The St. Mary's Foundation Concrete Mixer

Guys in skirts always get the girls!

I have to give it a lot of credit to the St. Mary's Foundation committee members who hosted this fun event to kick off the renovation of the hospital's guest house. First of all, what a great name for a party on the hospital's parking lot. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by my host, Don "Big Daddy" MacKenzie, with a cup of brew from the crew at

Two of My Favorite Places in the World - Mandarin Oriental & New York City

The Mandarin Oriental New York just launched a new video to seduce you to their breathtaking setting overlooking one of the most picturesque cities in the world. 

A Pho and Soul Train Weekend

For me, nothing can be more comforting than a bowl of steaming hot pho inside a hole-in-a-wall restaurant. No one cares what you look like. Everyone is there to dive in this bowl of goodness - soup made out of reduced oxtail stock, star anise, seasonings, rare beef, hot peppers, bean sprouts, basil. 

My 14-year old son Jules was craving pho on Saturday, so I took him to Asian Palace on 28th St. and Clyde Park for one of the best pho's in town. We started with the mussels and capped the lunch with pho. Afterwards, he and I played

An Overnight Pub Crawl in Grand Rapids

Mega 80's at The Intersection

The restaurant and entertainment scenes in Grand Rapids have definitely come along way since the arena opened in 1996. Come join me in this overnight pub crawl through the heart of the city via my July "The Good Life" column in Shore Magazine. To read the full article, click here.

A Picture Perfect Father's Day Brunch at Blue Water Grill

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect setting for Father's Day - a sunny day, a riverfront table, amazing food, refreshing sangria, my wife and kids. My kids gave me the option to select the restaurant for our annual father's day brunch. Okay, my youngest really wanted Bombay Cuisine. My oldest daughter was craving the mac-n-cheese at Green

Asians Night Out - Grand Rapids Style

The forecast called for cloudy and 60% chance of rain last evening. Jim Tressel, the ousted Ohio State coach must have been the meteorologist because the weather couldn't have been farther from the truth. The temperature was in the 70's, sunny with a slight breeze. The JW Marriott's first Asians Night Out couldn't have been more perfect. 

Guests drove from Chicago, Lansing and the lakeshore to join the Grand Rapids clan in celebrating Asian awareness in

Late-Night Taxi Cab Confessions

It was way past our bedtime but a late-night craving for munchies pushed us to prolong the evening. My good friends Chad, Big Daddy and I flagged a cab in the south loop of Chicago and instructed our driver to take us to the nearest restaurant serving omelets and corned beef hash. Our first restaurant near the Mag Mile was already closed so I asked our Pakistani driver to take us to the cab driver hangout in the city for south Asian cuisine - primarily Pakistani and Indian.

A few minutes later, we were just west of the Gold Coast where the infamous Cabrini Green projects once stood.  The

JW Marriott opens jdek with new cabanas; introduces jsquad

The highly popular jdek at the JW Marriott opened last night to a very enthusiastic crowd of guests. Much of the excitement revolves around the six new cabanas that adds a dramatic flare to the jdek's riverfront setting. 

"This is a delicious addition to the JW," says Jai Yung. "The cabanas frame the river wonderfully. I can just imagine the amount of business this addition will bring to the hotel."

The three large cabanas on the southern end of the jdek can be reserved for private dinners and events such as bridal

A Perfect Martini at the Temple Bar, NYC

As the U.S. goes more casual in every lifestyle arena, classic watering holes like the Temple Bar in Manhattan is slowly fading away like Blockbuster video stores in every intersection. The Temple's interior is dark and masculine; the food was simply prepared, yet predictably good. It was a pure delight to order a gin martini in a bar that epitomizes the

Could this Indianapolis sandwich be the best one in the US?

The Batali

The Batali sandwich at Goose The Market in the historic neighborhood of downtown Indy literally gave me goose bumps. The Batali is named after Armandino Batali, father of the famous chef with the orange crocs. He is the founder of Salumi Artisan Cured Meats in Seattle where Goose the Market buys its salumi products.  


The depth of flavors in the layers of soppressata, hot giardinara, spicy coppa, capocolla, provolone, marinated red onions and tomato preserves were so tantalizing. The provolone mellows the bite from the spicy meats that you simply can't stop eating. The first bite reminded me of my first true baguette sandwich in Paris.  It is very rare when