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1 month ago | 
pghcitypaper.com | Emma Riva
You’ve probably heard that Champagne can only be Champagne if it’s from the Champagne region of France — the words “American Champagne” send shivers down the spine of any wine snob.
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1 month ago | 
pittsburgh.tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva
In a quest to find Pittsburgh’s best pierogis, we held a blind tasting of nine of the city’s most beloved Eastern European treats. While the “grandma standard” ruled the discussion, each of nine entries impressed our blind tasters with its special virtues. Pierogis are Pittsburgh’s unofficial favorite food. We throng to the annual Pierogifest. People line up for frequent church basement pierogis sales as if Springsteen was coming to town.
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1 month ago | 
jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com | Emma Riva
Lisette Glodowski’s writing partner, Richard Walter, came to her with three questions to pitch a new musical. Do you like the French Revolution? Yep. Do you like strong female leads? You bet. And, finally: Do you like champagne? “At that point, I was like, let’s go,” she said. The resulting musical is “Madame Clicquot,” premiering May 29 at the Byham Theater with the Pittsburgh CLO.
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2 months ago | 
tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva
The Negroni is a true liquor lover’s cocktail. It’s potent, no mixers, no teeny-tiny ingredient proportions, just vermouth, Campari, and gin. It can be the harbinger of a wicked hangover or the progenitor of a wonderfully free conversation—possibly both! It’s the perfect apéritif, and a hearty meal afterward often balances out the potential for inebriation. To make a good Negroni requires that you tame multiple spirits together.
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2 months ago | 
publicsource.org | Emma Riva |Rich Lord
I still catch myself going to the passenger side, even when I’m the one driving — which isn’t often. I’ll borrow a friend’s car occasionally, but for the most part, I’m a “passenger princess.” I got my license when I moved to Pittsburgh, but I found quickly that affording to buy a car as a freelance reporter was a pipe dream. So, I’ve remained a passenger. People have varying opinions on it — that it’s impossible, that it’s doable but not ideal, or that it’s a political statement of some sort.
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2 months ago | 
tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva
Drinking sake is a lot of fun, school is not. To enter the world of sake, however, you have to learn a little math, a little science, a little vocabulary, and a dash of history. Sake is delicious, but it requires a baseline level of knowledge to figure out what you’re going to like. Like wine, sake’s story is a mixture of history and science, and you can approach it from wherever you want to start. If you want to nerd out about fermentation, you can do that with sake.
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2 months ago | 
tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva
The classic martini is an invitation to channel your inner James Bond, but make sure it’s stirred not shaken. A well-made martini should always be stirred because, as James first reminds us in the 1958 novel, Dr. No, the shaking bruises the ice and further waters down the cocktail too quickly. Instead opt for a rapid stir to mingle and chill the simple ingredients. Aside from sounding cool, the name refers to Genever, the Dutch predecessor to gin.
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2 months ago | 
tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva
The Greyhound 75 is a fun play on the classic French 75, which originated in Paris in the 19th century and became popular in the Roaring 20s. While the older version combines champagne, gin, lemon, and sugar, we might be thirsty for the intriguing tang of pamplemousse. That’s French for grapefruit, and it’s fun to say. Because le pamplemousse brings a bit more sweetness than the usual lemon, we cut back on the sugar here.
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2 months ago | 
tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva
The Banh Mi sandwich is the iconic street food from Vietnam. Here it is reimagined by chef and TABLE contributor, Veda Sankaran, as a delicious vegetarian dish in the form of tofu banh mi. Banh Mi has a surprising history, tied to colonial resistance in Vietnam. When the French colonized Vietnam, they brought the baguette with them, along with other dishes like pâté. Up until the 1950s, the sandwiches skewed more towards traditional French ingredients.
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Mar 28, 2025 | 
tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva |Claudy Pierre
When you think of cremas think “creamy,” “family,” “laughs,” “spices,” and “alcohol.” This Haitian version of egg nog or coquito is rich and delightful, and easy to make, often shared with family and friends during the holiday season. However, you can make it for any special occasion Cremas most likely emerged around Haitian independence in 1804, though no one person is named as its original inventor. There’s a particular style of rum popular in Haiti, clairin, that’s best for cremas.
