Fine Dining Lovers

3 days ago | finedininglovers.com | Dan Ahdoot

Inside WSET Level 2 with Dan Ahdoot: what 45 wines, a bottle of Gran Reserva, and one fierce Spanish teacher taught him about flavor, humility, and Pinot Grigio I had always loved wine—pairing it with food, with movies, music, air, whatever. I was easy. My favorite red? Red. My favorite white? The kind that came in a bottle. But at some point, things started to change. I began picking out flavors beyond just “grape.” I started using words like varietal—after looking up what varietal meant.

1 week ago | finedininglovers.com | Hillary Eaton

Once a forgotten industrial complex, ROW DTLA is now home to some of the city’s most acclaimed restaurants—from Hayato and Kato to Chris Bianco’s pizza haven and the ever-evolving Sunday ritual that is Smorgasburg. Los Angeles is a sprawl of distinct dining enclaves, each with its own flavor and reason to travel. From Venice’s farmers’ market–driven fare to K-town’s world-class Korean cuisine, L.A.’s neighborhoods each tell their own delicious story.

1 week ago | finedininglovers.com | Tom Jenkins

Maido has been named the best restaurant in the world at the unveiling of The World’s 50 Restaurants list sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna in Turin, Italy. The restaurant, located in Lima, Peru and headed up by chef Mitsuharu ‘Micha’ Tsumura, is a proponent of Nikkei cuisine, the fusion of Japanese and Peruvian flavors and recently celebrated its 15th birthday. It’s previously topped the Latin America’s 50 Restaurants list four times.

1 week ago | finedininglovers.com | Paul Feinstein

Long before leading the kitchen at CanoeHouse in Hawai‘i, Rhoda Magbitang was shaping some of L.A.’s most influential restaurants—without ever stepping into the spotlight. Rhoda Magbitang isn’t the type to raise her voice in a kitchen. She doesn’t need to. At CanoeHouse—the legendary oceanfront restaurant at Mauna Lani on Hawaiʻi Island—her presence is quiet but absolute. She moves like someone who’s been here before. Because she has. You may not know her name. You probably should.

1 week ago | finedininglovers.com | Paul Feinstein

Phil Rosenthal returns with another season of his hit Netflix series, exploring global food traditions with heart, humor, and surprising emotional depth. “I think about that night a lot,” I told Phil Rosenthal, recalling a surreal moment in Las Vegas when a stranger offered us a ride and, mid-journey, stared at Rosenthal in the rearview mirror. “You look like that guy, Phil,” the man said. Then: “You saved my life.” He was talking about Somebody Feed Phil.