by Christina Waters | Jul 3, 2007 | Home, Travel |
It’s been over a week since I left the jungles of Heathrow for the sanctuary of San Francisco. And I still find myself thinking about the ease of dining on the Italian Riviera. Genoa might not register much more than a blip on the world culinary radar, but it easily provided a week’s worth of interesting dining, impeccably maintained palaces and atmospheric walking tours on extreme cobblestones.
On the right, is a typical, yet astonishing, pizza and focaccia shop whose secret weapon just might be this charming young proprietor, named Andrea.
Each day in Genoa, I made my way up Via Garibaldi — lined with world heritage palazzi and museums — to a day of conference papers at the University. Via Garibaldi is exclusively for pedestrians these days, though in Christopher Columbus’ time it was one of the main routes through town, linked to the busy 
harbor by a twisted warren of alleys called caruggi. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Jun 26, 2007 | Food, Home, Travel |
Frutti di mare – “fruit of the sea” – Italian really does have a zesty way of describing the world. Well, seafood – especially calamari, octopus and shrimps – was on every menu I found during my trip to Genoa and the Italian Riviera last week. The first night, I staked out my local enoteca, I Tre Merli (“the three blackbirds”) and in addition to several fine meals on my own, I brought new friends from the International Dickens Conference there to sample robust Barberas and feast on prosciutto, seafood-stuffed ravioli, focaccia stuffed with melted cheese, pesto and the regional specialty, tissue-thin lasagna sauced with a supple puree of chestnuts and pesto. Outrageous. And all served inside a 16th century room with 20 foot vaulted ceilings. This is not precious cuisine, it is seaside cucina rustica with hints of nearby Sardinia, Sicily and Morocco in the spicing. Mint, saffron and nuts found their way into many of the dishes I tried — but I couldn’t get a bad, or even a mediocre meal, even at little hole-in-the-wall tavole calda.
The salumi and pescattoria shops, where cured meats and fresh seafood were sold to housewives and chefs, looked exactly like sets from a Fellini film.
At I Tre Merli I feasted one noon on a plate of salume mista, organized by my waiter, so that I could sample the house specialties. In addition to notably un-greasy salame, the plate was laden with Parma ham, wild boar prosciutto, duck prosciutto and cured hog’s belly. The latter was exactly like a slice of delicious bacon with a thick sleeve of fat. Admittedly not a vegan dish, it was heavenly with a salad of arugula and a glass of Barbera d’Alba.
by Christina Waters | May 7, 2007 | Food, Home, Travel |
Despite my motto, “The East has ceased,” it was a delicate springtime that greeted me in Pennsylvania and New Jersey last week. Dogwood in bloom, azaleas purple through the tracery of pale green just beginning to burst into sight – really lovely. That’s the grey-green Atlantic Ocean you see on my masthead this week. And there was terrific food and some memorable museum-going. But it’s nice to be home.
Fans of the bizarre and medically wierd will definitely want to visit Philadelphia’s venerable Mutter Museum. Founded as part of the august College of Physicians by close personal friends of Ben Franklin’s several hundred years ago, the extraordinary teaching museum has been updated and expanded over the years. Today the collection of medical oddities, mostly housed in an old Victorian library lined with glass display cases, still packs a macabre punch. Yes, two-headed babies, mesmerizingly grotesque skeletals remains, and all that, but the museum is especially strong in its collection of rare and antique surgical implements. Makes me wonder how any of our ancestors survived! And if as a kid, like me, you were fascinated by Eng and Chang, the original Siamese twins, you’ll find much here to satisfy your curiosity. Claudia and I absorbed as much as we could before heading off for lunch. That evening, we sampled the new Susanna Foo dining room in Radner. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Apr 3, 2007 | Home, Travel |
The Stokes Adobe, built somewhere in the 1840s, has always been one of the impressive old landmarks of Monterey’s brief stint as Capitol of California. Not only are the 3-foot thick adobe walls still atmospherically intact, but the food – Stokes is also a restaurant — has never been better. On a one-day holiday last week, we joined friends to view a few choice shows at Monterey Museum of Art, featuring masters of California landscape paintings, followed by lunch at Stokes Adobe Restaurant. (see next article)
I was deeply gratified to see how beautifully maintained the museum buildings were, one a landmark Mexican era adobe, La Mirada, and the other within the cluster of historic civic buildings that define old Monterey. It’s rare 
to be steeped in regional history while viewing outstanding genre paintings of the past 150 years. There’s currently a substantial show of fine California masterworks, showing at the Monterey Museum of Art — the Pacific Avenue branch, located across from historic old Colton Hall — showing through April 29, entitled The Artists at Continent’s End. Head down Highway One and enjoy the museum. Check the website for full details, but remember, it’s closed Monday and Tuesday.
by Christina Waters | Mar 20, 2007 | Home, Travel |
Every time I visit my great friend Laurel, we stop for a mid-day feast at the Parkhouse Eatery, always buzzing with action and sensationally intense flavors. Eccentric and colorful, like the bohemian University Heights neighborhood itself, Parkhouse occupies a funky vintage building (formerly a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store) and specializes in large creations involving oodles of fresh salads, no-holds-barred burgers and fries, and exotic variations on every great food idea southern California can hold.
The breakfasts are legendary, but last week it was lunch that called us. We managed to work our way through some, but not all, of a juicy, pink lamb burger, slathered with gorgonzola, olive tapenade and tomatos, with home-made ketchup. This arrived with a flotilla of fries and a large lemonade. I sampled a cup of the famous grilled shrimp and potato chowder. It was melt-in-your-mind good, as if someone’s mother had whipped it up from scratch — lots of butter, herbs, ribbons of leek, creamy potatoes and yes, grilled shrimps.
I also attempted to do partial justice (sounds like the theme for our current federal administration…) to a mammoth crab cake sandwich, but I failed. So Laurel took half of it home for dinner.
Oh yeah. We also worked our way through a single “Everything But the Kitchen Sink Brownie.” Served in a warm bowl, this is the ultimate, multi-layer, nut-encrusted, granola-enhanced, chocolate-studded brownie, topped with vanilla ice cream and more chocolate. The excellent Parkhouse coffee helped us make inroads on the decadent dessert. Like a trip to an x-rated chocolate bathhouse . . . . So next time you’re in the Balboa Park/University Heights region of San Diego, don’t miss Parkhouse. You could spend some quality time in the nearby art and antiques places too. So that’s Parkhouse Eatery, serving breakfast, lunch AND dinner daily at 4574 Park Blvd.(619/295-7275).
by Christina Waters | Mar 20, 2007 | Home, Travel |
I love beautiful Balboa Park — you can always separate the great cities from the wannabees, by their parks. The Spanish Baroque “leftovers” from the 1915 Panama-California International Exposition, fill Balboa Park with graceful buildings and tropical gardens inviting leisurely strolling and picnicking. But the place is also filled with serious cultural diversions, from the Mingei Museum of international crafts, and the legendary Zoo, to the Aerospace Museum and the ornate Museum building, surrounded by gardens, fountains and even an old-fashioned organ pavilion, always well-used by lavish Mexican wedding parties.
My mom and I checked out the much-hyped Annie Liebovitz show, loaded with celebrity photos and intimate family vacation portraits. I found out more than I needed to know about every single hotel room in Venice that Liebovitz and her partner, the late Susan Sontag, had shared. And in all, it seemed more pop-star voyeurism trumped up as “art” than anything genuinely revealing about the human animal. A notable exception was a poignant photograph of Johnny Cash, not long before his death, looking at his wife, June Carter as she played the autoharp on their rambling front porch. His life was rolled into that single look of love and regret. Would that more of Liebovitz’ images on display had held as much.
There’s nothing like a line-up of Vanity Fair covers to work up an appetite, so we next hit the user-friendly Tea Pavilion dining patio, and swilled down udon noodles and teriyaki tofu rice bowls, washed down with green tea. This little al fresco spot, wedged conveniently between the main museum and the rose-filled Japanese Friendship Garden, offers friendly staff, fresh Japanese foods and low prices.
