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Aunty Doris is always behind the small counter dressed neatly in her red-and-white palaka shirt, with her hair fixed just so. She knows everybody and your madahs and fadahs and all da keeds too around here. Stop in for a taste of her old-fashioned crack seeds all lined up neatly on the shelf. Carry the jar over to the counter and talk story with Aunty as she spoons out your selection of sour cherry, football, olive seed, pickled ginger, li-hing mui, prune mui, dried lemon or wet seed. Chances are while you wait you’ll experience a “taste” of local color too. Eh no eat all da sweet sour cherry. I gotta get my fix!

This is it. The moment you arrive on-island, do not pass go, do not collect $200 — just get yourself to the La Reine Chicken Shack to immediately immerse yourself in the uniquely local St. Croix vibe. No, this is not haute cuisine, this isn’t even a nice looking place, but what it is is an institution sporting the best BBQ chicken on island. Everyone eats here from senators to sanitation workers and all walks of life in between. On Sunday’s you can even expect some roast pork added to the menu. Whatever you order, you won’t go wrong pairing your styrofoam wrapped meal with a nice rum & Coke!

Every Saturday and Sunday on Via S. Teodoro, tucked just off Circus Maximus, Rome‘s best farmer’s market takes place. It’s run by Campagna Amica, an Italy-wide organization that promotes local, sustainable agriculture—so all of the products sold here, from jam to olive oil, bread to cheese, beer to wine, come from the Lazio region only, and are sold directly by the producers themselves. Tastings are a-plenty and the producers are more than happy to chitchat about their foodstuffs. If you come around lunchtime, you can buy a cheap lunch—maybe even including porchetta sliced right off the pig, like here—to eat on the picnic tables outside.

Din Tai Fung is not a Singaporean chain—it originated in Taiwan—but outposts of this restaurant have flourished all over the city, thanks to its addictive dumplings. (Seriously: addictive.) Making the perfect soup dumplings (xiao long bao) is a skill that takes years to perfect. You can see the experts hard at work in glassed-in kitchens at every DTF eatery. To enjoy, swirl a little bit of soy sauce, black vinegar, and chili in a shallow dish of thinly sliced ginger, and dip away. Din Tai Fung also serves up the ultimate comfort food: Beef noodle soup. Its restorative, deep-brown broth with thin noodles can be savored with or without beef brisket. The spicy wontons in a vinegar sauce are also top-notch.

The sign says “New Antique Store,” which might seem like a misnomer but is in fact a very accurate description of what Urban Remains offers. They sell reclaimed architectural artifacts from old buildings, mostly in the Chicago area and mostly from the 20th century. The Urban Remains warehouse is a giant treasure trove where you’ll find door hardware, industrial furniture, vintage signs, ornamental iron gates and mechanical bits and bobs. If it’s beautiful or functional, Urban Remains probably has it but you might have to dig to find it. Their prices aren’t cheap but sometimes you find just what you weren’t looking for and you simply must have it.

Within Miami‘s most famed Fontainebleau Hotel is an gastronomic superpower, but it’s the mixology by bartender Hector Aceveda that really sets the eatery apart. Try some of the innovative cocktails using food products and specialty preparation. A great alternative to the pool bars and nightclubs.

One of Austin’s top boutique hotels—and among the first in the trendy East Austin neighborhood—the Heywood Hotel feels more like an achingly cool designer friend’s house than a hotel, and in the best possible way. The husband-and-wife team renovated and expanded upon a 1920s Craftsman bungalow and outfitted each room with his handmade furniture, and art and textiles by local artisans. They also added the most comfortable beds they could find, Kevin Murphy’s Kakadu plum hair products, and Internet jukeboxes (a necessity in music-loving Austin). No, there isn’t a restaurant, or even a bar, but there’s a front porch and a courtyard patio where you could eat local snacks, sip beers, or try “Heywood blend” coffee. Complimentary bicycles are available, and a team of local experts on staff who have an endless supply of suggestions for drinking, dining, and exploring in the up-and-coming neighborhood—just like a friend would.

Broadway Oyster Bar wears many hats. First and foremost, it’s an oyster bar, serving bivalves in a variety of fashions, from raw and char-grilled to fried and Rockefeller style. It’s also a solid bar, where a lot of folks come to party both before and after Cardinals games. Finally, it’s one of the finest music venues in St. Louis—or at least the most fun—with live shows twice a day, save for Fridays when one act plays the whole night. Expect local and national bands, plus a lot of New Orleans artists, playing anything from bluegrass to rock and reggae. Between all the eating, drinking, and music, take some time to learn the history of BOB. It’s housed in a building from the 1840s—one of the oldest in the city that’s still in use—that has served as a boardinghouse, Chinese laundry, record store, and bordello over the years. Naturally, it’s said to be haunted.

The oldest bar on the island, Flor de Oriente was established in 1935 and remains a favorite for both island natives and repeat visitors. It’s a great spot to grab a happy hour drink away from the crowds at the beach, as well as a bite to eat, like locally caught fish, burgers, and bitterballen (a deep-fried Dutch meatball and the perfect accompaniment to the lengthy beer list). There’s usually live music on the outdoor patio, too, from jazz to oldies to the ever-popular house band Flor de Oriente Social Club, which plays merengue and salsa every Friday.

Trattoria i’Raddi, a classic Tuscan trattoria in the Santo Spirito neighborhood, is run by the Outran family. (A few family members are locally famous for playing calcio storico, a historic and brutal sport that seems like a mix of soccer and MMA fighting.) Come here to eat pappa al pomodoro (Tuscan bread-and-tomato stew), pici all’aglione (pasta with garlicky red sauce), and peposa. Peposa is a slow-cooked, peppery beef stew, almost a Tuscan version of chili; according to legend, it was invented by Brunelleschi. The food here is affordable and the prix fixe lunch specials are an even better value.

If you didn’t know before you dug into your meal, you might not realize that every item on Sage’s menu is vegan (a nice bonus for parents eating with kids). The jackfruit or tempeh tacos are so good many devoted carnivores choose to get their Mexican food fix here over local nonvegan Mexican joints. Sage also makes excellent vegan burgers, potato flautas, and salads filled with great crunchy textures and pops of flavor. Follow lunch or dinner with a slice of coconut cake or vegan birthday cake ice cream.

You can find this Shanghai stalwart just around the corner from the Portman Ritz-Carlton, plying eager diners with prototypical Shanghai dishes around the clock (and all-you-can-eat dim sum on the weekends). Locals here tuck into hairy crab soup (the crab comes from nearby Yangcheng Lake), lobster fried rice, sheng jian bao (pan-fried soup dumplings), Shanghai crispy duck (an umami-packed take on Peking duck), and, from the dim sum menu, fresh tofu vegetable rolls. If you’ve got limited time and want to taste both Shanghainese classics and proper dim sum, Lynn is the place.

This huge buffet restaurant, designed to look like an old hacienda, offers more than 120 dishes every day. Hacienda Santa Martha has extensive grounds with play areas for kids, an artificial pond with pedal boats, and even movies for kids projected inside an old DC-4 airplane. Sample seven different kinds of mole, have meats and seafood grilled to your liking, and fill up on soups, salads and almost any Oaxacan dish you can imagine. It’s a great option for families and picky eaters because you can choose what looks tastiest - or try a bit of everything until you find something you like. Hacienda Santa Martha is open from 1:30 to 6:30 pm daily except Monday.

Sometimes only a sandwich — thick and hearty, piled with meat and cheese and toppings — will do. The Other Coast Cafe won’t blow your mind with some revolutionary take on the sandwich, but what they do, they do well: hot and cold sandwiches, pickles and potato salad, and friendly service. Their house specialty is the Rajun Cajun (cajun turkey, pepper jack cheese, tomato, onion, spicy salsa mayo), and their reuben is also popular, but don’t overlook the daily specials, like the grilled chicken pesto served on a baguette. If you have very specific sandwich needs, you can also custom-build your dreamwich; seitan is on the menu for non-meat-eaters. Oh, and grab a stack of napkins, because these saucy sandwiches can get messy quick.

This five-star beachfront hotel toes the line between being a hub of activity and a luxurious, only-in-Southern-California hideaway. For restoration, head to the sprawling spa for a customized wellness-oriented treatment or a meditation class. Mind cleared, make your way to the on-site outfitter Compass Sports—where staff will coordinate local mountain biking, paddleboarding, hiking, and surfing expeditions—or to the palm tree–lined, mosaic-tiled pool. Big ocean views and a light, airy design define the 250 rooms; for guests seeking extra solitude and space, there are bungalow suites, which are essentially private beach houses. At the hotel’s three eateries, it’s all seasonal all the time, from the fresh morning juices to evening cocktails. That ethos peaks at the fine-dining restaurant Studio, where executive chef Craig Strong creates elegantly plated French-meets-California dishes using locally sourced fish and meat, along with vegetables picked from the hotel’s 1,000-square-foot garden. Pro tip: In a setting this transporting, you almost want to break into song. Good news—the hotel will rent out mini guitars to guests for the duration of their stay.