Top 6 - Restaurants, Pizza, College Bars,

Italy for foodies, pizza, coffee, college bars top this weeks list.

1. Just How Good Can Italy Get? - A good read for foodies heading to Italy. Covers Bologna, Modena, and other regions

2.  AMERICAN PIE - You don’t need to fly to Italy to try the world’s best pizza. Check out the nation’s finest works of coal-fired, mozzarella-slathered, crisp-doughed art.

3. School spirits - You don't have to be a student to enjoy the bars near some of the Boston's most famous universities

4. Serious (yay!) about coffee - (Los Angeles)In a town of a grillion coffeehouses, there aren't many that do it right. Here are the best places for a great cup.

5. Best New Restaurants 2006 - From fine regional Indian in D.C. to a reimagined chophouse in Los Angeles, John Mariani has once again scouted the country in search of the best new eateries. Inside, the twenty most exciting places to dine right now.

6. Most expensive restaurants in the US 2006 - New York, Chicago, DC, and others

Disney Food and Wine Festival at Epcot

Disney is hosting its anual food and wine festival at Epcot through November 12. The event has several differerent types of events including seminars, family events, special culinary programs, festival dining experiences, concerts, wine seminars, and international market places. Here is a small sample of the types of events on the schedule

• Culinary Programs - Including a Sweet Sunday program with Food Network stars Warren Brown and Mary Meyers(10/22), a kitchen conversation with Chef Cat Cora (10/25), and cooking schools on South East Asian (10/25), Italian (10/28) and Spanish (11/8) classics.
• Programs on American Wine Tasting, The History of Beer in America, The Buzz About Honey, and Cheese and Wine pairings
• Special dining experiences - Dining Down Under (11/3), A Passion for Pinot (11/9) and Iberian Roots (11/10)
• International MarketPlaces - Food and Wine stands from Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Scandinavia, China, Thailand, South Africa, Australia, Italy, Japan, India, Spain, Turkey, Ireland, Poland, Greece and New Zealand.

I was at the food festival earlier this week and was able to check out some of the food and wine at the International Marketplaces. If you're at Disney then by all means check them out but I was somewhat disapointed with the offerings. I thought about checking out a Wine seminar, but the ones scheduled on the days I was there just seemed too commercial. All in all, this is a fun festival to check out if you're at Disney, but I wouldn't schedule a trip specifically to attend it.

Weekly Top 6: Healthy Disney, Top Expensive Restautrants, Pubs in LA

1. Disney to serve healthier food at parks  and instituting standards on number of calories, percentage of fat from calories, and elimination of trans fats by 2008. Looks like SeaWorld is joining Disney on the health kick and will begin offering items such as veggie fajitas, seared tofu and sugar-free ice cream.

 

2. Forbes lists the World's Most Expensive Restaurants in Tokyo, Paris, London, Munich, Rome, Toronto, Montreal, Madrid, Shanghai and Milan.

 

3. Check out The 15 Best Pubs Around Los Angeles.

 

4. Heading to Chicago? Check out Dr. Vino's map of Chicagos' BYOB restaurants.

 

5. Personally, I prefer the sushi bar or my neighborhood pub's bar, but if you're in New York and looking for something more extravagant, check out Best Seats in the House: Where to Eat at the Bar.

 

6. The James Beard House in New York has gotten a face lift as reported here, A new look for an original celebrity chef's legacy. See 2006 Events at the Beard House and their Celebrity Chef Tour that has upcoming events in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Washington DC.

Top 6 of the Week: Cookies, Crab and Coffee

Cookies, crab, coffee the best new chefs, and a tribute to R.W. Apple.

1. A tribute to  R.W. Apple Jr. who passed away this week.  Some of his more recent articles included Asian Journey; Looking Up an Old Love On the Streets of Vietnam, Shanghai, A Far East Feast,  and  The Tastes of Walla Walla.

 

2. Here's one I didn't know. October is National Cookie Month and USA Today lists their 10 greatest places to give yourself a cookie.

 

3. Heading to New York City, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Portsmouth NH,  Philadelphia,   Minneapolis, Healdsburg CA, or Alexandria VA and looking for an up and coming restaurant? Food and Wine features restaurants in these cities in their Best New Chefs.

 

4. Read about chili crabs and chicken rice, laksa and satay and fish head curry in Singapore: A Repressed City-State? Not in Its Kitchens

 

5. Chef Alain Ducasse to Open New Restaurant at St. Regis Hotel, New York - Opening March/2007

 

6. Coffee lovers - It's  not too late to book your trip to Kona for the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival November 3-12