Good Morning!

While I was away on vacation my very favorite edition of the Wine Spectator arrived, The List. It is comprised of the top 3,700 places that wine lovers, love to dine. Along with that list it also has the best places to find the best wine lists in the world. I am a HUGE dreamer and love to travel, I love to eat and I LOVE to eat, so I open the magazine and start looking at the places I travel often and see how many places I have visited and then make a list of places I have to try as soon as possible.

I noticed many of the solid places I have enjoyed for years all over the country like Truluck’s, Sullivan’s, Eddie V’s, Del Frisco’s, Fleming’s, Morton’s and Ruth’s Chris Steak house. I also noticed in the past two years places like Fogo De Chao and the Melting Pot shows up in most every big city too.

I love to look for places that are not part of a giant luxury chain to try foods and wines with tons of local interest. These Chefs and Sommelier’s work so hard to put the best local foods and wines from all over the world and create not just a great meal but an experience for you and your guests. I know I love going out to eat but I am actually a great cook and if I could have made dinner at home better, I am always disapointed in the meal. So, I use these lists anytime I travel. I am lucky I spend most of my time in some of the best foodie cities in the US. Most of my time is spent in San Francisco, Austin, Indianapolis, Napa, Sonoma, Chicago, Denver and of course San Antonio.

My love of going out to dinner started when I was little at a place called The Red Lion in Muncie, IN. As a kid my grandparents would take us all to The Red Lion when it was our birthday. It was a fancy place inside of the hotel in downtown. We had to dress up and we got to drink a cocktail with the adults, (it was 7-up with a shot of grenedene), it looked like booze and had a cherry in. The place had red velvet wallpaper and the seats were black leather and my feet did not reach the floor. We were treated like royalty, my grandfather was a VP of a company and he took all his clients to The Red Lion so he was a high roller. I remember we could order whatever we wanted and there was a band that played there on the weekends. After each meal the chef would come out and chat and then take myself and my brothers into the kitchen and we watched them make our desserts.

So, I now have my food and wine map for any upcoming travels I have and I look forward to trying places and sharing the experiences with you. I am all about drinking in life and I hope when you try a place you love and would recommend, you will share it with me too!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi