Search results for

Just steps from the beach, Sapphire offers outdoor dining year-round on its cozy patio. Run by executive chef Azmin Gahreman for more than a decade, the restaurant is certainly a Laguna institution, but one that’s constantly evolving to stay fresh. Though Sapphire is worth a visit for every meal, it really shines at brunch, when such indulgent dishes as buttermilk pancakes, fried chicken and cheddar biscuits, and eggs Benedict with roasted jalapeño hollandaise are on the menu. Pair your breakfast with bottomless mimosas in flavors like orange, mango, and grapefruit and you’ll have the makings of a perfect morning.

Dinner at The Kitchen Table is best described as a “culinary journey.” Here, the experience of lingering over seven to eight courses is limited to just 16 diners a night. Meals begin with a sunset cocktail, during which guests are encouraged to mix and mingle. Then, it’s time for artfully presented dishes made with local ingredients and homegrown produce. The dynamic menu changes often but usually includes standbys like salt-cured tuna with native greens and Creole sauce, and black salmon topped with mango chutney, saffron sauce, pickled squash, and curried popcorn. Vegetarian menus are also available.

Near the far northeastern tip of Bequia, the Sugar Reef Café is a breezy spot just steps from the crashing sea. Here, diners can enjoy healthy, locally sourced dishes for both lunch and dinner, from fish roti with mango chutney and papaya-black-bean salsa, to blackened chicken and Callaloo lasagna with Caribbean spinach and rosemary. Sugar Reef’s own estate produces the honey and fruit, while St. Vincent farmers and fisherman are responsible for the fresh produce, meat, and fish. The restaurant even uses coconut milk instead of dairy and coconut oil for frying. Daytime is casual, while evening brings a more romantic vibe.

It’s all about the fruits of the sea at the Old Fisherman, a local favorite in the center of town. Although the decor is nautical and the dishes are named for seafaring icons, the atmosphere isn’t exactly what you’d expect on vacation. No matter, you—and the locals who pack the place at lunchtime—came for the food anyway. Among the must-try dishes are the Charlie Brouns (fried fish roe in garlic sauce), Juan Henriquez (grilled catch of the day in a mango-coconut-wine reduction), and the Jan Semeleer (conch). Pair your order with an ice-cold Balashi (the local beer) or non-alcoholic awa di lamoenchi (house-made lemonade).

A local institution, the Lobster Pot serves up its crustacean namesakes, among other Caribbean delicacies, on a vista-blessed seaside deck. If you can, arrive at sunset for the nightly tarpon feeding (much more engrossing in person than you’d imagine). And even if you don’t get there exactly at the appointed hour, you can still spot these giants as they continue to patrol the dramatically floodlit waters off the restaurant’s deck for leftovers. As you take in the view, you’ll be eating the likes of lobster-and-mango salad, lobster bisque, or lobster sautéed in a tomatoey, peppery blend and served with fried plantains, rice, and beans.

At Tin Roof, diners can witness Top Chef finalist Sheldon Simeon joyously connecting with his Hilo roots. The counter-service spot—run by Simeon and his wife, Janice, a talented artist who designed the restaurant’s distinctive doors—serves traditional Hawaiian dishes made with local ingredients. Order online ahead of time because the lines can get intense, and make sure to get the garlic shrimp and the mochiko chicken (marinated overnight in ginger, sake, and shoyu, then covered in a sweet mochiko batter, fried twice, and topped with house-made su-miso sauce, gochujang aioli, and mochi crunch). For dessert, don’t miss the mango pono pie, which features a breadfruit-thickened custard inside a crumb-style crust with powdered coconut and macadamia nuts.

Surprisingly, great cocktails and an ocean breeze can be hard to find in San Diego, which makes JRDN at the Tower23 Hotel somewhat of an anomaly. It may be a scene—there are bouncers at the door, and the 70-foot-long wave wall would be more at home in Miami—but the wind-protected patio is practically on the boardwalk, offering great views of Crystal Pier and surfers catching waves. On warm evenings, drinks like the cava-based Raspberry Sparkler and the spicy chili-mango margarita make the experience even sweeter. JRDN’s happy hour (Mondays–Fridays, 4 p.m.–6 p.m.) offers discounted beer, wine and sake and coincides with the sunset for much of the year, making it a prime time to score a seat outside.

A lilliputian property on a busy Old Quarter street, Essence has an unassuming entrance that belies its stylish interiors. Renovated in 2017, the eight-story hotel’s intimate rooms are well-appointed with velvet headboards, lantern-like pendant lighting, and writing desks with laptops and reliable Wi-Fi—plus decent soundproofing to block out the Hanoi bustle. Turndown service includes flower petals sprinkled on the bed and towels folded into animal shapes (swans are a favorite). Fresh seasonal fruit such as mango, papaya, and pineapple and complimentary mini-bar snacks are restocked daily. Head downstairs to dine on updated Vietnamese specialties like spring rolls and bun cha (barbecue pork) or hit the town: The hotel is surrounded by jewelry and clothing shops, cafés, and bars.

Steps from the sand on Princess Margaret Beach, Jack’s Beach Bar is the perfect spot for an alfresco lunch, happy hour on the terrace, or both. It’s a good choice for dinner, too, although landside access is tricky, with lots of stairs and rough terrain that’s difficult to navigate in the dark. Whenever you come, look forward to local ingredients, prepared with an international touch. Pair the tropical quinoa salad with the catch of the day, or opt for the famous fried chicken, served with your choice of mango chutney, smoky barbecue sauce, blue cheese dip, or Mama’s Hot Sauce. If you’re having too much fun on the water, order something from the delivery menu and Jack’s will bring it directly to your boat—the restaurant delivers up to almost two miles from the beach.

Once a delicacy of Japanese royalty, shave ice went mainstream in the 1920s. The refreshing treat then crossed the Pacific with immigrants—workers bound for the sugar plantations and pineapple fields of Hawaii. Now a classic way to cool down in the islands, this sweet is more than a mere snow cone. Ice made from filtered water is shaved instead of ground, so the texture resembles a delicate snowfall in your mouth. Ululani’s goes a step further by using pure cane sugar and premium purees made in-house. Among its most popular blends are the Haleakalā (coconut and Leche topped with cream) and the Sunset Beach (guava, mango, passion fruit, and orange). The chain has six outlets around Maui, including one at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort, and one in Kailua-Kona on Hawai’i Island.

Fusing the trends of sushi and build-your-own grain bowls, Sweetfin in Santa Monica, has created a customizable poke destination that is convenient, cost effective and creative at its core. The Hawaiian raw fish dish traditionally combines cubed tuna, rice, shoyu sauce, and veggies—but Sweetfin’s menu provides multiple ways to mix and match your fish of choice, base, add-ons, and sauce. You can start with a completely blank slate to create your own masterpiece, or, if options are overwhelming, you can begin with a pre-made signature bowl like the Mango Albacore with ponzu-lime sauce, macadamia nuts and ginger. Make sure to experiment with toppings including wasabi toasted coconut, charred habanero, and pickled shiitake mushrooms. No matter your choice, everything from the sauces to ice tea is homemade and gluten- and dairy-free, so you’ll feel as fresh as the nearby ocean breeze. Sweetfin started a poke revolution in L.A., and has since expanded on its OG Santa Monica location to Woodland Hills, Larchmont, Westwood, West Hollywood, DTLA, Silverlake, Venice Beach, and San Diego.

To Limeños, nothing goes with fresh fruit juice better than sandwiches, at dinner, or after dinner, or in the afternoon, or even in the morning. In fact, sandwiches don’t have to count as a meal in Peru, while it’s perfectly acceptable to call a pitcher of thick papaya juice “dinner.” Juice bars are everywhere, but it’s best to go to a reputable place, such as La Lucha, where you can trust the quality of the water used and the restaurant’s sanitation. It’s more expensive than your average hole-in-the-wall—though it’s still less than $3 for a freshly pressed mixed passion fruit, mango, and orange juice—but you pay for quality. For a Peruvian specialty, try the exotic lucuma “juice” with milk (more like a butterscotch-maple smoothie). And remember that in Spanish when you order “tuna” you’re actually ordering sweet prickly pear, not fish juice. The sandwiches made from giant hunks of rotisserie pork, chicken, homemade hot pepper, olive, and creamy golf sauces are also some of the least expensive and filling meals in the area.

The beef goes back centuries, and will never be entirely resolved: what are the true origins of pisco, a grape-based, aguardiente distillate that became a national symbol of Chile…and Peru. To end the conflict, the people behind this bar and restaurant invented a new, independent republic dedicated to Pisco that is known as Chipe Libre. Inside a vast Lastarria mansion, this imaginary state unites lands in southern Peru and northern Chile, in obeisance to a sole monarch, pisco. The bar features a good 100 labels and cocktails like “Pisco’s in the Air,” made with lime juice, raspberry, papaya and basil; plus a full range of what are among Santiago’s best traditional sours. Standout food include the crunchy-seafood saltado (marinated and grilled beef strips), with mango, served on a sizzling grill; the joint’s star sandwich, El Presidente, is a solid slice of roast beef, fried egg, and shoestring potatoes. To avoid any sovereignty disputes, Chipe Libre flies its red-and-black, center-starred flag as the republic’s national colors.

Although you can find most cuisines in Berlin now, Jamaican food is nowhere near as ubiquitous as it is in, say, London, and it’s mostly relegated to shacks or pop-up stalls at festivals. Enter RosaCaleta, a full-service restaurant run by two transplants from Jamaica via New York who have created a perfect balance of traditional Jamaican dishes playfully reinvented for a European palate. White walls and a wood floor set the stage for a menu that includes oven-roasted pork fillet, fiery jerk guava chicken served with fluffy dumplings, and vegetarian dishes such as vegetable stews and lentil salads mixed with mango and ginger. The restaurant also has a superlative rum collection, used for an inspired cocktail list that is as fruit-filled as it is potent.

When the Ritz-Carlton Dallas opened in 2007, it didn’t have to go far to find a star chef for its gourmet restaurant. Dubbed the father of Southwestern cuisine, and the author of notable cookbooks like The Texas Food Bible, Dean Fearing had helped earn the restaurant at the Mansion on Turtle Creek numerous awards during his two decades there—but was now up to the challenge of opening his own place. A decade-plus later, the James Beard Award–winning Fearing continues to be a favorite for its Southwestern-accented American menus crafted with regional products.