Ray Isle

Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi

You'd be hard-pressed to find pair of busier chefs than Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone: in the past few years, they've opened two of New York's most sought-after restaurants, Torrisi Italian Specialties and Parm, and racked up countless nods, including the Food & Wine best new chefs award this Summer. At their flagship restaurant, Torrisi, they became known for innovative twists on American classics, from potato gnocchi with pastrami ragù (inspired by deli meat) to Champagne-foam-topped oysters Rocafella (inspired by Jay-Z).

Mario Carbone, Ray Isle, and Rich Torrisi at the NYC Wine & Food Festival

As the hosts of a New York City Wine & Food Festival seminar, Torrisi Family Dinner, the two showcased reinvented dishes like "fresh" polenta (polenta made with sweet, peak-season pure-corn cornmeal, milk, butter, local cheese, and fresh thyme) and French country-style pâté made with Italian beef sausage and burnt onions in lieu of pork. Over wine pairings from Ray Isle of Food & Wine, the culinary tour de force had an opportunity to talk about the inspiration behind their restaurants, what keeps them going, and what's next.

Our recent interview with Food & Wine executive wine editor Ray Isle gave us plenty of insight into where to buy value wines, but undoubtedly the most fun part of the chat was the special lightning round we subjected him to at the end.

We named five of our food-truck favorites and asked him to blurt out the first wine pairings that came to mind. Ray's best street-food drink matches:

• Carne asada tacos: "To go with the steak, a Zinfandel, or a Malbec from Argentina."
• Grilled cheese: "Oh, a white like an Alsatian Pinot Gris. Or a rosé; I like the ones from Provence. Either way, something with body that's rich, nutty, and has enough acid to cut the cheese."
• Pork belly buns: "A wine with tannins to counter the fat. Maybe an American Syrah; it'd pair nicely with the hoisin or plum sauce."
• Fish tacos: "Definitely a wine that's nonoaked. A bright white like Sauvignon Blanc from Chile, or an Albariño from Spain."
• Fried chicken: "Sparkling rosé! Bubbles will clear your palate. Like Krug's rosé — only someone else has to fork over the $300!"

Got any food-truck and wine pairing faves? Share them with us below.

Source: Flickr User Bob B. Brown

When we sat down with Ray Isle at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, he not only talked value wines, he also shared tips for storing wine. Ideally, wine should be kept in a temperature-controlled room or refrigerator, but an interior closet with a steady temperature of 65-68°F is perfectly fine. Unfortunately, according to Isle, many people don't know how to properly store wine and make the common mistake of keeping it in the wrong place. If you've got bottles that you want to enjoy at a later date, read on to learn where not to store your wine.

Food & Wine Editor Kate Krader may be the darling of the restaurant world, but when it comes to wine, that's the domain of Executive Wine Editor Ray Isle, who not only runs the magazine's wine section, but also organizes all of the wine seminars and tastings at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic.

We managed to snag Ray away from his busy schedule for a moment to ask him about his favorite regions and values, which wines he thinks are overrated, and what we should look for next time we hit up winery tasting rooms. See what he had to say when you keep reading.

• Macaron myths completely debunked. — The Kitchn
• A look at Alice Waters's Twitter press conference. — Inside Scoop SF
• What Food & Wine's Ray Isle eats over the course of one weekend. — Grub Street NY
• Putting Anthony Bourdain in his place. — Eatocracy
• The people behind the World's Best Restaurants list have named the best female chefs. — Eater
• Why it might become hard to buy your favorite beer. — The Atlantic
• 25 new uses for kitchen scissors. — The Bitten Word
• An in-depth profile of Sandra Lee. — New York Mag

Source: Flickr User Julien Haler

Each month when Food & Wine magazine arrives at my desk, I look forward to reading Ray Isle's latest article. As the deputy wine editor for the glossy, Isle writes interesting wine-related stories, recommends affordable pours, and pairs each of the recipes with an excellent variety. In short, he's incredibly knowledge in the world of wine. What I like best about Ray is his kind approachability: he doesn't have an ounce of wine snob in him. I was lucky enough to sit down with Ray on a warm afternoon at the Classic in Aspen and chat about one of the wine industry's hottest trends: Rosé.

To find out what Ray had to say about the pink wines you should be drinking, read more