Food
Blouge Is Our Summer Wine Crush
The word is out on blouge, says Meri Lugo, the managing partner of Domestique, a natural wine shop in Washington, D.C. One of our regulars recently told us that blouge is going to be his wine of the summer.
A subcategory of chillable reds, blouge wines are made by cofermenting red and white wine gres. The resulting bottles are lighter, brighter, and lower in alcohol than heavyweights such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Barolo. Blouge tends to be relatively affordable, too. You can drink it unaccompanied or alongside a range of foods including cheeseboards, tinned fish, spicy noodles, and pretty much anything that comes off the grill at a cookout.
Don’t be misled by the goofy-sounding name. A portmanteau of the French words for white (blanc) and red (rouge), blouge isn’t some market-researched contrivance. The style has been around for generations and is poised to withstand historic economic, ecological, and social headwinds.
Seasons change and fashion is fleeting, but blouge is in it for the long haul.
It’s important to remember that it’s part of traditional winemaking practices, says Jenny Lefcourt, owner and president of New York-based importer Jenny & François Selections. Even if you find the name gimmicky, she says, blouge harkens back to something that’s always been.
In previous eras, gre growers would cultivate an array of varieties in the same plot. Some would use their fruit to make field blends like palhete, Portugal’s answer to blouge, with roots dating to the 12th century.
In more recent millenia—and right up to the present—winemakers in France’s Southern Rhône either blend or coferment red and white gres to maintain balanced fruit, acidity, and tannins in world-famous wines like Châteauneuf-du-Pe. Most Champagne and Chianti bottles contain a blend of red and white wines, too.
Cofermenting entails some degree of variability, so blouge winemaking is particularly suited to the unpredictability of modern climates. You have to be adtable if you’re dependent on the weather for how you’re making your living, Lefcourt says.
For instance, let’s say that you’re making wine in the south of France, and your red wine gres ripen way too quickly. If you coferment them with high-acid, lower-alcohol white gres, you might be able to keep the wine fresh and not-too-boozy.
The resulting blouge bottles align with all sorts of trending topics, including consumer preferences for young, low-alcohol wines served cold and with little fanfare.
Sales speak for themselves: In 2023, Aubert & Mathieu, a label in France’s Languedoc, introduced a blouge wine called Boogie Woogie. Last year, the winery sold 20,000 bottles, a 40% increase over 2024, cofounder Anthony Aubert told The Economist.
There are social factors at work, too. La vie en blouge occupies a sweet spot at the intersection of cool and proachable that can be hard to find in the wine world.
It injects a bit of playfulness and irreverence in a space that can feel really intimidating and rules-laden, says Lugo. To have this made-up word that denotes something delicious and fun and whimsical, people are just drawn to it.
After all, wine is comically complicated. If you want to sip something crisp and restorative after a long day, it’s a lot easier to say Do you have any blouge-style wines? than to navigate intricate geogrhic classification systems or naming conventions. Like rosé and orange wine, blouge is a category unto itself.
It connotes or communicates a vibe, a mood, a feeling about a wine that can be really effective, versus ‘I’m looking for a co-ferment of a red and white,’ says Lugo. With all the drama outside the bar and bottle shop, what could be more refreshing than that?
Food
Some of Vermonts Best Farm-to-Table Dining Can Be Found at This 8-Room Hotel
Many people expect Vermont dining to be all mle syrup and cheddar, says Combs (and to note, there is an adorable Vermont Country Store just a few steps from the hotel that supplies both in abundance). We celebrate our local roots but also do steak tartare prepared tableside, offer full caviar service, and have a monthly chef’s tasting menu in our Wine Cellar private dining room. We offer traditional French-inspired cuisine but it never feels out of place here because the hospitality is entirely Vermont. Warm, personable, unpretentious.
When you order, opt for a blend of produce-heavy dishes (speaking from experience, the Daily Vegetable should never be skipped) and French classics like perfectly-executed steak au poivre, chicken liver mousse, celeriac remoulade, and of course that tableside steak tartare. The wine pairings are also excellent, earning the restaurant a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for two years running.
Pro tip: Make the most of your surroundings by ordering room service at least once. The menu is a pared-down version of what you’ll find in the restaurant but also includes bottles of wine, which you can enjoy by the fireplace, in bed, on your private balcony if your room has one, in the bathtub (my personal pick), or even with a picnic packed to-go.
Julie Bidwell, courtesy The Weston
Last month,the Weston also unveiled a brand new culinary project: The Green Cat, part bakery, part cafe, part gourmet grocer, part culinary classroom. Helmed by pastry chef Mary Pisanelli, it features a rotating menu of sweet and savory offerings and a robust bread program with 11 different varieties on daily rotation. Don’t miss the mini sourdough boule flights or the signature Fat Cat bialy filled with seasonal delicacies. Produce from the farm is on sale at the grocer counter and woven throughout the menu—including a Green Cat tea blend curated from farm-grown herbs. And then there’s the Demonstration Kitchen, an immersive classroom tucked behind the bakery where guests can master techniques like laminating croissants under Pisanelli’s instruction.
On my trip to Weston, I was struck by the fact that it hit every mark: luxurious accommodations, plenty of nature (try Emerald Lake Loop for a gentle stroll and a swim), a very good massage, and truly excellent food. I came back to my trash-lined street in Brooklyn wondering what I always wonder: Do I really want to live here?
But that’s the beauty of a great weekend getaway. It’s always just a car ride away.
Food
9 Types of Melons to Try This Summer
Watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew are easy to find at grocery stores year-round. But during summer, farmers markets and roadside stands start filling up with other types of melons—varieties with floral aromas, honey-sweet flesh, and textures that range from crisp and refreshing to soft and almost custardy. Many belong to the muskmelon family, which also includes cantaloupe and honeydew, though each one has its own distinct flavor and personality.
Some are perfect for eating ice-cold in thick wedges over the kitchen sink; others pair especially well with salty cheese, cured meat, fresh herbs, chiles, or citrus. And while all of them make excellent snacks, most can also be swped into recipes calling for cantaloupe or honeydew. Here are a few of our favorite melon varieties to hunt down this summer.
Charentais Melon
Also known as: Cavaillon melon, French cantaloupe
Honeyed, tender Charentais is a small, spherical melon with greenish-gray ribbing, slight netting (like a cantaloupe with stripes), and deep orange flesh. It’s sometimes called a true cantaloupe since the American cantaloupe is closely related, but actually different type of muskmelon. The flavor is floral with warm spice notes, and intensely fragrant when fully ripe.
Try it: Go sweet with granita or savory with a chilled summer soup.
Canary Melon
Food
After Testing 31 Toasters, I Found a Winner for Every Shade of Toast Lover
What makes a good toaster
- Build quality: A toaster should feel sturdy, with no wobbling, flimsy levers, or loose buttons. Beyond the body itself, I paid attention to the lift lever and any knobs or dials. Thoughtful construction shows up in the details.
- Large item cacity: A good toaster should handle more than standard sandwich bread. The best ones can accommodate a variety of sizes and shes, lowering each piece fully and toasting it evenly all the way through.
- Browning range: There should be a clear, consistent gradient from barely toasted to deeply browned, with a noticeable difference between each setting. If the lightest and darkest settings look the same, that’s a problem.
- Defrost without over-toasting: A defrost function is only useful if it works. Too many toasters spit out frozen waffles that are burnt on the outside, cold in the middle, or just soggy. The best ones thaw and toast in a single cycle, producing results that are warm, crisp, and cooked through.
- Intuitive settings: Toasters don’t need to be complicated. The best models keep controls straightforward with clear knobs, simple buttons, and no unnecessary features getting in the way of good toast.
Other toasters we liked
Martha Stewart 2-Slice Toaster
This toaster from Martha Stewart’s brand-new line of countertop pliances performed well in my most recent round of testing. The sleek touchscreen interface includes a whopping 10 different browning settings, which is impressive (if perhs a tad excessive) and means this toaster is a good option for anyone who wants ultra-precise control over exactly how golden their carbs are. I ultimately felt that the Beautiful toaster accomplished a similar look, feel, and performance quality at a lower price point, but I’d still recommend the Martha toaster if it peals to you.
Smeg 2-Slice Toaster
Not only does the Smeg look nice, it’s also a dream to use—glossy cherry red exterior, chrome lever, and intuitive control knob that satisfyingly clicks into place as you select your toasting preferences. While it toasts evenly on all temperature settings, we did notice it runs a little hot and slices could come out darker than expected or even burnt. But we did like the generously sized slots, which could fit hunks of sourdough, and the slide-out crumb tray that makes cleanup a breeze. Overall it’s a great toaster, but an expensive one. We found other models to be better values. Still, we’d recommend this in a heartbeat to anyone who prioritizes style in their kitchen pliances.
Breville Die-Cast Toaster
Breville Die-Cast Toaster
The two-slice version of our favorite four-slice toaster, the Breville Die-Cast, looks sleek, works like a dream, and has the hefty price tag to go with it. Unlike some models, the Die-Cast has no lever, only buttons. You adjust your setting, press a button, and watch your slice get magically lowered away and pushed back up for your enjoyment when it’s done. The design is also friendly for small spaces—all the controls are on the short side of the toaster instead of the wide side. This makes it easier to nestle in a small spot in your kitchen. Still, the Die-Cast’s a good $60 more than the ‘A Bit More,’ which might push it out of your price range.
Oster Jelly Bean
Oster Jelly Bean 2-Slice Toaster
Haden Dorset 2-Slice Toaster
Haden Dorset 2-Slice Toaster
I was charmed by the retro design of this toaster from Haden. Its simple interface is intuitive to use but has everything you need to get the job done: a dial for switching between the six browning levels, and Defrost, Bagel, and Cancel buttons. I didn’t feel it was able to achieve quite as evenly browned results as our top pick, and I thought the different shade settings lacked a bit of variety from each other (especially the middle ones). This toaster also struggled with thicker bread options—its slots were barely wide enough to fit a halved bagel, and the bagel got stuck instead of popping out after toasting. That said, if you’re drawn to this Haden aesthetically, it’s not a bad option.
Toasters we don’t recommend
For one reason or another, these toasters didn’t earn our seal of proval.
The KitchenAid toasts bread pretty evenly, but it doesn’t include a defrost option. We would’ve overlooked this—especially considering it seemed to make frozen waffles just fine using the regular toaster function—except that the one other setting it had for bagels didn’t work well at all.
The four-slice version of our favorite two-slice toaster, the Breville Long Slot toaster is designed to fit slices from much wider loaves of bread. Nice idea, right? Well, the longer length meant there was a g in the heating elements that left a pale strip in the middle of out bread.
The Cool Touch Toaster offers a lot of curb peal. It’s a sleek black with nondescript buttons (they’re labeled with icons instead of words), but the high-quality look didn’t translate to high performance. Even on the highest setting, the Zwilling produced, at best, a mid-level of browning.
This toaster from Alessi garnered quite a few compliments from our officemates who spotted it perched on a desk before testing, which makes sense: It’s quite the looker. Unfortunately, it produced nearly identical pieces of toast at settings 3–6 and failed to produce anything browner than what we’d expect from a middle heat setting. It failed spectacularly at toasting bagels, unable to brown them in the slightest even at the highest setting.
We liked how the CPT-142 ctured a range of browning with the different toasting levels—which is more than other models can say—but it performed weakly when defrosting waffles.
While this KitchenAid model certainly looks nice with its bulbous retro she and vintage-inspired control panel, it weighed a ton. We disqualified it before testing because we could hardly lift it onto the counter.
In addition to the nice motorized lift and lower function we liked in the Breville, the Tineco adds some other techy features. Instead of buttons and a lever, you select all of your toasting preferences using a small touchscreen that juts out from the front of the machine. It toasted evenly, especially on the darker settings. It did a particularly good job toasting all the way to the edges of the bread. However, despite all its technology, the Tineco didn’t do well with frozen waffles. Even using the defrost mode on the highest setting only still yielded pale and soggy results. If you don’t have kids and aren’t plating up Eggos on the regular, that might be okay, but they’re common enough demands for toasters that we don’t feel the Tineco is versatile enough.
Everything about the Cuisinart felt flimsy—it wobbled on the counter, the lever squeaked, and we sometimes got worried the loose control knobs would pull right off. The toasting power was also one of the weakest of all the models.
Just unboxing this toaster and moving it to the counter caused plenty of loud rattles, so if you want a sturdy stainless-steel toaster, the plastic Hamilton Beach will probably dispoint. The heating elements also seemed weak. Other models offered more power and range in browning.
The Hamilton Beach Cool Wall felt flimsy. While light weight isn’t always an indicator of poor performance, we felt like each piece on this model was one toast away from falling art.
The Black+Decker only worked on the highest heat settings, leaving pale, lightly golden waffles, bagels, and bread slices on any mid-range settings. While it did toast more evenly on those higher settings, we couldn’t get past the lack of range.
The highest heat setting on the Krups toasters yielded the type of browning you’d expect from one of the mid-heat settings—this was especially noticeable on the bagels. The defrost setting by comparison felt disproportionately powerful, burning waffles to a crisp on the highest setting.
We liked the idea of the Dash toaster, with its clear window that allows you to peek inside your toaster. That window seemed to fix one of the shortcomings of almost all pop-up toasters in that it lets you monitor the progress of your bread to make sure it never burns. Unfortunately that window revealed a toaster that produced incredibly inconsistent results.
Bella claims this toaster will fit anywhere, and it very well may be right. It’s incredibly thin, which would be ideal for kitchens that are tight on counter space. But while we liked its inoffensive modern design and simple interface, it toasted bread unevenly and there was not enough variation between browning levels, nor enough browning even on the highest setting. Its slim design also meant its slots were a touch too narrow to comfortably fit hefty bagels.
Each Dualit toaster is hand-assembled in England and fully repairable—which is why we were very dispointed when it practically disqualified itself by our second test. In the white bread test, we noticed very uneven browning on each slice. Then, when it came time for the bagel test, we couldn’t even fit the bagels in the slots. We also disliked the fact that you have to use a lever to manually lower and raise bread out of the toaster and that there’s no sound when your toast is done.
This 4-slice model from Haden failed to impress us for a few reasons. For one, its middle settings turned out quite pale, and it was unable to achieve a suitable level of browning on a bagel, even at the highest setting. But the main thing we disliked about this toaster was the interface: It’s got a mix of buttons, plus a small digital screen, that displays the browning level, but that screen is impossible to read unless you’re looking at it straight on (so if your toaster is at counter height, you have to stoop down).
This toaster performed okay in our testing, but we wished there was more variation in browning levels between some of the settings. Our biggest gripe was that it took longer to toast anything than most other models we’ve tested. For the price ($120 when we received it), we just don’t think it’s worth that.
White bread toasted using the first four browning settings of the CPT-122 looked practically identical—and by that I mean that they were all so pale, you could barely tell they’d been toasted. The slots on this toaster were also a bit too narrow to accommodate thick slices of sourdough without risk of it getting stuck. I was also unimpressed by the Bagel setting on this toaster: Bagel settings are meant to brown the cut side of the bagel while leaving the outside relatively soft, but this was not the case with this model. Instead, it seemed to toast both sides of the bagel somewhat evenly.
Like the CPT-122, the first several settings of the CPT-180P1 churned out white bread that was quite pale, and even the darkest setting failed to produce the deeply browned (nearly burnt) toast I was looking for on the highest setting. This model also faced similar issues with its Bagel setting as the CPT-122.
The GE toaster was inconsistent with its browning levels, producing browner bread on setting 3 than it did on setting 4. It also failed to display the wide range in browning cability I was looking for, and the bagel got stuck on its way out after its toast cycle.
What does the bagel function actually do?
Almost every toaster you can buy comes with a little button labeled bagel, but lots of people don’t know what hpens if you push it. Because bagels are thicker than bread, they need to get toasted slightly differently than regular toast. Enter the bagel setting. This button will increase the temperature on the heating elements in the middle of the toaster—the ones working on the cut side of the bagel—while maintaining the constant temperature on the outside elements. This then gives you the perfectly toasted bagel with a firm but not burnt exterior and a nice crisp inside to spread your cream cheese across.
Your other everyday countertop needs
Additional reporting by n Wahn
Food
The Best Bars in Miami Right Now
Don’t Miss: The Surf Club Cosmo modernizes the classic Grey Goose and Cointreau blend by replacing the traditional orange twist with a tableside mist of proprietary citrus spritz.
801 Brickell Ave, Miami, FL 33131
@komodomiami
One of the early pioneers of the craft cocktail in Downtown Miami, Komodo is the definitive nightclub-restaurant” hybrid. Conceptualized by hospitality mogul David Grutman, whose fingerprints are all over Miami, the space is a multi-level playground featuring “bird’s nest” floating seating and luscious, tropical decor. The Brickell restaurant just celebrated a decade, a feat in the fickle Miami bar scene. The vibe here is electric and communal—a mix of locals who come here for after-hours drinks at the bar and celebrity-hunting tourists. Ten years in, the quality and pageantry remain high, signaled by the spectacle of the roasted Peking ducks hanging in the entryway. The cocktail menu leans into bright Southeast Asian flavors—think lychee, yuzu, and ginger—designed to be sipped while navigating a room full of Miami’s most stylish denizens.
Don’t miss: A potent, fruity blend of Grey Goose vodka, ginger, sparkling sake, passion fruit, and yuzu, the Ginger Passion Fruit Mule is as bold as the lounge’s red-lit interior.
Perched on the 40th floor of the EAST Miami hotel in Brickell, Tea Room is a Hong Kong-inspired speakeasy. Following the success of the Sugar, the hotel’s lush rooftop lounge, Tea Room provides a more sultry experience. The design features dark woods, moody plush seating, and floor-to-ceiling windows that transform the sprawling view of Downtown Miami into a cinematic backdrop. The brooding vibe leans heavily into nightclub territory, with a nightly DJ spinning deep house to a sophisticated crowd. The bar’s five-course Asian Night Brunch” journeys through hamachi crudo and wagyu gyoza, but the cocktail program is the true draw, focused on bright, fresh flavors.
Don’t miss: The Yuja-Cha is a sleek, minimalist hit, blending lemon curd vodka, bergamot, and yuzu into a carbonated cocktail served over a single ice block.
8300 NE 2nd Ave, 2nd floor, Miami, FL 33138
@bar_kaiju
Venture past the first-floor vintage thrift store and ascend to the second-floor hideaway in The Citadel food hall in Little River to Bar Kaiju, a quirky, high-concept masterpiece. What was meant to be a six-month pop-up bar has turned into a three-year residency with a fierce cult following. Dedicated to vintage Asian cinema, the interior is brimming with Godzilla figurines and anime posters under the glow of Janese per lanterns. “Kaiju” translates to “strange creature” or “monster” in Janese, and the bar’s offerings indeed lean mythological. The drink menu is presented as a deck of Pokémon-like trading cards, each featuring a cocktail styled after a different folkloric beast from around the world. While the rest of the food hall closes around midnight, Bar Kaiju stays bumping until 2 a.m on the weekends, a haven for those who want to geek out over obscure fermentations in a space that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Food
My Honest Review of Lidl Pastries as a Pro Baker
I’m a bit of a pastry snob. Not in an annoying way, but in an endearing way that’s justified and rooted in years of experience. (That’s what I tell myself!) I develop new baking recipes almost every week in the Test Kitchen, so I’m constantly tasting, examining, and critiquing every detail of sweet treats. So when the German-owned grocery store Lidl—famous for its beloved bakery section—opened up in my neighborhood, I knew I needed to try it.
What makes the bakery items so popular? Well, for starters, they’re dirt che. I’m talking less than a dollar for many. And people genuinely love them. Like really, really love them. I’ve heard countless praises of the famous $0.49 croissants, and as a sucker for anything European, I was curious. I picked up a few items and gave them a try. Here’s my honest review.
ple Turnover ($0.99)
Score: 4/10
Great? No. Good for being less than a dollar? For sure. The filling has a bit of a McDonald’s ple pie flavor, but the consistency was too gel-like for me. The pastry was flaky, tender, and properly baked.
Chocolate Chunk Cookie ($0.89)
Score: 10/10
Still warm when I bought it! The cookie was crisp on the edges, chewy in the center, and the chocolate had a surprisingly complex flavor for its price point. It was also well seasoned with a nice amount of salt to help all the flavors shine. Loved.
Lemon Poppyseed Scone ($0.89)
Score: 10/10
Scones can be really hit or miss, and this one was a hit. Crisp and sturdy on the outside, moist in the center, and even had some layering indicating that the fat was incorporated nicely. The lemon flavor was very pleasant, if a bit mild. It’s a limited-time-offer item, but I would go back to Lidl just for this.
