GOURMET HIGHWAY: Tailgating Down South...

By Doc Lawrence. It is a hallowed culinary ritual down here, inextricably tied to NASCAR races, college and NFL football. Tailgating is core heritage, vital bedrock, and a super-sized, high-octane picnic as Deep South as grits with red-eye gravy. Many wonder where tailgating began. Frank Spence, a former top Atlanta Braves executive and a respected student of Southern customs believes that the 1861 “Great Skeedadle”...

GOURMET HIGHWAY: North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley ...

By Doc Lawrence. The Andy Griffith Museum is in Mount Airy, North Carolina, a lovely place that the actor called home through high school. It’s also the place where you can still rub elbows with cast members. The museum houses an impressive collection by Griffith’s close friend Emmett Forrest. “Andy Griffith Show” fans marvel at the memorabilia like the iconic signs from the show’s courthouse doors along items...

GOURMET HIGHWAY: Chef Dean Fearing...

He may be the best By Doc Lawrence. (DALLAS, TEXAS): The creator of Fearing’s Restaurant and its “Elevated American Cuisine – Bold Flavors, No Borders,” Chef Dean Fearing has developed one of the hottest dining concepts in the country. Chef Dean Fearing & His Favorite Knife Named “Restaurant of the Year” and “Table of the Year” by Esquire Magazine in 2007 and No. 1 in 2009 for Hotel Dining in the...

GOURMET HIGHWAY: Chef John Folse, America’s Amba...

By Doc Lawrence. “Wine is sure proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” - Benjamin Franklin Chef John Folse is revered as one of the great American chefs from Louisiana. His eight cookbooks spread the gospel of indigenous Louisiana cooking to the world. The PBS mainstay, “A Taste of Louisiana,” is Folse’s masterfully produced international television series. The Chef John Folse Culinary Institute...

Young Wines Mirror Spring Magic...

By Doc Lawrence. Then younger than springtime, am I, Gayer than laughter, am I, Angel and lover, heaven and earth, Am I with you! (From “South Pacific.”) “South Pacific” was one of the first movies I recall from childhood. It played at Atlanta’s Fox Theater, an architectural and cultural treasure where over the years I would see Elvis, Johnny Cash, Elton John, the Metropolitan Opera and a special concert by...

Gourmet Highway...

By Doc Lawrence. A MONTH OF LOVE, WINE AND FINE DINING “He who loves not wine, women and song remains a fool his whole life long.” - Martin Luther February features Valentine’s Day, our gentle ritual, at midpoint. Tradition strongly suggests red roses, chocolates, candlelit dining and a card with a personal proclamation of love. Wine fits here like a hand in glove. Not just any wine, mind you. A dusty bottle from...

Gourmet Highway: The Year of the Oyster...

By Doc Lawrence. “Charming oysters I cry: My masters, come buy, So plump and so fresh, So sweet is their flesh.” Oysters, by Jonathan Swift. My oyster journey began in the Florida Panhandle fishing village of Carrabelle, a lovely place on the Gulf where Atlantans like my father would go for a weekend, sometimes taking me, to catch grouper, red snapper and trout. Sitting on the dock when I was 10 years old, my dad...

Holiday Gifts for Gourmets...

By Doc Lawrence. Perhaps this season’s most intriguing gift possibility comes from Samuel Adams’ founder Jim Koch with his new beer, Utopias. Strong, rich, dark, uncarbonated and served room temperature in a snifter glass, it weighs in at 27 percent alcohol and runs $150 dollars per bottle. The jug is a work of art. www.samueladams.com. Beyond the Shaker, www.beyondtheshaker.com, specializes in unrefined sea salts...

Thanksgiving With Fine Wine...

By Doc Lawrence. The year is winding down and we’ll help it go in high style. Gatherings and homecomings are highlighted by feasts. Laughter permeates and for a little more than a month we celebrate. Wynton Marsalis, the jazz maestro, told me about the magic of the blues, one of America’s original art forms. The blues, said Marsalis, “defies defeat and makes a statement that you never give in. You can make fun of...

A Grape By Any Other Name...

By Robert Paul. So, what’s in a wine’s name or should we say “Sancerrely Folks?” Should wine from the sauvignon blanc grape be called Sancerre, white Bordeaux, sauvignon blanc, blanc fumé, fumé blanc, pouilly fumé? The answer is, all of the above. The flavors of the sauvignon blanc grape, which is usually vinified in stainless steel or neutral wooden casks, include mineral, grassy or herbaceous, citrus, melon,...