Category: travel

where my mouth has taken me…

travel: fêtes and feasts…

James Beard Awards Lincoln Center, New York, New York New York is such a scene, isn’t it, what with its gossip girls and tourists, bomb threats and celebrity wars? During the first weekend in May, New York becomes temporarily mobbed with chefs and their groupies, all flocking to attend what has been dubbed, “the Oscars […]

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travel: fêtes and feasts…

James Beard Awards Lincoln Center, New York, New York New York is such a scene, isn’t it, what with its gossip girls and tourists, bomb threats and celebrity wars? During the first weekend in May, New York becomes temporarily mobbed with chefs and their groupies, all flocking to attend what has been dubbed, “the Oscars […]

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review: blade runner…

CityZen Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C. I have very good instincts about restaurants. They work for me, anyway. I’d say that about 80% my restaurant experiences match my expectations. I tend to walk in with a glass slightly less than half-empty and hope that the restaurant can fill ‘er up.  If it doesn’t, there’s not a […]

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review: blade runner…

CityZen Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C. I have very good instincts about restaurants. They work for me, anyway. I’d say that about 80% my restaurant experiences match my expectations. I tend to walk in with a glass slightly less than half-empty and hope that the restaurant can fill ‘er up.  If it doesn’t, there’s not a […]

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review: pan hellenic…

komi, Washington, D.C. It was the year that April Bloomfield brought the gastro pub to the West Village, Dan Barber opened a restaurant in a stone barn in Pocantico Hills, and Grant Achatz cast a wrinkle in the fabric of modern cuisine with an archaic symbol. Joël Robuchon landed in Las Vegas at The Mansion, […]

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review: pan hellenic…

komi, Washington, D.C. It was the year that April Bloomfield brought the gastro pub to the West Village, Dan Barber opened a restaurant in a stone barn in Pocantico Hills, and Grant Achatz cast a wrinkle in the fabric of modern cuisine with an archaic symbol. Joël Robuchon landed in Las Vegas at The Mansion, […]

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review: a tropical umbrella…

Mango-Anchovy Ravioli Cafe Atlantico, Washington, D.C. I can’t believe that I lived in Washington, D.C. and never once stepped foot in Cafe Atlantico. Jaleo, yes.  But never Cafe Atlantico. Neither did I visit Jose Andres’s Mediterranean “mezze” restaurant, Zaytinya, which opened shortly before I moved away, or minibar, which always seemed (and still seems) like […]

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review: a tropical umbrella…

Mango-Anchovy Ravioli Cafe Atlantico, Washington, D.C. I can’t believe that I lived in Washington, D.C. and never once stepped foot in Cafe Atlantico. Jaleo, yes.  But never Cafe Atlantico. Neither did I visit Jose Andres’s Mediterranean “mezze” restaurant, Zaytinya, which opened shortly before I moved away, or minibar, which always seemed (and still seems) like […]

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review: one fish, two fish, three fish, goldfish…

Goldfish Hank’s Oyster Bar, Washington, D.C. Goldfish. Pepperidge Farm Goldfish is what they give you to snack on while you look over the menu at Hank’s Oyster Bar. I’m assuming they do this at both locations.  I was at the original location near Dupont on a recent Saturday for brunch, drawn by a sudden yen […]

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review: one fish, two fish, three fish, goldfish…

Goldfish Hank’s Oyster Bar, Washington, D.C. Goldfish. Pepperidge Farm Goldfish is what they give you to snack on while you look over the menu at Hank’s Oyster Bar. I’m assuming they do this at both locations.  I was at the original location near Dupont on a recent Saturday for brunch, drawn by a sudden yen […]

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review: happy in the kitchen…

Ahi Tuna Burger Central Michel Richard, Washington, D.C. The temperature was dropping rapidly.  In the hour it took to get from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to lunch, the thermometer trimmed itself of nearly twenty degrees.  Cold rain might turn into snow, they said.  Freezing temperatures were expected by early evening. […]

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review: happy in the kitchen…

Ahi Tuna Burger Central Michel Richard, Washington, D.C. The temperature was dropping rapidly.  In the hour it took to get from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to lunch, the thermometer trimmed itself of nearly twenty degrees.  Cold rain might turn into snow, they said.  Freezing temperatures were expected by early evening. […]

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travel: a vernal showing…

Cherry Blossoms Dunbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. The cherry trees were beginning their vernal show around the Tidal Basin.  And despite the unexpected freeze, they held up nicely for the official start to the Cherry Blossom Festival. Though I can’t say I enjoyed living there, it was good to be back in Washington, D.C.  I hadn’t […]

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travel: a vernal showing…

Cherry Blossoms Dunbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. The cherry trees were beginning their vernal show around the Tidal Basin.  And despite the unexpected freeze, they held up nicely for the official start to the Cherry Blossom Festival. Though I can’t say I enjoyed living there, it was good to be back in Washington, D.C.  I hadn’t […]

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review: initialism…

Bay Scallops SPQR, San Francisco An unassuming eatery tucked away in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, S.P.Q.R. is probably best known as the more casual cousin to A16.  Both restaurants are were co-owned by Nate Appleman, who was, for a time, the culinary darling au current of America. But Appleman has quieted down […]

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review: initialism…

Bay Scallops SPQR, San Francisco An unassuming eatery tucked away in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, S.P.Q.R. is probably best known as the more casual cousin to A16.  Both restaurants are were co-owned by Nate Appleman, who was, for a time, the culinary darling au current of America. But Appleman has quieted down […]

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review: thoroughly modern meyer…

Fresh Morel Mushroom and Fava Bean Salad The Modern, New York, New York I have to tell you about one of the best meals I had last year. It was at The Modern in New York. I’ve eaten twice in the The Modern Bar Room, the restaurant’s sprawling European airport lounge-like attachment (2007, 2008).  It […]

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review: thoroughly modern meyer…

Fresh Morel Mushroom and Fava Bean Salad The Modern, New York, New York I have to tell you about one of the best meals I had last year. It was at The Modern in New York. I’ve eaten twice in the The Modern Bar Room, the restaurant’s sprawling European airport lounge-like attachment (2007, 2008).  It […]

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review: for the view…

Chocolate Souffle miX, Las Vegas It was mostly for the view that Cowboy and I ascended sixty-four floors of THEhotel at Mandalay Bay after gorging ourselves silly at Aburiya Raku. It was my last night in Sin City and I wanted a cheap thrill. At the top of THEhotel is miX, Michelin mogul Alain Ducasse’s […]

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review: for the view…

Chocolate Souffle miX, Las Vegas It was mostly for the view that Cowboy and I ascended sixty-four floors of THEhotel at Mandalay Bay after gorging ourselves silly at Aburiya Raku. It was my last night in Sin City and I wanted a cheap thrill. At the top of THEhotel is miX, Michelin mogul Alain Ducasse’s […]

Continue