Category Archives: New York Times

LUXURY DESTINATION OF THE YEAR

January 11, 2009

I wasn’t far out from the beach — just beyond the lightly rolling breakers. My feet had left the sandy bottom, and amniotic water burbled around my shoulders. A sea eagle sailed between me and the hot afternoon sun. The starburst tops of a coconut grove delineated the beach. An arc of sugar, it stretched away to a cluster of rounded rocks and, beyond, a rise of greenery leading into the tufted mountains of a national park. (more…)

Dec 27, 2008

THE bartender at the Alembic took my order for a mint julep. He unfolded a small canvas sack, which he filled with ice and laid on the bar. He took up a black bat and began whaling on the pouch, reaching above his head to pummel the bag over and over again.

He mounded the resulting gravel-sized ice in a silver cup into which followed 12-year Old Fitzgeraldbourbon and simple syrup. He snapped a generous bunch of dark mint sprigs and planted it in the ice. He concealed a small straw inside the bouquet, such that my first experience of the now-frosted cup was a clean, soaring nose of pure mint. A bracing, richly sweet wash of bourbon followed close behind.

It was the best mint julep I have ever had. By far.

Read it on the NYT Site…

November 23, 2008

This summer, Cavallo Point, a lodge dedicated to the focused contemplation of the good things in life, opened in a renovated century-old Army fort above San Francisco Bay. The complex is billed as a retreat and conference center dedicated to the Bay Area’s food awakening.

Read it on the NYT site…