Ladies and Laddies, today is the 2015 edition of National Scotch Day. Congratulations and slàinte to everyone out there! I’ll be celebrating by taking a dram or three from a new bottle of Old Pulteney 12 Year Old whisky that my cousin kindly gifted me for my birthday a few months ago. I’ve never had … Continue reading
Yesterday was Canada Day (aka “Canada’s Birthday”), and I trust my Canadian friends spent the day doing appropriately Canadian-ish things — you know, like singing “O Canada” and drinking an appropriately Canadian alcoholic beverage. With that in mind, the good folks at Molson Brewing honored Canada Day by sharing the most ingenious and wonderful kind … Continue reading
I regularly get asked by friends and family who are planning on going wine tasting to share my advice and recommendations with them. After sending variations of the same emails to many of them, I decided to publish my thoughts for everyone to use and enjoy. Let’s start with Santa Ynez Valley and Sta. Rita Hills wineries … Continue reading
For many people, learning to drink scotch is a lot easier than learning how to pronounce the names on the bottles. Have you ever wondered whether “BAL-ven-ie” or “Bal-VEN-ie” is the correct way to say The Balvenie? Or perhaps you didn’t know Glenmorangie is supposed to be pronounced “Glen-MOR-an-gie.” Let’s not even get started attempting … Continue reading
One of the joys of living Los Angeles is having a plethora of wonderful places to eat. The challenge, however, is finding time in one’s schedule to make your way across town to try the latest place, and that is IF you actually can get a reservation for a day/time that fits your schedule. If … Continue reading
Recently, we were on our way to celebrate a family birthday at Chez Melange, the celebrant’s restaurant of choice. As we were about to leave the house, I peeked into our “wine cellar” to grab a wine for the evening — specifically, a cabernet sauvignon, since we all seemed to be in a beef & … Continue reading
A new composition for a new year. Seems rather poetic, doesn’t it? Often such gestures work better in concept than in practice, but thanks to Martin Grubinger‘s virtuoso performance of The Tears of Nature, Tan Dun’s new percussion concerto receiving its U.S. Premiere last Friday night care of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, this one worked … Continue reading
For tonight’s concert of incidental music from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Mendelssohn and Orff’s Carmina Burana, I decided to bring along a couple of 2004 wines: a Late Disgorged Brut from Domaine Carneros and a Ridge Lytton Springs. Both are drinking damn well. No matter how many times I drink “older” Lytton Springs, I … Continue reading
For last Thursday’s all Tchaikovsky concert at the Hollywood Bowl, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Hadley and Tatiana of Grub Street Los Angeles. They’re wonderful people — I say this for a great variety of reasons, only one of which is their willingness to share with me some of their wine: a … Continue reading
Happy Friday. More importantly, Happy National Scotch Day. No, seriously, it’s National Scotch Day — for real. If you didn’t know that, you’ve admittedly lost a good chunk of your opportunity to celebrate on the actual day of honour (see what I did there by putting a “u” in, just like the Scots do?). Good … Continue reading
I don’t remember the first time I had foie gras, but I definitely know when and where I fell in love with it: it was at Water Grill in Downtown LA, right before the turn of the New Millenium. Michael Cimarusti had taken over the kitchen from Allyson Thurber a year or two before. On this … Continue reading
Exactly one year ago today, All is Yar was born. Many heartfelt thanks to the musicians, writers, composers, music fans, wine drinkers, mixology enthusiasts, and all of you who have read and continue to read my reviews and musings. In the past year, this blog has grown bigger and faster than I would have imagined. It’s … Continue reading
I’m killing time before this evening’s Los Angeles Philharmonic concert by drinking an old fashioned — a really good one, BTW, care of the bartender at the Omni Hotel near Walt Disney Concert Hall. Anyways, I started thinking about tonight’s world premiere of The Gospel According to the Other Mary, a modern bit of social … Continue reading
Back in 2007, long before All is Yar was a mere Fig Newton of my imagination, Victoria Bitter (VB) beer company teamed with the Melbourne Symphony and Orchestra Victoria — playing together as the “Victoria Bitter Orchestra” — to create a unique commercial: it featured the combined orchestras playing VB’s jingle using variations on a theme … Continue reading
I cannot eat often enough at Manhattan Beach Post. In less than a year, it has gone from South Bay newcomer to So Cal institution. The most recent of their many noteworthy accolades was the announcement that Chef David LeFevre and his very popular “social house” are up for two 2012 James Beard Awards (“Best Chef, Pacific” and … Continue reading
All is Yar 