Joe Ray
Food & Travel / Words & Photos
Published Work
Sunday, April 18, 2010 - The Boston Globe - Travel
Nostalgia and Mash Hot on The Menu
A friend recently told me of the upswing in London cuisine and the mind-numbing goodness of the city’s ethnic offerings. I was leery. Historically, food from the United Kingdom has an awful reputation and a hefty price tag. I couldn’t imagine coming here just to eat.
Sunday, March 21, 2010 - The Boston Globe - Travel
Making The Taste of This End of The Earth
Turning onto the dirt road to Bodega Noemía de Patagonia, the car’s wheels lose contact with the ground. With one hand on the phone and the other on the gearshift, Vinding-Diers is doing what my father calls “fancy knee driving’’ and cackling like a madman.
It sounds like he’s homogenizing wines around the world but instead, we pull into the winery and he continues the conversation with his assistant Jesse Katz face to face.
It’s all part of harvest time at the end of the world.
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Sunday, March 7, 2010 - The Boston Globe - Travel
At the nexus of food, art, and soul
Standing in the kitchen of what may be the best restaurant in the world, I shake hands with Ferran Adrià, the chef behind it all. Every year, it’s said that millions try for the few thousand seats at his restaurant, El Bulli, for the six months it’s open. The odds are not in their favor.
If, like me, they are lucky enough to be invited by a friend, they drop everything and hop on a plane.
Spring 2010 - Centurion Magazine
The Art of The Blend
Using three eaux de vie ranging in age from six to thirty years, a group of people in an antiseptic tasting room try their hand at creating emotion in a bottle.
Rémy Martin cellar master Pierrette Trichet watches over the group, pokes her nose in a student’s glass and frowns.
“Smells a little old and a little expensive,” she says. Translation? Back to the drawing board.
The Boston Globe - Food & Travel - Wednesday March 3, 2010
Rioja region’s dish mixes potatoes, chorizo, and care
Discovering one of the Rioja region’s signature dishes in a restaurant and in the home of winemaker Juan Carlos Lopez de Lacalle
Sunday, February 21, 2010 - The Boston Globe - Travel - RAVE
A fresh take on Scottish cuisine? Haggis and more
Traditional Scottish cuisine might not have the best reputation, but Sandy Smart’s take on it should…
The Boston Globe - January 10, 2010
A Place, Distilled
Good Scotch whisky is a road trip in a bottle.
Pour a glass, close your eyes, breathe in, and be reminded of the place where waves turn the seaside into a rough and craggy path for the strolling thinker.
Another glass may contain a wall of smoke that overwhelms the senses, or a delicate wisp that transports you to a bog where heather becomes peat.
A whisky tour through Scotland is a firsthand taste of the rocks and wind, fire and sea, mud and flowers that are a distillation of this thornily self-reliant part of the United Kingdom…
Winter 2010 - Centurion Magazine
The Other Side of Fine Dining
Just when things were about to boil over with the future of superchef Ferran Adria’s restaurant, I spoke with El Bulli manager Juli Soler, who can be a very fickle fish - a mix of businessman and artist. His responses can be cheeky, or just need time before you realize they’re not glib.
Winter 2010 - Platinum Magazine
Savoire Faire
We visit France’s Savoy region to meet a chef doing exactly the right thing…
Winter 2009 - Centurion Magazine
Daniel Boulud & Wylie Dufresne - The Centurion Menu
Two of NYC’s best chefs, Wylie Dufresne and Daniel Boulud work together to come up with a tasting menu together blending tradition, the avant-garde and their own personal styles.
December 27, 2009 - The Boston Globe - Travel
Stalking A Wild Brew
BRUSSELS, Belgium—Belgium is boring.
That was the preconception. Then I remembered: great fries, friendly people, beautiful architecture, and beer that makes aficionados drool.
What was I thinking?
I grab a cone of fries and head to a brewery where I begin to understand why beer, particularly lambics - “wild beers’’ that are products of “spontaneous fermentation’’ and aged for three years in oak barrels - runs in Belgians’ veins…
The New Waver - December 2009
Eating Greens
A bit of post-award flattery segues into a story about two high-end, eco-friendly chefs - Jean-Marie Amat near Bordeaux and Alain Passard in Paris…
Sunday, December 13, 2009 - The Boston Globe - Travel - RAVE
RAVE - Outside the center, still Parisian
A needed breath of fresh air has hit the northeastern arrondissements of Paris, slowly luring Parisians and tourists alike away from the city center. Here’s one of the best of the bunch…
November 16, 2009 - Agence France Presse
Winemakers face climate change with dread
Before the Copenhagen Climate talks, wine experts weigh in on why it’s in the industry’s best interest - and their own financial interest - to go green.
Sunday, October 11, 2009 - The Boston Globe - Travel
The Road To Real
I grew up driving a route that has disappeared.
For years, our family would hop in Dad’s silver diesel Dasher wagon every weekend for the drive from my hometown of Atkinson to our Lakes Region cottage. For 66 miles along Routes 111, 125, and 11, it was New Hampshire at its best: tree-lined local highways passing through small towns flecked with mom-and-pop establishments.
Sunday, October 4, 2009 - The Boston Globe - Travel
Small Wonders
Where so many things can seem so big, impersonal, and expensive, New York City offers intimate, delectable tidbits for the visitor and the native
Sunday, September 20, 2009 - The Boston Globe - Travel
Savoring elegant yet relaxed Bordeaux
On a trip through the Bordeaux countryside, I find a region of unexpected extremes - relaxed and sophisticated, wild and wonderfully civilized - a mix that demands the grandeur of a composed photo and the spontaneity of a point-and-shoot…
Fall 2009 - Centurion Magazine
Precious Discovery
Sequestered in Oregon’s picturesque Willamette Valley, could American Charlie Lefevre be about to change the face of the global truffle industry?
Fall 2009 - Platinum Magazine
Bottled Brilliance
Traditionally renowned for its beer, brewing in Belgium is still a love affair and lambics – ‘wild’ beers dependent on the naturally occurring yeasts in the air and an expert touch – are a conviction: a reminder of a different time and a balm for our own.
“When it comes to lambic,” cautions one producer, “forget everything you know about beer.”
August 30, 2009 - The Boston Globe - Travel
Fall Might Find You…
For better or worse, French wineries don’t have an American-style open-door policy for visitors. At many you have to call ahead to set up an appointment to visit. Now, they are playing catch-up and Bordeaux’s La Winery is ahead of the curve…
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