PALO ALTO, Calif. — Andres Pantoja, an up-and-coming Silicon Valley sous chef, spent his pre-pandemic evenings delicately preparing the $115 plate of lamb chops and deboning the $42 Psari Plaki whole fish at a fashionable restaurant here. It is frantic work serving 200 upscale meals a night. His new gig is proving way more chaotic,…
Drinking rosé this year does not feel like the usual sort of blithe summer pastime. It’s mostly a matter of the coronavirus pandemic and the protests against racism and police brutality, which overshadow what are really lighthearted pleasures. But other factors are taking a toll on rosé as well. Twenty-five percent tariffs imposed by the…
By far, the most popular wine in the United States is chardonnay. Yet the variety faced some skepticism among the small but select sample of readers who took part in our recent Wine School examination of Oregon chardonnays. Perhaps this should not have been surprising. Though it has been America’s white wine of choice for…
The glories of the national park system draw hundreds of millions of visitors each year, even in normal times. But in this upside-down year, with the pandemic still limiting much travel in and outside the United States, it’s likely that the National Park Service’s 419 sites, 62 with a “national park” designation, will attract even…
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, Ashlea Hayes, who is deaf and blind and who works as the secretary of National Black Deaf Advocates, has become much more cautious. She lives in Compton, Calif., where she usually does most of her food shopping herself, but lately she has become more reliant on delivery services. “The grocery…
I ran into a friend in the lobby of our building. (I thought we were friends, anyway.) She is black; I am white. And protests over racist policing have been raging in our city. First, I made sure her teenage son was safe. I was worried after seeing news reports. (He’s fine.) Then I told…
When Sandy Asirvatham’s 17-year-old son, Miles Donovan, expressed interest in attending a protest this week near their downtown Baltimore home, she appreciated that he wanted to demonstrate solidarity with those who are outraged over the death of George Floyd. But just hours before it started, she began to worry. “I started fearing overzealous policing in…
Earlier this spring, Teresa Clayton’s husband got nervous every time the phone rang. “He said, ‘The second you hear a crying bride, it’s all over,’” said Ms. Clayton, an owner, along with her husband Steve, of Glencliff Manor, a 50-acre wedding venue in Rustburg, Va. “And he’s right.” Ms. Clayton’s weakness for brides’ stories about…
When John Weiss, 38, left New York City in March to ride out the coronavirus at his childhood home in Stamford, Conn., he knew it would be an opportunity for some quality family time. His father, Steven, a 76-year-old real estate lawyer, saw it as a way to finally get some help cleaning out the…
As airlines try to convince Americans to fly again, they have touted their policies for keeping passengers safe, including the requirement that everyone onboard a plane wear a mask. But travelers on recent flights said the rules are not being enforced. And flight attendants said they have been told not to confront passengers who opt…