Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Office Holiday Party Pop Up at Severance Wine Bar

Written by Allison Levine on December 7, 2019

Lifestyle Cocktails

The Holiday season is here! If you are looking to get into the spirit, head to Severance Wine Bar in West Hollywood for their Office Holiday Party Pop Up, inspired by everything from Planes, Trains, & Automobiles to The Office. Drinking Champagne and Sherry based cocktails, eating some sweets while surrounded by tacky holiday decorations make the Severance Office Holiday Party Pop Up the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Owner Evan Charest was laid off from a tech job on Christmas Eve in 2017. In 2018, he opened Severance Wine Bar with the severance money he received. And here we are at Christmas time again, so what is better than drinking cocktails inspired by the one of the worst yet funniest workplaces, Dunder Mifflin.

Through the month of December, the space next to Severance Wine Bar on Melrose Avenue has been converted into a tacky office holiday pop-up. Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, for $20++, you will get a complimentary cocktail or a sparkling wine flight. So get into the holiday spirit!

The cocktail offerings are all Champagne and Sherry based. Each is named after a Christmas themed movie that will test your trivia knowledge. Read More +

Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Pedra Cancela Seleccao do Enologo Tinto 2016, Dão, Portugal

Written by Allison Levine on December 4, 2019

Wine

The Dão region in the heart of Portugal is a special region. It is surrounded by mountains, including the Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain on mainland Portugal. Historians have said that Portugal’s most famous grape, Touriga Nacional, was born in the Dão. Other indigenous red grapes of the region include Alfrocheiro and Tinta Roriz. These are the three grapes blended to create the Pedra Cancela Seleccao do Enologo Tinto 2016, Dão, Portugal, the Please The Palate wine of the week.

Touriga Nacional, Alfrocheiro and Tinta Roriz are grown in granitic, sandy soils. The grapes are fermented and aged for six months in French oak. The resulting wine is a ruby red color with intense aromas of red and black fruits, plum, violets and hints of cocoa and coffee. On the palate, the wine is elegant yet structured. It is fresh with soft tannins and acidity.

This wine is easy and enjoyable to drink. It is not overpowered by oak or by fruit. It is a wine that is ready to drink now or can age for a few more years. This is a wine to pair with red meats and soft cheeses. To top it all off, the price will blow you away! The Pedra Cancela Seleccao do Enologo Tinto 2016, Dão, Portugal retails for $10! It is almost a crime that this wine is so inexpensive but take advantage and order by the case because this is a wine you can enjoy every day.

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: EatWith with Chef Christina Xenos

Written by Allison Levine on November 30, 2019

Lifestyle Food

I love going on food tours when I am traveling in a new city as they are a great way to see a city and learn about the culture. I find nothing more fulfilling than when I can meet with locals and experience their culture through their eyes. And that is why Eatwith, the world’s largest community for authentic culinary experiences with locals, is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Eatwith is in more than 130 countries and they are bringing people together through food. Cooking classes, food tours and dining experiences are hosted by home-cooks, food-lovers, MasterChefs and Michelin-starred chefs. My Eatwith experience was with Christina Xenos, a professional chef, cookbook author, recipe developer, and journalist based in Los Angeles. I have known Christina for years as a journalist but had yet to enjoy her cooking. When she announced her dinner, featuring cuisine from Sifnos, the Cycladic island in the Southern Aegean Sea and said the proceeds of the ticket sales would benefit the Union Station Homeless Services in Los Angeles, I bought my ticket.

Christina is Greek-American and her family roots are from the islands of Crete and Milos. She travels there annually and this past summer she visited Sifnos, the birthplace of the first Greek cookbook author Nikolaos Tselementes. An island known for baking in clay pots, she worked with farmers and cooks while on her trip to learn these traditional recipes. Read More +