In 1989, when friends Matt Rattner and Chris Cramer decided to bring local craft beer to San Diego, they had little idea they would be pioneers of the scene that has taken over Southern California. Cramer’s cousin Karl Strauss—yes, THE Karl Strauss—was originally from Germany, but after fleeing the Nazi regime, he became a […]
Karl Strauss
Van Gogh Put Some Clothes On
As a wise man once said, “There's a fine line between art and pornography.” I think the line he was referring to is the one that runs between the calendar and classified sections of our paper. In the case of “Art Underneath,” presented by the Newport Beach Film Festival, it's a $50 line ($40 presale), […]
This Week in Booze Barns
Talked to the ex-girlfriend recently, and I ensured we'll never speak again after I belittled her Santa Fe, New Mexico, dining choices. See, I'm a teetotaler (save for the occasional Cuba Libre—and that's only in honor of the revolución to come), and most of the restaurants she mentioned involved margaritas. But the ex's recommendations did […]
Suds for Studs
Photo by Joy WeberOnce in a very long while, this embonpoint epicure likes to hoist a few with the common man, woman and/or sexual hybrid and investigate their notions of “good eatin',” as they call it. After all, there is the danger we critics run of dwelling solely in rarefied realms, without knowing the gustatory […]