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Grammy-nominated country crooner Dierks Bentley brought a new country vibe to his home state when he opened Whiskey Row, a 1920s-style saloon that hosts live local and national acts. There’s a menu of Southern comfort food made from local ingredients along with self-serve beer and liquor on tap.

Botanika is one of San Sebastián‘s best local spots to just BE. Especially if you consider yourself slightly hip, ride a fixed gear, are a NOLA-phile, or enjoy café food with a vegetarian bent. The private garden overlooks the river that runs through the city. It’s off the beaten path but a wonderful spot to meet interesting locals and enjoy a beer or coffee.

They had me at the yellow building. I love wandering the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco and both Piccino restaurant and separate coffee bar, are lovely places to gather. The coffee bar on 22nd Street serves carefully crafted Sightglass organic coffee drinks. Their baking team aims to impress and I can’t get enough of the mushroom turnovers. Bonus: If you’re looking to make a to-go order from the Piccino restaurant around the corner, the coffee bar is where you’d place and pick up that order (hours have recently been extended until 10pm).

When most people look at a piece of turquoise, they see a pretty blue stone. The people of New Mexico see water, sky, bountiful harvests, and a source of health and protection. Turquoise has been a valuable stone—in jewelry, for ceremonial purposes, and as an object of trade—for more than a thousand years. Many works of art incorporating turquoise are on permanent display in New Mexico, at institutions like the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe. You can also, however, see (and touch) them at street festivals and markets along with weaving, pottery, silverwork, Kachina dolls, and more. You may even decide to take a bit of New Mexico home with you.

Described by writer Tahir Shah as the “greatest show on Earth,” no visit to Marrakech would be complete without a visit to the famous night market on the Djemaa el Fna. Arrive before sunset and park yourself at one of the various cafés with terraces overlooking the square to watch performers set up; then venture into the fray in search of adventure. Silk-clad acrobats, wide-eyed storytellers, sly snake charmers, jangling belly dancers, and capricious monkey handlers all emerge from the darkness, ringing the edge of the food stalls with their own special brand of entertainment. When you tire of the heckling, prowl the market in search of good things to eat: bite-size morsels of grilled lamb rubbed in cumin, sardines fried in chermoula, peppery snails, and sheep’s heads for the brave. Then nudge up alongside a family of locals at the table and settle in for the feast. If you’re nervous about going it alone, you can sign up for a food tour with Canadian tour guide and all-round good egg Mandy Sinclair of Tasting Marrakech; she’ll help you find the best stalls while introducing you to the secrets and delights of traditional Moroccan street food.

Why we love it: An all-American dude ranch where guests can play cowboy in luxury

Highlights:
- A superb riding program that brings over 150 horses to the mesquite corral each morning
- Luxury amenities like an outdoor pool and spa to balance out the adventure
- Regular dining events like private-chef dinners and barbecues

The Review:
Founded in 1868, this Tucson guest ranch sits below the Rincon Mountains, overlooking the rolling foothills of Saguaro National Park. It’s often ranked among America’s top resorts and wedding destinations—and for good reason. Not only does it deliver Southwestern charm in the form of pink adobe architecture, but it runs one of the nation’s top horseback-riding programs, with everything from team penning and mountain adventure rides to the signature “Harmony with Horses,” which teaches interspecies communication. The ranch also offers a host of other activities, including yoga, hikes, mountain biking, photography courses, and naturalist-led walks to explore the desert’s edible and medicinal plants. There’s even a kids’ day camp for ages four to 12 with tennis, arts and crafts, swimming, and more.

Rooms here feature exposed beams and brick, punctuated with dark wood furniture and pops of Southwestern fabrics. Each has a desk, coffeemaker, and small refrigerator, while the biggest suite also includes a fireplace and sleeps up to six. When guests start feeling saddle sore, they can rejuvenate with a full-body massage in the spa, or grab a prickly pear margarita at the Dog House Saloon. For a full meal, head to the on-site restaurant, which serves Southwestern cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or attend one of the specialty dining events held each week, including private-chef dinners and cowboy cookouts.

Nick’s is a Southern California institution, with coastal locations in Long Beach, San Clemente, Manhattan Beach, and Pasadena. The Laguna outpost has the others beat, however, thanks to its perch just across the street from Main Beach. Diners can head here after a long day in the sun for delicious takes on classic American dishes, from buttermilk fried chicken and San Francisco cioppino to rib eye melts and cheeseburgers with Thousand Island dressing. Whatever you choose, pair it with a house cocktail (you can’t go wrong with the jalapeño-watermelon margarita) as you watch the sun set over the Pacific.

Located on North Buffalo’s Hertel Avenue, MiMo Decor highlights mid-century, modernist, and contemporary design. Rated the best place in the city to find vintage furniture by local lifestyle magazine Buffalo Spree, the shop offers a range of upscale pieces, from bar cabinets to dresser sets. Father-daughter duo Joe and Jessica Buscaglia run the store, with Joe working to restore American and Scandinavian furniture and Jessica in charge of retail and design services. Visitors here can expect a showroom of unique items, plus a range of services, from rehabs and total rebuilds to in-home consultations, staging and furniture rental, upholstering, and more.

James and Connie Roberts, the husband-and-wife team behind Toutant, opened Dobutsu in 2018 with the aim of bringing quality seafood to Western New York. At their Larkin Square spot, the menu highlights American and Asian Pacific fare, with a strong focus on fish dishes like Caribbean jerk snapper and grilled Nova Scotia salmon—though options like Wagyu beef ribs and tomahawk pork tonkatsu are also available. The Hawaiian poke bowls are especially popular, served with either bigeye tuna and sesame soy, or marinated Atlantic salmon and ginger miso. If you’re celebrating something special, opt for the omakase and let the kitchen choose your courses and wine pairings.

Local restaurateur Hide Sakurai—also the force behind Shokudo next door—brings healthy grab-and-go options to the heart of Honolulu’s Ala Moana, the state’s largest shopping center. An artisan café and pinot wine bar, Bread & Butter seats around 50 and serves three meals a day. Argentine chef Arnaldo “Masa” Gushiken adds hints of Spanish and Japanese cuisine to the otherwise very locavore American menu. Highlights include the beet-peach-arugula salad and the house-smoked-ahi sandwich, balanced by the bright crunch of pickled vegetables in its side salad. Regulars also rave about the single servings of paella, the bell-pepper-goat-cheese dip, and the decadent truffle chicken starring an entire game hen.

Historic Shanghai’s tours and events are the closest you’ll can come to traveling back in time to Shanghai’s golden age. The group was founded by longtime Shanghai residents Tess Johnston, Tina Kanagaratnam, and Patrick Cranley. They host myriad cultural events—author talks, lectures, screenings—as well as tours of Shanghai’s historic sites and neighborhoods. All three owners are architecture buffs, and together they have an encyclopedic knowledge of Shanghai’s Western architecture, past and present. Tours and walks run a couple of times per month, covering topics like Americans in Old Shanghai, Old Shanghai’s nightclubs, and the regeneration of Yangpu District.

This lovely contemporary-American eatery anchors the Ballard Public lofts. Chef Shaun McCrain shows off his time spent in the kitchen at New York City’s Per Se with reimagined classics like foie gras layered into a terrine with apple, black sesame, and a gelée of dashi (a Japanese broth). Even the cocktails are innovative—ask for the restaurant’s fresh take on a Pimm’s No. 1 cup. Reserve ahead for a leisurely dinner, or just belly up to the bar. And if you don’t have time for that nonsense, no worries! You can order a takeaway case with goodies like truffled deviled eggs, white bean spread, and lemon-thyme flatbread.

The stretch of Boulevard Saint-Laurent between Rue Marianne and Avenue Mont-Royal is known as furniture alley, for all the furniture and home appointment stores that exist there. Latitude Nord was among the first to move to the area and remains the best spot to spy cutting-edge contemporary design items like lamps, chairs, rugs and couches. The focus is on European imports, particularly Italian brands like Cassina, Bisazza and Cappellini, but there’s also minimalist American ware from the likes of Emeco (makers of the ubiquitous Navy Chair) and cushy rugs made in Spain by Alpujarreña. The slick showroom is worth visiting even if you don’t intend to buy.

As ubiquitous as “mandu” (dumplings) may be in Korea, when in Seoul, seek out their Mongolian lamb-filled ‘ancestors.’ One theory says that meat-filled dumplings were introduced to the Korean peninsula during the Mongol invasions of the 14th century. If that’s the case, then “buuz” (Mongolian dumplings) have made a comeback in the 21st century. In recent decades, tens of thousands of Mongolians have immigrated to South Korea, and the neighborhood just to the west of the new Zaha-Hadid-designed Dongdaemun Design Plaza has become home to a Central Asian village. Seek out the Cyrillic lettering and look for “Ulaan Baatar” restaurant, on the second floor of an otherwise nondescript building in an alleyway. A plateful of “buuz” would make a hearty meal, but it’s best shared. Hand-cut noodles, al dente, stir-fried with carrots and mutton are another option. If you want a break from the seemingly non-stop chile-garlic-soy palette of Korean food, but still want a ‘local’ flavor, this is your fatty chance. My wife and I were the only non-Mongolians when we had lunch here. We followed the example of the other diners and ordered salty milk tea to go with our food. I couldn’t bring myself to dunk my dumplings in it, though, as everyone else was doing. (Beer and Fanta are also available.) By subway: at “Dongdaemun History and Culture Park” station, take exit 12, walk west and turn left at the next corner; look for the 10-story building with cyrillic lettering on your right.

This urban icon started as a hippie food truck housed in a surf shop parking lot on Vancouver Island. It has since blossomed into three restaurants, two burrito bars, a taco joint, and two food trucks, located everywhere from Hastings-Sunrise and Yaletown to Gastown and the Financial District. Chef Stefan Hartmann, who once ran a Michelin-starred restaurant in Berlin, now captains these elevated spots along with founder Jason Sussman. Expect nuanced options like chorizo-kale, pork al pastor with pineapple, and chicken with pickled vegetables, all on soft wheat tortillas for six to seven dollars. Also noteworthy are the meat-free dishes like “vegetable scrapple”—a delicious fritter of squash and chickpeas, topped with herbed tomatoes. And don’t overlook the octopus tostada—Tacofino not only sources seafood sustainably but also participates in Vancouver’s Climate Smart program and is working toward being a zero-waste business.