Author Archives: heathgrip

Here is an article on our latest visit to my old home city of Birmingham, England and London. From October. It’ll be a celebration of food (and drink) as always, but also some cultural events and sites! Birmingham (or “Brum”, or even “Brummagem” to locals) Announcing ourselves at the Staybridge Inn on Corporation Street isContinue reading “Birmingham and London, Oct 2022”

The last two plus years, Marie and I have got ourselves happily accustomed to sitting at the bar in certain pubs and restaurants. Instead of at a table. We love it now; it’s more sociable, often more “buzzy” and you can also get smaller, less expensive and very delicious plates of food. As well asContinue reading “The joys of sitting at the bar”

“Few people go to New Orleans because it’s a ‘normal’ city – or a ‘perfect’ or ‘safe’ one.  They go because it’s crazy, borderline dysfunctional, permissive, shabby, alcoholic, and bat shit crazy – and because it looks like nowhere else.” – Anthony Bourdain I mean, we admire the late Anthony Bourdain, but what would weContinue reading “New Orleans (February 2022)”

When I first moved to the U.S and married Marie in 2006, finding British food and drink in New York was rare. There was Tea & Sympathy bistro in Greenwich Village, which was an occasional treat. And the small pocket of British shops and eateries in that area. In shops, if we stumbled upon, say,Continue reading “British expat food in the U.S!”

I’m writing (well, okay, typing) this completely off-the-cuff and sort of randomly! So, my wife and myself have lived in Suffolk County, Long Island for about four months now after moving from Queens, New York. We’ve tried a lot of restaurants, cafes, take-outs and bars, pubs and breweries. Here are some of my thoughts andContinue reading “Suffolk County, Long Island (eating and drinking out!)”

Port Jefferson – mid way along the North Shore of Long Island – is a town we’ve always loved, and we’re so excited to be out here! We started going as early as 2008, after we’d just been married a couple of years. We also had a fun time visiting during the winter (Charles) DickensContinue reading “Port Jefferson, NY”

Wow this topic could easily be an endless debate everywhere, with many disagreeing! As I’ve lived three quarters of my life in England and a quarter in the States, most of this article will be about those two with brief mentions of other countries visited. So…fish and chips! You see it on menus in AmericaContinue reading “Quest for the best: fast food”

Just a brief nod to one of our all-time favourites. Carmines, on Graham Avenue in the Greenpoint/Williamsburg area of Brooklyn has nothing to do with Carmines in Manhattan I’m told. We’ve always loved the Brooklyn Carmines. We first went here about twelve years ago with my wife’s family from Queens. From the start you couldContinue reading “Carmines, Williamsburg NY”

(December 2020) A little misty-murky this morning. I was thinking it might just be local weather but the light fog held all the two hour drive Upstate New York to our destination of Kingston. It added to the mild wintry atmosphere though, and was also photogenic! Our usual, local McDonald’s drive-through to get mcmuffins andContinue reading “Rhinebeck and Kingston, Upstate NY”

So here we are, in New York City about to go into re-enforced Covid restrictions again for a while. But the whole world is in the same boat really, on and off. I know that my family in Britain have had it even worse, and to an extent my brother in Amsterdam too. We allContinue reading “Good Covid eating”