John Mariani, The VIrtual Gourmet: CHAZZ Palminteri

The Restaurant & The Actor Our virtual Gourmet promises more than a restaurant review in this video. In discussing the popular actor, Chazz Palminteri and his self named restaurants, John Mariani leads us inside the workings of that whole celebrity restaurant trend, how it works and why it sometimes fails. The restaurants in this case … Read more

John Mariani’s Radio Show, “Almost Golden”

Despite having been published in newspapers and top magazines internationally for decades, as well as his own popular online newsletter, “The VIrtual Gourmet,” and appearing as a regular expert in streaming video for Celebrating Act 2™, John Mariani recently started his own radio show! It airs weekly on a local Westchester County, NY station and … Read more

John Mariani, The VIrtual Gourmet: Food & Drink of JAMES BOND

No one appreciates the legendary excellent taste in food and adult beverages of 007 than the Virtual Gourmet, John Mariani. Not only a fan of the original books by Ian Fleming but of the long running movie series, At the urging of John Coleman and Art Kirsch of Celebrating Act 2™, John analyses both the … Read more

John Mariani, The Virtual Gourmet: Origins of Classic American Dishes!

OK, Sure, Buffalo wings originated in Buffalo–but Which restaurant? And what’s the story behind them? The Virtual Gourmet, John Mariani, takes us for a culinary tour of the USA to all the original places responsible for classic American fare such as CheeseSteak, the PoBoy; Irish Coffee; Bananas Foster; Boston Cream Pie and more. Filled with … Read more

John Mariani, The VIrtual Gourmet: Tipping, a U.S. Phenomenon

It’s controversial, and it’s unique to the U.S.! So Why do we do it? What’s a ‘fair’ tip and does it really stand for “To Insure Promptness? These and many other aspects of tipping are explored in this free ranging discussion about the practice of tipping our servers in restaurants! It’s the kind of talk … Read more

What Customers Should Know Before Criticizing a Restaurant POST-Pandemic!

It’s more than about good manners–it’s a discussion about just how demanding and critical a customer should be, really at any time, but certainly in the wake of the COVID Pandemic. As an expert food writer and restaurant critic, John Mariani, publisher of The Virtual Gourmet newsletter, certainly knows the boundaries of fair critique. He … Read more