Appetizers

Flipped open the folder labeled “Old Dogs/New Tricks” the other day and found this: Blog.

Well, why not?

I’ll be addressing here what for me is relatively familiar territory - restaurants, wine and food. Within those areas, it will be relatively free-form. I intend to blog frequently, with allowances for weekends, vacations, the inevitable slow news day and relapses of spring fever.

Though I make a point of eating at least three meals a day, which would seem to provide me with plenty of material, my diet, frankly, isn’t all that captivating. Breakfast often runs to yogurt and granola, with a side of fruit. Lunch is similarly light, or at least that's the intent. Dinner is the wild card. I may be testing a recipe at home - one of the pecularities of my cooking is that I very rarely repeat a dish - or eating something quick and simple to help compensate for my several dinners out each week in my role as The Bee's restaurant critic.

One goal of this blog is to encourage you to alert me to a restaurant, winery, wine or food with a story to tell. I’m hoping you will send suggestions about all these topics.

To judge by the phone calls and e-mails I already get, I’m confident you also will ask questions concerning dining issues, restaurants, wine and the like. I will attempt to answer them, giving priority to those answers that seem of value to a broad audience. A caveat: I may not be very quick to respond to some questions. I’m still writing for The Bee’s print edition, and those deadlines will continue to be my first concern. And a reminder: The Bee has updated its archive of restaurant reviews at www.sacticket.com so they will be more accessible and helpful, and I urge you to look there before asking me for a restaurant recommendation.

My main intent here is to send forth observations and tips that might not find as timely a place in one of my dining or wine columns in The Bee. My hope is that the local online audience will turn here regularly for a tidbit about a dining custom, restaurant, wine or some other aspect of the culinary world that catches my fancy.

It’s important to note that the content of blogs differs from the content of the traditional newspaper. Pieces here will be more opinionated, personal and casual. But many of the same standards will continue to apply, especially with respect to accuracy and fairness. That said, let’s get on with it.