Start with a few Walt Disney Imagineers, circa 1961. Add a generous portion of Jet Age kitsch. Then bake it for decades under the southern California sun. What do you get? The highly acclaimed Encounter Restaurant & Bar in LAX’s landmark Theme Building. Years ago, I enjoyed a very impressive meal here. In 1997, a…
Flowing from the earth at 109 degrees, the iron spring at Ojo Caliente bubbles gently beneath my feet. The water’s a ruddy terra cotta color and is said to be good for the blood. I bob around in the rock-lined pool, feeling if not exactly Geritol-ized, at least relaxed. Next comes a dip in the…
Talk about a celebrity magnet! Sassafraz Restaurant in the heart of fashionable Yorkville has been called “the hub, the headquarters, the clubhouse, the main stage where everything is happening” by the Toronto Sun. It must all be true because Courtney Cox Arquette recently liked its bistro so much that she dined here for four consecutive…
Casual elegance best describes my lunch at the new Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco. Situated two blocks from fashionista destination Union Square and around the corner from the Museum of Modern Art, its Seasons restaurant is a stylish dining room serving breakfast, lunch and dinner in the heart of my native city. The menu features…
Stars like Stella McCartney and Kate Moss have been spotted having a spot of tea in some of London’s more fashionable high tea restaurants, from the recently opened Tea Palace in fashionable Notting Hill to some of the city’s most refined hotels and restaurants. Steeped in tradition, the Palace is a modern tea emporium offering…
Whether you call it N’Awlins, NOLA, or New Orleens, this city has some outstanding restaurants. Brennan’s is a culinary phenomenon and has been since it opened almost 60 years ago. The chefs here have created some of the world’s most famous and imaginative dishes like Bananas Foster. Now with 10 restaurants, their best bargain buys…
I’m dangling over the raw, pounding Pacific Ocean on Canada’s westernmost shore. Two bald eagles soar above and a seal rides the foamy surf. “I’m glad they’re putting on a show for you today,” says Charles McDiarmid, managing director of the Wickaninnish Inn, near Tofino on Vancouver Island, B.C.
There are perhaps hundreds of tapas bars in Barcelona serving innovative small plates. But the taste-testers there at Epicurious.com boast about one in particular, It’s called El Quim de la Boqueria right in the middle of the rambling Boqueria marketplace, which specializes in fricassee of artichokes and white asparagus, lamb strips in dark beer, tiny…
Any meal that starts with mojitos and ends with flan can’t be too bad. In fact, dining on the back patio of Maria Manso World Cuisine last weekend in my town of San Rafael, CA was an ecletic culinary experience. Maria’s Mom is Cuban. Her Dad is Italian. And her menu is a United Nations…
If you want to try Southern food without the grits, put the napkin under your chin at B. Smith’s. We ate recently at her gorgeous restaurant in historic Washington, DC’s Union Station – a national landmark that’s been called one of the most beautiful dining rooms in America. It’s also the former Presidential Suite dating…
In April 2005, a quirky new restaurant opened in Sydney, Australia. The twist? At The Dark Side of Hyde Park, diners eat in total darkness. The Australian restaurant is not the first to explore dining in the dark. But at the Blind Cow Restaurant in Zurich, guests eat in total darkness; the restaurant’s wait staff…
Some would search a sophisticated city for the best Lemon Drop, Cosmopolitan or Appletini. But when you’re traveling with your 11-year-old daughter to Washington, D.C. during the hot, muggy summer, you seek the tastiest lemonade that won’t make you pucker. It gives new meaning to my “favorite watering holes.” So, drum roll please, as Sara…