Please The Palate Summer 2019 Newsletter

Written by Allison Levine on July 9, 2019

Travel Lifestyle Food Cocktails Wine

Happy Summer 2019! I hope you had a wonderful, long 4th of July weekend. This summer (specifically June 8th), marks the 8th anniversary of Please The Palate. It is really hard to believe how quickly time has flown. It has been a lot of hard work but also a lot of fun building Please The Palate. When I first launched my business, the idea was to continue planning wine events as I had been doing. I also thought I would start a blog to share my experiences. Never could I have imagined that I would have a weekly wine column in the Napa Valley Register (since 2015) and regularly contribute to other media outlets, such as California Wine Advisory. I also never thought I would host a podcast but have been doing that for the past year for Wine Soundtrack. It has been amazing to watch Please The Palate grow and to be open to opportunities along the way. And, I could not do it without the support of friends and readers such as yourself. Thank you!

Upcoming Events

Drink 728 on 7/28
Spend an afternoon in Santa Barbara enjoying the wines of Fiddlehead Cellars paired with food from the SoHo Restaurant. The Fiddlestix Vineyard sits at mile maker 728 and on July 28, we celebrate! Taste Fiddlestix Vineyard, featuring verticals + horizontals of
728, Lollapalooza, Burtie Baby. Doyle Pinot Noir and more!

Date: Sunday, July 28
Time: 12-4 pm
Address: SoHo,1221 State St #205
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

General Admission Ticket: $100
Designated Driver Ticket: $50
General Admission Couples Price: $180 (for 2 tickets)
Wine Club Member Tickets: $85

Purchase your tickets here.

Read the full Please The Palate July 2019 Newsletter.

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Standing’s Butchery

Written by Allison Levine on July 6, 2019

Lifestyle Food

With the 4th of July weekend here, it is time for barbecues. Around the country, families and friends gather to grill up meat and enjoy a good meal. To make that meal the best it can be is dependent on the quality of the meat served. For my small family barbecue, we enjoyed the most incredible steaks from Standing’s Butchery. It really can make all the difference and that is why Standing’s Butchery is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Standing’s Butchery, owned by Jered Standing, is located on Melrose Avenue near La Brea. Opened since November 2017, Standing’s Butchery is one of the few proper butcheries in Los Angeles. I remember as a kid going to the butcher shop with my mom to pick out meat for dinner but as I got older, the butcher closed and we would get our meat at Whole Foods. There is something nostalgic but also forward-thinking when shopping at a free-standing butcher.

Standing’s Butchery specializes in supporting local farmers who raise their animals in an environmentally conscious manner. The animals are raised using the best standards. They are free range and no hormones are used. In addition, Standing’s Butcher is a zero-waste store. Every piece of meat or bone is used, either for sale in the butcher case or in the creation of a ground mix or in raw dog food.

The New York steaks we ordered for our 4th of July barbecue were beautiful cuts of NY Steak. A few minutes on the grill and they were perfect. And that is why Standing’s Butchery is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Standing’s Butchery
7016 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles
(323) 413-2212

When foodies travel: A culinary exploration of Cuba

Written by Allison Levine on July 4, 2019

Travel Lifestyle Food

My favorite way to explore a culture is through the cuisine. It is one of the most interesting, and filling, ways to understand a culture’s history as well as its role today. Cuba is no exception. A country that seemed blocked off from the world, at least the US, for decades, Cuba has a fascinating culinary history. And, despite the new restrictions on traveling to Cuba, a culinary tour with Access Culinary Trips is still permitted! Here is a a recap of my culinary trip to Cuba, which I originally wrote about in the Napa Valley Register.

Despite new restrictions for Americans traveling to Cuba, it is still a top destination for tourists. And rightfully so. The largest country in the Caribbean, Cuba is a semitropical island with a coastline marked by bays, reefs, keys and islets as well as long stretches of lowlands and swamp. Half of the island is mountainous with the Sierra Masetra mountains to the east, the Trinidad mountains in the center and the Sierra de los Organos in the west.

When I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, Cuba was always off limits to me, somewhere I never thought I would be able to visit. But when restrictions were lifted in 2016, Cuba moved to the top of my list. I did not act on booking a trip right away, but as new restrictions came into place, I decided I could wait no longer. The good news is that is Cuba is still open to Americans and is a place worth visiting.