Food & Spirits: In 1989 two visionaries, Paul Mitchell Systems co-founder, John Paul DeJoria and entrepreneur Martin Crowley formed The Patrón Spirits Company with the singular goal of producing “the best tequila in the world.”

Since then, The Patron Spirits Company has become one of the fastest growing luxury liquor companies in the world, offering an array of luxury tequilas as well as rums from its more recently acquired Pyrat line. The Patron family of premium liquors includes Gran Patrón, Patrón Añejo, Patrón Reposado, Patrón Silver, Patrón XO Café, Patrón Citrónge, Pyrat Cask, Pyrat XO Reserve, Pyrat Superior Blanco. The newest addition to the high-end family is an Ultra Premium Tequila, called Gran Patrón Premium. Gran Patron is “triple distilled then aged to perfection, to make the smoothest sipping tequila ever produced.”

Patron is distilled and packaged entirely by hand and produced from the finest 100-percent Weber Blue agave grown in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico.

Found not only at the top restaurants and bars around the world, Patron also makes special red carpet appearances to celebrate the best of the best with carefully crafted mixed drinks and cocktails that celebrate Patron luxury.

Every step in producing Patron Tequila, from harvesting the agave to the time-honored roller mill distillation process, to the individual labeling, signing and inspection of each bottle, is done by hand. As John McDonnell, the Patrón Spirits Co. COO, explains, “Patrón is a luxury product–every bottle is hand-blown, cork-finished and individually numbered.”

Have a sip of Patron to celebrate in true luxury.

Technorati Tags: Patron Tequilla, Patron, Gran Patron, Martin Crowley, Patrón Spirits Company, John Paul DeJoria, Patron Anejo

If you like you’re coffee smooth, silky and expensive, you might
want to get yourself a cup of De’Longhi Caffe Raro which retails for
£50 ($100) per cup.

This blend combines two of the world’s rarest coffee beans, Kopi
Luwak and Jamaican Blue Mountain to give a truly luxurious cup of
coffee.

For the uninitiated it’s worth pointing out that the Kopi Luwak coffee
bean is widely regarded as the most expensive individual coffee bean on
the market. Produced in Indonesia, this rare bean is digested by the
Palm cat, a process which creates an earthy flavour celebrated by
coffee aficionados. With only 200 kilos produced each year demand for
the bean is strong and prices remain high.

Ummm nice???

This luxury blend will be on sale for the first time in Peter Jones,
the landmark Chelsea department store and through the De’Longhi website
throughout April, with limited availability. All proceeds from the sale
of the coffee will be donated to Macmillan Cancer Support to help
people whose lives have been affected by cancer.

Technorati Tags: Raro Coffee, De’Longhi, Kopi Luwak, David Cooper, Jamaican Blue Mountain

The ubiquitous kitchen cutting board has now got a new lease of life with Nardo Design’s new high-tech Digital Cutting Board. This board comes with a flexible, yes you heard right, flexible LCD display that displays cooking instructions on it so that you can conjure up that meal, perfectly. And, while doing so, you can also read up downloaded recipes that you might want to try out. All this, right at the place where all the cooking happens, your kitchen. The brainchild of design student, Marc Nardangeli, this cooking board has a very chic design that will make cooking look and even feel, very high tech. The cutting board sits on grippy rubber feet which support an acrylic board. the acrylic board contains the circuitry to run the flexible LCD panel which sits on top of it. All this is packaged neatly on on top of the other and is sealed with a safety tempered glass panel which allows finger based, touchscreen operation. You can even connect this cutting board to download the cooking recipes.

The unit is topped off with stylish chromium handles on both ends. Now, for the environment friendly bit, all the components use environmentally friendly components that include the lead and bromide free circuit board and the non toxic chromium handle. Though it is still a concept, looking at it’s terrific functionality, we think it will make waves soon in the commercial kitchenware market.

The Santa Ynez wine region is set to have a new destination. Roblar Winery is opening a new winery, cooking school and visitor center on April 28. The Roblar Winery & Vineyards will celebrate the grand opening with gourmet food pairings, chef demonstrations and live music. The lodge-style estate has a grand tasting hall, gourmet marketplace, culinary school, separate VIP lounge and outdoor dinning terraces. Roblar is also home to a 12,000 case production facility making wines varying in price range from $20-$40 including Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.

The cooking school will host classes taught by chefs focusing on local ingredients and organic produce including some from the winery's own organic herb and vegetable garden. An interesting feature of this facility is the top floor members lounge which is reached via a private elevator and includes over-sized leather chairs, a fireplace, tasting bar and entertainment center. Visitors to the members' lounge also get preferred access to super premium Roblar wines paired with gourmet appetizers. Roblar is offering free membership to the first 500 members (you can sign up online). Membership includes a pair of one-day VIP passes, a subscription to Roblar's eMagazine, discounts and invites to special events.

[via Luxist Woollard, Deidre]

Mezes are rapidly replacing tapas and antipasto in New York with the profusion of new Greek restaurants hitting the scene. Both high-end refined, inventive Greek fare and restaurants offering more rustic, traditional cuisine are proving popular in the Big Apple.

Leading the Greek odyssey is dream team:Chef Michael Psilakis and the stylish hostess-with-the- mostess Donatella Apraia. This is their third pairing. First was Onera, where Psilakis turns Greek Classics inside out for a contemporary spin. Then they opened Dona, which offers a blend of Greek and Italian cuisine such as the lobster tail poached in a rich, velvety avgolemono, the famous Greek lemon-and-egg soup, or zucchini chocolate cake served with a scoop of walnut gelato, spiked with a hint of thyme.

Their brand new venture is the pricey Anthos, which means blossoming in Greek. The menu’s three way lamb, Lamb Chop, Loin & Mousaka- jerusalem artichoke puree, garlic confit sounds interesting, as does the Grilled Octopus- orange puree, tsakistes olives, chicory, garlic.

But some of his dishes seem to have waaay too much is going on: Hilopita- egg noodle, rabbit, snails, black truffle, manouri cheese. However, I’d say a visit in order simply to scarf down pastry chef’s Bill Corbett’s sugar-coated donuts . “Warm doughy nibbles are meant to be dunked in a luscious bourbon-spiked honey, accompanied by an addictive honey ice cream.”

Prix-Fixe
$25 and $38 prix fixes are available at lunch, there’s a $38 pre-theater menu at dinner, and an $85 chef’s tasting menu that includes Psilakis coming out to talk. (And $100 if you don’t want him to talk… just kidding)

Anthos
A: 36 W. 52nd St., New York, NY 10019 (near Fifth Avenue).
T: 212.582.6900.

[Editor’s Note: Chef Psilakis has also appeared on Iron Chef America.]

[Via Vagablond]

Pat Kuleto is the God of San Francisco upscale restaurant design. I’ve always loved his Farallon Restaurant on the edge of San Francisco’s fashionable Union Square shopping district, because of its outlandish underwater theme to complement its fantastic seafood menu.

Now, his new French-style Oyster Bar, adjacent to the renowned Jelly Bar, takes that theme one step further, with a enhanced selection of raw oysters, more signature cocktails, an updated bar menu, or any choice from the restaurant’s full dinner menu –– all surrounded by bar stools shaped like sea urchins, jellyfish chandeliers, and kelp-inspired columns that are illuminated.

W: www.farallonrestaurant.com.
A: 450 Post St. (between Mason and Powell), San Francisco.
T: 415.956.6969.
Hours: 4:30-10 p.m. ,Sunday-Thursday; 4:30-11 p.m., Friday and Saturday.

[Via Vagablond]

The Turin, Italy based company Red Travel is offering a unique service that may intrigue those of you a bit more independently-inclined than the traditional Europe-in-luxury goers: you can rent a Ferrari for one to eight days and scoot your way around the rolling hills, through the countryside, parallel to the ocean, or you know, whatever suits your fancy, from one end of Italy to the other. Some packages include stops at high-end hotels and spas in traditional cities, whilst others cater to a more rural-minded crowd with stops for dinner at a former convent and a farmhouse.

Oh, and don't worry about trying to fit your bags in the little red hotrods; a tour manager follows you via GPS and can even arrive at your destination ahead of you if you wish. The four day trip from Rome to Siena and back will run you and your shotgun buddy €4,300 each (about $5,700), but the deposit on the car will set you back €15,000 (or about $19,800) until you bring her back unscathed.

[Via Luxist]

St. Barths squeezes a lot of fine dining into an 8.1 square-mile squiggle of wind-swept beaches and high-fashion boutiques. While you'll find formal spots with flown-in luxury morsels — foie gras, steak, even lobster from Maine — the island's true barefoot spirit is reflected in its laid-back sand-between-your-toes places to dine and recline.

La Plage, Tom Beach Hotel
The most festive place on the island for a long languid lunch, the beachfront restaurant at the boutique Tom Beach Hotel features a DJ-spun soundtrack and plush pillow seating. Wood tables stretch onto the sand under a sultan's tent of silk scarves in bright Caribbean hues. The food is as upbeat as the scene, featuring simply grilled local seafood like aioli-dressed spiny lobster and whole herb-stuffed daurade. Plage St-Jean, St. Barthélemy, 0590/27-53-13. $$$ (photo, right)

Restaurant des Pecheurs, Le Sereno
The whitewashed luxury that suffuses hotelier Andre Balazs' new Caribbean hotel — designed by Christian Liaigre — extends to its waterside restaurant. With a focus on local seafood, the Restaurant des Pecheurs is a laid back scene by day that morphs into an A-list hotpot come nightfall. Chef Jean-Luc Grabowski uses local seafood for his saffron-enriched bouillabaisse, a big Friday night draw. Grand Cul-de-Sac, St. Barthélemy, 0590/29-83-00. www.mjlselect.com/contactus.html. $$$$

On the Rocks, Eden Rock
The hotel that helped put St. Barths on the jet-set map is still the island's most exclusive. It's recently refurbished restaurant is, as its name suggests, literally built on the rocks, offering great sunset views from tables set on a wraparound wooden balcony. From the open kitchen, chef Jean-Claude Dufour delivers ambitious globetrotting fare like soy-glazed sea bass with leek parmentier and seafood soup with lemongrass and squid ravioli. Baie de St-Jean, St. Barthélemy, 0590/29-79-99. wwwldpr.com. $$$$

Do Brazil
Co-owned by French tennis-ace turned pop-star Yannick Noah, this chic beach shack perched above a tiny stretch of seashell strewn sand offers an eclectic menu and a castaway vibe. Fresh fruit juices are dispensed from an all-day window opening onto the beach, while big plates of boldly flavored foods are offered for lunch and dinner up a short flight of stairs. With the exception of a few specialties, including a fine coconut-infused seafood stew, the restaurant is only nominally Brazilian — sweet, sticky barbecued ribs are among the best dishes. Shell Beach, Gustavia, St. Barthélemy, 0590/29-06-66. $$$

Andy's Hideaway
Follow the flow of off-duty waiters and bellhops to this open-air pizza parlor across the street from the beach. Come here for the island's best cheap eats — there are few competitors at this price point — including French-style one-person pizzas, chilled wine in carafes, and a convivial, pretense-free scene. The Emmental-cheese topped pies are thin, crisp, and delicious. St. Jean, St. Barthélemy, 0590/27-63-62. $$

Maya's
Maya's gets so jammed in high-season that many regulars opt to get their dinners to go (the restaurant is one of the few on the island offering a full takeout menu). Still, the relaxed setting is as easy to swallow as chef-owner Maya Gurley's homey, locally sourced food. The nightly offerings change frequently, and may feature velvety avocado soup studded with crab, fiery yellow curry-doused shrimp, or grilled daurade slathered in tart Creole spices. Public, Gustavia, St. Barthélemy, 0590/27-75-73. $$$$

[Via Fodors Cheshes, Jay]

Hosting a dinner party is a fun and rewarding experience. In addition, it’s interesting to bring different groups and types of friends together to see what kind of chemistry might develop.

But one of the dangers of playing host is that it’s all too easy to break the bank on food and décor. You shouldn’t have to take out a second mortgage; it is possible to host a dinner party on the cheap. Potluck and BYOB have their merits, but your guests should know well enough to bring a bottle or a dessert. And really, potluck and BYOB aren’t the best ways to impress.

If you’re stuck for ideas, have no fear: I’ve scratched out a few tips to help you host a thrifty dinner party. They will help you combine style and substance, which will impress all your friends.

Choosing the guest list

The first step to planning a dinner party is to carve out an invite list, and one of the best ways to bring together a good dinner party is to mix guests who otherwise wouldn’t associate with one another. A properly planned guest list filled with interesting people will enhance the experience for everyone, and the diversity may serve to hide any of the corners that you’ve cut regarding the food or décor.

Preparing invitations and planning the meal

Do you want to really impress the group? Sending invitations (that’s hard copy, not e-vites) really adds a touch of class to any gathering, and it’s not necessary to buy fancy, heavyweight cards with gold-embossed printing. If you have a few minutes to be creative and you have a decent printer (or access to an office supply store that can do your print job for you), you can personalize the standard templates from your word-processing program. You can also search the web for some ideas and create your own. Just remember to handwrite names and addresses on the envelopes to make them seem more formal.

How to plan your meal and create ambiance…

Plan your meal according to the coupons that are available to you. There’s no sense going broke when you can create a delicious meal with items that are on sale. What’s more, if you take a few minutes to troll around on the internet, you’ll likely find some great sites for e-coupons and incredible bargains on quality food; just remember to check delivery times.

Creating the ambiance

Here’s where you can really get ahead of the game and deliver an air of sophistication without spending too much money. To this end, I give you two words: dollar store. Seriously, the dollar store is the party planner’s best friend. Cheap decorating supplies abound!

For an informal dinner party, such as a birthday, pick up a few streamers and candles, but if you want to dress up the occasion, select decorations that are dark and rich in color. For the table, pick up matching sets of cutlery and glasses; nothing cheapens a party more than the mismatched, hand-me-down utensils, glasses and mugs that you pilfered from Mom and Dad when you moved out. You will also need a centerpiece for your table. It doesn't have to be lavish or ornate, but a centerpiece really brings things together and adds a touch of class. A few carefully arranged flowers in a vase will go a long way toward dressing up the table.

Finally, you can help the ambiance along by asking guests to dress appropriately. It’s not always a necessary component of the party, but dresses for the ladies and button-down shirts and blazers for the men will add to the evening.

Serving appetizers

When your guests arrive, offer them some munchies. The old veggie-and-dip or chips-and-salsa options are solid standbys and great party starters. They get people mingling and snacking, and they’re usually well-liked by everyone. People also love prepared hors d’oeuvres bought from the grocery store; all you have to do is stick them in the oven 30 minutes before your guests arrive.

Creatively presenting the appetizers is a surefire way to impress your guests. If it’s in your budget, select a luxury ingredient to be accompanied by a cheaper one. Such combinations can include foie gras or smoked salmon with generic crackers or cured meats paired with garden-variety mozzarella cheese and dill pickles. You can also serve grilled sausages with some nice mustard. If need be, serve rolled-up deli meat with a couple of quality cheeses and olives.

Save time and money, and have more social opportunities with your guests…

Impressing your guests with the meal

When it comes to the meal itself, you can cut a few corners by preparing a big dish that everyone shares. You may want to consider fajitas, soups or chili. If you want to take a more formal approach to the meal, match main ingredients with cheap fillers. Think of rice- or noodle-based Asian dishes or pasta and potato dishes with lots of carbohydrates. Different varieties of breads can also help round out the meal and fill up your guests, which will give them the sense that you’ve invested a lot of time and effort into the meal.

If skimping on ingredients isn’t your style, consider making a couple of very exotic or original dishes the centerpiece of the meal, and surround them with simpler foods. A good place to start is with peasant dishes, as they’re trendy, economical and look impressive. The best part about peasant dishes is that they’re usually loaded with filler ingredients. Another option is to go with a tried-and-true recipe that you’re familiar with and you know will work, but back it up with a salad, a loaf of crusty bread and dessert.

Saving on alcohol

Alcohol can be a killer expense at any party. Hopefully your guests know enough to bring bottles, but don’t forget that you must provide a few. You can cut corners by presenting a modestly priced wine in a nice decanter.

Party Pauper

When it comes to hosting a dinner party, you can either go chic or cheap. But if you go low-budget, don’t assume that the party has to look and feel cheap. I’ve just given you quite a few little cheats that will help you get away with spending next to nothing while still being impressive. Start planning your guest list and show your friends a great time.

[Via Askmen.com, James Raiswell]

Photo Courtesy of King Arthur Flour

From the Sun-Times piece: bite-sized desserts like mini cheesecakes are in, as are "locally grown and organic produce, flatbread, exotic mushrooms, salts, pomegranates and grass-fed and free-range meat." On the out list? Don't order starfruit, organ meats, kiwi, edible flowers, blackened items, okra, catfish and foams, or you will be tres passe. Some of the food on the outs — starfruit, edible flowers and foams — have never been high on Chicagoist's list. Starfruit, while pretty, don't taste like much. Edible flowers are like starfruit. And foam? We'll leave that one to the pros.

As for the hot trends for the upcoming year: we might be reading into them a little too much, but the common theme that jumped out at us is that people are concerned about their own health, as well as the health of the environment. We won't complain about an increased emphasis on locally and organically grown produce and grass-fed beef. As for pomegranates, their popularity can be traced directly back to some ingenious marketing by these guys.

Though we tend to eschew gimmicks, the bite-sized dessert trend is one that we wholeheartedly embrace. Chicagoist thinks it can be traced back to the cupcake trend — this is just taking it one step further. Since many people (a.k.a. Chicagoist's mom) will insist that they don't want dessert and the proceed to take bites off of her dining companion's plates, we think this trend will make many diners happy.

We would tell you where to go in Chicago to find these trends on a plate, but by now most are so ubiquitous that you just can't miss them. We wonder what's next …

[Via Chicagoist.com]