Weekly Column

Home Away From Home

BARBERINO-TAVARNELLE, ITALY— Is it possible that one can fall in love with a town? I love my hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi— deeply— and can’t see […]

Sometimes I Feel Like a Magpie

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY— A few months after my wife and I started dating, she wanted me to meet her grandmother. We set out on the road […]

It Takes A Village (or at least a couple of Dutch People and several Italians)

BARBERINO-TAVERNELLE, TUSCANY— There’s a big difference between a tour host and a tour guide. A tour guide goes through rigorous training for a particular city, […]

All Roads Lead to Rome, They Really Do

ROME— If 2022 had a personal theme created specifically for me, it would be decorated in the green, white, and red of the Italian flag, […]

The 32nd Anniversary of My 29th Birthday

Yesterday I entered my 62nd year on the planet. The thing about turning 61 years old is that I thought I would feel differently at […]

Another Blessing

This morning I read a Business News Daily article that listed the most stressful jobs in America. Enlisted military personnel came first, firefighter, second, and […]

A Different Kind of Welcome

NEW YORK— I first came to the city sometime in the mid-1960s. My grandparents lived here. My father had recently passed away, and my mother […]

In Search of Voice

For the majority of the 23 years, I have written this weekly column, the primary focus has been on food and restaurants. In 2011, a […]

Random Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning

For the past 23 years, I have written a 1,000-word column every Monday morning. Always early in the morning. I haven’t missed a week. Ever. […]

In Honor of Mississippians

“To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.” – William Faulkner “Work hard and be kind and amazing things will happen.” […]

The Best Job, Ever

If I carried a business card, there would be a lot of job titles listed on it— restaurateur, author, producer, columnist, writer, cook, designer, documentarian, […]

Enter Enzo

Forty years ago, I worked my first shift in a restaurant. It was almost the first hour, of the first shift of the first day […]