We all know New York is the city that never sleeps—and now that means the director of personal shopping at Bergdorf Goodman, thanks to a new collaboration with The Mark Hotel. Up at 4 a.m. with the realization that you left the outfit you have to wear in 7 hours at home? Have no fear—a new ensemble is just a phone call away. Complimentary messenger services are another benefit of this 24/7 service.
Brooke Porter is an associate editor at Travel + Leisure. Follow her on Twitter at @brookeporter1.
Last night, the food world’s glitterati came together at New York’s Lincoln Center for the annual James Beard Awards. Food and film was this year’s theme (tagline: “Lights! Camera! Taste!”). Actor Oliver Platt hosted, guests wore 3-D glasses, and the post-award reception menu included movie-inspired bites (Nate Appleman’s take on Pulp Fiction’s Royale with Cheese was a big hit).
Here, we highlight a few of the night’s big winners—and all the things we’ve had to say about them.
Best Chef: Great Lakes Stephanie Izard, Chicago The Top Chef winner took home top honors for her work in Chicago. Her Girl & the Goat empire now includes Goat Market and Little Goat Diner, which we highlighted in this roundup of America’s coolest diners.
Best Chef: Southeast Joseph Lenn, Walland, Tennessee The Tennessee native creates masterful dishes using ingredients fresh from Blackberry Farm, where he is executive chef. In our April food issue, Aleksandra Crapanzano penned an ode to outdoor dining at this classic Great Smokey Mountains retreat.
Best Chef: New York City Wylie Dufresne, Manhattan Call him the Susan Lucci of the James Beard Awards: this kitchen wizard has finally won after 10 nominations. His famed restaurant wd-50 made our list of New York’s most adventurous restaurants.
Best New Restaurant State Bird Provisions, San Francisco Adam Sachs didn’t show a lot of love for this quirky spot known for its dim sum-inspired cart service—but his recent story on San Francisco dining proves the city is the place to be for new boundary-pushing restaurants.
Rising Star Chef of the Year Danny Bowien The blue-haired chef (pictured above) has been the talk of both coasts, now that his runaway hit Mission Chinese Food is open in San Francisco and New York. Both locations were showcased on this list of best Chinese restaurants in the U.S.
Brooke Porter is an associate editor at Travel + Leisure. Follow her on Twitter at @brookeporter1.
A few years after JetBlue’s new-and-improved Terminal 5 opened at JFK, the airport has pumped $1.4 billion into Terminal 4, set to reopen this month. In anticipation of the expanded space, Delta Air Lines has launched an experiential pop-up in SoHo, open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through May 22. Called "T4X," it comes complete with an upstairs Delta Sky Club (where you can charge your phone and relax with a copy of The New York Times), and an interactive digital 3-D model of the new terminal.
The pop-up is a preview of what’s to come in Terminal 4, where travelers will find Shake Shack and Blue Smoke from famed New York restaurateur Danny Meyer; a street food-inspired concept and a New York-style brasserie from Marcus Samuelsson; and an outpost of Nancy Silverton’s La Brea Bakery. To which we say: arrive early, arrive hungry.
Brooke Porter is an associate editor at Travel + Leisure. Follow her on Twitter at @brookeporter1.
If you’re anything like me, fighting with travel companions for the window seat—whether in a plane, train, or automobile—is a rite of passage. And with the proliferation of photo apps and filters, it’s never been more tempting to snap a shot of the view (and, of course, post it on Twitter, complete with a humblebrag).
The Los Angeles-based country-roots-rock band Dawes has taken this idea to new heights, inspired by their latest single "From a Window Seat." For the last few weeks, the band and their fans have been tweeting and Instagramming photos taken from airplane windows (and cars, trains, buses, hotel rooms, etc.), using the hashtag #fromawindowseat. Next came a dedicated website, which compiles the photos and highlights the band’s favorites. But before you start snapping, check out these T+L tips for getting the best view in the sky, and don’t miss our recent slideshow of reader-generated photos taken from planes.
Brooke Porter is an associate editor at Travel + Leisure. Follow her on Twitter at @brookeporter1.
K.C. didn’t invent barbecue—it perfected it. So says Doug Worgul, author of The Grand Barbecue. No surprise K.C.’s distinctive ’cue topped our America’s Favorite Cities survey. Worgul tells T+L where to get a bite.
“At Arthur Bryant’s(pictured; $$), the floors are greasy and it looks like the walls haven’t been painted in 20 years—but you won’t care once you try the brisket.”
“Major blues acts have played BB’s Lawnside BBQ($$). Order the ribs; they’re not too sweet and not too spicy.”
“You can watch the meat being cooked outside at Woodyard Bar-B-Que($). They do a really interesting smoked barbecue hamburger.”
On April 30, Anthony Bourdain hosts the 10th Annual Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters benefit, which raises money for a New York school that focuses on reading and writing skills. On the night’s agenda: sampling food from the likes of Danny Bowien and Gabrielle Hamilton and cocktails by PDT’s Jim Meehan. (Tickets, which start at $250, can be found here.) Here, the peripatetic author-chef-TV personality talks about his new CNN show, Parts Unknown, why he loves to communicate in 140 characters or fewer, and other topics.
For just $34—about 1/23 the cost of a pair of mid-range Jimmy Choos—afternoon tea-goers at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong can feast on high heel-shaped foie gras on brioche, white chocolate filled with lychee and rose in the shape of a leopard-print handbag, and other treats inspired by the famed designer’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection.
Finally, a chance for fashionistas to have their shoes—and eat them, too.
Brooke Porter is an associate editor at Travel + Leisure. Follow her on Twitter at @brookeporter1.
I love candy almost as much as I love to travel. So you can imagine my excitement when the new Taste of Europe assortment from the online candy company Sugarfina landed on my desk. Red licorice bites from Finland! Cow-shaped marshmallows from Holland! Juicy sweet-and-sour peaches from Germany! My motto is the gummier, the better, but—as someone who was adventurous enough to eat alpaca in Peru—I even tried France’s fruity hard candies (thumb’s down) and Danish mocha beans (thumb’s up). The sweets are packaged in a Tiffany blue box—fitting, since I’d take these over a diamond any day. (Well, maybe…)
Brooke Porter is an associate editor at Travel + Leisure. Follow her on Twitter at @brookeporter1.
Kate Walsh has been a prime-time star since 2005, when she earned fame for her role as Addison on Grey's Anatomy. While the spin-off series Private Practice just ended its six-year run, the native Californian isn't taking a break to relax, with trips to Vienna, Washington, D.C., and possibly the Middle East coming up this year. There’s also her fragrance, Boyfriend—the bottle of which was inspired by the Venetian glass and gold frames at Le Meurice hotel in Paris. Here, the actress talks to us about her more memorable trips, favorite hotels, and more.
Tell me about your recent trip to Belize. I was there with Oceana [an ocean conservation organization] to bring awareness to the importance of conserving the barrier reef, which is essential for the island fisherman and protects the island from storms and hurricane. This was one of the most pristine and rich reefs I’ve ever been to.
We stayed at a little place called Turtle Inn, which is owned by Francis Ford Coppola. There was no TV, and only one area you can get Internet. It was so quiet and relaxing, and the food was great. It was just about being in the water, lying in hammocks, and taking boat rides to snorkel at different islands.
Thanks to collaborative chef dinners—in which chefs invite fellow toques to take over their kitchens for a night—diners have the chance to sample dishes that would normally require a plane ticket to taste. Here, a few of our favorite upcoming events:
Graffiato, Washington, D.C. On the first Monday of each month, head to this Italian-inspired spot in D.C.’s Chinatown, where chef/owner Mike Isabella recently launched Industry Takeover Nights. From 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., the kitchen is turned over to chefs and mixologists for late-night snacks and cocktails. Coming up: Kyle Bailey and Tiffany MacIsaac, the husband-and-wife team behind Dupont Circle’s forthcoming fried chicken-and-donut concept GBD (May 6), and Jamie Bissionnette of Boston’s always-packed tapas restaurant Toro, coming soon to New York (June 3).
