Must-Eat Restaurants at Concierge.com: A Running Tally

by Jamie Rhein on

I haven’t eaten at any of the picks on Concierge.com’s growing list of must-eat restaurants and I’m feeling hungry. The list starts out with Concierge’s recommendations and is continuing to grow as readers add their own options. Next to each entry are up and down arrow icons where readers can vote on each suggestion. At first, I thought the must-eats would solidly fall in the expensive and fancy. On the contrary. From what I can tell, must-eats come in a variety of packages. The Concierge list includes:

French Laundry in Yountville, California. This one has been named the best Restaurant in the World. To eat at the best is a two month wait. Once you are dining, give yourself three hours to savor the experience. If you can’t wait that long, the restaurant’s Web site offers three recipes you can try at home. I looked over the first one and I know one friend and three of my aunts who could make Parmigiano Reggiano Crisps with Laura Chenel Goat Cheese Mousse to perfection.

Also in California, The Chez Panisse in Berkeley has a menu that changes nightly. Since there is only one option per course per night, I suppose you check ahead to make sure what is being served is something you want. Here’s what is being served this week. The names of dishes are like lines from poetry–each sounding fantastically special. If you don’t want the full course meal, you can go to the café upstairs. Here you can either choose the fixed menu or order dishes separately.

Sienna, Italy is the place to head to try the gastronomic wonders of Osteria le Logge. Concierge likes this one because of its blend of fusion dishes and Tuscany favorites. The decor interested me. There is a blend of artwork and literary influences.

Red’s Eats in Wiscasset, Maine sounds like my kind of place. This is lobster at its best at what looks like a roadside stand. Here’s where you can interact with other people waiting in line since that’s what you do before you order. Dining is outside on picnic tables. This is a seasonal restaurant so don’t head there until the middle of April. It closes in October.

Porcão in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is another restaurant that I seems like a lot of fun besides serving yummy fare. One word Concierge uses to describe it is raucous. Plus the food is wheeled out and served at your table.

The 9 Commandments of Travel Writing

by Justin Glow on

Aspiring travel writers take note: Pico Iyer (Sun After Dark, Video Night in Kathmandu) has compiled a list of nine “commandments of travel writing.” But don’t consider them your bible; each rule in travel writing is made to be defeated, “and is routinely broken by most of the travel classics,” Iyer notes. Even if writing about your journey is an afterthought, the commandments remind you of the spirit of travel itself: “… the first thing any traveler learns is that every rule is made to be broken; if you stick to the guidebook, or the itinerary, you’ll come home wondering if you ever left.”

Here’s a sneak peak at the nine commandments:

  1. The ideal travel book is a quest, a question that’s never answered…
  2. The travel writer is much less traveler than writer…
  3. The travel book must teach you something – ideally by highly unorthodox means…
  4. The travel book, like the traveler, often travels incognito…
  5. The travel writer’s place is on the threshold, one eye turned toward the reader, one toward the subject…
  6. The travel writer need not go far at all…
  7. The great travel writer takes in every aspect of what is happening and changing right now, the better to see what is changeless…
  8. The true travel writer does not just listen to a place but talks back to it; he’s drawn to it by compulsion…
  9. In the end, every great travel book is about a journey inside…

To read the full article, head over to Concierge.com.

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