INSIDE CABINS ARE LESS CLAUSTROPHOBIC ON DISNEY’S
NEW CRUISE SHIP MAGIC: EACH HAS A LARGE, HIGH-DEF
“PORTHOLE” SCREEN WITH LIVE VIDEO OF THE PASSING SEA
Fromagerie Bistro (203-624-3373;
caseusnewhaven.com), imports soft,
hard, washed-rind, and blue cheeses
from Neal’s Yard Dairy in London.
It also stocks fresh caciocavallo and
creamy fior di latte mozzarella made
locally by Calabro, supplier to many
makers of what is perhaps New
Haven’s most famous culinary export: that famous thin, chewy-crust
pizza. Get a slice (or two) at Frank
Pepe Pizza (203-865-5762; pepespiz-zeria.com).
Quick bites Nibble a piece of Lithuanian Coffee Cake at kosher-organic-vegetarian Claire’s Corner Copia, a
hangout of Jodie Foster and other
A-list Yale graduates; place an order
for a whole cake to take home.
Farther afield Pick your own
grapes, taste wine, or take a class at
Jones Family Farms (203-929-8425;
jonesfamilyfarms.com), on 400 acres
in Shelton.
Restaurant Week Spring 2012
( connecticutrestaurantweek.com)
SOUTH WEST IRELAND
Main course The English Market
in Cork City (corkenglishmarket
.ie) is something of a food museum,
offering such all-but-extinct
regional dishes as tripe and drisheen
and buttered eggs.
Quick bites Linger in almost any
pub over a pint of Guinness accompanied by lusty Irish singing.
Farther afield Stay at Rigney’s
HEADHOUSE MARKET Straight-from-the-farm scallions and syrup are two Philly faves.
Farmhouse B&B ( rigneysfarm.com),
a working farm in County Limerick.
Collect eggs, see rare-breed pigs,
and learn how bacon is cured and
sausage is made. Take afternoon
tea—sandwiches, warm scones,
clotted cream—in the splendor of
Castlemartyr ( castlemartyrresort.ie),
an 18th-century manor.
You can spend a day, a week, or
months at Darina Allen’s Ballymaloe
Cookery School ( cookingisfun.ie),
housed in a former apple barn on a
100-acre farm.
Restaurant Week Spring 2012
( Dineincork.ie)
CHIAN TI CLASSICO, ITALY
Main course This region in the
heart of Tuscany—the hills between
Siena and Florence—is, of course,
the home of Chianti Classico: a blend
of Sangiovese and other grapes that
is arguably Italy’s best-known red
wine. It’s also the locale of legendary
live-in cooking schools. Among the
finest is Badia a Coltibuono (
colti-buono.com), a medieval abbey near
Gaiole, where matriarch and noted
cookbook author Lorenza de’ Medici
(now retired) founded a cooking
school in her family kitchen.
Quick bites Even the tiniest villages
have bars, probably more than one,
and they serve food, too.
Farther afield If you stay at Castello
Banfi (castellobanfiilborgo.com), in
Montalcino, south of Siena, spend
four hours in small classes learning
to hand-roll spaghetti-like pici and
other Tuscan specialties that will
become your four-course lunch.
“Day-trippers see the cellar, taste
estate Brunello di Montalcino, and
visit the balsameria where vinegar is
barrel-aged. ;
ILLUS TRATION B Y DAVID GOLDIN
Food and wine writer Margaret
Shakespeare lives in New York City
and the farmlands of Long Island.
