Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog

Para vicini translates roughly from Italian to “for the neighborhood.”  Paravicini’s Italian Bistro isn’t located in just any Colorado Springs neighborhood.  It’s located in the heart of Old Colorado City, the historic west side of Colorado Springs. Founded in 1859 during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, Old Colorado City was the first permanent settlement in the region and briefly ...

Gastronomes shall not live on great restaurants alone.  Sometimes, our souls need to be fed, too.  Few cities can accomplish both feeding our bodies and nurturing our souls as well as Colorado Springs, a city of incomparable beauty and endless outdoors opportunities. As a “foodie” destination, WalletHub ranked the city 70th overall from among 180 major U.S. cities (Albuquerq...

“I’ll have what she’s having.”  Can it really be 35 years since Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal created their famous fake la petite mort scene from When Harry Met Sally?  The scene was filmed at New York City’s Katz’s Delicatessen where sumptuous sandwiches are skyscraper tall and absolutely delicious (my sole visit was in 1978). Unlike Meg’s character, most of us wouldn’t have t...

“Fried chicken just tend to make you feel better about life.” ~Minny Jackson (The Help) One of the most heart-warming scenes in the 2011 period drama The Help involved the character Minny Jackson (brilliantly portrayed by Octavia Spencer) teaching her employer, a lonely housewife named Celia Foote (played by Jessica Chastain), the art of Southern cooking through what has prob...

There wasn’t much ethnic or cultural diversity in Peñasco where I grew up. Our little village was overwhelmingly (probably 98% if not more) Hispanic. One of the only other ethnic groups in the area were non-Hispanic white residents, most of whom worked either as teachers or for the forest services. We also had a couple of families (Sahds and Owens) of Lebanese descent. Everyo...