the_maestro
Caucho – Cedar Rapids, IA
If I told you the best margarita I'd ever had was at a restaurant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, you would certainly accuse me of at least some...
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the_maestro
Jun 7, 202112 min read
Chef Jorge Vallejo in Residence at Stone Barns – Pocantico Hills, NY
"What do Americans eat when they eat out for dinner? That’s the question that inspired us as we designed Season Two of Chef in Residence....
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the_maestro
Jun 2, 20214 min read
Cobble Hill (2) – Cedar Rapids, IA
Cobble Hill was the restaurant that started my blogging journey. I'll never forget when I found Cobble Hill. Mom moved to Cedar Rapids...
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the_maestro
May 22, 202114 min read
Atelier Crenn – San Francisco, CA
When I was a budding foodie, I often turned to the Michelin Guide to figure out where to dine whenever I traveled hither or thither. It...
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the_maestro
May 19, 20214 min read
Takashi – Salt Lake City, UT
It's hard for me to believe I have been blogging for a couple years and have not written up the restaurant that is probably the one place...
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the_maestro
May 16, 202116 min read
Chef Victoria Blamey in Residence at Stone Barns – Pocantico Hills, NY
"Different cultures inspire me. Colors inspire me. Travel inspires me. That’s what really excited me when I left Chile the first time at...
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the_maestro
May 9, 20215 min read
Cotogna – San Francisco, CA
I was thrilled to be coming back to San Francisco for my first time in over two years as a little celebration after completing my first...
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the_maestro
May 6, 202114 min read
Johnny Ortiz in Residence at Stone Barns – Pocantico Hills, NY
“At the other places I worked, it was always about the outcome . . . The ingredients were less the focus than the idea. Here, the...
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the_maestro
Apr 15, 20215 min read
#TBT: Nami Nori – New York, NY
A post from my trip to New York in early February, the same trip where I got to visit Stone Barns for Chef Shola's residency! Craving...
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the_maestro
Feb 18, 202111 min read
#tbt: Oriole and Omakase Yume – Chicago, IL
I have been sitting on this blog from an evening in February 2020 for a while, mostly because it seemed kinda crass and tone-deaf to post...
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the_maestro
Feb 8, 202117 min read
Chef Shola Olunloyo in Residence at Stone Barns – Pocantico Hills, NY
"What we want to eat is, on the hierarchical scale, superior to what we want to do." - Yoruba Proverb I had no intention of being...
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the_maestro
Jan 9, 20216 min read
The Maestro's Big Drunk Gay Awards – 2020 Dumpster Fire Edition!
I really enjoyed issuing a series of absolutely meaningless "Big Drunk Gay" awards last year, highlighting the very best things I ate,...
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the_maestro
Dec 22, 20209 min read
Stubborn Seed – Miami Beach, FL
I think my lack of dining out has really caught up to me, because as you can probably tell I've been eating at a lot of really great...
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the_maestro
Dec 20, 20209 min read
"A chimp in a suit" – two half-dinners in Miami Beach
One of my favorite idioms is the old "lipstick on a pig" line. It's perhaps put best, however, in one of my very favorite tunes from the...
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the_maestro
Dec 19, 20208 min read
Peumayén – Santiago, Chile
Yep, Chile! Here I am (or rather, there I was)! Many on social media were surprised to see that I had managed to get out of the country,...
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the_maestro
Dec 16, 20205 min read
Macchialina – Miami Beach, FL
This year has been so bizarre and devoid of culinary wonders (at least those wonders external to the home) that I completely forgot that...
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the_maestro
Dec 12, 20207 min read
La Mar – Miami, FL
I wound up in Miami far earlier than I expected thanks to California's new shutdown, which sidelined a week-long trip I had planned to...
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the_maestro
Dec 11, 20206 min read
Desert Bistro – Moab, UT
I gave myself a fairly open itinerary in Utah so I could sort of go where the wind blew me, as it were, originally planning to rent a...
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the_maestro
Dec 5, 20206 min read
Thanksgiving for one at Franck's – Salt Lake City, UT
Hello to both of my loyal readers. It has been a bit of time! I am afraid to report I have been a bad chef lately, and since there's not...
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the_maestro
Sep 1, 20205 min read
The Maestro moves to Charlotte
Well kids, what can I say? Life is crazy, and my dearth of posts this past month was due in part to my grand adventure in Alaska, yes,...
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