Search results for

Facing the impressive Jesuit complex in the Old Town, Kopun is just far enough from the tourist hot spots to elevate its already good food with a pinch of serenity. The menu here focuses on traditional delicacies from the region, including a buzara stew with mussels and a capon prepared from a 16th-century recipe with Eastern spices, honey, and sour orange (there’s also a 19th-century version sprinkled with porcini mushrooms). The wine list boasts several lesser-known local producers, so be sure to ask your server what pairs best with your meal.

On the edge of Zadar’s historic quarter, steps from Pet Bunara Square, this Slow Food–inspired restaurant invites you to linger over your meal. Grab a seat in the exposed-stone dining room or out on the olive tree–fringed terrace and dig into traditional Dalmatian dishes prepared with local, mostly organic ingredients. Pet Bunara even makes all its bread and pasta on-site. Try the orzotto (a pearl-barley stew with smoked mussels), the excellent octopus salad, and, for those with a sweet tooth, the divine fig cake.

Just a short walk from the Vatican Museums, La Tradizione sells more than 400 cheeses, which are carefully selected and, when appropriate, aged. This gourmet shop is hands-down the best place in town to shop for fermented dairy, as well as cured meats, prepared foods, and other gourmet products. To get there, take the Metro A to Cipro. La Tradizione is across the street from the Metro stop. And while you are there, pop over to Pizzarium, which is only 200 yards away.

In business since 1983, Enjou Chocolat specializes in customized chocolate creations. Owner/founder Wendy Taffet has over 50,000 different molds at her disposal, which she expertly employs to manufacture confectioneries in every shape–from corporate logos to pink stilettos. Her wizardry has garnered much media attention from places like the Food Network, but Wendy still thinks Enjou is Morristown’s best-kept secret. All chocolates are made in house. Requests are welcome.

“I’ve never seen so much red – except at a French brothel,” a fellow guest said to me as we rode the elevator together. She was right. From the moment you enter the lobby, the Rouge lives up to its colorful name with its red quartz tile, red lamps, and the Red Hot Room (for meetings). You’ll find crimson headboards and velvet drapes in each room -- although there’s plenty of zebra print, too. One of eight Kimpton hotels in Washington, DC, Rouge is certainly the rosiest. Stylish and eclectic in that Kimpton fashion, my street-facing room was both comfy and oversized – and convenient. It’s just three blocks to DuPont Circle and then only a bit further to Rock Creek Park (great for jogging, biking, or just walking). The White House is five blocks away and Whole Foods Market just two. For the athletically minded (like me), the good news is that each room has a yoga mat in the closet and nearly all are large enough to do a complete Vinyasa flow. The less good news: the small fitness room in the basement is dreary (but for $5 you can get a pass to the local “Y,” which has every amenity, including a 25-meter pool). The Rouge’s guests are as idiosyncratic as its décor. Families, business warriors, and hipsters seem to be the main human food groups –converging for the hotel’s wine hour from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and at then, again, breakfast. If eclectic’s your thing, the Rouge is your place. Leave the rose-colored glasses at home – you won’t need them here.

Dilli Haat is an open-air market with 62 stalls that features both permanent and transitional vendors, allowing original items to be introduced regularly. The space, designed to resemble a traditional village market, was created to showcase products from across India. There is an application process to determine the temporary vendors who generally stay for 15 days. Items include textiles, crafts, clothing, shoes, beads, gems, and art, as well as a food court with specialty items from across the country. The small entrance fee and gated exterior keep unwanted panhandlers at bay, allowing for a leisurely shopping experience. Though prices are reasonable, bargaining is still encouraged. Dilli Haat is a favorite jaunt for locals and tourists, adding to the diversity of the experience.

To immerse yourself in the life of a Moroccan housewife, take a stroll through the fresh-produce market of R’cif, which winds through the lower part of the Fes medina. Plan to arrive by 10 a.m. when the market really gets going (by 11:30 a.m., it’s packed). In addition to browsing stalls of plump fruit and vegetables from farms in the Middle Atlas, you can snack here, too: hot trid—a gossamer-thin pastry baked over a rounded clay pot or “egg”—and irresistible meloui (multiple layers of dough that become soft and flaky as they are cooked) stuffed with spiced onions. Don’t miss seeing the infamously grumpy camel butcher whose signage is a real camel’s head hanging from a hook. Around lunchtime, mastermind your way deep into the souks to find the Achabine area, where the city’s best street food vendors ply their trade. The dishes served up here built this city and continue to do so every lunchtime: comforting bessara (split-pea or broad-bean soup) and harira (a Moroccan staple of chickpeas, lentils, and lamb broth); sardines doused in charmoula and deep-fried until crunchy; hard-boiled eggs dipped in cumin. Come in the evening if you crave bite-sized brochettes of tender lamb and spiced liver.

A pioneer of the East Nashville restaurant scene, Margot McCormack created this stylish spot in a repurposed service station in the heart of East Nashville’s Five Points long before the area was considered a destination for fine dining. The Nashville native, who moved away for the Culinary Institute of America and a stint at restaurants in New York City, serves from her collection of mismatched china in a cozy space with copper pots hanging from exposed brick walls. After more than a decade, the restaurant remains a favorite for dinner and Sunday brunch. The menu changes daily, but entrées might include pan-roasted scallops with parsnip purée, baby carrots, and preserved lemon, or house-made fettuccine with butternut squash, walnuts, and goat cheese.

This Playa del Carmen restaurant takes its name from a traditional Mexican dish known as aguachile: chili-marinated shrimp with lime juice, onion, and sometimes other ingredients that lend it a strong, spicy-citrus flavor. With its open-air setting and laid-back, beachy style, plus a location a few blocks from bustling 5th Avenue, Los Aguachiles is in fact more local hangout than tourist joint. There’s an extensive menu of other casual Mexican seafood, most notably delicious tacos and tostadas (crispy tortillas piled high with traditional ingredients), as well as mezcal cocktails and chamochela (michelada-style beer mixed with sauces, then rimmed with chili powder and decorated with a shrimp).

Why we love it: A hipster hotspot that’s as stylish as it is affordable

Highlights:
- A range of room types for all travelers
- Local hangouts like the on-site diner and pool bar
- A prime location in one of Austin’s coolest neighborhoods

The Review:
While locals are committed to keeping Austin weird, there’s nothing strange about the new East Austin Hotel, a soon-to-be hipster haunt where millennial pink accents and midcentury chic mix with details that embody the city’s independent spirit. Here, guests find a variety of accommodations to suit all types of travelers, from cabin rooms with shared bathrooms to poolside suites with private balconies, but all feature Scandi-inspired furnishings and quirky touches like turtle-shaped ottomans, Moroccan pillows, and retro Victrola radios.

Vintage pendants hang over the bar at on-site restaurant Sixth & Waller, a self-described “global diner” that serves international comfort food like family-style latkes, chicken-fried steak, and mango cream pie. Equally stylish is The Upside, a rooftop bar with cocktails inspired by the Caribbean and Central and South America, and Pool Bar, which welcomes both guests and locals with frozen drinks and Instagram-friendly dishes like gochujang queso and jackfruit bánh mi. The hotel also boasts a stylish gift shop with local gifts like handcrafted ceramics and leather goods, but if you’d rather venture out, stop by the concierge desk and grab a curated map that highlights neighborhood hotspots with live music, authentic food, and more.

For those who love a chicken tikka or a lamb rogan josh, Britain is a famously fulfilling destination, with some of the best Indian food you’ll find outside, well, India. The curryhouses on Brick Lane will ladle out masalas and rice until your belly’s ready to burst, but for a different take, try Dishoom, which operates in five different London locations (and Edinburgh) and specialises in the finger food of Mumbai’s Irani cafés: a fabulous array of grills and snacks, from the delicious lamb kebab to the moreish keema pav (minced lamb or chicken), served on a bun in an environment that recreates the décor of the colonial railways. If you can make it here for breakfast, the bacon naan roll or the spicy scrambled eggs are the perfect way to set up your day.

Every evening on the North Shore of Kauai, diners pack Bar Acuda for Mediterranean-inspired tapas that highlight local products. “The key is taking the finest ingredients and not doing much with them,” says chef Jim Moffat. He frequently changes his seasonal menu and sources such produce as citrus, avocados, fennel, and herbs from his home garden and the Hanalei Elementary School Garden, a program for local students that he helps run. Moffat often shops at farmers’ markets, but locals know they can also sell their fruits and vegetables at Bar Acuda’s back door. One firefighter even drives his 30-foot ladder truck to drop off cases of tangelos. “If you have a vacation rental and there’s something ripe, bring it to me,” says Moffat, who promises a gift certificate in exchange. His food philosophy creates a dining experience that’s greater than the sum of its dishes. “It’s about the lifestyle more than anything.” This appeared in the May 2015 issue.

Ever heard of a bonut? Neither had we until we visited Biscuit Love, a cult-favorite breakfast spot in Nashville‘s happening Gulch neighborhood, where morning queues often exceed an hour on weekends. And bonuts—deep-fried biscuit dough slathered in lemon mascarpone and balanced on a sticky heap of blueberry compote—are just one of the many hits on the menu. The restaurant had its origins in 2012 as a food truck, where husband-and-wife team Karl and Sarah Worley’s made-from-scratch biscuits made them an overnight success. In January 2015, they opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant, where Karl mans the stoves and Sarah runs the front of the house, making sure patrons get their Southern classics while they’re hot. Be sure to order a bonut, along with the sweet-and-spicy Chronic Bacon, shrimp and grits, and the off-menu Nasty Princess, a biscuit topped with Nashville-style hot chicken, gravy, pickles, mustard, and honey.

Every time I visit the flea market in Jaffa, I must stop for a cup of coffee or a bite at Pua restaurant. The space looks like a retro apartment my grandparents used to have, filled with furnitures and decorations well collected from the vintage stores next door. Beside the eclectic atmosphere and design, Pua serves a great, earthy and tasty food. Israeli breakfast is served all day (a great plus for those who love a good well-balanced mediterranean breakfast) and the menu changes according to the owner’s desire. Rest asure that every day will be a good one. I highly recommend to make reservations (if possible) or be patient as this place is very busy.

The Japanese-inspired Nobu Ryokan Malibu, located on the ocean just north of Los Angeles, sets the tone with its smooth teak exterior. An entrance gate leads to a garden where water flows over honey-colored rocks into a pond, and palm trees shade stone paths lined with black Japanese grass. In the 16 guest rooms, there are no exposed nails or screws, just smooth surfaces of teak and Jerusalem limestone and linen. The art on the walls is original—a watercolor of sparrows in muted tones, a panel of delicately carved black lacquer depicting waves and leaves. The furniture is oak, all right angles and brass fittings, and the bedside lamps look like lanterns. The bathrooms feature skylights, rain showers, and deep teak soaking tubs.

Hotel guests get first dibs on reservations at Nobu restaurant, just two doors down. If that seems too far away, you can get Nobu food delivered to your room: think scallop tiradito, salmon sashimi, and smoked duck with cherry and hibiscus. Another highlight of a stay here are the well being experiences, including yoga with partner studio ALO and an affiliation with Malibu Fit Concierge that offers private fitness classes and guided hikes.

Nobu has partnered with Surf Air to transport guests from various cities in California and Texas. Surf Air flies small planes out of regional airports (if you’re coming from the Bay Area, for example, it’s a 90-minute ride). A car in L.A. takes you on the 40 minute ride north on the scenic Pacific Coast Highway.