Hot Flavours: Food, Drink and Snoop Dogg

The Anthony Bourdain story took on a new twist last week as his girlfriend, Asia Argento, said he helped make a $380,000 payment to the actor Jimmy Bennett who claims she sexually assaulted him while he was a minor. Argento, who was one of the first women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and thusly a #MeToo heroine, denies the allegations but admits to giving Bennett money in an attempt to head off legal action. Meanwhile, it’s been confirmed that the five Parts Unknown travelogues, which Bourdain was working on at the time of his death in May, will premiere on September 22 at the Tribeca TV festival and then make their broadcast debut on CNN. The locations visited are the Big Bend area on the border of Texas and Mexico, Indonesia, Spain’s Asturias region and New York’s Lower East Side where Tony chowed down with his Blondie pals Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, and rap pioneer Fab Five Freddy.

Sticking with hip hop foodies and Snoop Dogg is publishing his first cookbook, From Crook To Cook: Platinum Recipes From Tha Boss Dogg’s Kitchen, which includes his unique takes on everything from Mac ‘n’ Cheese and Lobster Thermidor to Filet Mignon and Baby Back Ribs.

Wicklow Wolf and their Tipple of the Fortnight winning chums the Fierce Beer Co. aren’t the only marriage made in beery heaven this fortnight with Sligo’s Lough Gill and Hackney’s Five Points collaborating on a 5.4% Sloe Gin Gose, which throws lemon, coriander seeds, gin-hydrated sloes and juniper berries into the tank.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the brewers of Corona beer, Constellation Brands, has invested $3.8 billion in one of Canada’s biggest legal marijuana producers, Canopy Growth Corp. In other hemp-y hook-ups, Heineken and Molson Coors are both planning to make cannabis-infused beverages for the North American market.

We’re hearing extremely good things about Little Fox, the new Ennistymon restaurant that has former Café Paradiso woman Niamh Fox in the kitchen. Open Monday-Friday from 8am-4pm and from 10am-5pm at the weekend, they do a particularly mean (in a good way) Smoked Gubbeen Pork Belly Stew with Veggies, Pearl Barley and Soda Bread for under a tenner. facebook.com/littlefoxennistymon.

From the makers of Bunsen burgers comes Masa, a new taqueria, which has taken over the old Super Miss Sue premises on D2’s Drury Street. Having selflessly scoffed our way through the short-sharp menu, we recommend the Corn On The Cob with Cheese & Chili for starters, the Cod, Cabbage, Chipotle & Lime tacos for mains and the Churros y Cajeta (made with goats milk, no less) to ensure that an inch or two is added to your waistline. masadublin.com.