itself? Adam, Founder of Veggie Galaxy Read more
Living the Sweetgreen Life
Last month, I took my daughter to Washington, DC for college visits and we discovered Sweetgreen: a restaurant known for sourcing local and organic ingredients from farmers they know to create wholesome made to order salads and wraps. With 17 current locations (10 in DC, 2 in Maryland, 3 in Virginia, and 2 in Pennsylvania) and 3 to open soon (1 in Boston at 659 Boylston Street this summer and 2 in New York City at 413 Greenwich Street in Tribeca and 1170 Broadway at 28th Street adjacent to the NoMad Hotel), there is no better place to go for a casual, healthy lunch when visiting these cities. Read more
Kakawa Chocolate House
On a local street that winds around the historic district of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a small chocolate store called the Kakawa Chocolate House – an ode to all things chocolate and Santa Fe. Well known in warm drink circles as the place to go for hot chocolate, the store serves a variety of this rich intense elixir made from recipes that date back hundreds of years.Equally famous for their chocolates – truffles, caramels, mediants, and Chili d’Arbols, Kakawa is also known as an artisanal chocolate source where the chocolatiers make their own blend of 80% dark chocolate. Nary a milk chocolate in site, which is how the artisans dedicated to balancing tradition with cutting edge want it. Read more
Going to Boston? Try Bob’s Italian Foods
Over the past several months, I have been taking my daughter to visit schools so she can figure out where she wants to attend college. After a few of these scouting trips, the college information sessions started to sound the same and although the campus tours were unique and offered a glimpse of student life, I learned to make the trips more interesting by finding great places to eat or markets in the towns we visit. On a recent road trip to Medford, Massachusetts (5 miles northwest of central Boston), I found a place called Bob’s Italian Foods that Zagat gave a resounding 26 out of 30 prompting me to plan a stop for lunch. Read more
Tatte’s Fine Cookies, Cakes, Pastries and Tarts
Tatte Fine Cookies & Cakes is a Massachusetts-based bakery and cafe specializing in cookies, cakes, pastries, and tarts made with all natural and top quality ingredients including butter, flour, eggs, vanilla, chocolate, cheese, nuts and fresh fruits and vegetables. With two storefronts in the Boston area – the original bakery in Brookline and the newest shop in Cambridge – an on-line mail order business and high quality gourmet shops (i.e. Dean & Deluca) carrying the bakery’s products, Tatte’s sinfully delicious creations can be enjoyed by virtually anyone. Read more
A Special Restaurant in La Antigua, Guatemala
La Antigua or “Antigua” attracts world travelers and tourists alike which means there is a wide variety of dining options in this colonial destination in the central highlands of Guatemala. Among those choices is a very special restaurant called 39 Azul opened by a Norwegian chef by the name of Nils Rykken who looks like the twin brother of Mario Batali, crocs and all. The name of the restaurant reflects the address – 6.a Calle Poniente 39 – and the overriding color scheme of the restaurant, which is blue, a color often associated with the Norwegians or the Danish. But, the food is the star at 39 Azul – locally sourced ingredients expertly prepared with both a Norwegian and an international touch. Read more
Pret A Manger
What do you get when you cross a good restaurant, a top quality grocer, a European style coffee bar, and the speed of light? Pret A Manger: a British-based fresh food provider that makes healthy and delicious food as fast as it flies off the shelves. Read more
Getting To Know Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon is famously known for bikes, breweries, and babes (not in that order) but after a recent visit, Portland seems to be about so much more including farmer’s markets, hazelnuts, apples, bakeries, books, and outdoor sports. A small city that people live and work in, Portland is not a landscape of skyscrapers but rather a city of interesting buildings, greenery, bridges, and roads that are easy to maneuver.
Explore the Farmer’s Market, take a bike tour, spend a few hours at the largest independent bookstore in the country (Powell’s), indulge in the many bakeries (20+), breweries (40+), chocolate shops (10+), restaurants (dozens), visit a museum (more than a dozen), and enjoy the parks and gardens. Read more
Paddock Post 