Recognitions
& Media Spotlights

Whether indulging in your grandmother’s kitchen or at a restaurant, eating is only a part of the soul food experience. Ancestors wrap their arms around every dish, and, like other cuisines, soul food deserves to be appreciated to the fullest. Pairing your meal with the perfect wine can do just that.

Philadelphia-based sommelier Edward Murray believes that rich, full-flavored soul food favorites are enhanced by wines that offer a counterbalance. He serves spicy dishes with low- to moderate-alcohol wines since alcohol can amplify heat, and he says that food that is texturally nuanced pairs wonderfully with similarly textured wines.

Pekárna is a Serbo-Croatian word for “bakery,” so it’s a little puzzling as to why Dean O’Neill (an avionics expert by trade) gave his delightful new restaurant on the Upper West Side the name when he describes the place as a “New American” restaurant, cocktail and event venue.

Pekarna is one of those cozy eateries on the Upper West Side that successfully brings together ethnic and American cuisine.

Oddly enough, O’Neill is an avionic engineer by trade who reveals, “I have designed and built various projects ranging from restaurants, nightclubs, apartments, boats, and planes. He went on to tell us that in 2003 he visited Slovenia to design and launch...

Pekarna the spacious new Upper West Side restaurant eventually intends to feature the food of Slovenia, with dishes like brodet, a kind of fisherman’s stew, Bohemian squash and mushrooms, and kremsnita, a creamy, custardy cake.