Trying to Convince Friends to Become Vegetarians...

is shockingly easy. When you trick them.

Mysteriously, since the vegetarian kick resumed last summer, several friends have become converts. How, you ask?

We're actually not sure but at a recent Sur La Table cooking class (strongly recommended), the menu was (shockingly) all vegetarian. And delicious, I might add. Not a single friend with carnivorous intentions was dismayed at the evening's dishes. (Maybe because we didn't have to do the cleaning up part?)


Just check out this vegetarian recipe for a Provençal-style tart. It's actually shockingly easy to make. Our off-dry Riesling pairing was a huge hit, too.


 (So much so our instructor kept talking about her famous lov-ahs. Wink, wink.)

Provençal Caramelized Onion, Gruyere and Olive Tart

Serves 4 as a light main course, 6-8 as an appetizer

1 sheet (9 ounces) frozen puff pastry, thawed (keep refrigerated until ready to use)

1 pound (about 4) Vidalia or yellow onions, cut into ¼-inch thick lengthwise slices  (about 4 cups sliced)

1 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 teasp fresh rosemary leaves, plus extra tiny sprigs for garnishing

2 sprigs fresh thyme, plus more for serving

4 ounces Gruyere cheese, finely grated

6-8 kalamata or good black olives, pitted halved

Fleur de sel for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 400F Line an unrimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

To make the onion filling, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and butter and heat until butter foams. When foaming subsides, add the sliced onions and a pinch of fine sea salt, and toss to coat.

Add thyme sprigs and reduce heat to low. Cook onions, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized: they should be very soft and a deep golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes. You may need to add a bit of water to prevent sticking.

While the filling cooks, roll the puff pastry on a lightly floured board to an 11-inch square. Lift it gently onto the prepared baking sheet, then prick the dough in several places with a fork (but not the rim). Refrigerate until ready to assemble the tart.

Once the onions are caramelized, remove the skillet from the heat, discard thyme sprigs and add the rosemary. Stir in the grated cheese and mix well to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper, then leave to cool until luke warm, at least 15 minutes.

Distribute the onion mixture evenly over the pastry and arrange olives evenly on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until crust is golden on top and underneath al the way to the center (lift up to check.)

Transfer the tart to a cutting board, scatter with the extra rosemary sprigs and garnish with sprigs of thyme. Serve warm cut into squares.

Think You Know Canadian Wine?

So this is how you picture Canadian wine, eh??

Let's set the record straight about Ontario wine country once and for all, there's a whole lot more to it than ice wine (though that's pretty good, too).

Located so near to Toronto, it's a must-try for any enophile visiting the Great White North. (You should trust me, I'm Canadian.)

Here are 10 tips for touring Niagara-on-the-Lake's best wineries. Oh, and did we mention a haunted bar?

http://www.winemag.com/Wine-Enthusiast-Magazine/Web-2012/Ontario-Wine-Country-10-Touring-Tips/

Borgias-Inspired Libations: Machiavelli Manhattan?

Is anyone else obsessed with The Borgias?

For cocktail fans like us, we fully realize it's all about Mad Men in terms of drinks slammed per prime-time episode. But frankly, people were throwing them back in Pope Alexander VI's time, too.

Now it's obvious Manhattans were not all the rage during the Renaissance, but we could totally see our hero (Machiavelli, duh!) drinking this variation of our favorite Bourbon-based cocktail: The Prince.

The Prince

3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
2 1/2 ounces Bourbon
Dash Angostura Bitters
1 orange twist, for garnish
Pinch of edible gold dust, add for dramatic effect

Elaborate velvet puffy sleeves are not a requirement to consume.

Spotted: Top Chef Tiffani Faison, Home on the Range

Guys and dolls...it's been a while.  But things have been banging.

Want to know where we've been?

Montana, y'all. AKA Man-tana. That's right New York ladies, the ratio of men to women in Big Sky country is something like 4:1 and the drinking age is seemingly as soon as you can ride a horse. (Which is like, 5 or something.)

That means a lot of eating, drinking and...fire-making.

And while we were not there to let any cowboys take us away, we did have the pleasure of attending the Montana Master Grillers weekend at The Resort at Paws Up (a luxe resort known for glamping) over Memorial Day Weekend, where Top Chefs Tiffani Faison and Ed Lee competed in a Bad Ass Burger Dash, created wine, beer and cider-paired dinners and engaged in highly imaginative karaoke acts. We respectfully chose not to post a video.

We think all that protein inspires greater range. Yeehaw!

The Baby is Baaack! With some Top Secret, Savory Gossip Too...

Sorry dolls, but there's been a lot of wining and dining (and whining) going on here at City City. After all, it is our job to Bang Bang.

Between the Austria Uncork'd event, Destination: Charleston and Santa Monica (check out WineMag.com), we've been pretty tied up. We'd like you all to know that for the past 3 months we've been slaving away over a fabulous, top-secret, Top 100 restaurants issue over at Wine Enthusiast Magazine.

In August, our Editors will reveal our top 100 picks for winos--oops!--i meant wine lovers (and best restaurants for beer lovers, and best spots for spirits lovers). You know who you are!

So let the countdown begin. You will be surprised, entranced, and seduced into splurging at some of these spots. Also, follow me on twitter @lexisips. Because you're thirsty, admit it.

Best Bar You'll Probably Get Kicked Out Of

Jennifer Aniston is always working out (compulsively, *shudder*) at the gym downstairs when she stays here. Rob Pattison and Kristen Stewart make out over spaghetti (Disney style) at Locanda Verde next door. And now you're trying to sip cocktails behind the glass door, through the lobby, to the left, at this unnamed bar with a killer fireplace that nobody wants you to know about.

If you're lucky, you're sitting on a plush couch in the chillest space possible, reserved for major, stadium-filling and slightly aging rockstars roasting before the flames like marshmallows, eyeing inappropriately their cohorts and miscellaneous, underdressed glitterati. So don't mess this one up, okay?

Order the fig cocktail and you won't be sorry.

Greenwich Hotel

377 Greenwich Street

International Meats

I am perpetually amused by celebitchy's Friday round up of hotness, mixed food metaphors, and meaty men from around the world.

I know you bitches are hungry...feast your eyes here.

Where is the Hawaiian Sweet Bread?

After returning from a nice (albeit rainy) trip to Cali to see the familia, I was reminded of a Left Coast fave: King's Hawaiian sweet bread.

After putting two rolls of the stuff into my purse (lol) for the flight, I realized that this product is seriously addictive.

Once you start eating it, seriously, you kind of can't stop. So I searched four delis and three major grocery stores, and so far I've come up empty handed. Where can you find Hawaiian sweet bread in NYC? I mean really, is this too much to ask in a city where you can get whatever you want whenever you want?

It doesn't even have to be the King's bread. I would take the Lord Privy Seal of Hawaiian bread if that makes it easier to find.

What Does MPD Stand For?

amNY had me find out. But you have to read the article to discover it for yourself.

Ha!

Goldfinger's Lair? Tzigan, New York

There seems to be enough gold in new MePa club Tzigan to potentially settle the national debt.

Tzigan, which is an obscure reference to a band of gypsies, is located on the lower level of Villa Pacri, below the Italian-bistro hybrid resto, La Gazzetta. And it is a room decked out in gold, gold and more gold. So much gold, in fact, that we're concerned it may be Goldfinger's underground lair. Only a villanous creature intent on world domination could dream up such a space!

Tzigan is the type of place where a certain supermodel might throw a diamond-encrusted cell phone at her foolhardy assistant--only to be blinded by the bling all around and awkwardly miss, shattering another celeb's Lalique-bottled, 25 year old Scotch. Not that we witnessed such a scandal at Tzigan. But we're just saying, it could happen at a place like Tzigan.

Here's more on Tzigan, courtesy of amNY.