Food & Wine July 2019

2017 WASSERERHOF ST. MAGDALENER ($20) Working at Allora in Sacramento (see p. 73), I came across this Alto Adige red. It’s made from Schiava: bright, crisp, full of wild-berry flavor, excellent with a light chill. If you can’t find this producer, seek Schiavas from Elena Walch, Peter Zemmer, Castelfeder, or Abbazia di Novacella. 2018 BEST’S GREAT WESTERN RIESLING ($25) My consumption of dry Riesling tends to rocket up in tandem with summer’s ever-climbing temperatures. I loved this Aussie winery’s limited Foudre Ferment bottling when I had it at chef Alex Raij’s new Saint Julivert Fisherie in Brooklyn, and this more findable bottling is excellent, too. 2017 CLOS CIBONNE CUVÉE TRADITION ROSÉ ($29) Recently, as guest “wine host” at Ariel Arce’s new NYC restaurant Niche Niche, I poured this wine from an old-school Provençal producer. Made…

… And the Best Old Restaurants Hungry for history? Let editor David Landsel’s survey of the oldest restaurants in every state be your guide. Here, five highlights from a list of 50, online at foodandwine.com. ANTOINE’S Est. 1840 NEW ORLEANS This civilized retort to clamorous Bourbon Street is the birthplace of oysters Rockefeller. CATTLEMEN’S STEAKHOUSE Est. 1910 OKLAHOMA CITY Breakfast on a hefty T-bone or calf’s brains at this Stockyards City fixture. COLUMBIA Est. 1905 TAMPA, FLORIDA Iceberg lettuce receives the royal treatment in the 1905 Salad, constructed tableside with flair. HAYS HOUSE Est. 1857 COUNCIL GROVE, KANSAS An essential for skillet fried chicken, founded by a relative of Daniel Boone. MANAGO HOTEL Est. 1917 CAPTAIN COOK, HAWAII Go here for fresh ono and opakapaka or perfect pork chops, plus generous sides.…

Stay Golden EARLIER THIS SPRING IN MANHATTAN I toured the new mega-mall at Hudson Yards, sipping Cava at José Andrés’ Mercado Little Spain, tearing into pillow-sized popovers at Neiman Marcus, and snipping gloriously squidgy rice cakes at David Chang’s Kāwi with fancy scissors, as Related Companies’ Stephen Ross, the project’s developer, led a throng of media guests through the massively ambitious project. I cut the tour short to make my reservation across the East River, but I couldn’t exit the monolith. Construction fencing thwarted me on the south and west ends next to the Vessel, the gleaming sculptural staircase built for selfies; locked doors blocked my retreat to the east. Fifteen anxious minutes later, I managed to escape the Hard Hat Twilight Zone and hailed a cab to Adda (one of our…

WHEN IT COMES TO WORKING in the average restaurant in America today, there is good news, and there is bad news. The bad news probably won’t surprise you. As an industry, restaurants post the lowest wages in the country, with half of workers earning well under the median living wage. Sexual harassment, brought to center stage with the #MeToo movement, has been more commonly reported by restaurant workers than those in any other industry over the past 20 years. Much of this has been par for the course for decades, with an origin story in the brigade system that defined renowned European kitchens—Anthony Bourdain called the industry’s much-mythologized work conditions “a cycle of abuse that passed as learning one’s trade.” It makes a certain kind of sense that cooks made their…

To select this year’s Best New Restaurants, F&W considered restaurants that opened between February 2018 (the closing date for last year’s list) and February 2019. A Best New Restaurant is defined not by a single person but by a team, not only by the food but by the energy of a dining room, the service, the sense of place, and the importance to its community. 1 CADENCE PHILADELPHIA GENEROSITY ON AND OFF THE PLATE Simple pleasures and serious food go hand in hand at this neighborhood charmer. Where did the feel-good restaurants go? The ones that restore the spirit, where the hospitality isn’t an algorithm but human and heartfelt. You know the type: Hearth in New York City, Rustic Canyon in Los Angeles. To that list, add Cadence in Philadelphia. Before chefs Jon Nodler, Samantha Kincaid,…

YOU SEE GARAGE DOORS ON ALL KINDS of restaurants now, but there was a particular kind of magic back in 2004 when Barbuto’s rolled open to West 12th and Washington and café tables filled with all of the beautiful weirdos of the far West Village. As the neighborhood gentrified around it, Barbuto matured as a hangout for a loyal swath of regulars: neighborhood families, models, celebrities, writers, and chefs, sharing bottles of rosé and family-style platters of salsa verde–slicked roast chicken. There was no brigade system at the old car garage, just one short horizontal line with three meritocratic stations: pasta/sauté, a plancha and fryer, and a grill and oven. There was also nowhere to hide; the kitchen was open to the dining room, and the food was too fresh…