Fair weather friends: four CNE-worthy treats available right now

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3:53 pm

August is a glorious month of warm weather, fresh air and, let’s not forget, greasily delicious CNE food. But you don’t have to wait until Aug. 16 to (over-) indulge. These Toronto restaurants are serving up fair-inspired food just because they can.

Funnel vision

Yonge and St. Clair burger joint Holy Chuck serves some of the most over-the-top food in uptown Toronto (case in point, the Sixxy Cow, which features six patties, six slices of cheese and three slices of bacon). So it’s no surprise that it also serves up some classic midway fare. Holy Chuck’s funnel cake starts with batter — made from baking powder, baking soda, flour and sugar — that’s put into a squeeze bottle. It’s then shot out into the deep fryer and cooked until golden brown. It comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a house-made pineapple-caramel sauce.
Holy Chuck, 1450 Yonge St., 416-962-4825. $7

Eye candy

You’ll have to go a bit upmarket to taste Marben’s carnival-inspired cotton candy because it’s part of the tasting menu. Chef Rob Bragagnolo uses an industrial cotton candy machine — much like what you’d find at the CNE — to spin out seasonal takes on the stuff. For summer, he’s infusing sugar with a bit of apple juice and watermelon, which gives the cotton candy a slightly pink hue. While making the candy, he adds fresh basil to the mix so that the leaves get embedded inside. Why cotton candy? “People like being little kids again, ” Bragagnolo says.
Marben, 488 Wellington St. W., 416-979-1990. Tasting menu item

Pogo à gogo

Chef Dan Sanders’ interpretation of a corn dog was initially a Summerlicious-only item, but it was a popular choice, and Earth Rosedale is keeping it on the menu for a bit longer. Paprika-inflected chorizo is rolled in a cornmeal batter and then deep-fried, making it a gluten-free (and gluttonous) choice. It comes with an orange-and-fennel salad and a smear of extra-crunchy house mustard. And yes, it’s served on a stick.
Earth Rosedale, 1055 Yonge St., 416-551-9890. $9

Fried and true

One certainty with carnival food is that, if it can be deep-fried, it will be deep-fried. Previous items to hit the deep fryer at the CNE include butter, Mars bars and even cola. At Murray’s Sandwich Emporium on Queen West, the deep-fried Nutella sandwich is right in tune with that sentiment. Owner/sandwich expert Anthony Tsavdaris puts Nutella (or jam) on Ace Bakery bread and covers it in beer batter. He then deep-fries it, sprinkles it with some icing sugar and serves it with a side of whipped peanut butter. And how did Tsavdaris come up with the creation? “It was like one of those late-night, kind of stoned, what-can-I-do-with-a-sandwich kind of deals.”
Murray’s Sandwich Emporium, 671 Queen St. W., 647-345-7644. $9

Q&A: Daniela Gesundheit, one half of Toronto indie pop duo Snowblink

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The city’s groundbreaking arts festival SummerWorks kicks off this today. Known for experimentation, SummerWorks features a large theatrical program as well as a music series with artists such as indie pop group Snowblink. We chatted with Daniela Gesundheit about her music, the festival and the future of artistic expression.

You’re taking part at this month’s SummerWorks festival. What do you have planned?
We have gathered a large group of our musician friends to participate in unexpected ways over the duration of our set. The evening will close out with a slow dance party featuring DJ Poor Pilgrim (Matt Cully). We are in collaboration with lighting designer Trevor Schwellnus for the occasion.

What inspired this particular performance?
A seven-day silent meditation retreat in Santa Cruz, Calif., and a few truly memorable slow dances.

Your music being so lush and atmospheric, do you feel it works well as a complement to other forms of artistic expression?
People have told us that they paint to it, get married to it, put their kids to bed with it.… It’s all fine by me as long as the person pairing it with another art form or life cycle ritual is tasting the soup as they go along and ensuring the seasoning is appropriate.

What’s new with the band, following your latest release last year — new album on the horizon?
We have been playing in a collaboration band called Hydra (with Feist and AroarA) where we all play each other’s songs. In addition to that, we are writing new Snowblink material and plan to record in the fall/winter of this year.

You describe your music as non-denominational, devotional pop. What’s that?
It’s not explicitly religious, and certainly not tied to any specific religion, but it is devotional in nature. I think of devotional music as having the ability to remind us of our deep ends and that that is where we should dive from time to time.

What makes this festival unique?
There’s a lot of risk taking in this festival. Risk in the arts is looked upon favourably by the creative community in Toronto.

SummerWorks runs Aug. 8 to 18

Concert Review: Backstreet Boys at the Molson Amphitheatre

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12:00 pm

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The standard boy band model is typically one that is risk-averse. Take a handful of handsome performers possessing marketable, crowd-pleasing talents, arm them with individual identities, coordinated dance moves and a couple of catchy tunes and cash in.

That’s why it was surprising to see risks aplenty in the Toronto return of the Backstreet Boys on Wednesday night at the Molson Amphitheatre. Here was a band that a) was returning to solo headlining after leaning on NKOTB during their most recent major tour, b) was playing a venue that didn’t lend itself to the heavy pyro and visual effects to which fans of the band have grown accustomed and c) was introducing a new album to a fan base despite being well past their boy band days.

And yet, it worked — all of it.

A predominantly female crowd of 16,000 — adorned in glitter-covered T-shirts and holding colorful signs — were on hand to shriek and squeal at Nick, AJ, Brian, Howie and a returning Kevin as though they were back to their teenaged selves.

The BSB hits were predictably popular (“As Long As You Love Me” and “Everybody” seemed to generate the most frenzied responses), but the crowd was surprisingly eager to buy into some of the newer tracks (“In A World Like This,” the new album’s title track, had fans happily singing along).

The lack of pyro wasn’t much of an issue as it allowed for further emphasis to be placed on the quintet’s dance moves. The Boys were right in step with one another, showing no signs of rust and taking the focus away from some decidedly sub-par sound (not that it would have mattered, anyway).

When they weren’t locked into coordinated routines, the bright lights and cool video packages satisfied the show’s visual need. If and when fans could focus past the blinding lights rotating across the stage, they offered personal screaming salutes as their favorite Backstreet Boy was highlighted on-screen. Each member got his own time to shine in a slickly-produced, James Bond-themed intro video that drove the crowd into an early, anticipatory tizzy.

Unlike the New Kids’ recent visit to the ACC as part of the Package Tour alongside 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men, BSB didn’t have any supporting talent capable of stealing their thunder. After a yawn-inducing DJ set by Pauly D of Jersey Shore fame, Jesse McCartney launched into a 45-minute set that showed his promise, but left fans unmoved except for the set ender, “Beautiful Soul.”

In other words, this was a night that was all about the Boys. And that was just fine with those in attendance because, as Wednesday night showed, Backstreet’s back, alright.

First Draught: De Wallen, a raspberry-loaded sour ale from Amsterdam Brewery

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10:27 am

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While the conglomerate-owned Beer Store continues to pull shenanigans like listing Keith’s as an IPA, the LCBO has transformed itself into the default retail source of good beer for most Ontarians. The government-owned monopoly deserves a (brief) round of applause for opening its shelves over the past year to envelope-pushing bottles like special-release double IPAs and the province’s first gose.

De Wallen, the most recent LCBO release from Amsterdam Brewery, is a barrel-aged sour based on Amsterdam’s raspberry-loaded Framboise. After lactobacillus, brettanomyces and pediococcus (all three are the Latin names for yeasts and bacteria that make food and drink deliciously funky) are introduced to the proto-beer, it is aged for a year in barrels that were used by Niagara’s Flat Rock Winery for its award-winning Pinot Noir.

Given the mahogany-red colour, naming such a racy beer after the world’s most famous red-light district seems like a natural choice.

A light raspberry flower aroma is layered on top of a base of sweet-and-sour complexity with just a touch of barnyard funk and a hint of red wine vinegar. Ripe raspberry fruit is the brass section for a marching band of flavour that is kept in time by a calm sourness, and there are also spicy notes from the wine barrels.

At 330 mL, this bottle doesn’t need to be split into two servings, but you’ll want to in order to appreciate everything that the complex aroma has to offer. A halfway pour (like you would for wine) will leave enough headspace for the volatile aroma compounds to collect and concentrate in the top half the glass. If you don’t have a tulip glass or a beer snifter, a good-sized wineglass will stand in just fine.

Maverick and Gose — Amsterdam’s collaboration with Great Lakes Brewery — is running low at all LCBO locations. I don’t see any reason why De Wallen will stick around any longer, so if you’d like to try a sour beer, I would grab a few bottles while they’re still on shelves.

Amsterdam Brewery’s De Wallen, $5.95 for a 330 mL bottle, LCBO #357897

In addition to covering beer, new restaurants and food trucks for Post City, David Ort writes about food and drink for several Toronto publications including his own site, Food With Legs. He is also the author of the upcoming Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook. For more of his thoughts on food, beer and life in general, follow him on Twitter or get in touch at [email protected].

Life in private school is no bed of roses

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Going back to high school is not something everyone wants to do. This may be especially true if you went to an all-girls school. And you can imagine the problems associated with finally being accepted into a desirable private school at 15 years old — only to take on the role of outsider among a sea of cliques.

That’s the basic plot of The Eliot Girls — the new semi-autobiographical novel by Toronto author Krista Bridge.

“To me, it’s that story of struggling to fit in that so many people can relate to,” Bridge says. “I think I’ve always been interested in exploring that time because adolescence in general is such a powerful time in people’s lives. You’re in your formative years and so much happens to teenagers in that amount of time. And adolescence can be hell for a lot of people. Most of us wouldn’t want to go back there.”

Despite the upper-class private school and the tony families of the students, the struggles in The Eliot Girls — a teenage girl’s desire to fit in with peers, to seek approval from her mother and find contentment with herself — are universal.

Though a fictional tale, the storyline is based on some of Bridge’s personal experiences. Bridge herself is a former private school girl who began attending Branksome Hall in Grade 3 after being turned down by St. Clement’s School. A few years later, she passed the entrance exam and stayed at the latter school for several years.

“I guess that made an impression on me, even though I was a kid,” she says. “That idea of ‘you’re not good enough for this school.’ ”

Writing a story about finding one’s identity also helped Bridge with her own soul-searching. She says that, although she didn’t set out to write a novel for cathartic reasons, surprisingly she found herself working through old ghosts when writing the book. Through the writing process, Bridge felt herself overcoming the negative emotions from the past and was left with a sense of nostalgia for the early high school years.

Sticking with personal knowledge, the Torontonian references her city throughout the book, even giving a shout-out to the North Toronto Post.

“I’ve grown up in Toronto. This is my world, and it felt interesting to me to bring the world of Toronto to fiction,” Bridge says, “and in a lot of ways a very specific part of Toronto, which is a very privileged world of the private schools and the beautiful neighbourhoods they exist in. It adds to the idea of that elitism.”

Drink This: El Catrin’s Pepino Diablo

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El Catrin, the Distillery District’s jazzy new joint for tacos, is a visual feast. A loud mural dancing with colour is splayed across one accent wall; neon skulls glow from a back room; and eye-catching dioramas of rural scenes from the homeland are dotted throughout the space. Liquor also plays a role in the decor scheme, with bottles of tequila and mescal surveying the scene from mammoth shelves behind the bar.

The star of the coctel menu is a pricey bottle of Clase Azul Ultra Extra Anejo, visible behind the bar and costing a cool $200 for a shot. Our pick is a wee bit cheaper. The so-called Pepino Diablo — or the Cucumber Devil — pairs Milagro Blanco tequila with both muddled cucumber and serrano peppers, for some added kick ($9). The drink is finished with agave nectar, a spritz of citrus and is rimmed with Tajin, a Mexican seasoning rife with chili and lime.

El Catrin, 18 Tank House Ln., 416-203-2121

Karolyne Ellacott is a features editor at Post City Magazines. She pedals around town in heels, eating sandwiches and drinking cocktails. She writes about that, and about about other stuff too. She is also on Twitter.

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Concert Review: OVO Fest at the Molson Amphitheatre

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4:32 pm

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Good luck topping that, OVO Fest. A capacity crowd of nearly 17,000 was on hand at the Molson Amphitheatre last night for Drake’s annual music festival, which turned out to be heaven on Earth for local hip hop fans.

Drake (whose birthday is in October, and who has become synonymous with his “October’s Very Own” tag) effortlessly filled three hours of stage time, thanks to a small army of guests in what was probably the most star-studded OVO yet.

Joining the hometown hero on stage at various points throughout the night were P. Diddy and Mase, Lil Wayne, J. Cole, Miguel, fellow local star The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky, Kanye West and, perhaps most surprisingly, surviving TLC members Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins.

Fans have come to expect odd mystery guests appearing at OVO, but this year’s crop was a step above prior years. Previous acts have included Snoop Dogg and Nicki Minaj (2012), Stevie Wonder and Nas (2011) and even the inaugural shocker of Jay-Z and Eminem (2010).

Whether this was a deliberate make-good attempt after the first day of what was scheduled to be a two-day event was cancelled, or whether it was simply an accumulation of guests who were scheduled to be spread over two days, there was something unmistakably special about the show.

The result was a night filled with iconic “wow” moments. TLC provided a nostalgic flashback, kicking into renditions of “Waterfalls” and “No Scrubs” that sounded as if they were pulled right out of 1996 — save for the absence of late Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes’ vocals.

The throwback element was kicked up a notch when Diddy and Mase took to the stage for fun, engaging takes on “Feel So Good” and “Mo Money Mo Problems.” The night’s biggest ovation, however, was saved for West, who demonstrated a surprising willingness to embrace a supporting role as he belted out “All of the Lights.”

But the evening belonged to Drake. Seeing his visible pride and giddy excitement made it clear that he was living out some of the dreams that he had as a kid growing up in Forest Hill. Showing no shortage of musical chops in his own right, the rapper flew solo while cranking out hits like “Successful” and “Best I Ever Had.” The vast majority of the crowd stuck around for his show-closing rendition of “Started From the Bottom,” demonstrating that they weren’t on hand simply for who else was there.

Before the next edition of Drake’s annual gift to his city takes place, he will be back in town for an ACC date that just so happens to fall on his birthday (Oct. 24). Time will tell what he has up his sleeve for that one.

Eating Gross Things: espresso at Starbucks

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2:08 pm

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July was not a good month for me, coffee-wise. You see, I work near York Mills and Don Mills, which is a terrible area if you are hungry, thirsty or tired. There is little in the way of good food, and even less in the way of good coffee.

And last month, two of the “best” options for espresso in the area — Tim Hortons and Artisano — underwent renovations at the exact same time. Which meant that in order to get an espresso, I had to go to the place that cannot be named.

Fine, I’ll name it. I had to go to Starbucks. This place is not good, especially if you’re an espresso jerk like me. I’m the kind of guy to swish espresso around in my mouth like it’s wine, but I’m not completely obtuse. I drink Tim Hortons espresso on the regular, for utilitarian purposes, because it is actually palatable. Not good, but palatable. I can’t say the same for the place that cannot be named.

Many people think espresso is supposed to be mostly bitter, but a good shot is a thing of balanced beauty. It can be citrusy, nutty, sweet and yes, bitter too, but not overwhelmingly so. For good espresso in Toronto, go to Lit, Café Pamenar or Sam James Coffee Bar.

Starbucks espresso was a good candidate for this column. I am convinced that it’s one of the grossest things you can buy, anywhere, period. There is absolutely no balance to it. It’s acrid bitter with an aftertaste of acrid bitter. The texture is watery. There is little to no crema. It has notes of turpentine, tar and botched moonshine, the kind that makes you go blind.

I have felt this way about Starbucks for a long time. There is a lot of pent up rage going on here. How can a business get away with selling such a shoddy product? And it’s not like espresso is a side project for Starbucks. It is the very foundation of all the other terrible, foamy beverages Starbucks sells.

I raised the issue with Starbucks a while back, over Twitter.

Hey @StarbucksCanada, how do you make such grotesque espresso? Seriously, I am fascinated.

— Jon Sufrin (@jsufrin) November 13, 2012

In hindsight, I may have been a bit rude about it, which is probably why I didn’t get an answer. But to gain some insight in the matter, I got in touch with Sam James. This man makes some of the best coffee in the city. He’s not exactly an unbiased source, considering Starbucks is a competitor of his — kind of — but I wanted to hear his feedback.

“It’s like the worst of the worst,” he confirmed. “It tastes like Windex filtered through burned toast.”

James recently did a taste test of espresso from major coffee chains — Tim Hortons, Timothy’s, Aroma, Second Cup and Starbucks — and concluded that Starbucks was by far the worst.

“Tar bucks [sic] was in a league of its own,” he said. “I’m convinced I’ll get mouth cancer from that one espresso I had there.”

Tim Hortons, he found, was the most flavourful of the bunch. And here’s the best part: a shot of espresso at Tim Hortons is 63 freaking cents, taxes in, while at Starbucks it’s $1.85. Starbucks is almost three times as expensive, and many times more gross.

James had a number of theories as to why Starbucks espresso is so bad. He wondered if it’s possible to buy quality coffee beans at such massive quantities. He also posited that Starbucks purposely over-roasts its coffee — hence the dark, oily beans and the notorious burned flavour — because it is easier to maintain consistency that way. He also pointed out that Starbucks baristas have no power to make necessary adjustments for good coffee, because their machines are mostly automatic.

All of these seemed like valid explanations. But I wanted to hear Starbucks’ responses to them. So I got in touch with Starbucks’ media people and asked them, in a more diplomatic way, why the espresso sucks.

What followed was a very awkward conversation over speaker phone a few days later between me, a publicist and a brand manager with Starbucks.

I don’t know exactly what I was hoping to get out of the interview. Maybe a roundabout admission that we cannot expect perfection from such a high-volume company. But I got the opposite of that. I was told that shortcuts are never taken, ever. Only the best beans in the world are used, always. The machines are adjustable, kind of. The coffee is batch-roasted, meticulously. The crema is there, and it is thick (see photo above, taken less than a minute after the shot was pulled). And each coffee gets tasted at least 26 times for quality control before it hits stores. All of that effort is to create a specific flavour profile that, apparently, the customers want.

Well, I have to give it to Starbucks. Blaming the customer was certainly an interesting way of dealing with the situation.

The weird conversation wrapped up with a suggestion that maybe I could head over to one of the stores to do some more tasting. Maybe I could even get behind the bar.

“We’re not trying to make a convert out of you,” the publicist assured me.

“I don’t think that would happen,” I responded.

Conclusion: Starbucks espresso is gross.

Jon Sufrin is the editor of PostCity.com. For his column, Eating Gross Things, he eats things that are widely considered to be gross and writes about it. He has no scientific method to determine what “gross” means. The article is just meant to be fun, so relax. For more of his thoughts on stuff, gross and not, follow him on Twitter. If you would like to suggest a gross food item for him to try, email him at [email protected].

How They Met: Steve Hunter and Darragh Parsons, veterans of the Cats stage production

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Cats production stage manager, Darragh Parsons, and associate conductor, Steve Hunter, met 28 years ago on the Toronto set of Cats at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre. It didn’t take long for sparks to fly after their first meeting, and now, after more than a quarter of a century, Steve and Darragh are still going strong. Here, the couple takes us behind the scenes (so to speak) and tells us how they met.

How they met
Steve: We met in the original production of Cats. I was playing keyboards in the orchestra and Darragh was production stage manager. The show ran for four years, and we didn’t even see each other until after two years [had passed], when the show went on the road in Canada.

The first date
Steve: We first started noticing each other in the fourth year of the show when it was playing at Massey Hall. One day, we went across the street to St. Michael’s Hospital together to see Greg Bond, who was recovering from a brain tumor operation and who first played Rum Tum Tugger in the show. Greg didn’t live much longer after that, and since we both had had losses in our own families, we held hands coming back from the hospital. After that, I started driving Darragh home occasionally from work, and we started clicking.

The proposal
Darragh: We both felt that we were old enough and ready to take that step. Steve brought it up and said, “You’re everything I want,” and, “I think we should get married.” I said yes. I had just made him dinner at my apartment. Later, he went and bought an engagement ring.

The marriage
Steve: We were married at McLean’s House at Sunnybrook Hospital. I had been playing weddings and had worked at McLean’s House, and so suggested that as a venue. Darragh was amazed that I had that kind of taste and readily agreed! She was working at Phantom of the Opera and the day off was Sunday, so we got married Sunday, January 7, 1990, and took a two-day honeymoon to Horseshoe Valley so that Darragh could be back in time for the Wednesday matinee. Talk about theatre dedication!

Is it just us, or are cool things coming out of University of Toronto these days?

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There must be something in the U of T water. Recently, not one but two teams of innovators made headlines thanks to their impressive and thought-provoking achievements.

Back in June, Atlas, a human-powered helicopter, broke records when it climbed to a height of 3.3 metres during a 64-second flight. The ’copter is the brainchild of University of Toronto grads Cameron Robertson and Todd Reichert who, along with local engineering team AeroVelo, won the AHS Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition, including a $250,000 prize.

Weighing a relatively light 122 pounds, the heli is constructed from materials that include carbon fibre composite, lightweight balsa wood and polystyrene foam. Spanning 154 feet from rotor tip to rotor tip, the mammoth unit is the second largest helicopter ever built, beat out only by a non human-powered Russian make. A bike frame hangs from a truss, fueling the contraption with human strength. Reichert, a speed skater and cyclist, piloted the award-winning flight following strength-inducing, high-performance coaching — no mean feat.

Although the helicopter helps shine a positive light on our city, the second item — a 3-D-printed gun — acts as a starting point for discussion.

In early July, Matt Ratto, director of U of T’s Critical Making Lab, along with Daniel Southwick and ginger coons, assembled a working handgun after downloading files off the Internet.

The gun is based on a design by self-proclaimed anarchist Cody Wilson, a student at the University of Texas who, weeks prior, fired his original version at a state shooting range. Costing a mere $300, the Canadian DIY gun was ready to go in 26 hours. Although they altered the design slightly, making it impossible to fire, a working version would’ve been just as easy — and inexpensive — to make.

The ease with which this 3-D-printed gun was created raises questions about gun control and 3-D printers. Although building homemade firearms in Canada is an illegal act, 3-D printers are not tracked and downloading files is unrestricted.

Whether or not you agree with the implications of both achievements, you can’t help but applaud the innovation coming out of the University of Toronto.

Five reasons to be stoked about Indie88, Toronto’s new radio station

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12:55 pm

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The musical landscape in Toronto is changing, and it’s about time we had a radio station to reflect that. And Indie88, which went live earlier this week as Toronto’s latest radio station, has delivered. Here are five reasons why you should tune in to 88.1 FM.

1. The music (obviously). Because where else can you hear Jeff Buckley followed by Bob Marley followed by Talking Heads followed by Björk? While its name means that the radio station is independently owned and operated, it also refers to the type of music played, which spans indie rock, pop and folk. It’s a pretty loose definition, which makes for diversified playlists you can’t get on any other station (read: it’s unlikely you’ll hear Nickelback). Another bonus: the station is currently in its soft-launch phase, which means no commercials until the official launch on Sept. 3.

2. The Throne of Glory. Every day at around 4 p.m., notable guest DJs take over the airwaves and play pretty much whatever they want. Keep an ear out for Dave Bookman (formerly of The Edge), Matthew Good, Metz, TSN’s Dave Hodge, K-os and Hannah Georgas (who plays today and reportedly listens to gangster rap).

3. Alan Cross. Hearing his soothing voice broadcasted again invokes warm fuzzy feelings. He’s signed on as Indie88’s music guidance counsellor, and if his Throne of Glory playlist was any indication of what’s to come, we can’t wait to hear more.

4. Crowd-sourced playlists. According to its manifesto, Indie88 aims to change “I” to “We.” The station bills itself as a collective platform for all music lovers to have some control over what is broadcasted, and so far, so good.

5. No more Rick Astley. Before going live on Wednesday, Indie88 pulled off what’s being called the greatest Rickroll of all time by using its pre-launch bandwith to play Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” over and over. You probably need to get that song out of your head now, so go ahead and turn your dial over to Indie88.

Tony Aspler’s Weekly Wine Pick: a versatile food wine from a local winery

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Gamay, the grape that makes Beaujolais, also produces the most versatile of food wines. At room temperature, serve it with meat. Chilled, it can work well with salmon. It’s medium-bodied and dry, with crisp acidity and a gentle tannic line giving it good structure.

Food match: charcuterie, roast chicken

13th Street Gamay Noir, 2011, Ontario, $19.95. Vintages #177824

Post City Magazines’ wine columnist, Tony Aspler, has written 14 books on wine and food. Tony also created the Ontario Wine Awards and has been inducted into the New York Media Wine Writers’ Hall of Fame. He can be heard on 680News.