Beer Alcohol Cocktails cocktail recipe Beer Festivals Restaurant Review

There is a wide diversity of options when it comes to date night ideas but on New Year's Eve it gets a bit more complicated since way too many businesses look at this as an option to jack the prices up while cutting corners. This has made it quite challenging some years for Heather and I's anniversary but this year she suggested we try a magic show dinner theater that had opened up down the block from our loft in the San Diego Gaslamp. What we experienced last night was an awesomely fun evening of magic, food, and drinks.

One of my favorite things about visiting Las Vegas is the food scene. There's always something new and fun popping up and because of the competition, innovation is constant. On this most recent trip, we were invited to check out Rice & Company, a pan-Asian restaurant located right between Blue Man Group and Carrot Top's theaters inside of the Luxor resort at the south end of the strip. It's the perfect spot for pre/post show drinks as well as a complete dinner to keep you going all night long.

The word "Oktoberfest" likely causes images of a raucous bar scene with giant steins of beer and busty waitresses dressed in dirndls. What if I told you that there was a family-friendly restaurant with authentic German food that was a perfect date location too? That's the quick synopsis of our experience at Edelweiss Dining - located in the Chicago suburb of Norridge.

For more than 30 years, this restaurant has served up some of the best authentic German food in all of the Chicagoland area.

While many people associate New Orleans with some of the best parties in the world, the other "Must Do" in New Orleans is brunch. While there is no shortage of great places where you can gorge on delicious traditional brunch foods, I would like to heartily recommend stopping by Court of Two Sisters.

Between the gorgeous courtyard, tons of great food (traditional breakfast as well as cajun and southern staples like crawfish, jambalaya, and collards), there is something for everyone! Plus they have some of the friendliest staff in town.

A scene from Top Gun was filmed here, their bartender loves to create artisanal tequila cocktails and to top it off, San Diego Magazine's readers just named their chef, Accursio Lota, as "Best Chef" in San Diego - so who was I to say no when they approached us recently and invited us to stop by for dinner!

Honestly, I am not typically a fan of Italian because I usually associate it with kitschy bottles chianti, heavy but tasteless spaghetti sauce covered pasta and pictures of the pope or mobsters on the walls. Over the past couple years though I am starting to warm up to it. What I discovered at San Diego's Solare Ristorante was a delightful interpretation of classic Italian but merged with the essence of the Southern California farm-to-table movement.

El Agave - it's the plant that when processed makes such delicious products such as agave syrup and tequila. In this case though, it is the name of one of San Diego's finest Mexican restaurants. For those of you who think "Mexican" is just tacos and burritos you are missing out on the fact that Mexico cuisines is as diverse as any other with influences from Europe as well as indigenous cooking techniques and plants.

I have seen El Agave several times as it is located above one of my favorite liquor stores in Old Town San Diego. However I didn't know much about it until the PR folks contacted me recently and invited Heather and I to check it out.

Love rum and warm Caribbean sun, sand, and beaches? Maybe it's time to head to the islands and check out this Rum Month package from Four Seasons Resort Nevis where you can celebrate this spirit with a variety of activities ranging from mixology classes to simply sipping a rum cocktail on the beach.

Texas is known for being big and over the top, so I don't know why I was surprised to see a real live Texas Long Horn bull out front of The Ranch at Las Colinas when we arived. Not only was this cool to see, but it was there as a photo op for kids (of all ages!) to sit on as they took your photo. The bit of morbidity that you are quite literally playing with your food before dinner aside, this set the tone for one of the best steak dinners that I've had in a long while.

Crabfest^® is back at Red Lobster and we stopped by to check out some of their new creations including the Crab Cakes and Crab-Oscar Salmon and the Crabfest® Ultimate Surf & Turf - both are new this year. Don't worry, your favorites are still here like the Crab Lovers Dream^® and they have limitless cheddar bay biscuits (as long as you ask nicely!). 

Let's just start out by saying that Heather and I had a fantastic time. This brunch cruise was an experience that really is hard to compare since it was three distinct things wrapped up into one happy package. For instance, raise your hand if you've ever done a booze cruise with someone you love? Keep your hand up if you've done a harbor cruise that involved a meal... Ok, now keep you hands up if that food has been great, the service excellent, and the experience was one that you can't wait to do again.  Yeah, not a lot of hands are up still, but that's ok! 

You probably haven't had the opportunity to sail with Flagship Cruises out of San Diego before. 

The company offers several different cruises ranging from whale watching excursions to sunday brunch, and even a jet boat. However, despite this diversity of types of cruises offered and my initial scepticism that they might be a jack of all trades and master of none, I can heartily recommend it and I will almost certainly go again. Heck, I'd even recommend their other experiences based on this one!

Visitors to Coronado Island are typically familiar with the famous Hotel Del - afterall, it's one of the earliest buildings in the area and set the tone for the next 100+ years as a mecca for beachgoers. What I learned this week, was that just across the road is an even older building that was built a year earlier in 1887. Originally serving as the boathouse for the resort, it now houses a fantastic seafood restaurant that is part of the Bluewater Grill group.

Las Vegas has some of the best food in the entire country and whether or not you are here for a convention, a bachelor party, or simply just to partake in the thrills of "Sin City", you are sure to work up a heck of an appetite. Don't let your hunger ruin the moment though! Fortunately, Las Vegas is filled to bursting with excellent eateries ready to satisfy whatever urges you might have.

Old Vegas may have slipped behind the curtain over the past decade to make way for hipsters and people looking for upscale luxury experiences but below the surface there are still a few Vegas treasures that will transport you back to the golden age of Vegas when being a "celebrity" meant something more than just how many Instagram followers you have. 

As a guy who loves exploring new and unique spirits, 'East' represents more than just a cardinal direction to me. It's a treasure trove of rich culture traditions and exotic spices that I love to embrace even when I'm not able to travel. While I've had Japanese whiskeys in my collection before, I have never had the opportunity to try a Japanese gin until now. With 135 East Hyogo Dry Gin from Kaikyo distillery, I just got my passport stamped for a tasty trip exploring the flavors of Japanese botanicals in a gin based on distilled sake.

Rodizio style Brazilian steakhouse restaurants are my absolute favorite style of dining. It combines everything I love in a culinary experience - endless meat, a variety of flavors, and that sense of being special. Over the past few decades the Churrascaria concept has spread rapidly in the United States and Texas de Brazil is one of the biggest operators to offer this experience. Now they've added Carlsbad, San Diego to their list of more than 50 locations world wide. They invited us to stop by and try their interpretation on the concept and we loved it!

One of the greatest things about food in the United States is that the best elements of the cuisine from around the world can mash together here. That's what I found here at Shrimp Heads in San Diego when I visited a few weeks ago. On the surface it looks like a fairly typical Southern California "shrimp tray" seafood shop but when you scratch beneath the surface you discover that it's an awesome blend of Asian and Cajun united by a love of good cooking.

There's something special about southern cooking. It's a craft that has been honed by generations and has a unique sophistication that really isn't based on "price" but rather simply a love for flavors and textures that transcend economic divides. When I lived in North Carolina, food was a celebration and "Sunday Dinner" represented a time when friends, family, and neighbors would gather at my friend's grandmother's house for stories, drinks, and meals that I still remember today. That's the magic Southern Cooking and Yardbird Las Vegas has taken that experience and elevated it to a level that is sophisticated - but still approachable. 

It's time to celebrate the holidays with feasts, bright colors, drinking, and good friends. Thanks to the folks at Fogo de Chao, I was invited to check out their new holiday offerings and of course, I jumped at the opportunity! At most restaurants right now you're going to find a menu matching the winter weather that we're all starting to dread. For those in the Southern Hemisphere like our friends in Brazil though, this is the beginning of summer! This means that you'll find not only traditional holiday treats like sweet potato casserole but also fresh watermelon, pears, mangoes, and other fruit on the harvest table.

It should be quite clear by now that I am a huge fan of Brazilian steakhouses or Churrascaria as they are also known. There's something magical about a buffet of meat that comes to you. Since you and your friends can simply sit at the table for most of the meal and not worry about getting up to load your plate with more food, conversation seems to flow more freely and it's certainly a more relaxing form of celebratory eating than other options out there. I've been lucky to be treated so well by the folks at Fogo de Chao and so after my visit to their Vegas location last week I figured it was a good opportunity to share some of my expert knowledge on how to maximize your experience at a Brazilian Steakhouse!

My wife tells me that I'm weird since i don't love pizza. Unfortunately because of that, I've generally avoided California Pizza kitchen since I'd always seen it as a pizza joint. Since earlier this year though when I helped them kick off their new location at The Park in Vegas, it's become one of my favorite restaurants.