Our family has always appreciated good food — mostly in restaurants, since it was clear from my youth that the fine cooking gene never got passed down even in my grandma’s time. We still follow our son Eli’s sage advice about how to identify a good restaurant, a set of two rules he developed at age 9 in Italy: 1) It’s a good place if everyone’s smiling or laughing and having a good time, and 2) If the name of the restaurant includes “Gourmet” it most probably isn’t. We’ve used those criteria in dining at home and abroad, and found that last maxim to be pretty accurate, except maybe for “downtown” L.A.’s Bottega Louie Restaurant and Gourmet Market. (Admittedly, we haven’t tried it (yet), but we’ve heard some good reports… www.bottegalouie.com)

Buono appetito, all!

submitted by: carol_selkin@sbcglobal.net