Welcome to JFAT's
'BOOZE & BITES' BLOG

When I originally bought Sorrento Grilled in Laguna Beach the most popular dessert on the menu was the tiramisu. In fact, for a time it was a de rigueur dessert on every Italian restaurant’s menu that was worth its Sicilian sea salt but then for some unknown reason it began disappearing. Sorrento had been known as a pretty hard core … Read More

I’m not a big sweets guy but I do have a handful of desserts that I enjoy mostly during the cooler months of the year. I guess I fit the slogan that California is truly the ‘land of fruit and nuts’ because most of my favorites include one or both of these. I opened my very first restaurant back in … Read More

The saying about all things old becoming new again is true. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors instinctively feasted on the marrow inside of the bones of their kill knowing intuitively that it was the most nutritious part of the animal. Years later, many ancient cultures still believed in the medicinal properties of marrow and used it as a special dietary supplement for … Read More

I don’t know… blame it on the tidal influence of the ‘Great Pumpkin’ rising. Just when I thought I was finished making yet another pumpkin something I watched the 50th anniversary of the Emmy nominated Peanuts Classic “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and I lost all self-control. All it took was sitting in front of a fireplace while the … Read More

No other holiday nurtures my soul like Thanksgiving, our one uniquely American day. It brings with it a confluence of so many things I love. To begin with, autumn has always been my favorite season. Having grown up in the Midwest it brought the beautiful turning of the leaves to brilliant reds and golds, a welcome chill in the air, … Read More

I’m a pretty early riser… usually up well before 6:00 so you’d think I’d be a breakfast person… I’m not. However, for some reason, I love cooking morning meals for a houseful of friends and family when the not so often occasion arises. I make some mean cheesy, ‘French style’ scrambled eggs and some duck fat and sage roasted hash … Read More

Bubba Gump Pumpkin … Pumpkin waffles, pumpkin doughnut, pumpkin pasta, pumpkin soup, pumpkin beer… Yup… this is the time of the year when all conversation turns to the iconic pumpkin. I mean, is there anything that speaks to the Fall season more than these bumpy orange globes? In fact, the season officially arrives when, as the saying goes, “There’s frost … Read More

Before we get into talkin’ bout shrimp let’s chat a little about exactly what the term ‘Lowcountry’ means because it’s certainly a treasured area in this country’s vast variety of regional cuisines. According to John Martin Taylor, author of Hoppin’ John’s Low Country Cooking, Lowcountry is an area that stretches along the South Carolina coast from the Savannah River in … Read More

Shishito peppers have started showing up on menus the past couple years and some would say they’ve even become the new darling of the chile pepper family. There is currently a Japanese varietal now being grown in the US in summer through fall but they are pretty much available year round in the states thanks to the imports from Mexico … Read More