Food & Wine May 2020

2018 VIETTI TIMORASSO DERTHONA ($32) I had the privilege of tasting this inaugural release of a rare Piedmontese white variety with Vietti’s winemaker Luca Currado in New York. It’s thrillingly focused, with bright apple-citrus flavors and a long, saline finish. 2016 CHÂTEAU D’AUSSIÈRES CORBIÈRES ($38) The limestone-gravelly, unusually cool vineyards of this estate owned by Eric de Rothschild produce a surprisingly elegant Languedoc red: all blackberries and wild herbs. I loved it with herb-roasted spring lamb. 2017 CLOS MOGADOR ($90) Under René Barbier Jr., the wines of Clos Mogador—one of the top estates in Spain’s Priorat wine region in Catalonia—have become brighter and more vibrant without losing the region’s lush, dark fruit. The ’17 may be his best vintage yet.…

Small World DEAR READER, I hope this note finds you healthy and safe. As of this writing on March 17, the world beyond my kitchen table feels tiny and humbled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything is different today than it was yesterday. Many of our favorite restaurants and bars have closed, some for good, and family trips have been canceled, impacting millions of workers in the hospitality and travel industries. At home, we’re speaking an entirely new vernacular, practicing social distancing in an effort to flatten the curve. For me, that means hunkering down and cooking. A lot. This may seem like a strange time to publish a travel issue. None of us can predict what tomorrow will bring, much less a month from now, but I believe that we will eventually recover from…

YE OLDE HOTEL RESTAURANT, stuffy and staid, has a menu that consists of a mediocre burger and just-edible Caesar salad. That’s the stereotype, anyway. But in recent years, we’ve seen an increasing number of big-name chefs partner with hotels to open restaurants that are trendy, timely, and sometimes straight-up important. For the hotels, these partnerships are a no-brainer: Talented chefs who already have an established following drive traffic to the hotel—in real life and on social media. These partnerships make sense for the chefs as well. For them, hotels help reduce the amount of risk that’s typically associated with opening a restaurant and also solve a range of issues that restaurateurs face, from spearheading staffing to providing health insurance. “To raise the capital to make Onda what it is would have…

THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD: breakfast buffs and everybody else. Here at Food & Wine, we fall firmly (and, based just on office banter while brainstorming this story, rather passionately) into the former category, especially when we’re traveling. Hotel breakfasts, whether an all-you-can-eat buffet situation or a picturesque room service tray, are some of our most memorable versions of the first meal of the day. We checked in with some of our favorite food and travel pros and asked them to share the most extravagant, delicious, and over-the-top hotel breakfasts they’ve encountered on their travels. Read on for our favorites. —OSET BABÜR THE GLOBE-TROTTER “I spent three miraculous nights at the Mandarin Oriental in Paris, where they offer a slew of international breakfast menus. One day I had…

MOVE OVER, M&M’S. BYE-BYE, BUD LIGHT. Hotels are stocking guest rooms with hyper-local snacks and drinks. These upgraded refreshments offer a sense of place, whether it’s Sweetwood Smokehouse jerky at The Home Ranch in Clark, Colorado, or Big Easy Bucha kombucha at Maison de la Luz in New Orleans. Here are some standout picks from around the country. A SPECIAL BOTTLE At SingleThread Farms in Healdsburg, CA, sip a 2013 Syrah or 2017 Wild Ale, made in partnership with area producers. (Available exclusively at SingleThread, singlethreadfarms.com) PRETTY CHOCOLATE The Ace Hotel in L.A. stocks Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate. The flavor combinations are super inventive, the bars as pretty as the packaging. (From $9, dicktaylorchocolate.com) A TASTY TONIC At Tourists in North Adams, MA, a bracing and delicious local Apple Cider Vinegar Tonic from Fire Cider can…

ASK ANYONE FROM THE HOTEL BUSINESS, or even from the state of Texas, about Liz Lambert, and you’ll hear words like “legend” and “icon.” The force behind some of the state’s most talked-about and beloved hotels, like the Hotel San José and Hotel Saint Cecilia in Austin and El Cosmico in Marfa, Lambert has also designed and opened hotels in Mexico and San Francisco and is currently working on one in New Orleans. Prior to opening her first property, she studied poetry, went to law school, and worked as a prosecutor. Soon after she left the company she started, we spoke while she shopped for books for her young son, a new addition to her and her wife’s lives. JT: Being in the hotel industry means you’re also in real estate,…