Chef Anna Maria Santorelli had such a huge fan following that by the time she opened her new wine bar in Rye, NY on Jan. 4, she drew overflow crowds. “The moment I walked in the door, the place was packed! Says Santorelli, the former head chef at Gracie Mansion in NYC under Mayor Giuliani, and entrepreneur restaurant owner. “I was so excited to see my new vision for a wine bar become reality. Coming off selling my restaurant in…
UConn Women’s Basketball coach Geno Auriemma had just opened the doors to his gorgeous Manchester, Conn. restaurant Café Aura when all of a sudden, it all changed and his restaurant was closed. Just like that, the beautiful upscale Italian steakhouse that opened for business in an iconic downtown building, was shuttered by the government order, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. “We were only open 14 weeks before the shutdown,” says Café Aura manager Randy McNamara. “We had just opened up…
Elvin Jin was on a path to becoming a medical doctor when he decided to end his work as a physician’s assistant in pediatrics, travel to Japan, and pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a chef. Working at the foot of the masters in the Japanese food scene, Jin spent a “humbling” eight months doing nothing more than cleaning rice. “I wasn’t allowed to do anything else,” Jin recalls. “There were many days I had had my doubts over my…
Ryan Hudson waited wearily in line and thought, “This could be sensational.” Instead of long lines funneling into dreary spaces at a San Francisco dispensary back then, he imagined something different. An upscale experience in an architecturally beautiful space staffed by helpful, knowledgeable professionals. Years later, Hudson and his partners brought the concept to life. An idea sparked by his “lightbulb moment” in line that day, and years of work bore fruit in 2011, when the The Apothecarium opened its…
The 15-story, glass-and-chrome atrium of Conrad NY Downtown with its massive mural by Sol LeWitt, may feel quite modern, but it is traditional concepts that draw the customers through the front doors. The view; the food; the service. That’s what pulls people in, says senior food and beverage manager Joseph Mirsky. “We have a great advantage in terms of our location and our international and continental brand,” Mirsky says. “We’re one of the more upscale hotels in Lower Manhattan and…
The experience at MAMA Oakland often begins with the “Legend.” It arrives at the table along with the dinner menu. And upon its page is found icons and descriptions that solve one of dinner’s bigger mysteries. Specifically, what wine should we get? Co-owner Stevie Stacionis explains. “My husband (Josiah Baldivino) and I co-own a wine shop and bar a few doors down called Bay Grape. When we decided to open our restaurant we planned to have an extensive wine selection,…
A sparkling silver tea service and a tower of cakes is just one of the pillars of Glamour Rediscovered; The Drake of Oak Brook, Illinois’ new branding campaign. “The Drake is an iconic name, dating back to 1927, when it was built in Chicago. The Drake Oak Brook is 18 miles away, in a Chicago suburb, and our goal is to bring back the opulence of yesteryear,” says GM Lee Hoener. “We hope our guests will enjoy a spirit of…
On a pretty New Jersey farm where hawks once gathered to hunt the freshly tilled soil, blossoms a family vineyard, which bubbles with fresh ideas in sparkling wine and small-production varietals. The Hawk Haven Vineyard & Winery, was launched in 1997 by husband and wife Todd and Kenna Wuerker. Together they grow grapes on the farmland that has been in Todd’s family since it was purchased in 1940 by German immigrant Johan Felix Wuerker. Today, the farm is a popular…
The challenge of making great food for all tastes is a high bar for any establishment. But when those meals also need to accommodate diners with restrictions, such as stroke-related swallowing issues, or sodium intake, that high bar just hit the stratosphere. Which is why the self-described foodies running the show at independent living facility Ridgmar Place of Fort Worth, Texas, approach their work every day with an all-hands-on-deck zeal to find new presentations, secret ingredients, and novel ways to…
Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse in Washington, D.C. has been drawing a crowd since 1948. No, they’re not giving away cash. It’s more like love and understanding. The story goes that sometime in the 1970s, Annie Kaylor was working alongside her four sisters at the family owned restaurant, when she observed a two gentlemen having dinner and holding hands underneath the table. And without missing a beat, she told them, “You don’t need to hide that here.” That short declarative sentence, which…