…The first stop on our culinary tour takes us to Vienna’s 5th district, close to the famed Naschmarkt, the largest open food market in Vienna. The name of this restaurant is a bit of a tongue twister but don’t let it scare you. It’s pronounced Wora-schit’-ski. Number 52 Spengergasse was the address of another restaurant for a long time before… Read more
…of the most popular seafood restaurants in Athens. It was recognized by Michelin as a top restaurant in Greece and awarded one star. The restaurant is open all day and serves reasonably priced lunch and dinner. True to its name, the majority of the restaurant’s dishes are seafood. Among its many offerings include grilled cuttlefish with caramelized lentils and orange… Read more
…from the restaurant’s hearth, so to speak, Leigh’s open-fire dishes can’t help but delight. Come for the food but enjoy hanging out with plenty of cool locals in one of the coziest of Montreal restaurants. www.foxy.restaurant Montreal Plaza Over on Plaza Hubert we visit the restaurant of long-time collaborators, Charles-Antoine Crete and Cheryl Johnson. After working together for many years… Read more
…from all parts of the country, even from North Korea which is only a short distance away. There is great food democracy in the inner city as people from all parts seek out dishes familiar to where they grew up. Between daytime and evening markets, small family-owned restaurants, regional chains, and Michelin-starred restaurants, the variety is dizzying! Narrowing the choices… Read more
…depending on the time of day – a light and airy one at lunch time, while at night, the dark sky covers the restaurant giving the low night-time lighting a theatrical-romantic feel. And at night, the outdoor reflecting pool spanning the length of the dining room is especially lovely as it reflects the light of the restaurant. The kitchen is… Read more
…in Austria, it is not noodles but potato or cucumber salad served with Schnitzel. And if you have a craving for it, you won’t find a better version of traditional Austrian Schnitzel than at Vienna restaurant Skopik and Lohn. On a recent visit, I headed over to talk with co-owners Chef Horst Scheuer and wife Connie about food, their restaurant,… Read more
Known as one of the world’s capitals of coffee, Seattle has developed a thriving food scene to go with all those cappuccinos–over 3,500 restaurants strong, and counting. We were surprised to learn that sleepy little Seattle is now the fifth most-densely populated restaurant city in America, coming in just behind New York. With a population rising along with the fortunes… Read more
…the Turk Wandering through the back streets of old Chania, we stumbled across the restaurant, The Well of the Turk, and recalled that it has been recommended to us by friends. Located in a quiet neighborhood, it’s a great restaurant serving an eclectic mix of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food. House 66 There are many homes for rent in Chania,… Read more
…The city is uniquely situated with easy access to a wide variety of produce: fresh seafood of the coast of New Jersey, oysters from Long Island Sound, fresh poultry, meat, dairy, and vegetables from the rich farmlands of Pennsylvania. All these ingredients make their way each day into restaurants serving the great places to eat in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is a… Read more
…Sussie Villarico. They travel the world to promote their passion for Peruvian Japanese cooking. Mazzola has quite the resume. Starting at the famed El Buli restaurant in Spain, he then went on to run Pacta in Barcelona, another of the Ferian restaurant group. His plates are pure perfection with a delicate balance of craft, creativity and flavor. The food looks… Read more
…to get out and educate ourselves on the current food happenings in Amsterdam. Wilde Zwijne Hopping on a streetcar towards the Oost district of Amsterdam, we are headed for the restaurant “Wilde Zwijne” or Wild Boar. Restaurant owner Julia Bachrach meets us at the door and introduces us to her partners, Faysel van Thiel, and Frenk van Dinther, who is… Read more
…equally good time, with a bevy of food and activity options that will delight, inspire and entertain. Here is what we found. 1 Garden The Hotel Bayrischer Hof is a family-owned Munich institution, in operation since 1841. It has recently been renovated to enhance its five-star luxury reputation for another generation. Along with the hotel, the long-running Garden restaurant has… Read more
…most popular and developed beach in Curaçao with plenty of restaurants, beach chairs for hire, and leisure activities. It is perfect if you’re travelling with kids and want easy access to restaurants and facilities. The best restaurant we found was Zest, offering Mediterranean food for good value and price. Tula Monument This Monument commemorates the slave uprising in 1795, by… Read more
…restaurants there hold 26 Michelin stars. Three of those stars are Norbert’s! Growing up not far from his restaurant, St. Hubertus, in San Cassiano, Norbert is an avid skier, a skill that is not unusual for residents of these parts. He decided early on that he wanted to travel the world and cook. For many years he worked in the… Read more
…stumbled across a neighborhood known as Japantown, and it was immediately evident that we had discovered some great places to visit that are not well known: just the kind of places Bearleader seeks out to share. But as we scratched the surface we became aware that the shops, restaurants and museums visible today are but a tiny remnant of a… Read more
…the best restaurants, places you would never find on your own, revealing the cuisine, customs, and practices that make Korean food so unique. We chose their Jeonju tour. Jeonju is just two hours south of Seoul and easily reachable via high-speed train. It’s the perfect short getaway from Seoul to gain a better perspective on the country. We wanted to… Read more
…a visit to Alpino Vino. At nearly 12,000 feet, it’s the highest elevation fine dining restaurant in North America. Packed into a quaint mountain hut on Telluride’s See Forever run, it is located just off of the Gold Hill express lift. Chef Peccidi’s dishes, like his varieties of freshly made pasta, are to die for. And considering the minuscule kitchen,… Read more
…bath’s therapeutic benefits. Initially arranged in an ad-hoc manner, a Guesthouse (inn) would empty a room in their Gaststube (restaurant), fill it with fermenting hay, and arrange guests in the hay. An attendant kept watch, wiping the sweat away, waving the flies off, and keeping guests hydrated with their choice of white or red. Even though the effects on one’s… Read more
On a recent visit to Twin Farms in Vermont’s pastoral countryside, we got a tip from our host to check out the nearby town of Quechee for “the best glassblowing and lunch in Vermont”. What a combination, we thought, so we made the short drive from Barnard to Quechee and found a great way to spend an afternoon, and an… Read more
…Mesa residents, Edmundo and Jinette Meraz. The two started out selling their empanadas from a cart at a local co-op before taking the leap in early 2016 to open their first restaurant. In the new restaurant Jinette heads up the kitchen, son Marco manages the restaurant, while sister, brother, cousins and dad make sure all the customers are happy. The… Read more
…used to be that Manhattan was the place to find the “latest thing”, especially in food. Restaurants aplenty could be found to feed its 1.6 million inhabitants, serving any cuisine you could imagine. But as rents went through the roof, experimental restaurants were priced out, so ambitious chefs looked across the East River to open their own restaurants. Traveling abroad,… Read more
Close your eyes and picture the perfect California beach town. If you see a boardwalk along the beach, a beautiful wharf that stretched out into picturesque Monterey Bay, tree-lined streets filled with interesting shops and great restaurants, then you are imagining Santa Cruz. Situated about an hour and a half south of San Francisco, the city of a little over… Read more
…vintage furnishings. These cherished pieces form the core aesthetic character of the Cabochon. The ground floor includes the restaurant Thai Lao Yeh, an award-winning purveyor of regional Thai cuisine. Adding to the restaurant’s authenticity, a painstakingly restored century-old building from a remote Thai village is installed to contain the restaurant. The open kitchen, set up to resemble a street food… Read more
…over Hugo’s in 2012 from their former boss Rob Evans. We squeezed in our meeting early so we could get acquainted before everyone headed off to perform their respective duties in preparation for the night’s dinner service. The restaurant has been located at the edge of the Old Port district since the late 1990s, when Evans opened the place and,… Read more
Are you in New York City asking the perennial question, “Where shall we eat?” Well then, you’re going to want to check out Jack’s Wife Freda. For my money, this offers the best casual dining experience in the city. In the often crazy and pretentious New York restaurant scene, this is one bright spot you should get to know. Since… Read more
To quote the former New York Times food columnist William Grimes from his book, “Appetite City”, “New York is the greatest restaurant city the World has ever seen”. Paris has better French restaurants, Madrid better Spanish restaurants, and Tokyo better Japanese restaurants, but no city offers such a variety of national cooking styles as New York. According to city records,… Read more
…lunch I met up with Australian Chef Michael Smith, owner of Porthminster Beach Cafe. I had read about him and have his cook book, so I was eager to meet him. The restaurant is on the second floor of a white Art Deco building lovingly restored to house the restaurant. I’m told that in summer the place is buzzing. Now,… Read more
…many more days on the farm learning how it all works, but it’s lunchtime! We are hungry and next on our program is a visit to The Agrarian Kitchen’s latest venture The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery. For people who are not able to partake in The Agrarian Kitchen’s full educational program, a restaurant is a perfect way for more people to… Read more
…and galleries we visit the restaurant located in the farm’s former cow shed. Roth Bar and Grill is run by husband and wife team Julia and Steve Horell. It is a mixing space where people arriving with different agendas all end up together. I think this is the lynch pin of the whole place and the main reason the complex… Read more
…name Dishoom comes from the Bollywood sound effect used in fight scenes. Kind of the Indian version of Batman’s “POW”. This is the third Dishoom in London, by far the biggest and I think their most interesting interior to date. Housed in the voluminous three-story Victorian space it is set-up like an Indian train station restaurant. Upon entering you are… Read more
…the traditional home of poor artists and students. Now it’s a popular area to live, full of interesting restaurants and concept stores alongside a great market and “moeder & pop” shops that continue to do a good trade. This is also the neighborhood of Israeli-born artist Hagar Vardimon-van Heummen, and her studio called Happy Red Fish. After walking the local… Read more
…style. Both having backgrounds in art, they built their new hotel concept around a network of prolific artists that provide a steady stream of new work to AR’s rooms and hallways. The ten room hotel with street-level restaurant and basement bar dates back to1852 and was designed by architect Thomas Cubitt as a public house. Cubitt was the architect for… Read more
…sure to follow, and Phoenix is benefiting from the trend. To be sure the spreading of Silicon Valley business into the wide open and less expensive Southwest is a prime driver, delivering a new, young and hungry population to the area. With them have followed craft breweries, farmers’ markets, food trucks and a plethora of new restaurants to breathe new… Read more
…from a post in Bangkok, and after stints in several European Michelin-starred restaurants. Sourcing for ingredients can make or break a great restaurant, and for Chris it took a bit more than shopping to get produce that met his standards. He put his team to work finding farmers in the communities surrounding Yangon and them teaching them what to grow… Read more
…and decorated in a simple, contemporary style with 1950s Eames chairs, plasma TVs and minimalist loft-style rooms that create a chic design hotel experience without feeling cold and impersonal. Some of the rooms have terraces with amazing views of nearby Bonsecours Market, Notre Dame Basilica and the waterfront, all within walking distance. There’s 24-hour room service, an on-site restaurant and… Read more
Including: Archeological Museum of Chania, Etz Hayyim Synagogue, Canea Gift Shop, Tamam Restaurant, The Well of the Turk Restaurant, House 66 and the Doma Hotel Read more
…east. California Dreaming in Santa Cruz The hotel is composed of two sections, a tower and a lower building containing the hotel’s original rooms, the pool, and restaurant. We opted for the tower, or as the hotel refers to it, “the executive wing”. The executive wing is distinguished by its larger rooms, king-sized beds and … the brilliant views. In… Read more
…where we have been you can easily chart your own adventures. We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel … a lot. Over time, our friends began asking us for tips: a recommendation for a good restaurant in Pembrokshire; a place to stay in Alto Adige; what to do in Omaha; the best museum in London, if you… Read more
…paired with a unique national food culture. Just across the street from Seoul’s Jogyesa Temple, is restaurant Balwoo Gongyang on the second floor of the Temple’s cultural center. The tradition of temple food rests on the intimate connection between cook and ingredients, making the act of preparation a major distinguishing factor in the food presented. The menu is strictly vegetarian,… Read more
…restaurant. There is a particularly good breakfast menu available to get you charged up for a day of sightseeing. After returning from a full day, we also enjoyed tucking into the “Flammkuchen”, a kind of pizza with a paper thin crust. The rooms are spacious with a distinctly Dutch modern decor; an easy blend of industrial chic with warm, comfortable… Read more
…the markets our starting point for our exploration of the best restaurants in Santa Cruz. Bantam For our first stop, we head over to Fair Avenue on Santa Cruz’s Westside to visit one of the owners of Bantam, Ben Sims. After several years as the pizza chef at San Francisco’s Chez Panisse, Ben and his wife Sarah decided to head… Read more
…history, the lobby bar/bistro, the Dunbar Room, got its name from a ‘60s restaurant that used to occupy the top floor. Now with a new interior of black painted brick walls, Moroccan tiles, and classic Bistro furniture, it’s a place in which Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas might well have felt quite at home. Most importantly, the 76 rooms at… Read more
…restaurants and bars that the harvest celebrations inspire. Make your first stop on the Pixie tour the local farmers’ market. Every Sunday you can find fresh Pixies and a veritable cornucopia of other citrus varieties. Who knew there were so many different varieties of these small aromatic sweet juicy little fruits? Go early and you will find the great and… Read more
…ground floor, and the home of M. Wells Dinette, a cafeteria-style eatery run by husband and wife team, Hugue Dufour and Sarah Orbraitis. Hugue got his start at the famed “Au Pied de Cochon” in Montreal, the restaurant which many say brought nose-to-tail cooking back to the Americas. On moving to New York from Montreal, Hugue and Sarah first tried… Read more
…the Lenbachhaus, including the addition of a new wing by Architect Norman Foster. The renovated gallery with its new extension was inaugurated in May 2013. Norman Foster’s addition draws inspiration from the yellow Italianate villa of the original house, with a yellow tinted metal facade that guides you towards the entry. A restaurant, Ellas, on the ground floor is a… Read more
…that did not leave you with a complete picture, the museums’ curators are readily on hand to answer any of your questions. We had several great chats on our tour and getting their verbal perspective really enhanced our understanding of what’s on display Unlike any other museum food concession we have visited, Sweet Home Cafe, the museum’s lower floor restaurant,… Read more
…of the Columbia River. Daily, her brothers deliver just-caught fish to the restaurant. Gordon and Lisa tell us they met while they were both living in Santa Fe. On a chance encounter at Whole Foods where Gordon was working, they struck up a conversation about, what else, fish. Their serendipitous meeting ultimately led to a great collaboration at Clemente and… Read more
…I was getting chilly so I headed over to the nearby restaurant / café, Fraeulein Grueneis, to chat with owners Sandra and Henning Duerr. Henning was born and raised in Munich and an early observer of the scene. One of his young staff, Margo, just shy of 17, surfs daily after school and helps in the kitchen at Fraeulein Grueneis… Read more
…literally set into the landscape with vast areas of glass along the edge of the classroom. The message is clear, consider not just the food in front of you, but also where it comes from. And in most cases, the food prepared at River Cottage farm and restaurant could have been observed at some point through those windows. The professional… Read more
…to make the trip. Situated on Lordship Lane, the main street of Dulwich, is the restaurant Toasted, a collaboration between Chef Michael Hazlewood and Manager Alex Thorp. Michael, or Hazel as everyone calls him, hails from the Southern Hemisphere and began to develop his considerable culinary skills at the well-regarded Attica in Melbourne. He later moved onto positions at a… Read more
…in discovering more about the artists that have made their home in St. Ives. Olivier promptly set us up with a private tour of the Sandra Blow Studio, which was a real treat. Need restaurant reservations or a surf lesson? Angela and Olivier will have great ideas for you. On our last afternoon we took advantage of Trevose’s picnic basket… Read more
…But, as we discovered, through Robin’s relentless pursuit of his passion for food, charcuterie and various other food innovations, quite a unique establishment has developed. Part butcher shop, part restaurant, part lunch counter and local meeting place, Robin has created the perfect spot to work his magic. As an aside, Robin welcomed us in one of Teresa Green’s silkscreened aprons…. Read more
…the 17th century. In the ‘70s, with the infrastructure of the village crumbling, the father-in-law of Tasos, the current owner, decided to save the village and turn it into an eco lodge with a restaurant open to the public. Every Tuesday, this is the home of Natour Labs Cretan Cooking Class. The beautiful stone houses of the village have been… Read more
…for free international calls from your room. This is definitely the thinking tourist hotel. It lacks a restaurant, but hey, you’re in Chelsea! You have more than your share of dining spots a few steps away. And for destinations a bit further afar, use one of the bikes supplied in front of the hotel. Riding home late at night? Keep… Read more
…than a restaurant. Looking around, Table on Ten is a simple place: a quirky old building brought back to life, made modern where it needs to be, but for the most part left alone. So why does it feel so special? Talking to Inez it all makes sense. Her warm, calm, confident temperament steers Table on Ten like a ship… Read more
…school’s accomplishments. What a fun morning talking with all the young students eager to chat and practice their English. At lunchtime, Mr. Hideaki took us to a fabulous local Udon restaurant, and then to a lacquer workshop where students of all skill levels learn the ancient craft of applying lacquer to wooden objects. With a little more time, learning the… Read more
…a “tour” of parts of each other’s life that you might not know so well. Grand tour questions are a great way to begin such explorations. Consider the following options. The hometown grand tour. Imagine you’ve just spent the afternoon in the Zócalo in Oaxaca – a tree-lined plaza and central gathering place, surrounded by restaurants, markets, and a grand… Read more
Who knew there was a Michelin-starred chef from Mumbai cooking papadam on Lexington? We have amazing pictures and dining tips of where to go for your Indian food fix. By one recent count, there are 141 Indian restaurants in Manhattan, and we guess that a pretty good percentage of them are concentrated in the three-block stretch of Murray Hill, just… Read more
…linden trees during recess. The patio is now lined with roses and peonies in flowerbeds and filled with brightly coloured bistro tables. While there isn’t an actual restaurant on the property, you can find plenty of superb spots nearby, and Carfora has created a guide for guests with favourite stops, including Osteria Sciessere, which is within walking distance of the… Read more
…tier restaurants, and exciting museums. Cultural destinations that many other islands can not claim. One-stop not to be missed is the 17th-century Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue. At over 280 years old, it is one of the oldest synagogues in the world and certainly the oldest in the Americas. Sand that covers the floor is a nod to “Moses in the desert,… Read more
…contemporary and high-end bar in Capitol Hill, Artusi is well known for its specialized cocktails and light fare. It sits snugly adjacent to its famous cousin restaurant Spinasse. Drop in for happy hour and move over to Spinasse as the evening progresses. www.artusibar.com Seattle Central Library The modern and stunning Seattle Central Library, designed by famed architect Rem Koolhaas, was… Read more
…you’d find in a small town in southern Spain on a lazy sunny afternoon. There are a variety of restaurants to suit different tastes and dining styles. We particularly liked the Prado restaurant with a menu focusing on Mediterranean cuisine and using all fresh seasonal ingredients. Of course, there is a great selection of Tapas on offer if you rather… Read more
