Buenos Aires – Much as the Palio kicked off last week, a chance for much Italian regional pride and competition, the encierro kicked off yesterday, a chance for much idiocy and injury, as folks attempt to chase, be chased, and hopefully outrun, a bunch of stampeding cattle. My job isn’t to critique those folks who… Read More Running of the Bulls

Buenos Aires – The most surprising thing about our Casa SaltShaker venture isn’t that people have been coming and enjoying, much as the speed of word of mouth did catch me off guard. Instead, it’s been the idea of having a private dinner somewhere. There seem to be a large number of people, either visitors… Read More A Quiet Space for Dinner

Buenos Aires – My first, and longest, cooking job was working at The Side Door restaurant in my hometown of Ann Arbor. It was a small, family-run Italian place, where I learned to make dough, sauces, and pizzas. One of the two owners was a Weight Watchers fanatic at the time and every dish that… Read More Viva Italia!

Buenos Aires – I’d billed last night’s dinner for Casa SaltShaker as an exploration of my roots, or at least nearby roots – which, is a bit of an exaggeration. It requires considering the entire former USSR, and therefore all the various former republics, as if they were the same neighborhood. In truth, that part… Read More Georgia On My Mind

Buenos Aires – It was bound to happen sooner or later. In fact, I’m sure that at some point, we’ll have one of these dinners and no one will reserve. As I mentioned a day or two ago, we thought we were nearly “sold out” for this last Friday, but then, on Wednesday afternoon, a… Read More Renaissance of the English Renaissance

Buenos Aires – It began innocently enough, with an e-mail, as things often do these days. It was a few days after my announcement about opening up Casa SaltShaker for dinners. I’d met Alberto in November when I took him up on a free tour he was offering. We’ve kept in touch, so receiving an… Read More A Partridge in a Pear Tree…

Buenos Aires – Where to even begin? Last night, as many of you know, was “opening night” for our restaurante de puertas cerradas, our little in-home supper club. By all reports things went well, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It was great fun and energizing for me. I think Henry found that “restaurant work” was… Read More Post-Opening Night Roundup