MARIANI’S


Virtual Gourmet


October 19, 2025                                                                                                     NEWSLETTER

 


Founded in 1996 

ARCHIVE




"Radio Days" (1987)

        

❖❖❖

THIS WEEK

  The Iconic Dishes Los Angeles
Gave the World

By John Mariani

NEW YORK CORNER
BLACKBARN

By John Mariani


HÔTEL ALLEMAGNE
CHAPTER  THIRTY-TWO

By John Mariani

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
GREAT WHITES

By John Mariani



❖❖❖



                            The Iconic Dishes Los Angeles Gave the World

                                                                              By John Mariani




 

         Modern-day California Cuisine and sushi  counters may now be the signatures of Los Angeles’s dining scene, but right from the beginning Hollywood was a city that gave America many of its now iconic dishes that endure to this day. Here is a list––debatably incomplete––of the most famous.

 

The Chopped Salad, made of chopped-up lettuce, avocado, celery, tomato, bacon, chicken, chives, hard-boiled egg, watercress and Roquefort cheese, was created at the Brown Derby in the year it opened, 1926, by owner Bob Cobb, who invented it as a way to utilize leftovers in the refrigerator. The restaurant closed in 1984. . . . Over at the Hotel Bel-Air (right), The Original Nancy Reagan Chopped Salad was  introduced in the 1980s as the “Spa Salad,” which the former First Lady always ordered at her monthly lunches and was renamed in her honor in the early 2000s. 

 

 

The Shirley Temple Cocktail.  The Brown Derby also created the Shirley Temple nonalcoholic beverage, usually made for children who enjoy the idea of drinking an “adult” cocktail before dinner. It was, of course,  named after child actor Shirley Temple, who began making movies in 1932 and three years later had attained the position of the number-one box-office star in the United States.

 


The French dip sandwich,
made of sliced beef, lamb or pork and hot mustard set on a sliced French loaf that has been dipped into the pan juices, dates back as far as 1908 when it was first sold at Philippe’s the Original.

 




The California roll was a form of  Makizushi made with avocados, crabmeat, cucumbers, and other ingredients wrapped in vinegared rice. It was supposedly created at a Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles named Tokyo Kaikan about 1973 for the American palate, where it was sometimes called a “carifonia roll.”  In Japan it gained so much popularity  it is called kashu-maki, a literal translation of “California roll.”

 

 




Avocado Toast.
According to an article in Bon Appetit by John Birdsall, this tidbit may have had its origins in Australia but that Los Angeles  is “the place where avocado toast was actually born, ” based on a  recipe dating back to 1920 in San Gabriel’s Covina Argus newspaper, with instructions to “mash avocado with a fork and spread it on “a small square of hot toast.”

 


Chasen’s Chili. Dave Chasen’s namesake restaurant in Hollywood was one of the most celebrity rich dining venues of the 1930s and 1940s, where he himself came to the restaurant every Sunday cook up a batch of chili for favored customers, including Jack Benny, J. Edgar Hoover and Elizabeth Taylor (who ordered 10 quarts to be sent to her in Rome while she was filming “Cleopatra”). Chasen’s has also been credited (among others) for popularizing the carpetbag steak, a grilled steak of beef into which is cut a pocket enclosing a stuffing of oysters, which resembled a handbag for travelers. The original Chasen’s restaurant closed in April of 1995.

 



Caesar salad. The history of this famous salad of romaine lettuce, garlic, olive oil, croutons, Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce and, often, anchovies, has been told since  Caesar Cardini (right), an Italian immigrant and owner of Caesar’s Place, in Tijuana, Mexico, tossed the dish together as a main course  on the Fourth of July weekend in 1924 when Hollywood celebs came across the border to gamble at the local casino. It became such an immediate hit that the celebs brought the idea back to Hollywood, where it was a featured dish at both Chasen’s and Romanoff’s  and its fame spread out from there. Anchovies were added, though Cardini insisted the original recipe did not have them in the recipe.

 

Fettuccine Alfredo. Another dish brought to Hollywood after originating abroad, in this case Rome, created in 1914 by Alfredo Di Lelio, who made the dish to restore the appetite of his wife after she gave birth to their son. The original dish was made only with fresh egg fettuccine, very rich butter and Parmesan cheese, which was served to film stars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford while on their honeymoon in 1927. They dined at Alfredo’s daily and at the end of their stay presented the owner with a gold-plated spoon and fork with which to mix the pasta and inscribed “To Alfredo the King of the noodles July 1927.”  They also brought the recipe back to Los Angeles where, with the addition of heavy cream, it became famous. 

 

The Chinese Chicken Salad was a creation of Madame Sylvia Wu at Wu’s Garden in Santa Monica in the 1960s. (She also claimed to introduce tofu to Americans.) Supposedly  Cary Grant described a Chinese dish he loved to Wu and she threw together what became a signature dish.

 




 

The Orange Julius was named after its creator,  Julius Freed, at his  mobile orange juice stand, opened in 1926. To make the juice less acidic, he mixed in milk, sugar, vanilla extract, egg and ice. People would come to the stand and shout, “Give me an orange, Julius!”









 

Smoked salmon pizza. When Chef Wolfgang Puck opened his California casual restaurant Spago in 1980 above Sunset Boulevard, he took the humble pizza and added smoked salmon, sour cream and caviar to make it a cross between a bagel and a pizza, which he created especially for actress Joan Collins. It became a hit that every one of his celebrity clientele had to order.

 

 

 













❖❖❖


NEW YORK CORNER

                              BLACKBARN

                                                                                            19 East 26th Street

                                                                                             212-265-5959


                                                                                 

                                                                      By John Mariani


   

    More than once I have called John Doherty a “chef’s chef,” meaning that by his training, intelligence, commitment and command of technique he is someone other chefs regard with great respect, as described by Tim Ryan, Chancellor of the Culinary Institute of America: “What I find most impressive about John’s extraordinary career is his master story of cooking fundamentals, passionate embrace of seasonality, and the innovative twists he brings to each dish.”
        
All of which is displayed in his new book, Blackbarn: Recipes from Our Kitchen to Yours (Skyhorse Publishing), with Brian Fowler and Erin Hayes, in which he tells of growing up on Long Island, attending the Culinary Institute of America and after working every station at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel for ten years was appointed as its youngest executive chef in 1985, where, at 27,  he ran the vast food service operations as much like a field marshal as a working chef. After three decades at the gabled hotel (which closed for seven years before being re-opened by its owner Dajia Insurance Group) Doherty and investors took over the posh Italian restaurant SD 26 and turned it into a huge space called Blackbarn that lived up to its name via barn-like trusses, rafters, joists and posts of natural wood. Ten years later it has worn well and is more popular than ever.

         So I thought it was time to return to Blackbarn to see if Doherty was maintaining my prior faith in his abilities. The place was as daunting as ever for its size, and, with what was overwhelmingly a male crowd of guys who had doffed their jackets and toasted each other with Martinis and beers, it was loud. Less loud are the tables against the wall to the left of the open kitchen, and by 8:30 the place starts to empty out and get much less noisy.

         The menu is currently a la carte as well as offering an abundant  “Celebrating Ten Years” family style meal of three courses for $89 per person, of which our party of four availed ourselves (with a few additions), starting off with a terrific, cheese-enriched bread loaf we tore off pieces of and spread with good butter.
    The food, which is very international,  comes out on platters and wooden tranches, like the Heritage figs and prosciutto with burratina soft cheese laced with vin cotto, sided with arugula atop charred sourdough. Very good Indian-style vegetable samosas came with mango chutney, mint sauce, and tahini cream. Steamy Korean beef bulgogi strips on skewers were cooled down with avocado and heated up with pico de gallo. Delectably fatty Heritage pork belly  Mexican chicharrones took on the texture of frisée lettuce, the bite of

mustard, fruit, sweet-sour tang of apple cider and scallions.

There was also a woodsy wild mushroom tart with three Italian cheeses––Robiola, Taleggio and Parmesan––and watercress. Big eye tuna Tartare was silky, accompanied, again, with avocado and pico de gallo.

Main courses were, of course, substantial for the four of us, begging with a decadently elaborate paupiette of lemon sole with a mousseline and beurre blanc studded with caviar that somehow avoided being too rich.  Butternut squash ravioli with Swiss chard, toasted pumpkin seeds and sage butter monté was, however, a clumsy dish, overstuffed into too-thick ravioli pasta.

A massive filet mignon with more flavor than usual for this cut was joined on the plate with a daube de boeuf, with jumbo asparagus and roasted cipollini.

Desserts have always been as important to Doherty as what precedes them, and it’s hard to find fault with sumptuous examples like roasted figs and shortbread with sheep’s ricotta and sweet aged  balsamic. This being October, we were especially delighted with a tall stack of plump apple cider donuts with a dusting of cinnamon, sugar, and caramel sauce. The requisite chocolate dessert is a chocolate  and caramel pudding with whipped cream and a housemade Rice Krispie cookie.

Blackbarn’s wine list is among the best in New York for its wise selectivity, thanks to long-time sommelier Adrija Tadejevic.  There are about 18 wines by the glass ($15-$25), with a dozen Champagnes  and very strong in Pinot Noirs and Cabernet Sauvignons with some admirable age on them from the first decade of this century. Mark-ups are not as rough as many places, with some fine bottles about 100%.

Many of these dishes are in the new cookbook, and while many are complex and require some knowledge of advanced cookery, the clarity of the text makes them quite accessible. Otherwise you can always go to Blackbarn for the professional version and decide what you’d like to attempt at home.

I wish a happy birthday to Blackbarn and give applause to Doherty and his staff, especially his chef de cuisine, Brian Fowler. At a time when one hears so much about failing restaurants, Blackbarn is a beacon of both good taste and consummate professionalism.

 

Open daily for lunch and dinner.

 

 

 

        



❖❖❖


HÔTEL ALLEMAGNE
 
By  John Mariani






CHAPTER  THIRTY-TWO



    Katie and David packed and got up very early to catch the Roissy shuttle bus from Étoile to Charles DeGaulle. They had twenty minutes to wait till the bus arrived, and it was a gorgeous April in Paris day, allowing for a last look at the springtime flowers and budding trees in full view of the Arc de Triomphe. David was sitting with his face towards the sun and his eyes closed, when suddenly the shrill sound of police cars and ambulances jarred him. Within mere seconds more sirens from the east and west of the Arc were blaring.
         Katie looked at David, as if to say, “Not again!”
         A few minutes later the two Americans saw the bus approaching, when Katie’s phone rang. It was Catherine.
         “Katie, they hit another hotel.”
         Katie put Catherine on speaker phone so David could listen.
         “Which one, where?”
         “It’s very close to where you are. Called the Hôtel Victoire near the Parc Marceau. I’m headed there now. Call you when I get there.”
         The bus hissed to a stop in front of the waiting queue. Katie said, “What do we do?”
         “I know what you’re thinking,” said David.
         The bus driver called from the open door, “Madame, Monsieur, venez-vous tous?”
         Katie replied, “Non, merci,” then turned to David and said, “I guess we’re going to the Hôtel Victoire.”
         “I guess we are.”
         They hailed a cab and told the driver where they wanted to go and found they were following a police car with its lights flashing and siren wailing. The hotel, which was stately but not as grand as the three others, was only blocks away, but by the time the Americans got there, streets had already been blocked off.
         Katie and David stood there, feeling encumbered with their baggage. Catherine was not yet on the spot, so Katie tried to speak to a policeman holding a sub-automatic weapon. He responded only that people were coming out of the hotel very sick and were being taken to hospitals. Then, an unmarked police car screeched to a halt and Michel Borel bolted from the front seat and ran to the barricades, asking who was most senior at the scene. Borel spoke to the man, then could be seen telling the officer what he needed to do. He spotted Katie and David, just as Catherine was seen emerging from a taxi.
         “Another virus attack?” asked Katie.
         Borel just nodded his head vigorously and waved his hands in the air. “So,” he said, “this is not over. This has not yet ended. The government is going to have to start shutting down every hotel in the city after this.”
         Catherine, who did not have a crew with her, asked, “Did Bazarov give any indication this might happen again?”
         “No, nothing,” said the detective. “He said the operation was shut down.”
         “Do you believe him?” asked Catherine.
        “I don’t know. He knows what will happen to him if he held back information.”
           “So, what the hell is going on, Marcel?” asked David. “Copycat crime?”
         “I don’t know, David, maybe. Maybe some imbecile thinks he can get himself on CNN by attacking more hotels. But if this keeps going on, Paris is going to be one big disaster area. I can already tell people are going to leave the city and tourists are not going to come here for God knows how long.” He shrugged and said, “But that is not my worry. I just have to find this bastard and hope he’s the only one. Another needle in a big haystack. Last time we had some luck—thanks to you—but I doubt we are going to be so lucky this time unless there’s an easy way to tie this to the other three hotels.”
         “Is the Victoire owned by the Saudis?” asked Katie.
         “No, that’s another piece of the puzzle. It’s been owned forever by an old German family. It even used to be called the Hôtel Allemagne, but after the war no one wanted to have anything to do with a place named the ‛German hotel.’”
         “And that family still owns it?” asked David.
         Catherine answered: “They lost control right after the war, and the new owners re-named it the Victoire, but the family was able to buy it back at some point under that new name.”
         Katie and David were amazed once again at Catherine’s depth of knowledge about Parisian history.
         Borel apologized and dashed off to speak with other plainclothes officers who were arriving by the minute.
         “So what do we do now?” said Katie.
         “Well,” said David, “if we’re not leaving, we’re staying, so let’s see if we can get our rooms back at the Julian.”
         “I doubt that’s going to be a problem after this latest attack.”
         Catherine stayed behind as the Americans went back to the Julian to check in and leave their luggage.
         “At least this time, only one hotel was struck,” said Katie.
         “So far,” said David.
         “I know. I don’t think this is the end of it.”
         “What I’m baffled by is how much of this stolen virus is still out there in someone’s hands? If this is not the Russians’ work, who had access to more of the shit?”
         “I’m thinking that the Russians at the Embassy had extra virus packages on hand, just in case some was lost. They wouldn’t have just three packages.”
         “You’re probably right. So, I’m wondering if Bazarov even knew about the extra supply. He was only told what he had to know and only delivered the one dose to Massot at the Anastasia. If there’s more of it, someone at the Embassy must have known, and finding that out behind those locked doors ain’t gonna be easy.”
         “You don’t think the police can demand to search the Embassy?”
         “Nope,” said David, “An embassy is considered to be sacrosanct foreign soil, no matter where it’s sitting. No one’s getting in there unless there’s a fire.”
         “Maybe somebody needs to start one,” said Katie,
         “Don’t look at me. Hey, shouldn’t you call Alan, tell him what’s going on?”
         Katie agreed but knew it was still the middle of the night in New York. “I’ll let him sleep while we snoop around Paris. I’m pretty sure he’ll want us to stay on.”
         Indeed, when Katie reached him, Alan Dobell agreed with enthusiasm that she and David should stay on at least till this current virus attack was solved. He knew the newspapers would be reporting on it and probably do stories about the possible short- and long-range effects on Paris, Parisians and tourism. Would there be a shut-down of all hotels? Restaurants? Public buildings? Katie would have plenty of time to follow up on all such stories and make it all part of her long-form reporting, depending on just how big the story was. Dobell being Dobell, he asked if Katie and David could find cheaper lodgings than a hotel off the Champs Élysées. Katie promised to do what she could.
         Borel was obviously tied up with the preliminary investigation and did not return David’s phone call until that evening.
         “I imagine you’re under a lot of pressure,” said David.
         “You have no idea,” said the detective. “This thing was shut tight, nice and clean, now the whole city is in a panic. The government officials have been meeting all day to decide what to do, and, of course, they will have to cut through the bureaucracy to get anything done at all.  I’m just hoping we catch the attacker and hope he’s a lone actor, not connected with the Russians.”
         “But somehow he must have gotten the virus from the Russians.”
         “That’s what worries me.”
         “Have you been in touch with Bazarov?” asked David.
         “Through his lawyer, yes. He says that Bazarov swears that he knows nothing about this new event and is as shocked as we are.”
         “Did he say anything about more of a virus supply being stored at the embassy?”
         “He says he had no idea. All he ever handled was the one package, but he assumes there was some back-up. I don’t think Bazarov is going to be of much help.”
         “So, it all begins again. Checking the rosters, looking at the security videos, interviewing the staff.”
         “Well, at least we know what to do based on what we did before,” said Borel, “and there is, perhaps, a slight difference this time. All the people who were sick were able to walk out of the lobby on their own. Only a few required a stretcher.”
         “Meaning it may not be as virulent a virus as the first ones?”
         Borel shrugged and said, “Time will tell. It would be nice to tell the public that this time the virus does not seem to be as serious. I hope your friend Madame Newcombe will report it that way.”
         “I’m sure she will if she can get a quote to that effect from health officials.”
         Borel gave him a name and number for Catherine to call.
        “I’m thinking that perhaps the virus degraded over the past couple of weeks since the first attacks,” said David.                         “Remember, it had to be kept very cold, and if the Russians didn’t need it any more, they might have let precautions lapse.”
         “In which case it would seem like someone in the Embassy took it upon himself to use the virus in a new attack, without any official authorization.”
         “But why attack the Victoire? There’s no Saudi association.”
         “Which is why it sounds like some renegade in the Embassy had a vendetta against the owners of the Victoire,” said Borel. “He might have seized the opportunity to use what was left of the virus—maybe in a degraded form—to settle some score. Which still leaves us locked out of the Embassy. If Bazarov were still inside and worked with us, we might get a lead, but he’s not.”
         “Do you think he may know someone within the building he might be able to contact, somebody who might want to help Bazarov’s case?”
         Borel said, “That is a very long shot, I would think. We will try, but I’m not optimistic. Well, David, it has been a long day and tomorrow will be just as bad. Let us all get a good night’s sleep, or something resembling it, and see what tomorrow brings.”









©
John Mariani, 2024



❖❖❖











NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR


GREAT WHITES
By John Mariani



 

         All year ‘round there is good reason to drink fine white wines, and the fact that all but the most illustrious, like Domaine Leflaive Montrachet Grand Cru, Leroy Domaine d’Auvernay Les Gouttes d’Ôr Meursault and Coche -Dury Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, which cost thousands of dollar per bottle, they usually cost considerably less than red counterparts. And there are so many varietals beyond the ubiquitous Chardonnay that deserve respect, even if finding an outstanding New World Sauvignon Blanc is still a feat.              Labels count heavily with white wines: Rather than just choose among a dozen Pinot Grigios or Pouilly-Fuissés, the producer is very important, although it’s well worth taking a chance on a small producer from, say, the Sierra Gaúcha region of Brazil or the Pfalz in Germany that is recommended by a good wine shop, usually at a very moderate price. Here are some I’ve been enjoying so far this fall.

 

Maison Louis Latour Pouilly-Fuissé 2023 ($37). Maison Louis Latour is one of France’s principal wine companies, dating back to 1797, and they make a very wide range of red and white wines. This Mâconnais example is pleasingly complex and distinctive among the oceans of bland Pouilly-Fuissés in the market that fade after a year or so. This is ready to drink now but will be even better in 2026.

 

Maison Louis Latour Bourgogne Chardonnay 2023 ($23). At this price you won’t easily find a basic Burgundian Chardonnay with much to offer, but this one has good balance of fruit and acid and an ideal 13.5% alcohol. It would also enhance any seafood sauce that calls for a white Burgundy that will add nuance. 

 

Maison Louis Latour Montagny "Les Buys" 2023 ($40). The white wines of southern Burgundy, in this case the Côte Chalonnaise, are generally lighter than those of their northern counterparts, so you want freshness in a Montagny, which Latour achieves by selecting Chardonnay from grapes with a high natural sugar content that denotes maturity. The wine is racked off its lees just days before bottling, which provides a little more body.

Rex Hill Seven Soils Chardonnay 2022 ($35). Oregon’s Willamette Valley produces many of the West Coast’s best Chardonnays because of its cooler climate and vintners like Rex Hill who does not over-oak his wines. Seven Soils refers to seven different soil types whose minerals affect the grapes’ flavors. It certainly has good body and goes very well with crustaceans and cheeses.   


 

Bouchaine Vineyards 2023 Bouchaine Unoaked Chardonnay ($40), Estate Chardonnay ($40) and Reserve Chardonnay ($70) show the studied range of this, the oldest operating winery in Carneros in the Napa Valley. Purchased in 1981 from Beringer by Garrett and Tatiana Copland, who expanded the land to 100 acres, Bouchaine is one of those ever-dependable wineries, best known for its Pinot Noirs. But these three degrees of Chardonnay, made from old vines,  show off their versatility, so if you prefer no oak (aged in concrete eggs and stainless steel alone) or secondary  fermentation, this is a fine expression of that style. Its Estate blend uses a dozen different Chardonnay wines produced with estate fruit,  different yeast strains, and sur lie aging in a mix of 10% stainless steel and 90% French oak barrels of different coopers, ages and toast levels to highlight the best of the estate and vintage. Its Reserve is intended to be more concentrated in a Napa Valley style, with winemaker Chris Kajani using 50% malolactic fermentation and sur lie aging in French oak barrels (about one third new). When you think you deserve a dinner of lobster with melted  butter, you also deserve this wine.


 

Shared Notes 2024 Les pierres qui décident  Sauvignon Blanc ($85). Why pay $85 for a Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc? Curiosity perhaps. The name comes from the  joint-venture in Sonoma Valley in 2012 between wife and husband, Bibiana González Rave and Jeff Pisoni.  Originally from Colombia, Bibiana studied viniculture in Bordeaux at Château Haut-Brion & La Mission Haut-Brion––where Sauvignon Blanc is married to Semillon––while Jeff coming from Peter Michael Winery and then his namesake family’s winery. “Les pierre qui decident” means “the rocks decide, referring to the soil that provides a minerality that balances out the citrus and honey flavors and blunts some of the grassy taste of lesser Sauvignon Blancs. Their Les leçons des maîtres ($210) ups the ante as a Bordeaux-style blend of  75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Sémillon, which gives more floral notes to the wine. Very good to serve with grilled seafood.

 

 

Domaine de Fenouillet Muscat Beaumes-de-Venise ($25). The Côtes-du-Rhône is home to the estate that makes this marvelous fortified wine (Vin du Naturel) made from aromatic Muscat grapes, which date back to the fifth century BC in Greece. In 1945 a cooperative cellar was created, the same year as it became an AOC appellation, now with 96 producers using mainly Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Bourboulenc, Piquepoul, Grenache Noir, Cinsault and Carignan. (The region also makes a red wine called simply Beaumes-de-Venise using other grapes.) Alcohol is around 15%. Muscat Beaumes-de-Venise can be quite sweet but also only lightly so, as is this from Domaine de Fenouillet, which allows a long alcoholics fermentation of three weeks at very low temperatures, then aging on the lees after mutage and organic neutral alcohol, is added. This is a better choice than the oft-mentioned Sauternes with foie gras, and I found it enchanting with roasted chestnuts.

 

 

Hartford Court Jurassic Vineyards Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2023  ($36). The Jurassic here refers to the fossil-rich, volcanic soil of Santa Ynez Valley, where John and Jennifer Hartford planted the varietal in 1982. After hand harvesting, the clusters are pressed in a “Champagne-style cycle” by which the juice settles overnight with no additions, then racked to neutral French oak barrels, with spontaneous fermentation and finishing in three to four weeks, undergoing 100% malolactic fermentation, to later be bottled without filtration ay 13.3% alcohol. If you enjoy Loire Valley and Savennières, this will be an admirable match and very good when you are dining on game birds this season. Like the best Chenin Blancs, it also promises a longevity.

 

 

Stonestreet Estate Vineyards White Blend 2024  ($55). Winemaker Krtistina Shideler of Stonestreet in Alexander Valley  packs a good deal of citrus and honeyed fruit into the unusual––perhaps unique––blend of 80% of the Greek grape Assyrtiko with its seaside salinity and the floral notes of 19% Semillon and a dash of one percent Italian Malvasia. It works as an aperitif, with smoked salmon, cheese puffs and charcuterie.  

 

 



 












❖❖❖



THE MARCH OF SCIENCE

In an interview with CNN, microbiologist Charles Gerba (left), also known as "Dr. Germ," says our toilets may actually be cleaner than our cutting boards. "Recent surveys of homes found more fecal bacteria on a cutting board in the average home than a toilet seat," he said, adding, "It's actually safer to make your sandwich on a toilet seat than a cutting board."

 












❖❖❖



 Any of John Mariani's books below may be ordered from amazon.com.



   The Hound in Heaven (21st Century Lion Books) is a  novella, and for anyone who loves dogs, Christmas, romance, inspiration, even the supernatural, I hope you'll find this to be a treasured  favorite. The  story concerns how, after a New England teacher, his wife and their two daughters adopt a stray puppy found in their barn in northern Maine, their lives seem full of promise. But when tragedy strikes, their wonderful dog Lazarus and the spirit of Christmas are the only things that may bring his master back from the edge of despair. 

WATCH THE VIDEO!

“What a huge surprise turn this story took! I was completely stunned! I truly enjoyed this book and its message.” – Actress Ali MacGraw

“He had me at Page One. The amount of heart, human insight, soul searching, and deft literary strength that John Mariani pours into this airtight novella is vertigo-inducing. Perhaps ‘wow’ would be the best comment.” – James Dalessandro, author of Bohemian Heart and 1906.


“John Mariani’s Hound in Heaven starts with a well-painted portrayal of an American family, along with the requisite dog. A surprise event flips the action of the novel and captures us for a voyage leading to a hopeful and heart-warming message. A page turning, one sitting read, it’s the perfect antidote for the winter and promotion of holiday celebration.” – Ann Pearlman, author of The Christmas Cookie Club and A Gift for my Sister.

“John Mariani’s concise, achingly beautiful novella pulls a literary rabbit out of a hat – a mash-up of the cosmic and the intimate, the tragic and the heart-warming – a Christmas tale for all ages, and all faiths. Read it to your children, read it to yourself… but read it. Early and often. Highly recommended.” – Jay Bonansinga, New York Times bestselling author of Pinkerton’s War, The Sinking of The Eastland, and The Walking Dead: The Road To Woodbury.

“Amazing things happen when you open your heart to an animal. The Hound in Heaven delivers a powerful story of healing that is forged in the spiritual relationship between a man and his best friend. The book brings a message of hope that can enrich our images of family, love, and loss.” – Dr. Barbara Royal, author of The Royal Treatment.




❖❖❖







The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink by John F. Mariani (Bloomsbury USA, $35)

Modesty forbids me to praise my own new book, but let me proudly say that it is an extensive revision of the 4th edition that appeared more than a decade ago, before locavores, molecular cuisine, modernist cuisine, the Food Network and so much more, now included. Word origins have been completely updated, as have per capita consumption and production stats. Most important, for the first time since publication in the 1980s, the book includes more than 100 biographies of Americans who have changed the way we cook, eat and drink -- from Fannie Farmer and Julia Child to Robert Mondavi and Thomas Keller.


"This book is amazing! It has entries for everything from `abalone' to `zwieback,' plus more than 500 recipes for classic American dishes and drinks."--Devra First, The Boston Globe.

"Much needed in any kitchen library."--Bon Appetit.




Now in Paperback, too--How Italian Food Conquered the World (Palgrave Macmillan)  has won top prize  from the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.  It is a rollicking history of the food culture of Italy and its ravenous embrace in the 21st century by the entire world. From ancient Rome to la dolce vita of post-war Italy, from Italian immigrant cooks to celebrity chefs, from pizzerias to high-class ristoranti, this chronicle of a culinary diaspora is as much about the world's changing tastes, prejudices,  and dietary fads as about our obsessions with culinary fashion and style.--John Mariani

"Eating Italian will never be the same after reading John Mariani's entertaining and savory gastronomical history of the cuisine of Italy and how it won over appetites worldwide. . . . This book is such a tasteful narrative that it will literally make you hungry for Italian food and arouse your appetite for gastronomical history."--Don Oldenburg, USA Today. 

"Italian restaurants--some good, some glitzy--far outnumber their French rivals.  Many of these establishments are zestfully described in How Italian Food Conquered the World, an entertaining and fact-filled chronicle by food-and-wine correspondent John F. Mariani."--Aram Bakshian Jr., Wall Street Journal.


"Mariani admirably dishes out the story of Italy’s remarkable global ascent to virtual culinary hegemony....Like a chef gladly divulging a cherished family recipe, Mariani’s book reveals the secret sauce about how Italy’s cuisine put gusto in gusto!"--David Lincoln Ross, thedailybeast.com

"Equal parts history, sociology, gastronomy, and just plain fun, How Italian Food Conquered the World tells the captivating and delicious story of the (let's face it) everybody's favorite cuisine with clarity, verve and more than one surprise."--Colman Andrews, editorial director of The Daily Meal.com.

"A fantastic and fascinating read, covering everything from the influence of Venice's spice trade to the impact of Italian immigrants in America and the evolution of alta cucina. This book will serve as a terrific resource to anyone interested in the real story of Italian food."--Mary Ann Esposito, host of PBS-TV's Ciao Italia.

"John Mariani has written the definitive history of how Italians won their way into our hearts, minds, and stomachs.  It's a story of pleasure over pomp and taste over technique."--Danny Meyer, owner of NYC restaurants Union Square Cafe,  The Modern, and Maialino.

                                                                             








              

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly.  Publisher: John Mariani. Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher Mariani,  Misha Mariani, John A. Curtas, Gerry Dawes, Geoff Kalish. Contributing Photographer: Galina Dargery. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.

 

If you wish to subscribe to this newsletter, please click here: http://www.johnmariani.com/subscribe/index.html



© copyright John Mariani 2025




1622