california

I’m gonna admit it: some of our Grilling Gods are merely really great chefs who happen to know much more than us mere mortals about how to work with fire. Then there’s actual Grilling Gods, and we’re starting the week with an über-GG, Pascal Godé, Food Director and Executive Chef of Alisal Guest Ranch, an actual cattle ranch in Solvang, CA, in Santa Maria BBQ country.

Are we coming to a point where chefs and home cooks will start to seek out the Reed — an oversized variety with a golden flesh and buttery finish?

It's a blustery, rainy late fall night in Manhattan, and a group of wine writers are slowly filtering into Hearth, that homey Italian restaurant helmed by chef Marco Canora and wine guru Paul Grieco. Hovering around the table is Chris Howell, the winemaker for Cain Winery and the man who we've all come to see and to dine with. Later, we phoned him up and talked, wine, food, life and more with this poet-philosopher of the vineyard.