Food & Wine December/January 2024

2018 IDLEWILD LOST HILLS RANCH NEBBIOLO ($60) Every wine that Sam Bilbro makes at Idlewild Wines, his small but mighty Mendocino County winery, derives from his long-held passion for Italian grape varieties, and all of them are both thought-provoking and excellent, too. This intensely fragrant, spicy Nebbiolo (the grape of Barolo) is just one example. NV LARMANDIER-BERNIER LATITUDE EXTRA BRUT ($70) Need a stellar Champagne for holiday drinking? Pierre Larmandier was an organic and biodynamic pioneer in the region, and his steely, super-focused wines are stellar, year in and year out. Latitude is citrusy, taut, and complex, and a joy to drink. (The winery’s Longitude bottling is equally impressive.) 2020 CHÂTEAU DE BEAUCASTEL CHÂTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE ($105) I was fortunate enough to pour Beaucastel’s 2009 vintage at our Gather Charleston event…

A Gift for You A FEW NOTES ABOUT THIS ISSUE: Our crackerjack team here at Food & Wine created the first half of this magazine with stories designed to elevate your holiday cooking and to carry you through the busy feasting season. From gift and wine recommendations to rigorously tested recipes to feed a crowd, we’ve got you covered, starting with the dreamy Caramelized White Chocolate Pavlova (recipe p. 68) on the cover and finishing with a lavish holiday menu from 2018 F&W Best New Chef Katianna Hong and John Hong. Flip the issue over and you get a whole different can of tomatoes—literally—with “52 Recipes to Make This Year.” A cookbook of sorts, it will carry you into 2024 with inspirations for weeknight cooking when you’re craving big flavors…

SWEETS IN THE CITY Fany Gerson @fanygerson EVERYTHING FANY GERSON CREATES feels like a gift in itself. Since 2010, Gerson has owned and operated La Newyorkina, a celebration of Mexican flavors in the form of paletas and ice cream, in New York City. More recently, she has opened Fan-Fan Doughnuts in Brooklyn and Mijo, an homage to Mexican comfort food, on Manhattan’s Pier 57 and has started shipping Newyorkina’s paletas and baked goods across the United States. (Order on goldbelly.com.) She shared her suggestions for gifts for food lovers that will feel personal, playful, and seriously sweet. STICK WITH ME SWEETS BONBON BOX “Susanna Yoon is one of the most talented pastry chefs and chocolatiers, and she makes the best bonbons I’ve ever tasted. Each one is delicate and perfectly…

MY FIRST MENORAH was made of silvery metal that tarnished in what felt like minutes. It had teeny painted animals aboard Noah’s Ark attached with flimsy metal rings. What Noah’s Ark has to do with Hanukkah escapes me now, but that menorah was a fixture at my family’s table. Now that it’s tucked away in my mom’s cabinet, I’ve invested in a menorah of my own—one with a design that feels up to date, but whose warm candlelight still evokes my childhood memories of sufganiyot and crispy latkes. Below you’ll find five of my favorite, thoroughly modern menorahs. 1. JUDAICA STANDARD TIME X B. ZIPPY MENORAH Made of nine individual modular, earthenware pieces, this menorah by artist Bari Ziperstein was made to be played with. ($200, judaicastandardtime.com) 2. STYLE UNION…

IT’S CHRISTMAS MORNING IN 1994. Lynette Clark is putting the finishing touches on the family’s home in Plainsboro, New Jersey, stringing up colorful dried hibiscus flowers before moving to the kitchen to set up the mise en place for her husband to start cooking. The Clark children are clamoring to open their presents, which are sitting under the decorated Christmas tree. Nearby is a kinara holding the seven candles of Kwanzaa. The scene feels like an ordinary holiday morning in a typical family home, except the cooking is being done by one of the most celebrated and decorated chefs in America at the time, chef Patrick Clark. At 6:30 a.m., Clark, then the executive chef at Tavern on the Green in New York City, heads into his home kitchen to…

BEST SLICE Chef Katsuya’s Original Mentaiko and Corn Pizza Tonari, Washington, D.C. “This is a super-creamy pizza slice, topped with corn sauce, Kewpie-mentaiko cream, brick cheese, and chives. It channeled my fond memories of eating creamy corn as a child but in a new, classier way.” —MERLYN MILLER, SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR BEST COCKTAIL Hinode Ama Sushi, Montecito, California “It sounds like a crazy mashup—mezcal, pineapple liqueur, slightly acidified dry vermouth, sparkling sake, and black-lemon bitters—but the result is savory, subtle, and ethereally smoky.” —RAY ISLE, EXECUTIVE WINE EDITOR BEST MAIN EVENT Whole Branzino Calliope, Chattanooga “This crisp-skinned fish is served with smoked-tomato tahini, matbucha (a Moroccan condiment made of cooked tomatoes and bell peppers), and an herbaceous chermoula.” —KAREN SHIMIZU, EXECUTIVE EDITOR MOST LIKELY TO TURN HEADS Thai Iced…