Category Archives: Weekly Column

ISLE OF MULL, SCOTLAND—There are meals, and then there are journeys disguised as meals. This one began with a boat across Loch Creran, forty minutes skimming dark Scottish waters, dodging seals and dolphins, before stepping onto the Isle of Mull. From there, an hour-long bus ride on a single-lane road toward the far edge ofContinue reading “The Ninth Wave”

Before every party at our house—whether it’s a fundraiser, an engagement, or just another excuse to gather people—my wife finds a reason to rearrange the furniture, repaint something, or bring home another piece. She calls it “freshening up.” I call it “buying more stuff.” Somewhere around the W. Bush administration I figured we had reachedContinue reading “Holding On”

Vacations weren’t part of my childhood the way they were for most kids I knew. While my friends packed up for the coast or flew off on ski trips, my mother, who taught art to other people’s children, was too busy stretching her meager paycheck to dream of beaches or mountain slopes. We made oneContinue reading “Vacations Through Time”

Shelby Foote once talked about the time he went to see William Faulkner in Oxford, back when he was still a young man looking up to an older one. According to the oral history recording they wound up walking through a cemetery, past old markers and family plots. Faulkner told him, “There’s a story behindContinue reading “Regret”

I’ve eaten thousands of meals in restaurants. The ones that have stuck weren’t about the food. What I remember is the person sitting across from me. In my business, service times, table numbers, and orders all start to blur. But the moments that rise above it—the ones that last—are about people. A shared meal hasContinue reading “Who Was Across from Me”

CHICAGO— My wife’s off on a girls’ trip, and my son happened to have two days off work. That was all the excuse I needed. I booked a flight, packed a bag, and headed north. A couple of days in Chicago with him? That’s time I’ll always take. Chicago has always been one of myContinue reading “Lessons Between Courses”

Some things in life are constant. For some people it’s a favorite hymn or a favorite breed in a family dog. For me, it’s music, football, Mississippi—and pancakes. In sixty-three years, I’ve probably eaten more pancakes than any other food. They’ve been a part of my life from the beginning. My first real food memoryContinue reading “What Pancakes Know”

Sometimes I catch flak from my daughter. My wife gives me a hard time, too. They say I overshare on social media—pictures of sandwiches, sentimental nonsense, folksy food memories no one asked for. And I do. But they keep reading. They keep watching. If I ever disappear, I assume it’s because they finally staged anContinue reading “The Sandwich Principle”

We landed in New Orleans on Sunday, which isn’t when most people arrive in New Orleans unless they’ve made a mistake. It had been a quick trip to New York. In and out. Just two days. The main reason was a play I didn’t want to miss—a revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. BobContinue reading “A Roast Beef Poboy and a Curtain Call”