MARIANI’S

 

Virtual Gourmet


 

May 11,  2025                                                                                                                NEWSLETTER

 


Founded in 1996 

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"The Joy Luck Club" (1993)

Happy Mother's Day

        

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THIS WEEK
SPLIT, CROATIA,
PART ONE

By John Mariani

NEW YORK CORNER
SOCARRAT
By John Mariani


HÔTEL ALLEMAGNE
CHAPTER  ELEVEN

By John Mariani

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
A WIDE RANGE OF ROSÉ WINES

By John Mariani



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SPLIT, CROATIA,
Part One


By John Mariani



 


    As Croatia’s second largest city, Split  has been enjoying remarkable  success over the last five years as a quieter, cheaper alternative to Italy’s tourist crunch. Split is especially popular with French, German and Austrians who come for the  surrounding natural beauty of the mountains, white beaches, hiking and biking. Many rent the same apartments overlooking the sea year after year, and last year nearly 800,000 Americans visited Split and its sister cities of Zagreb and Dubrovnik. Up until 15 years ago Split was an industrial city, but now tourism has become a major industry.

Split itself  is a unique archeological treasure, and, after recent development and restoration, now  more vital than it’s been in centuries, with ferry crossings to the islands of Brac and Kvar.  (Croatia has more than 1,200.)

Originally a Greek colony,  Split was long one of the Roman Empire’s largest, best located cities, with a population of as many as 60,000 people. In 293 AD Emperor Diocletian began construction of a vast fortified retirement palace, which itself could house 10,000 people. Over the next millennium Split was  constantly fought over and sacked by those who recognized its strategic location, including the  Byzantine Empire  and the Republic of Venice; in the 19th century Napoleon took the city; on his defeat  in 1812 the Austrian Hapsburg ruled, then after World War I  Croatia became part of Yugoslavia, with Split as its most prosperous city.

         In 1991 Croatia declared its independence, which  led to four years of  brutal war with Serbia, and creating a massive refugee problem. There are few vestiges of that conflict now in  Split, although many of the houses and apartments surrounding the center of the city are mundane cement and  red tiled-roof remnants of an era when alternatives were not possible.  

Nearer the center of Split there are some modern buildings, few taller than ten stories. The center itself, which lies along the graceful, curving harbor facing the Riva, a long stretch of cafés where everyone meets from breakfast through late at  night and anchored by Diocletian’s extraordinary palace whose vast limestone arched hallways lead into well-restored sections where both the emperor and the population once  lived and worked. There is an Ethnographic Museums within, and Egyptian lion sculptures still resting on the walls.

The palace’s ongoing restoration has meant a rapid acquisition of spaces converted to apartments, boutiques, cafes, even a sushi restaurant. New modern hotels have opened in the old town, including Vestibule Palace (Iza Vestibula 4) ––“since 305 AD”––and indeed you really can sleep and dine, at its restaurant Magnus (with a superb wine list), within those fourth century limestone walls. For the summer rates runs around €360.

         I was being thriftier, booking a splendid Airbnb called Riva City Rooms  (they have five locations; right) just outside the Palace walls  and overlooking the Riva for €90.

         Outside of city center the new Méridien Lav Hotel (Grljevacka 24) is expansive, with a long beachfront and panorama on the Adriatic where you can take breakfast, sun-lighted spacious rooms, a large  sophisticated bar and lounge called LaVue, and quite a good Italian restaurant named Conlemani (left), where I chose from an array of wood-fired pizzas, vitello tonnato and spaghetti with lobster.

         Nearby, in the town of Strobeč, is very much a local favorite restaurant, Konoba Nikola (Ivankova 42)––konoba means a tavern or cellar––reached by climbing a rocky road up from the plaza in a secluded converted house. It’s been a restaurant  for a quarter century, whose ebullient owner, Nikola Džalo, grew up in these premises. Located a few steps down, the rustic room has only 24 seats and is set with folkloric art and photos. Displayed on ice is the day’s catch, which might be pretty red mullet, fat scampi, John Dory,  branzino and more, all grilled to perfection  and served with French fries. The wine list is deep, and if you wish, Nikola will charge you only by how much of a bottle you consume. Our three-course meal for two, with desert and wine, came to a very reasonable €214.

         I will be following up with a report on more of Split’s best restaurants but let me for the moment give you some tips about local customs.

 

● Both Uber and Bolt are readily available, with some of their cars parked right at the Riva, and they are cheaper by far than the taxis, which are not easy to find unless your concierge calls one and you pay for the pick-up.

 

  At restaurants a ten percent tip on the bill is considered standard.

 

 

   Split has hundreds of ATMs all over town but use only those with a bank’s name on it. Do not use the red, yellow, blue or green ATMs. I did on my first day and ended up paying a whopping twenty percent service fee.

 

  If you sit by the Riva for coffee, snacks or a full meal at the restaurants there––all of which have more or less the same tourist menu––do not take a table far to the left (facing the street), because for some reason the sickly stench of sulfur rises from below the pavement.

 

  It would be difficult to find any resident of the, or elsewhere in Croatia, who doesn’t speak very good English, and the populace is exceptionally welcoming and helpful to America visitors.



 

 

 

 




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NEW YORK CORNER                           


SOCARROT
248 MULBERRY STREET

212-219-0101

By John Mariani





 

 

    What makes the ideal paella?
    To listen to Lolo Manso, owner of Socarrat, “
The quintessence of the perfect paella and for which the restaurant is named is the delectable, sensuous crust that forms on the bottom of the paella pan when the liquid is rendered and the rice reaches its peak of succulence.”

Indeed, that  brown-black crust is the most desirable part of paella, the festive dish of Valencian rice and other ingredients cooked in a wide circular paella pan over an open fire. My first reaction to the dish, in the highly regarded paella restaurant La Pepica in Valencia, was that the drama of the cooking and serving and the scraping up of the socarrat outweighed my impression of its flavor, which was a bit bland. But at Socarrat, with locations in Chelsea and Nolita, I loved what I ate of the steamy, softened rice, chicken, shrimp, mussels and more, all of it fully flavorful right down to the last crunchy, smoky morsel of the socarrat itself.

         There was much more that I liked at the NoLita branch Socarrat (there is also one in Chelsea and midtown), which on Tuesday nights at 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30, provides the added pleasure of fiery flamenco music and dancing. The room and bar are rustic, largely fashioned in wood, with a communal table that somehow manages to maintain a comfortable noise level, even when the two guitarists are flailing away and the sharp crack of the beautifully costumed dancer’s heels and staccato click of her castanets are in  full flourish.

         The menu is large, with an array of tapas, though they come in larger portions than the bite-sized pintxos you find in Spain. I can never resist gambas aj ajillo of fat shrimp sizzling in a ceramic dish with olive oil and the aroma of garlic, or the creamy croquetas (left) with their golden outer crust. Socarrat also serves grilled Spanish octopus Galician style with cubed potatoes and a lashing of paprika oil. Pan con tomate is the simplest of dishes––country toast rubbed with fresh tomato, olive oil, and garlic. Very much true to form was a dish of sauteed oyster mushrooms, cremini, shimeji, maitake and shredded Manchego cheese and a celery root puree.

         I recommend your table share the wooden board of campero––a selection of Serrano ham, chorizo and salchichón along with Manchego, Idiazabél and Mahón cheeses with almonds and olives.

         There are seven paellas, including the thin noodles variant called fideuá de Mar y Montaña with Brussels sprouts, squid shrimp, and a mushroom sofrito.

The house paella is called “Socarrat,” made with an abundance of meaty chicken, chorizo, shrimp, white fish, squid mussels and fava beans peppers and tomato. I liked even more the carne of pork chop chunks simmered in the juices with chicken chorizo, snow peas and mushroom whose socarrat perfectly crispy and nutty.

         Six deserts end off the meal with delectable renderings of classic Basque cheesecake with strawberry sauce; caramelized brioche soaked in milk with lemon curd (right); a rich, velvety flan; and my favorite, fried churros fritters to be dunked in hot chocolate sauce.

        Socarrat has an admirable wine list of Spanish bottlings, but I took a chance on a pitcher of sangria, which I loved because it was neither too sweet nor boozy.

         Meanwhile, not ten feet away, the flamenco dancer was stamping her feet in syncopation, flourishing her ruffled dress and flinging her arms above her head while the two guitarists provided the Spanish soul music. Good reasons to pound he tables in appreciation.

         New York has far fewer true Spanish restaurants than it should, and many years ago “Spanish” really meant more Cuban because of where the chefs came from. But no one can dispute the seriousness with which Lolo Manso takes what he  believes is his mission. You can tell by the smile on his face that is returned in kind as he goes from table to table.

 

Open for lunch Mon.-Fri., dinner nightly; brunch Sat. & Sun.









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HÔTEL ALLEMAGNE
 
By  John Mariani





CHAPTER  TEN

 

 

        After the interview with Dr. Baer, David said, “Did you get a slight sense that she warmed up to us?” then, arching his eyebrow, “I thought the handshake was a big step forward.”
         Katie said, “Who knows. I think she’s a scientist through and through and except that finding the perpetrators might lead her to track the virus, I doubt she cares if we have a story or not. We’re not the police and we’re not French and we’re not American scientists. What’s in it for her?”
         “Fame? Glory? Nobel Prize? ‘The woman who unlocked the key to the hotel pandemic!’”
         “I don’t think infecting three hotels qualifies as an all-out pandemic, David, and she almost made it sound routine that she was able to trace the DNA to Russia so easily.”
         “Ain’t science amazing in the 21st century?”
        “Actually, I’m impressed they could come up with the DNA info so quickly,” said Katie. “But unless it’s forensic science, it’s not going to help us too much.”
         “Well, in that case, I should get back to Borel and let him know we know some of what he knows. It sure as shit sounds like there’s a criminal case in all this.”
         “Alan will be thrilled.”
         “Not with what we’ve got so far. Nobody died. . .”
         “Yet.”
         “Yet. It’s seems more like an embarrassment to these fancy Paris hotels than a devious plot at this point, unless the police can find three guys who checked into those hotels, spread the virus through the air ducts and got out before it took effect.”
         “Or, if they had that protective gear with them, they could have locked themselves in their rooms, waited till the next day and just exited with everyone else. No one was searched, no one was carrying suitcases and not everyone became sick.”
         “Okay,” said David. “So, if the intent was to embarrass the hotels—each of which has a different owner.”
         “All of them Arabs,” said Katie.
         “Yes, all of them Arabs, who would want to completely disrupt the operation of the three hotels and why? Assuming, for the moment, the virus was stolen from a Russian lab, was it a Russian lab worker who gave it to three Russians to do the job or might some other nationals have obtained it, bought it maybe, to use. And maybe those nationals got it to three operatives in Paris to do the job.”
         “Doesn’t sound so complicated, does it?” said Katie, frowning. “So, all we have to do is scour Paris for three people who checked into the hotels one day, sprayed the stuff around and left the next morning.”
         “Unless they checked in two or three days before so as to not seem part of a pattern. Or they might have sprayed the stuff in the ducts, taken a nice hot shower and gone out to dinner, maybe never to return to the hotel.”
         “Do you think the police are thinking along the same lines?
         David said, “If they’re any good, they should. I’ll have to speak to Borel and feel him out or fill him in. He’s a good detective, but the police here are even more under a political thumb than in New York.”
         David was thinking of how he had once happily worked under Rudolph Giuliani when he was a federal prosecutor who became famous for putting Mafia mobsters in jail, but after becoming Mayor of New York, became headstrong with power and brought political pressure to bear on the NYPD. It got so bad that it was the reason David finally retired from the force.
         “First thing I’d do would be to look at all the guest logs,” said David, “cross out all those who came down with the disease, make assessments of the rest on the basis of which guests  were regulars or well known to the hotel, then winnow it down  from there. Probably put the American guests in one category and any Russians in another category. Somehow I think the perpetrators are not going to be Russian nationals, even if the job was run out of Russia.”
         That all made sense to Katie, who added, “So the most likely guests to be suspicious were the least likely ever to have stayed at the hotel before.”
         “That sounds right, although it’s possible that this operation had been planned far in advance in order to allow the perpetrators to become semi-regulars over many week or even months. Check in over a period of time, get to know the concierge, y’know, ‘So good to have you back in our hotel, Monsieur so-and-so,’ eat in the restaurant, tip the waiters well. . . “
         “You don’t tip waiters here,” Katie reminded him. “Service is included in the bill.”
         “Right, and tipping would mark them as exceptional, which they would not want.”
         “Or,” said Katie, “be free-spending Americans who cannot bear not to tip in case the waiter thinks he’s a cheapskate.”
         “Okay, but the likelihood of these three—even one of them—might be American is probably remote.”
         “Do you think they’d pay their bills with a credit card or in cash?” she asked.
         “I’d say cash, which these big deal hotels are very familiar with. Lots of nefarious and not so nefarious people carry around wads of cash for all sorts of reasons—especially if they’re having a little romantic fling they don’t want showing up on their credit cards. They also usually carry along a bodyguard or two.”
         “Now, that would make them stand out a tad, wouldn’t it?”
         “Very much so. Still, you pay cash, there’s no plastic trail.”
         The two Americans stopped for coffee at a café along the way.
“Okay,” said Katie. “So, we’re looking for three people somewhere in Paris who stayed at three hotels on the night of the hotel but may or may not have been in the hotel when the virus hit. And there’s no record of their identification.”
        "Well, we had to give them our passports when we’ve traveled over here. They take a picture or something and give them back later.”
         “I’m not sure about that. I mean, yes, with us because we’re foreigners, but I don’t know if they’d ask for I.D. if we were French or even members of the E.U. I’ll have to ask Catherine or our own concierge.”
         “Probably, if they do,” said David, “they may not with regular guests, which could come off as kind of embarrassing.”
         “Good point. I’m sure your detective friend Borel will know.”
         They headed back to the hotel and did indeed ask the concierge about the policy of asking guests for identification. The man said, “Oui, Madame, it is the usual procedure. In the old days we had to keep the cards and passports overnight so the local police could check them over. The guest would get them back the next morning.”
         David remembered that arduous system was a big part of the plot in the 1973 movie The Day of the Jackal, about a professional assassin hired to kill President Charles De Gaulle, which was based on a true story in which the right-wing OAS militant group had attempted such an assassination in 1962. In the movie there was a scene of police officials frantically riffling through the hotel cards from all over Europe to try to find a pattern of the assassin’s movements. Now, all that would be done by computer.
         Katie asked, “And you follow this procedure with everyone, not just foreigners?”
        The concierge waved his head slightly and said, “Well, Madame, we are sometimes a little. . . flexible with our regular clientele. Discretion is a very French virtue, you know.”
         The two Americans thanked him for his information and went up to their separate rooms to make calls.










©
John Mariani, 2024


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NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR


A WIDE RANGE OF ROSÉ WINES
By John Mariani

 

    It is that time again when all wine writers are required to file an article on rosé wines simply because so many people tag them to Mother’s Day, springtime, summertime and other warm weather events. But far be it from me to perpetuate the idea that rosés are to be forgotten when cool weather drifts in, and to my mind there is no better or more celebratory than rosé Champagnes and sparkling wines.

    So here goes, with a bunch of refreshing and sometimes surprising rosés for the next few months’ easy drinking.

 

 

Konstantin Frank makes a series of dry roses that belie the idea that roses are “sweet pink stuff.” The producer’s  Dry Rosé  ($17) is an intriguing blend of led by Saperavi––a Georgian favored in the Finger Lakes for body––and Pinot Noir, while its Dry Rosé of Pinot Noir ($20) has lovely floral notes and echoes of red Pinot Noirs. They also make a  Dry Rosé of Blaufränkisch ($20) made from an Austrian varietal grown and picked from the Seneca Lake vineyard, It is quite crisp and has an acid edge that makes if good with charcuterie and cheeses.

 

 

 

 

The Pale Rosé  2024 ($18). This was created by the renowned

Sacha Lichine of the Whispering Angel line. It is crisp and has a pale rose color, made from Grenache, Rolle, Syrah and Cinsault for layers of flavor, with a pretty in pink Jazz Age label.  

 

Vilarnau Brut Reserva Rosé Cava ($16). A Spanish beauty made from organically grown Garnacha and Pinot Noir, aged on the lees for a minimum of 15 months, so it has some heft while remaining a refreshment and bubbles enough for any light food. The grapes are chilled so as to preserve the aromatics in their skins; the varietals are fermented separately in  stainless steel tanks  for 30 days, blended and put through a second fermentation lasting six weeks then the cava remains on the lees for 15 months.




 

Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Réserve Exclusive Rosé NV ($70)  is  crafted from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier, with charming notes of raspberry and strawberry, a high quality non-vintage sister of its vintage Champagnes from this illustrious house. The dominance of the Pinot Noir expresses its fine fruit while the other give it nuance.

 


 

Planeta Rosé 2024 ($20), You can imagine that a Sicilian rosé (rosato, in Italian) will be bigger bodied than most, and this  blend of Syrah and  Nero d’Avola is a nutty, robust quality that is excellent with seafood of any kind and ideal for an aperitif wine at a god price for parties.

 

 

 

Gassier Côtes de Provence  ($25). Rosés are the stand-outs of Provence wine and this blend of

Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah and a touch of Rolle has a touch of the Mediterranean sea salt air n it, making it perfect for hearty seafood dishes like bouillabaisse, crabs and ,lobster

 


Invivo X, SJP Rosé 2024 ($20). A youthful rosé from  South Provence made in a family estate partnership with actress Sarah Jessica Parker as a

Traditional blend of Grenache, Cinsault, and Syrah that is properly dry and goes with the food of the region like fowl and lamb scented with Provençal herbs.

 

 

Bertani Bertarosé 2024 ($18).  Italy’s highly regarded Bertani from Veneto has produced this since the 1930s, now made from a blend of Corvina, Molinara, Corvinone and Rondinella planted on the inland hills of Italy’s Lake Garda on young Valpolicella vines. So you get considerable complexity, with berry and spices flavors and a delectable acidity that will accompany dishes like lake fish or pasta with seafood very well.

 

 

  

Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé ($90). Stock up for summer on this superlative rosé Champagne before the tariffs hit hard. It’s made from 40% Chardonnay sourced from the marque’s finest crus, 30% and 30% Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier aged on the lees for 36 months, which gives it elegance and finesse. and has a golden rose color and lovely bouquet. It’s a splurge for a wedding but then what are splurges for? (It’s available in magnums, too.)Very good match with salmon, poultry and cheeses like Camembert and Brie.

 

 

 

Gérard Bertrand French Cancan Brut Nature Rosé NV ($30). A fun, uncomplicated  sparkling blush wine pf Pinot Noir, Cinsault and Chardonnay, aged for six month, partially on the lees for more body and including some wines from the 2020 vintage.

 

 

 

 






 


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THINGS WE DOUBT

"Is New York About to Go Crazy for a Matcha Latte?"––Meghan Krigaum, NY Magazine (3/24)





 










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 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.




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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.

 

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