By Lorraine Smorol

Visiting a restaurant that employs an ACF-certified chef guarantees a level of quality and professionalism

By Mary Kiernan, CCC, PCII

Get contact information, web links and even full menus of the finest local eating establishments below.

Many years ago, my mom took a pilgrimage to Europe with two of her college friends. In Ireland, they walked half the day, searching for the house where my great-great-grandmother grew up. They found it, as well as its very skeptical current owners. They let my mom look through the house and offered her a shot glass of whiskey. All my mom and her friends really wanted was a glass of water, but apparently Irish hospitality calls for whiskey shots.

It's not easy dishing fine cuisine to a discriminating clientele

By Julianne Glatz

It was 4:30 a.m. and pitch-black, and a nasty, chilly drizzle was falling as I pointed my car toward the CIA. I peered through the windshield, the monotonous rhythm of the wipers luring me back to the sleep from which I had been so rudely and recently dragged. But the litany of self-doubt that had nagged me for weeks was enough to keep me awake. Could I measure up? At least not totally embarrass myself? What could I have been thinking—and at my age?