Jaime Gillin

Articles and Essays

Food & Wine

The Ultimate Napa Itinerary

California’s iconic Napa Valley remains the ultimate spot for travelers in search of rustic-luxe hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants, and cult wineries. Since 2005, Burgundy-born Gilles de Chambure, director of wine education at Napa’s Meadowood resort, has arranged vineyard visits and tastings for guests and nonguests alike. Arrive during the fall harvest or in early spring for …

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Square Meal: One to Chew On

In late 2008, Jon Rubin, an artist and professor at Carnegie Mellon University, took over a vacant Pittsburgh storefront with his students and opened the Waffle Shop, an experimental art project in the guise of a cafe. Inspired by the Seinfeld episode where Kramer rescues a Merv Griffin Show set from the trash and sets …

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Style Map: San Francisco: Riding A Wave

Outer Sunset, just south of Golden Gate Park, is a quiet, atmospheric neighborhood where thick fog frequently obscures the trim pastel houses, Asian groceries and surfers cycling down to Ocean Beach. Until recently, you’d never call it cool. But a hip and quirky micro-neighborhood has emerged, its epicenter at Judah Street and 45th Avenue, with …

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Malibu Wines

“If anybody said this was Malibu, you’d say they were crazy,” says Richard Hirsh, the millionaire clothier-turned-vintner standing in the vineyards of his Cielo Farms estate. Hidden in these canyons are not only A-list movie stars like Jennifer Aniston and Mel Gibson but also more than 40 vineyards.

That Big Farm Called San Francisco

Having already pointed out the fermented tea kombucha “living” on top of the fridge, and the kefir milk fermenting in the pantry, and the homemade sourdough crackers browning in the oven, Melinda Stone led a visitor down to the basement of the Victorian house