Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday, bleaknimue,

Try the Red: Napa Learns to Sell

Wines lined up for tasting at V. Sattui Winery. More Photos >
By KATRINA HERON
Published: February 16, 2010
NAPA, Calif.

TOM DAVIES was driving last fall down Highway 29, the two-lane blacktop that serves as the Napa Valley’s main drag, when he saw something that literally stopped him in his tracks. “There was a sign on the side of the road that said, ‘Cabernet Grapes for Sale,’ ” he recalled, still incredulous that economic desperation had forced a Napa grower to hawk the region’s hallowed fruit like a load of zucchini. More

El Bulli Bye Bye

HURRY! Ferran Adrià at El Bulli, his restaurant in Roses, Spain. Reserve soon, to make your friends envious.
By FRANK BRUNI
Published: February 16, 2010

SO El Bulli, as we’ve all heard by now, will close.

But was it ever really open in the first place?

For too many people it wasn’t, because they couldn’t plan as far ahead as El Bulli has long required them to and make a reservation some 6 or 9 or even 12 months ahead, fixing a far-off vacation with that sort of exactitude, letting one restaurant and one meal stand as the tent pole around which a year’s worth of travel was organized. El Bulli has a limited number of seats; a table there is yours for the night; the restaurant shuts down for extended periods of the year. And yet tens of thousands of gourmands worldwide clamor to get in, because a visit there is synonymous in many circles with real gastronomic erudition. The arithmetic is brutal. More

Somewhere in the Valley of the Sun...

The rack of lamb with artichoke hearts, baby beets and goat cheese.
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: February 16, 2010
SURPRISE, Ariz.

IN a restaurant tucked away in a strip mall here, between a military recruitment center and Doggy Style, a pet supply store, scallops sizzle quietly in brown butter, almost ready to join a plate of perfectly cooked Israeli couscous. More

A Tweet Too Far

On his blog and elsewhere online, Eddie Huang violates the taboo about publicly criticizing other chefs.
By JULIA MOSKIN
Published: February 16, 2010

NEW YORK CITY’S restaurant world has never been cuddly, but last week may have seen its first shouting match prompted by a Twitter post. More

The Problem with Running Around in the Dark for All Those Many Years...

Chickens See Color Better Than Humans

Another Fowl!

Has died for our dinner!

D'oh

The writing on the cave wall

Link

Cheap Tickets?

Booking a Flight the Frugal Way

By MATT GROSS
Joshua Lott/Reuters An airplane departs Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix.

It used to be so simple. You wanted to go to Paris, so you called a travel agency, gave them your dates and budget, and with any luck, you soon had in your hands a real paper ticket with a real dollar value. Even in the early days of the Internet, it was easier. You went to one of the few booking sites — Travelocity or Expedia, most likely — searched for your route, paid with a credit card and that was it. Maybe you even got a paper ticket in the mail. Those were the days! More

Sites That Do Your Fare Digging
By MICHELLE HIGGINS
Published: February 21, 2010

HOW do you find the best airfare? Click. Click again. Click again. Then click some more. More