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THE VERY BEST

Best of New York City	Best Hotels	Best Restaurants
Best of Wine, Tea, Coffee, etc.	Best Spices	Best of San Francisco

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454. -new- Martini Onions Canadian
A fellow in good standing and a smilin’chum, who chases back martinis with some regularity and is ever in search of greater perfection, swears by Sable and Rosenfeld’s Vermouth ‘Spiked’ Tipsy Onions.  We have even had them without a martini, and they do summon up memories of onions past. Onion headquarters is in Toronto, so Guy Lombardo is not the only pleasure to have come out of the North.  But you might put his record on the Victrola (“The Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven”) when you are partaking.  Canada: Sable & Rosenfeld 131 Avenue Road, Suite 200 Toronto, Ontario M5R 2H7, Tel: 416-929-4214, fax: 416-929-6727, email: info@sableandrosenfeld.com. United States: Contact: Mary O'Neill, tel: 843-815-6278, fax: 843-815-2473, e-mail: mary@sableandrosenfeld.com. (4/30/08)

453. Mojito Libre
St. Clair Newbern of Fort Worth, inveterate traveler and keen observer, swears that the Cubans get it right.  The Mojito, that is.  We notice that most of the mojitos offered at bars tend to the mediocre, and we expect we will be adding more notes here on how to get the drink right.  But, for now, you can enjoy his observations below: 

"The photo is of the muddling of the mint and the sugar, to release the oils from the mint to flavor the sugar....  I noticed that the best Mojitos seemed be produced by extra care being taken in this first of what is a pretty simple process after that of just adding liquids....  The bar tender would muddle a bit usually with a stick with a round end, smell it to see if the right amount of oil had infused the sugar and, when satisfied add the rum and soda.

452. Michel Couvreur—The Best Single Single
We have probably sampled 40 to 50 single malts over the years, and have many favorites.  But Michel Couvreur’s Single Single stands out above all.  Just the other night we were sipping a 1969.  Sure it is a scotch, but it might as well be a brandy or a burgundy.  His outpourings are so special that ladies who are repelled by scotches will nicely sing his praises.  How appropriate that Courvreur is not in Scotland but is, in fact, in Burgundy. We attach here an essay of his doing that will nicely take you through the seminal ideas beyond a malt of quality.  Michel Couvreur Whiskies. Place du Monument  21200 Bouze-lès-Beaune. Burundy, Cote D’Or France Phone France = 0033 + (0)380.26.01.46  Fax France = 0033 + (0)380.26.02.70 Email: courvreur.michel@worldonline.fr.  (2/13/08)

451. Delica rf-1
San Francisco’s Ferry Building symbolizes everything that is right and everything that is wrong about San Francisco.  It and the waterfront have lost their real function—the commerce of a busy port.  The building is now decorative, full of food boutiques.  It is all pretty and charming, but a little hollow.  Any visitor, however, should look around.  There are a few shops that are worthwhile—perhaps the creamery and the bread shop, maybe one or two more.  The eateries are a little tough: no matter the trappings, they handle too many people and are more production lines than gourmet taste treats. 

DELICA rf-1 breaks the mold.  It is restful and polite and attracts a nice clientele.  We can recommend handily the salads and several other deli items.  Oddly enough, the sushi was nothing to write home about.  We were very pleasantly surprised for dessert by the baked summer peach with custard.  There are just a few tables to sit down: we shared one just outside and found our luncheon companions genial and even interesting.  Delica rf-1.  San Francisco Ferry Building.  (415) 834-0344.  www.delicarf1.com.  (1/30/08)

450. -new- Kyoto Cooking
As Japan Trends makes clear, there are deep, beautiful differences in the food offered in different cities of Japan, whether close or distant.  Tokyo does have more express food, Sapporo is a world apart, and Kyoto has flavors that go with its shrines and temples.

A Fusion of Cooking Styles. “Today Kyoto has a population of around 1.46 million people.  It is home to the former palace of the emperor, as well as many temples and shrines, including a number of World Heritage Sites.  Kyoto cuisine developed amid the complementary influences of four styles of cooking: yusoku-ryori, or dishes prepared for the Emperor’s Court; shojin-ryori, which consists of vegetarian dishes developed by Buddhist monks; kaiseki-ryori, which has its roots in the tea ceremony; and honzen-ryori, the highly formalized style of dining favored for special events by samurai families.  Located close to the Sea of Japan and Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake, Kyoto enjoyed a well-developed water transportation system that enabled delivery of the highest quality foodstuffs from around the country.  The city was also a magnet for chefs who wanted to hone their culinary skills.”

“The basis of kaiseki-ryori is ichiju-sansai (“one soup, three sides”), consisting of a bowl of miso soup and three okazu (side dishes) along with a bowl of rice.  Different cooking techniques are applied to each of the three okazu.  One of the side dishes, called mukozuke, may feature sashimi. Another, called nimono, is made by simmering fish or vegetables in a unique Japanese stock made with dried bonito fish flakes and konbu (dried kelp).  Nimono is carefully arranged and served in a bowl with a generous portion of soup stock.  The third side dish, called yakimono, usually consists of fish, such as ayu (sweetfish), that has been salted and grilled.  To cleanse the palate after eating ichiju-sansai, a plain, lightly salted broth called hashiarai is served.  Topping off the meal is a dish called hassun, which contains a mixture of ingredients from the sea and mountains, such as seaweed and yam.”

449. Waterboy
Every California warned us away from Davis and Sacramento, both of which we had not visited for perhaps 30 years.  That immediately made us want to go, since we have found on many occasions that universally unpopular locations are often simply spots that trendies don’t visit, yet full of idiosyncratic treasures that bear investigation.  Waterboy in Sacramento bore this out.  Mike Dunne, the reasonably good food critic at the Sacramento Bee is high on the place, as is Darrell Corti, the owner of Sacramento’s very fine gourmet food market Corti Brothers.

We cannot say enough nice things about the place, though the dessert may have been indifferent.  The fish and shellfish stew was first rate, and the sturgeon was a very nice surprise to find on the menu.  The wines by the glass were just fine.  Owner chef Rick Mahan will reach a bit, so you may find rabbit or roasted-pickled beets on any one night.  The service was intelligent and attentive.  You will probably find yourself a bit close to the diners beside you—the only drawback to the place.

448. -new- Loren Pope—An Eye for Values
Loren Pope is interesting because he’s had a eye for deep value, which would probably have made him a great stock picker if he had ever cared.  Early in life, when he did not have a sous in his pocket, he persuaded none other than Frank Lloyd Wright to build a house for him.  That house, known today as the Pope-Leighey Home, has stood the test of time, and is cherished by many from far and wide.  Pope and Wright became friends, so much so that when they were both staying at the Plaza in New York, Wright fixed up Pope’s room, which was quite shabby when compared to Wright’s digs.  Pope sold his house for a goodly sum.  It has since been moved and made part of the National Trust.  

447. Bushtracks—Seeing Africa
Our favorite safari gal, Linda Peterson, who’s a mystery writer in her spare time, writes in to tell us how to meet us with Dr. Livingstone. “The best way to do Africa—private air—comfort, convenience, safety, and great access. I think you heard me rave about our Bushtracks trip last year—South Africa, Zambia, Botswana. This company is run by a couple. He’s from Africa, knows everything down to the lilac-breasted roller’s eyelash.” David Tett was born and raised in Zimbabwe. With a BS in DNA technology from the University of Cape Town, he has traveled throughout Southeast Asia, North and South India, as well as extensively throughout Africa, including unusual destinations such as Principe Island, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Malawi, and Angola. California native Carolyn Tett was raised in Atherton and attended the University of California at Berkeley and University of St. Andrews in Scotland and has a BA in Political Science. They have been at it since 1989. They get it all mapped out, fix on the right lodgings, and get you around by air so you can see the place without fighting squadrons of Land Rovers to see the Big Five. Bushtracks.Expeditions. Telephone: 800-995-8689 and 707-433-4492 (for international calls). Fax: 707-433-0258. Address: 824 Healdsburg Avenue. Healdsburg, CA 95449. Website: www.bushtracks.com. (1/16/08)

446. Tour de Force
Our ambling rambler Linda Peterson tells us that a Vermont cosmopolitan named Carrie McDougall has made Cultural Crossroads into an award-winning travel site you cannot resist. Interestingly, a worldly newsletter also comes out of Vermont, as we remember, that puts food in a cultural setting: it’s called The Art of Eating. What she does is put together small (8 to 16 people) groups that take tours laden with interest and packed with behind-the-scenes experiences like private garden tours, delicious food, and wine gigs.. The trips look to be art and artifact heavy: presumably they attract a nice crowd of likeminded people. Special interest tours have great merit: our own gang at SpiceLines will be off to Southern India in 2008 to take in all aspects of the spice trade. We suppose the only problem inherent in such rare treats is that the traveler may miss popular fare, random encounters with local people, and exposure to the wider cadences of the country being visited. Cultural Crossroads, 20 Meadowcrest Lane-Barre, Vermont 05641. Telephone: (802) 479-7040. (1/16/08)

445. Lan
When a restaurant gets too glitzy with its website or its menu, it usually is a recipe for disaster. Not so with Lan. It’s website has far too many bells and whistles, but Lan turns out to be quite fine. This is a very companionable place with a delightful menu, though we will throw in one or two caveats. It’s down in Bowery territory, just above Cooper Union, etc. We waited quite a long time for service, and then finally some American waiters arrived at the table who did not know Japanese food—or what was going on. Then we got a Japanese waitress who knew what she was doing, and we had an exemplary experience. You will find the chawan-mushi that was missing from the menu of a distinguished Japanese uptown that used to have everything. The Black Cod was absolutely first rate: this has become an extraordinarily popular dish in urban places, but, if done right, you should have it every time. This was moist and mellow-so smooth it did not even quite seem like fish. For drinks, you can work your way through the shochu, the sweet potato and barley equally delightful. It pays additionally to be a little choosy about where you sit, as you can be pressed up against company that you would not care to know. One blog notes that the owner is affiliated with a meat supplier, all pointing to the fact that one should eventually get into the steaks and Japanese high-end beefs. Lan Japanese Restaurant, 56 3d Avenue (btw 10th and 11th), New York, New York 10003.  Telephone: 212-254-1959. Website: http://www.lan-nyc.com/. Understand that there are a lot of naysayers about this restaurant, but we find it to be excellent if you manage the details and select in a discriminatory way. (1/16/08)

444. Corti Brothers
We had purchased a few condiments from Corti Brothers for years, but never appreciated the range of the store or of the owner.  On a recent visit, Darrell Corti learned of our quest for a more satisfying vermouth for our martinis.  We thought we wanted an Italian, but he quickly disabused us of that.  So we shipped home a French Dry that will compliment the French and Dutch gins we are now sampling.  Corti knows whereof he speaks, and has taken it upon himself to get educated about many things.  He’s studied in Spain and finally took a degree in Northern California in Spanish and Italian.  He takes much pride in his knowledge of wines, and has stirred up an international tempest in a teapot over his refusal to stock wines whose alcohol level exceed 14%.  There is no better source for olive oils in the United States.  www.cortibros.biz.  Corti Brothers. 5810 Folsom Boulevard Sacramento, CA 95819.  1-800-509-3663 or 916-736-3800.  Make inquiries since the store has items not reflected on the website, such as some interesting German cheeses we took along for lunch.  (1/9/08)

443. Full-Spectrum Paints
If you are going to pay up for paint, you must as well go full spectrum.  The Statement, an email letter for professional designers, has explained what they are and listed, with a bit of detail, a few renowned examples.  “Full spectrum paints use a mix of pigments to achieve a color instead of using black and grey to get the paint to a certain color value.  And full spectrum paint is typically made with genuine ingredients such as powdered minerals resulting in more luminous and more expensive paint.”  We have been partial to Donald Kaufman, but all the examples cited here are worthy of your attention.  In general, these paints seem less blatant, more subtle than those of ordinary manufacturers—because, indeed, they are more complex blends.  (1/9/08)

442. Quince
For years San Francisco cooking has been much overrated.   Generally it produced solid but not spectacular food, and the restaurants that earned all the kudos in the newspapers and cooking magazine were not even its best offerings.  In particular the rash of new young cooks around the area plunked too many elements in their dishes, the fruit and other nonesuch somewhat concealing the fact that a cut of beef was not cooked right. Perhaps it was our 3d best food city, but it did not really touch New York or New Orleans.  Michelin has come out with its 2007 guide on the Bay Area, and the San Francisco food tribe is aghast that only the French Laundry has gotten 3 stars, that there are just a handful of two stars, and all the revered get one star.  Broadly this confirms the thesis that SF does not stack up against New York.  We agree, however, with local foodlovers who say Michelin, in fact, messed about a bit, putting the wrong people in 3 and 2 star categories, and not sufficiently appreciating some of the one stars.  For more on this tempest in a teapot, read “Bay Area Stars Fail to Make Michelin Cut,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 3, 2006.

441. Olive Oil Extraordinaire
In “Slippery Business,” August 13, 2007, the New Yorker shocked its readers, exposing the huge amount of olive oil that mislabeled as virgin when it is dreck at best, imported into Italy by con artists and then sold around the world to gullible customers.  We expect this is just the first of many exposes to come in the food trade where people are willing now to pay outrageous prices for less than tasty fare, and schlock is branded as luxury.  Nonetheless, there is always a countervailing movement: there is olive oil from Italy that exceeds all our expectations. 

Foodwriter Nancy Harmon Jenkins has written and lectured about fine olive oil for at least 20 years, often for the New York Times.  For instance, in “The Pantheon of Fine Olive Oils, the Top,” New York Times, April 13, 1988, she sheds light on the finer producers, tells how the best is produced, and even gives a lesson on how to taste for greatness: “For a tasting, buy five or six different brands (and prices) of olive oil, including a commonly available oil to use as a standard.  Have apples or bread on hand to cleanse the palate.  Number the oil bottles.  Pour a little of each oil into clear glass containers and number them to correspond to the bottles.  Set the containers in a good light and compare colors.  Greener oils indicate olives harvested young, although bright green oils may indicate the presence of chlorophyll from leaves crushed with the olives.  Compare clarity.  Most oils turn cloudy if refrigerated, but unfiltered oils, which connoisseurs prefer for their intense flavor, may be cloudy at room temperature.” 

The Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2007, made a recent attempt to examine the rare world of top oils in “The Art of Olive Oil: From Extra-Virgin to Extraordinary.”  “Marco Oreggia has taken on the role of chronicler of olive oil's resurgence.  He tastes more than 3,000 different oils a year, and has just published the seventh edition of his guide, "L’Extravergine," a sort of industry bible in which he rates, classifies and quantifies production of oils from around the world.  (An English-language version has just been published, www.marco-oreggia.com.)”  Many of the top producers are winemakers who have drifted into the olive oil trade.  “‘We're principally winemakers, but we’ve always loved making olive oil,’ says Lorenza Sebasti Pallanti, of Castello di Ama in Tuscany, one of the most highly regarded producers of Chianti Classico.  The winery produces an oil blended from three olive varieties.”

440. Our Lady of Vladimir Church 
We cannot say enough nice things about Lady Vladimir.  It is the prettiest church we saw in St. Petersburg, right near Doestoevsky’s home and the wonderful Kuznechny Market. The yellows and the proportions are a delight.  Should you be touring, ordinary guides will not get you to this gem, constructed in 1760.  For the visit here, we credit Masha, a St.Petersburg programmer and a lady of some sensitivity.  The Church is dedicated to the beautiful  icon, Our Lady of Vladimir, one of the most revered in the Orthodox world. (11/14/07)

439. Hartmann Luggage
Lasts Hartmann Luggage may occasionally look pricey and may feel stodgy.  Certainly there are a proliferation of luggage brands—many of which seem more stylish, since at its heart, this company is functional and understated.  But its products last—perhaps forever.  And most importantly, its repair facility provides genuine support, not an easy thing to find these days.  Since 2000, even that wonderful company up in Maine is more apt to say, “Sorry, we can’t do a thing about your shoes.”  Then you go off to your local shoemaker who repairs whatever it is with some ease.  Hartmann gives an estimate and turns things around with relative ease.  Its repair department is polite and helpful.  There is something to be said for a product that does not wear out easily and for a company that can put things back together when the product finally gets some aches and pains over time.  Hartmann, 1301 Hartmann Drive, Lebanon, TN 37087.  Telephone: 800-331-0613.   If you get bored with things, don’t buy a Hartmann, because it’s going to be around for a while.  (11/7/07)

438. Stockholm’s Treats
Stockholm is a curious place.  The tourist must root around a bit to find distinguished quarters, the hotels not totally up to snuff.  As elsewhere in Scandinavia, the high-end restaurants commonly are average, and sometimes are downright bad.  But little curious treats do crop up.  House and Garden sort of gets at these in its city guide to Stockholm.  For instance, it points to Estrid Ericson’s Svenst Tenn (‘tenn’ means pewter in Swedish), a store of household effects to include pots, fabrics, furniture, and the like.  We would not, finding the help both arch, a bit lazy, and certainly unhelpful.  However, Josef Frank’s fabrics are worth more than a peek, even if they are poorly displayed and a bit hard to get at.  The sales people are stingy about giving you a catalog of his work, but try to extract it from them.  Frank, an Austrian architect, worked at Tenn at its height, also putting in time in America.  He is the diamond in the rough at Svenst Tenn.  Strandvägen 5.  Telephone: 011-46-8-670-16-00. Website: svenskttenn.se.

Rosendal Garden.  This biodynamic or organic garden is thrilling, and obviously beloved by the townspeople.  The tables for picnic fan and contemplators are scattered about the garden, not crunched into an ugly space.  But there is a café as well atop the hill. 

The present palace was built by architect Fredrik Blom, finished in 1827, with an adjoining winter garden.  The Rosendal palace today is a museum, one of the finest authentic empire-style interiors in the country.

In 1848, king Oscar I built the orangery that is still here today (the winged round building by the rose garden).  Here, the people of the Oscarian court strolled under palm trees and other exotic plants.  The queen, Josefina, was an ardent garden enthusiast, and developed the gardens to include a number of greenhouses with remarkable flower beds.

Gardening at Rosendal took a new turn in 1861, when the Swedish Horticultural Society received permission from the queen to use the area.  Modeled on the Royal Horticultural Society in England, the Society worked for the promotion of a “more widespread and orderly gardening in Sweden,” through education and training of gardeners, and charitable distribution of free plants, bushes, and trees to “landowners without means.”

In 1878, the garden had 23,000 pot-plants of 1,000 varieties, 235,000 saplings in the tree nursery stock, plus 400 fruit-trees of many different kinds (some hundred of which still remain today in Rosendal’s orchard).”  Stiftelsen Rosendals Trädgård Rosendalsterrassen. 12 SE-115 21 Stockholm, Sweden.  Telephone: +46 (0)8 545 812 70.  (10/10/07)

437. Portugal’s Pousadas 
Too long ago to remember, some magazine for ladies did a list of the most romantic spots in Europe.  Lo and behold, Portugal topped the list, with more enchanted getaways than anywhere else on the Continent.  The state-run inns added to the allure, for they, too, were both special and modestly priced.  A fine, long article in the New York Times (July 8, 2007) by Sarah Wildman, who did a similar article on Spain’s paradores just a year earlier, makes clear that they still can be captivating places to stay, even if the prices have risen, and the government no longer is running them.  “Akin to the state-owned Spanish paradores, the 65-year-old network of Portuguese pousadas (once entirely state-run, but now managed by the Pestana hotel group) range from 18th-century manor houses, like the one we’d been looking for, to former convents, monasteries, castles and palaces, as well as more modern buildings tucked into nature preserves and mountain ranges”

“In a gorgeously photographed coffee table book on the pousadas called ‘Moradas de Sonho’ (which was translated as “Dream Places”), the pousadas are explained as the “preservation of [Portugal’s] architectural and natural heritage, living architecture and the riches of Portuguese cooking.”

436. Best Public Food Markets 
Anya Von  Bremzen’s “25 of the World’s Best Food Markets,” Food and Wine, April 2004, gives us a start on the question of which markets you should visit.  But it mixes apples with oranges, putting in some private groceries which may not be entirely up to the mark.  And it leaves out several that count, such as Pike’s Place in Seattle where we have gotten fruit to die for that we consistently took back to our hotel room, and several others.  Some on this list are Ferry Plaza Farmers Market (San Francisco),  Mercado de la Merced (Mexico City), Castries Market (St. Lucia), St. Lawrence Market (Toronto), English Market (Cork), Mercat de la Bouqeria (Barcelona), Mercato Coperto (Modena), Kadewe (Berlin), Kauppatori Market (Helsinki), Mercado Central (Santiago),  Khan El-Khalili (Cairo), Tsukiji Fish Market (Tokyo).  See our commentary on La Bouqueria at “Better Than Best—First.”  Nelly Sheff and Mimi Sheraton have made an attempt in Food Markets of the World that covers some different territory.  (8/1/07)

435. The Best of the Wine Writers
We like Jancis Robinson because she is not a listmaker.  She will sort out the good wines for you and tell you why they make the grade. But she writes literately about the whole world of wine, always spinning a good yarn, in the Financial Times.  We run across her in FT Weekend, a fun section anyway, where the editors are occasionally smart enough to put her on the front page. You can also find columns and such at www.jancisrobinson.com.  We have just read “Bordeaux 2006—How the Weather Screwed It All Up.”  One would think such a tale of woe would be boring, but she makes this melodrama fun.

However, our favorite of late was “The Wine World’s Tangled Web,” FT Weekend, March 17-18, 2007.  The intrigue is deep, and we like it that a wine buccaneer turns out to serve really top wines.  “The counterfeiters of old labels have become increasingly skilled.”  There are a lot of fakes about.  Particularly at question were Bordeauxs ostensibly from Thomas Jefferson’s collection that William Koch, the American billionaire, bought from the assemblage of Munich’s Hardy Rodenstock.  Fake or not, Rodenstock’s tastings impress Robinson.  “It is thanks to Hardy Rodenstock … that I have had some of the most extraordinary tasting experiences of my life.  I have no idea whether the bottle of Yquem 1811, the famous year of the comet, served in Munich was genuine, but I can assure you it was one of the most delicious liquids I have ever tasted….”

434. Best Love Story of 2006
We enjoyed bringing you the “Best Love Story of 1999,” Elegy for Iris, in which John Bayley talks about Iris Murdoch and their relationship.  Calvin Trillin’s About Alice is affecting, if not quite so eloquent.  Trillin and his wife Alice and their two daughters are the good citizens, fun to be with, whom you always want to have living next door.  Trillin talks about Alice and all the rest in the same ironic tone that is pervasive throughout his writing; it even sets the tone for communication in the family and for the character of all their activities.  Do it with a smile and with a firm, but not stiff, upper lip is the defining characteristic of Trillinia, right down to the nature of their friendships.  We felt this when, towards the end, one of the daughters got married at City Hall or someplace like that and then had a reception in a Chinese restaurant where all the guests kicked up their heels in a hora.  One can’t remember whether these good people are practicing atheists or agnostics, but on more than one occasion this story cries out for a church service that would cut against their modestly flippant agnostic irony.  We find About Alice very moving but strangely inarticulate.  The subject is bigger than Trillin.  Emotion runs too far beneath the surface.  The short book ends: “Some days I can and some days I can’t.”  (6/6/07)

433. Radius
This one’s been around since 1998.  Wonder why we have never gotten around to it. Well, the high point we think is that the staff is polite, and we suspect the owners are nice.  Our waiter was French and had a certain grace about him.  At our request the maitre took care to get us to a fairly quiet table on the side, important since the place is a little frantic with buzz.  A bus boy who mistakenly filled our Hendrick’s Gin Gibson with tap water did report his mistake to the waiter, and a new drink arrived fairly quickly at the table.  One of our guests nicely commented that the owners contributed services and vittles to a charity fundraising dinner, qualifying Radius as one of President Bush’s (George the Elder) thousand points of light. 

The proprietors make a great deal out of their team approach to restauranting.  We think this has secured them a certain joie de vivre amongst the staff, but a few hits and misses on the bottom line.  Rowes Wharf, by far Boston’s most pleasant restaurant before it died, also had a groupie approach, with a similar result.  “Their Specialty?  Teamwork” rhapsodizes about this consultative style.  “The Radius kitchen is made up of stations: the meat station, the fish station, the garde-manger station, the pastry station.  Two people work at each station, and they have full responsibility for their part of the meal.  In other words, the team at the meat station not only cooks the meat but also butchers it and seasons it—a sharp departure from the standard procedure at most restaurants.”  “Radius has also developed a series of meetings in which both the spirit and the practice of teamwork get reinforced.”  Boston is full of very theoretical management education firms, and it’s not surprising that theory has crept so fully into the kitchen.

We had cod, which was tasty if not ample.  We found ourselves wanting to give it a little more panache.  Radius seems like a place to see and be seen for the aspiring, but we don’t find any of the warmth and intimacy that is hinted at on the restaurant website.  We distinctly remember that it was a very long day’s journey into night to reach the restroom, and along the way we had to plough through some sort of cocktail private affair in the basement.  By the way, many of the bathrooms in Boston’s fancier dives are elusive.  We will return at some point and see if there is some sort of quiet hideaway here not immediately evident in which to enjoy a small bite.

This is a restaurant with so many cooks and so many actors that it makes lots of little harmless mistakes that are amusing more than anything.  A Fast Company article is referenced on the website, but the link leads you to a foodie magazine instead.  A Boston Globe reviewer has a giggle over receiving the wrong bill:

The dinner at Radius was exquisite and the service exemplary.  We were content.  As the weeknight crowd thinned in the dining room and we sipped the last of our coffee, a companion looked over the bill, his eyebrows raised.  "Can this be right?" he asked, passing the check over to me.  It read $1,300 and some change.  With some entrees climbing above $40 and a wine list that offers only a couple of bottles under $50, Radius would never be mistaken for casual, budget-priced dining.  Still, the amount seemed stratospheric.  Had we spent that much?

The first item in a long list of beverage orders caught my eye.  Diet Coke.  We would never have ordered that.  After discussion with our waitress, the matter was remedied; and a more reasonable bill was exchanged for the one meant for another table.

432. Blade Runner 
In “Never a Dull Moment,” The Atlantic, April 2007, pp. 122-126, Corby Kummer looks into knives—for cooking.  He prescribes for all cooks a three-knife collection.  In his own case he goes for a 3-inch paring knife from Adam Simha’s MKS Design in Cambridge, a chef’s knife (a Mac 8.5-inch from Japan that the cooking trade currently adores), and a serrated knife.  He makes a great deal out of Simha, but the paring knife looks both ungainly and awkward to us.  He seems to favor short, fine-tooth serrated German knives, but we find longer blades with larger teeth more useful.  Probably you can ease matters by simply visiting Korin in New York City, which has Japanese knives from several makers that will cover many of your needs.  At the end of the day, one should probably deeply explore Mac products.  (5/23/07)

431. Clio
We’ve heard forever that Clio is one of Boston’s bests, not to be missed.  Well, forever we have intended to stay at the Eliot, where the restaurant is housed, and have never gotten around to it.   As a substitute we went to the restaurant, especially since it was reputed to have a decorous, quiet atmosphere where one could hold a conversation, and we were to be a party of six.  As we remember, we had some Bay scallops and then some shards of Kobe beef, both of which were quite satisfactory even if they did not inspire rapture.  A California friend picked the wines: he found them average but priced as if nectar from the gods.  The service was eager, happily so, though not practiced.  On a jaunt to the side, we saw Uni—the sashimi effort adjoining the main dining room—which we probably would not visit,  and we there heard some low-key chill music which probably does not go well in a restaurant with highbrow pretensions, though it has become pervasive in all Boston spots trying to attract young affluents.  Like many of Boston’s finests, Clio is pricey and not as good as Bostonians think, but maybe worth a visit once a year.  As in parts of Scandinavia, Boston’s best restaurants tend to be middlebrow, less affected, and less complex, more ample.  Clio and Uni.  370 Commonwealth Ave Boston, MA 02215.  Telephone: (617) 536-7200.  Website: www.cliorestaurant.com.  (5/16/07)

430. Fred Sandback
Fred Sandback was a decent guy to be around because he had all the gravitas you could want, but you could ignore him.  As you padded down 11th Street, you might exchange the faintest hellos with him, or not even see each other.  In 2003, at age 59, he did away with himself, and it created sadness even if one did not know him very well.  As it turned out, he was a sculptor of considerable stature, who did the neat trick of not being too obvious.  And he was thoughtful about his art and why he did it, as we learn from some 1975 notes.  Imagine our shock to learn that there had even been a Fred Sandback Museum, sponsored by Dia, for a while in Winchendon, Massachusetts, wherever that is.  It’s a neat trick to cast a long shadow—so silently and unobtrusively—in a New York peopled by such relentless egos.  Two retrospectives of his work appeared at New York galleries late in 2006 and early in 2007.  (4/4/07)

429. Jibarra (Norte Raleigh)
We have yet to try the cebiches, the shredded duck with lettuce, foie gras two ways, corn husk-smoked halibut, lamb shank with the bone in, duck breast, venison meat loaf, cactus paddle salad.  That’s to say, we have a lot of eating yet to do.  Jibarra, we learn, is about a year old, the favorite child of the proprietor who owns two undistinguished Mexican chains.  But this is the real enchilada. 

The quarters are nice but mixed, the owners having done a decent job of remodeling this lumpen architecture space and creating a little interest. We think especially that the curves in the bar manage to make one forget that this is a squatty rectangular blockhouse. One could call it interesting, if not pretty.  But a diner is able to forget the very undistinguished restaurants nearby.  More could be done on the interior, of course, but this is a good start.  Depending on the occasion, there will be chill music in the background, and perhaps standard, pleasant Mexican at Sunday family luncheons.  It’s marvelous, too, that the restaurant is open for long hours every day but Monday, providing one of the few decent spots to visit on a Sunday.  The service is always exceptionally polite; the maitre actually knows something about the cooking. 

We are pleased that the restaurant has found both cabrito and rabbit, especially since it has become tougher to get interesting things slaughtered in North Carolina.  The goat is cooked long, and, interestingly, is not over-spiced.  In fact, Chef Ricardo Quintero, of Mexico City, who has trained at Akelarre in San Sebastian, shows admirable restraint in a number of dishes, a delicacy that allows tastes that could get buried to emerge.  Management prides itself on presenting a sampling of several Mexican regional cuisines, but we do not know enough about Mexican cooking to say in which area—say Oaxaca or Yucutan—this kitchen excels. 

We found interesting wines, did a flight of tequilas with pleasure, and found our coffee to have enough punch.  The desserts we think are not memorable.  After some urging, we had the habanero cheesecake.  The bunuelos bear no relation to the airy creations we cherish.  But who needs dessert anyway after such a repast.  Some of our party found both the flan and torta de elote (fresh corn cake) pleasing.  Of course, we will try the trio of chocolate ice creams another day. 

428. Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
This new museum inspires ambivalence—maybe it’s interesting, maybe not.  Nicolai Ouroussoff can’t say enough nice things about it in the New York Times.  But a host of others find it less than adventurous—a surprise since it comes from Diller Scofidio & Renfro, a relatively new firm which prides itself on being the leading-edge firm in the field of architecture.  Probably Lee Rosenbaum’s “Upside Down and Backward,” Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2007, p. D3 is more to the point, the Journal often having more incisive book and architecture criticism than the Times.  He finds it to be a tame, even derivative affair that is not terribly well put together.  Net-Net, it’s attractive enough, but nothing special.  Yet it’s worth a visit.  If the truth be known, Boston has a hard time doing anything modern, except in the bowels of MIT, this being a nostalgic town that dines on the past. 

427. Caroline's Cakes
We haven’t passed the time of day with Caroline, but we intend to.  Our correspondent on the West Coast found her delectable cake in his Christmas trove, a present from his mother.  He counts himself lucky, since it was delicious.  Moreover, the elves in Caroline’s empire gave him a call to make sure the cake had arrived.  Last we knew Annapolis was a place where deer came crashing into your car, because, like the rest of the East Coast, Maryland is overdeveloped and the deer are constantly in flight.  But Caroline is there, as well as some other treasures.  It has St. John’s, the East-Coast college that gives you the classical education Robert Hutchins thought would make you a citizen of the world, a college that also has a Santa Fe branch.  Caroline's Cakes. 1580 Whitehall Road, Annapolis, Maryland 21409.  Telephone: 888-801-2253.  www.carolinescakes.com.  (2/21/07)

426. Bistro 5
When you are cast out into Medford, beyond the pull of Boston and Cambridge, you expect dining to be non-existent.  But you are to be fooled, at least at Bistro 5.  It gets a decorous shirtsleeves crowd, but is free of loutish behavior or too much buzz.  The duck prosciutto and its accompaniment most stick in our mind, but everything was tiptop.  The crème brulee, shared with our companion, was entirely right, and not tarted up with adulterations such as might happen at the Gotham in New York.  You can trust the barkeep to choose your wine.  Bistro 5, 5 A Playstead Road, West Medford, MA 02155.  Tel: 781-395-7464.  (2/7/07)

425. Neptune Oyster
For the last few years, laziness and maybe the Big Dig have kept us away from the North End.  But then we remember a good cup of coffee or the olive oil we sometimes haul home from one delicatessen.  A man of taste (PJ) has just put us on to Neptune Oyster, and we’re thankful.  There are many neighborhood sorts eating there, so one is spared the cashmere sweater and tassled-loafer set.  There’s an oyster selection—quite fresh—that alone could be the meal: wellfleets and katama bay and ninigret pond and pemaquids and kumomotos and so on.  It has a plush web menu in the works, and soon you can read about the equally good entrees.  Neptune Oyster, 63 Salem Street, Boston, MA 02113.  Telephone: 617-742-3474.  (1/31/07)

424. Au Pied de Cochon
“Martin Picard may be one of Canada’s most famous and respected chefs, but his name does not appear on the cover of his new cookbook Au Pied de Cochon-The Album. Chef at the Montreal restaurant of the same name, he published the book himself.  Tom Tassel, a waiter, did the illustrations.  One illustration, a pig that hobbles around with a missing foot, sips a glass of wine, “falls in love with a roasted Guinea hen, sucks sap out of a maple tree,” and “loses consciousness under a nun’s habit.”  The book comes with DVD. Anthony Bourdain does the introduction for the English version.  The restaurant website itself is lots of fun, and it tells you how to come by the book.  The Australian has done an interesting quickie guide to some of Canada’s interesting restaurants, to include Picard’s.  (1/24/07)

423. Vinegar Cocktails
Our companion website Spicelines recently discovered Benimosu’s delectable purple sweet potato vinegar at the Fancy Food Show in New York.  But this is not a ‘one off’: the Japanese have a deeper interest in fine vinegars which is increasingly reflected in their marketplace.  In “Vinegar Vitality,” we learn that Japanese consumers increasingly are partaking of su (rice vinegar) and that vinegar bars and cafes offering beverages that combine rice vinegar with ingredients like fruits and vegetables have begun to appear in Tokyo.”  It got started with kurozu in 2004, a black vinegar which took on sudden popularity as a drink with health properties.”  For example, drinking 15 milliliters of vinegar each day has been shown to lower high blood pressure.  The compound also suppresses the buildup of lactic acid, which helps people to recover from fatigue; promotes secretion of saliva, which aids digestion; and contains antifungal agencies.”  “OSU-Café@Limapuluh, a vinegar cafe, opened its doors for one month only in Aoyama, near Omotesando Station.  In addition to vinegar beverages, the café offered a special vinegar-inspired menu that included everything from main dishes to desserts.”  (12/27/06)

422. Johnny Apple’s Last Will and Testament
R.W. Apple finished “An Epicurean Pilgrimage: Meals Worth the Price of a Plane Ticket,” before he passed away on October 4, and it made it into print on October 22.  Here he listed the restaurants worth going a mile, or rather, several miles for: 

1. FLEURIE, FRANCE Auberge du Cep, Place de l’Église; (33-4) 7404-1077; perso.orange.fr/mercurebeaujolais/cep.htm.  

2. SANT’AGATA SUI DUE GOLFI, ITALY Don Alfonso 1890, corso Sant’Agata 11; (39-081) 878-0026; www.donalfonso.com.

3. SAN SEBASTIÁN, SPAIN Arzak, Avenida Alcalde Jose Elosegui, 273; (34-943) 27-8465; www.arzak.es.

4. BRUSSELS Comme Chez Soi, Place Rouppe 23; (32-2) 512-2921; www.commechezsoi.be.

5. LONDON Wilton’s, 55 Jermyn Street, SW1; (44-207) 629-9955; www.wiltons.co.uk.  GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN Sjomagasinet, Klippans Kulturreservat 5; (46-31) 775-5920; www.sjomagasinet.se.                               

6. BUENOS AIRES Avenida Cabaña las Lilas, Alicia Moreau de Justo 516; (54-11) 4313-1336; www.laslilas.com.

7. SHANGHAI Jean-Georges, 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu 1; (86-21) 6321-7733; www.jean-georges.com.

8. MUMBAI, INDIA Trishna, Birla Mansion, Sai Baba Marg, Fort; (91-22) 2270-3213.

9. SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA Billy Kwong, 3/355 Crown Street, Surry Hills; (61-2) 9322-3300.  

421. The Tree Men
Since there’s nothing quite as wonderful as a noble tree, we feel you can ascribe mystic powers to those who would populate the earth with them.  We have already brought to your attention our friend Roger Holloway who is the Johnny Appleseed of elm trees, having put down Princeton Elms near the White House and right next to our own Bee Maison.  Then there’s T. Davis Sydnor at Ohio State University, whose “The Response of Ohio’s Native and Naturalized Trees to Construction Activity” deserves your attention, because it deals with the tendency of developers to spread their developments like oil slicks, far and wide across the landscape, rather than clustering their activities for the health of man and trees. 

Now we have just caught up with Olaf K. Ribeiro in “God Can Make a Tree, But Olaf Ribeiro Can Save Its Life,” Wall Street Journal, October 13, 2006, pp. Al and A8.  “I worry that future generations will know of giant old trees only by the stumps preserved in museums,” he says.  “Trees are dying in large numbers in cities all over the country. American Forests, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that fights for preserving trees in urban areas, says satellite reconnaissance shows metropolitan areas in the eastern U.S. have lost 30% of their tree cover in the last 20 years.  It argues that about 635 million trees need to be planted in cities nationwide.  Urban tree loss, due mainly to developmental sprawl, contributes to the decline in air quality as well as flooding problems in metro areas.  Tree roots and the soil they are in soak up excess water, and trees consume carbon dioxide that would otherwise contribute to greenhouse gases.”  Ribeiro is joining together with others worldwide to preserve old trees, even reversing disease by, among other things, restoring the microbial activity in which the trees formerly flourished. 

Batchuluun Doorov, a Mongolian, is disparaged by many of the world’s scientists and eco-thinkers.  To beat back erosion and sand storms across the Gobi desert, this Mongolian is erecting a wall of trees.  “The so-called ‘Green Wall’ is expected to take 30 years to complete and cost some $350 million or more” (“To Stop Dust Bowl, Mongolia Builds ‘Great Wall’ of Trees,” Wall Street Journal, October 24, 2006, pp. A1 and  A15).  With global warming, less rain, and over-sized herds (there are some 30 million livestock in Mongolia, 10 times the human population), a huge amount of area has been converted to desert.  Some 300,000 trees have been planted thus far, and Mongolians envision a band of trees that will stretch some 2000 miles right across the country.  Salinity and other factors may devastate many of the newly planted trees, but Doorov says that 80% of his trees have lived.  (12/13/06)

Update: The Pope's Penance
The chaps at Klimafa are very rooted and are now planting 37 plus acres in Hungary as an offset to all the carbon spewed out by the Vatican.  See “Vatican Penance: Forgive Us Our Carbon Output,” New York Times, September 17, 2007, pp. Al and A4.  “This summer the cardinals at the Vatican accepted an unusual donation from a Hungarian start-up called Klimafa: The company said it would plant trees to restore an ancient forest on a denuded stretch of land by the Tisza River to offset the Vatican’s carbon emissions.”  “‘It seems so obvious, but no one was doing it,” said David Gazdag of Klimafa, who brokered the project with backing from his San Francisco parent company, Planktos International, which specializes in ecosystem restoration.”  Plantos owns a big chunk of Klimafa, and it in turn is owned by Solar Energy Limited.  Gazdag is an interesting fellow with a medical degree who has taken a strong interest in reproductive health education, having helped to set up the Astarte Foundation.  As well, he has been involved with broad European humanitarian efforts.  And, of course, he is also embroiled in green activities.  (1/2/08)

420. Soup of the Evening
We uncovered Soup of the Evening: Beautiful Soup when we were looking into Moroccan Harira, the soup eaten at the end of the daylong fast during Ramadan.  What’s interesting here is that Pat Solley, who is now out with a book celebrating all this hard work, does more than give you a bunch of soup recipes.  She places each soup she discusses in the context: the time and place and country where it is conceived and eaten.  You will find soup tales spun by famous authors of many nations.  In other words, she is totally, totally in the soup.  It’s more than a soupcon.  (12/6/06)

419. Pure Kosher Dills
As we have said elsewhere, there is a rash of artisan this’s and that’s breaking out.  Pickles, no less, have become matters of great obsession.  We have already fessed up to the fact that we are partisan about Ricks Picks.  But one of our constant readers vows that the best of the new breed plain dills comes from Bubbies in California.  We have yet to try them but our informant is both a woman of taste and a pickle fancier.  Annoyingly, you can’t seem to buy the things online: Bubbies only has marginalia in its online store. We are amused, too, that Bubbies of San Francisco sells its stuff from Stockton, California, though we are told elsewhere that headquarters really is in Stockton.  At any rate, some of the pickle stuff is to be found in Whole Foods in New York—hidden away on the top shelf somewhere, so ask a clerk.  (11/29/06)

418. Boston’s New Winners
Most internet dining guides throw in every restaurant within 10 miles, all in hopes of drumming up some advertising.  So it’s darn hard, in Boston and elsewhere, to separate the wheat from the chaff, even if you consult a supposed quality guide like Zagat.  But Sally’s Guide does turn up a list of the good ones for Boston—and for a few other places.

417. Old-Fashioned Manhattans
Dr. Don Beinfang is keeping an eye out for us and advises that his cocktail research proves that you have to get the ingredients just right: 

I have been working hard (very hard and with diligence) on the cocktail question and have made an observation about Manhattans.  It turns out the sweet vermouth makes a big difference.  Surprisingly there is a cheaper brand that makes a better cocktail—it is called Capri.  The fancier brands of sweet vermouth add a bitter taste that spoils the drink.  The makers of Capri know this and proudly advertise on the label that it makes a better Manhattan; they are right! 

Nothing fancy about the formula, but as they say, “The devil is in the details.”  Whisky (I like Makers Mark), 4 parts; sweet vermouth (as I mentioned I
like Capri brand), 1 part; two cherries (one for my wife), always served straight up, though the formula is of course mixed over ice.  One will not find it easy to locate Capri brand.  My source has been D & L Liquors in Waltham, Mass. 

While I am at it, I might as well tell you that I make the best Old-Fashioned on the planet.  The secret to an Old -Fashioned is: (1) simple syrup—never a package of sugar crystals; and (2) bottled soda water—never carbonated from a tap.  The rest of the fruits and bourbon are less important, though high-quality and fresh are always a plus. 

I have the original recipe for a Ward 8 written by the guy who made the drink up
at Loch-Ober’s, but it is of historic interest only since it isn’t a very good
drink after all. 

416. Butcher Shop
We just had an excellent meal at the Butcher Shop, one of Barbara Lynch’s 3 Boston restaurants.  We’ll be back and we mean to try them all.  This is in the South End, right across the street from her B & G Oysters.  The Butcher Shop is her meat emporium, and one of the locals we know buys meat here. We had her storied hot dog—really more of a sausage—and several other meats of the evening.  Though the restaurant has bar-type set up, we nonetheless found the atmosphere to be decorous enough to hold a conversation.  Lynch attracts a nice crowd, and the quarters are attractive if not spacious.  Plus the servers are both polite and helpful: we took a chance on the wine recommendation, and it was right.  The Butcher Shop, 552 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02118.  Telephone: 617-423-4800.  Website: www.thebutchershopboston.com.  The website, though tasteful, is not very helpful: it should include map and directions, much more on the menus and the preparation.

415. Nicola Paone
Nicola Paone.  There’s a restaurant on 34th Street—Nicola Paone—that’s not on the lips of America, but it has a certain following.  It was the creation of an Italian troubadour of the same name (i.e., the eponym) and of uncertain talents who once wrote a song about Caesar  salad—some 17 verses long.  William Buckley, the father of the New Right and of rampant polarization in America, deems it his favorite, saying:

I can name my favorite restaurant as glibly as I can name my favorite wife, country, religion, and journal of opinion.  It is (I should like to say, “of course,” but Paone’s is not widely known) Nicola Paone; its address is 207 East 34th Street New York, and I suppose I have eaten there a hundred times in the last 10 years, which would certainly account for my being Paone’s favorite customer; but, believe me, in this courtship, I was the suitor.

The food, incidentally, is far from distinguished, but good, sensitive taste has never motivated any ideologue.  We’ve not been there for years, but when we did visit, it had a wonderful atmosphere, generating perfect comity and unforced good cheer among all those in our luncheon party.

The trick there we always thought was the endgame.  The dessert cart was very ample, and it was a sin to exit the restaurant without taking on some creamy delectable that added immeasurably to one’s midriff.  Then too, at the finish, the maitre Franco Alfonso or maybe the waiter presented the check with delicacy and a warm smile.  You felt like paying the bill and, by then, did not even remember what you had eaten.  It was simply a fine experience.

We hope it’s the same.  A well-mannered, well-dressed clientele that did not feel it had to shout to be understood.  Decorousness.  Nicola Paone, 207 E. 34th St. New York , NY 10016.  Telephone: (212) 889-3239.  (11/1/06)

414. Bistro on Main—Lexington, VA
As much as anything, we are recommending Lexington, Virginia.  Bistro on Main is a pleasant stop in a very amiable town.  We were surprised, since the towns, as you work your way up the Blue Ridge of Virginia, are moth-eaten, the state not having figured out how to realize the potential inherent in such pretty landscape.  But the town is so pretty that you don’t mind staying in a modestly pretentious hotel, in this instance a Hampton Inn.  Nor do you have to go out to the fancy dive in town, where things are gussied up by too much and the prices are not merited.  That’s Café Michel, where simplicity is not understood: you cannot charge high prices unless you layer it on and sauce it to death, leading to dishes like pecan chicken with raspberry sauce or quail topped with port wine.  This is an endemic problem in much of the South.  But Bistro proprietor Jackie Lupo seems to have caught the spirit of the town, both in her décor and her food, each pretty enough but still relaxed.  Even the patrons dress well enough, but certainly are not starchy.  Bistro on Main, 8 North Main St., Lexington, Virginia 24450.  Telephone: 540-464-4888.  We remember, in particular, drinking a couple of pleasant offbeat beers, and all  in our party remarked on the freshness of the food. 

413. Niwanohana (Garden Flower or Hana Sushi)
In Richmond, Virginia’s “River District”—known to all as Shockoe Bottom before it was ludicrously renamed—you will find Niwanohana, which your hotel clerk will simply refer to as Hana Sushi, which is unfortunate since there are a skillion Hana Sushis around America.  It’s ever so slightly dingy now: it was more sparkling when we visited a few years back. But the execution was still fine.  The waitresses tried hard to please and the food was on point.  We could find yakko tofu on the menu, a soothing dish that oft as not fails to appear in most sushi parlors.  At its best, this is cold tofu served with chopped scallions or their equivalent in icy water with very small pieces of clear ice.  Such a dish serves as an antidote to Southern cuisine, which is often overdone with sauces and the like or to the rather silly sushi rolls that have been tarted up to conceal the poor ingredients.  A Japanese tourist found the basics to be good here and the prices reasonable.  Niwanohana.  1309 E. Cary St., Richmond, VA 23219.  Telephone: 804-225-8801.  (8/30/06)

412. Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden—Richmond
It is impossible to say enough nice things about the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.  It is just another wonderful stroke of Lewis Ginter (and particularly his niece Grace Arents) who should be referred to as the Father of Stylish Richmond.  Arents left it to the city, subject to its lifetime use by her companion who lived to be 100.  Richmond is a painful city to visit—the capital of the Confederacy, the spiritual home of tobaccodom, today the capital of Virginia, and now a tattered, sooty, often humid, hot, wrecked Southern city, which one used to race through en route to and from  Florida.  It awaits resurrection.  But here and there are marks of charm which hints at the gentility and stylishness which Virginia at its best once could evince. 

It was a long trip out from center city through strip malls and cluttered thoroughfares to Ginter, and it is something of an oasis amidst the stubble.  In fact, when in it, you pray that eventually the city will capture and remodel land at Ginter’s edges to complement its beauty.  In general the buildings are not very distinguished, though the Conservatory is rather charming.  But the gardens are several, varied, full of sumptuous treats, and offering enough variety so that one can pick up some ideas for one’s own plantings.  Apparently the Garden only really got going in 1984, as plant people and citizens sued to bring the gardens to life, the city itself having neglected this wonderful legacy. 

411. French Lavender
You can read much about the growing interest in lavender at our sister site www.spicelines.com.  But certainly this is a matter of even more passionate interest in France than America.  “Along an official ‘Lavender Route,’ organized tours lead visitors through perfumed purple-blue fields, distilleries, museums, restaurants, art galleries and, of course, gift shops” (“In Provence, Commerce’s Scent is Tinged with Lavender,” New York Times, July 21, 2006, p. A4).  Lavender, in France anyway, is said to disinfect the air, help psychiatric patients, clean wounds, help insomnia, and drive away flies and mosquitoes.  “France now accounts for only 50 percent of the world’s production of fine lavender, although 90 percent of its lavendin.”  Lavendin is “a sterile, hardier and much more prolific hybrid with a cruder, industrial, camphor scent.”  (8/16/06)

410. Hampden-Sydney: A Distant Place
In Virginia’s backwater, in fact, well away from the water, lies Hampden-Sydney, off of country 460, a few miles down Rte 15.  It’s far away from everything we know in urban life.  It’s an all-male college of 1,000 plus students that opened for business in November 1775.  Named after John Hampden (1594-1643) and Algernon Sydney (1622-1683), vigorous opponents of England’s Crown and government in the 17th century, it was a revolutionary outpost of learning that stuck its finger in Great Britain’s eye, as America readied itself for the Revolution. 

Since, of course, it has been anything but revolutionary.  It prides itself on turning boys into men, and men into gentlemen.  This rural educational institutional has given birth to interesting offspring who have moved to the big city—Union Theological Seminary was founded here and so was the Medical College of Virginia, both of which replanted themselves in Richmond, 60 miles away.  To visit this 1000 acre campus is to pleasantly drop back in time, and the Federal-style buildings transport one back a century or two.  Eccentricities, but nice ones, abound.  Some tropical plantings in front of the science building.  A professor in the humanities,  who drives right up to the steps of the building where his office is housed, has the singular privilege of smoking cigars indoors, and awards students who have done something of worth a quarter. 

409. The Age of Aquarius (Aquariums)
American Way, July 15, 2006 gives a pretty good list of American aquariums that are new or are being updated.  Of course, this means that the list is incomplete: it does not include Baltimore, for instance, which is first class and a must stop when visiting.  Mentioned are: 

Georgia Aquarium
225 Baker Street
Atlanta, Georgia
404-581-40000 

Adventure Aquarium
1 Aquarium Drive
Camden, New Jersey 08103
856-365-3300 

Audubon Aquarium of the Americas
1 Canal Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
800-774-7394

Aquarius Aquarium Institute (2011)
5541 Columbia Drive North
Fresno, California 93727
559-490- 3474 

North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores
1 Roosevelt Blvd.
Pine Knoll Shores, North Carolina 28512
866-294-3477 

Seattle Aquarium
1483 Alaskan Way (Pier 59 on the Waterfront)
Seattle, Washington 98101
206-386-4300  (8/9/06)

408. The Ballantyne Resort
The Ballantyne Resort Hotel and Spa is an almost best.  It’s a fine facility on the outskirts of Charlotte run in a mediocre fashion by Starwood Hotels, a mishmash chain that tries to be high end.  Charlotte hotels are generally a problem, but this is the one to stay in, at least until somebody finally does it right.  The rooms are large enough, with a pleasant view if you get placed on the backside, and a commodious bathroom.  Interestingly, a great deal of the help is attractive and well-spoken, coming from all over the country: Alaska, New York, etc. 

But the services and amenities are subpar and vastly overpriced.  We had a lamb steak, for instance, that had been killed many times: clearly the edibles are not bought right or prepared correctly.  The dining room is an unattractive, windowless box.  The towels in the bathroom are chintzy.  The sauna in the fitness room was non-operative, and the body wash dispenser was empty.  This is not a resort, as we know it, though maybe it would have earned a place in Cleveland Amory’s Last Resorts.  It has sort of a Florida condo feel to it, and it would require a remake by an inspired architectural designer to give it elegance and warmth, and shake off its Donald Trump veneer. 

407. Sunset Grill
We were impressed with the good manners, the fun and liveliness, and some of the fare of the Sunset Grill.  It’s at the edge of Vanderbilt University and probably reflects the strengths and weaknesses of that institution.  If you pick carefully, you will win.  We had a rabbit and morel pot pie, as we remember, and a beef tamale: they were delicious.  Our companion had a pasta dish and something else, both of which were very much less successful.  The desserts were overworked.  Service was slow, but very mannerly: everybody at this restaurant was very nice, and that was a winsome characteristic.  We would eat here again, but you have to know what you are up to and to press for things to get to the table.  This restaurant has spawned a couple of children, Cabanas and Midtown Café, both of which need some attention, but are still good choices in a town that does not have a lot of options.  Sunset Grill. 2001 Belcourt Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee 37212.  Telephone: 866-496-Food. Website: www.sunsetgrill.com.  The wine and beer menu, though extensive, needs to further thought.  But there is a little bit of imagination in the place; it’s fun to sit out in the sidewalk glass room, though avoid a table in the middle aisle. The entrepreneur owner has smartly tied himself into the hotels in town, so this will be frequently recommended by desk personnel.  On another outing, we would be tempted to try the Portuguese shellfish cassoulet, the sorghum roasted pork tenderloin, and maybe the breakfast burrito. (8/2/06)

406. The Hermitage—Nashville
The Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville, not to be confused with the hotel of that name in Florence, Tuscany or Andrew Jackson’s estate outside town, is clearly the place to stay in Nashville, which is otherwise replete with downmarket chain hotels.  We hear there’s another attempt to plant a luxury hotel in Union Station on Broadway, but for now the Hermitage is the only game in town.  It’s a mixed affair, as we shall make clear below, but we would return in a moment on our next trip to Nashville. 

The hotel has a wonderful history, as one can discover on its website: 

Commissioned by 250 Nashvillians in 1908, The Hotel Hermitage (named after Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage estate) opened its doors on Saturday, Sept. 17, 1910.  The new hotel, which would change its name in the 1940s, advertised its rooms as “fireproof, noiseproof, and dustproof, $2.00 and up.” 

The Hermitage Hotel really made its mark on political history when Memphis’ own Edward H. (Boss) Crump headquartered his statewide political machine there.  The stalwart politico—known as the Red Snapper of Tennessee politics—launched many Democratic campaigns from the hotel.  For years, the hotel served as the headquarters of the state Democratic Party. 

President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Nashville at the invitation of local Congressman and U.S. Speaker of the House Joseph W. Byrns on Nov. 17, 1934.  According to newspaper reports, the largest crowds in Nashville history lined the downtown streets to get a glimpse of the Roosevelts en route to The Hermitage Hotel.  The First Couple was here to promote the “New Deal” programs, many of which were pushed through Congress with the help of Speaker Byrns. 

But the hotel fell on pretty hard times, along with Nashville, as the 20th century drew to a close.  As late as July 2000, Johnny Apple of The New York Times pleaded for some cosmetic efforts to bring back its sheen: “[T]he magnificent, richly marbled lobby reeked of disinfectant when we checked in, and the dated though spacious guest rooms had dirty windows. ”  In fact, the hotel now has a very good head of housekeeping with whom we recently met in passing: he is hardworking and very much up to the job, and the hotel looks tiptop.  As well, the lobby has been restored and substantial investments made in the rooms, it having been taken in hand as we understand it by the same chap who has turned the Hotel Jefferson in Richmond back into a gem.  There are still paltry facility problems: the air conditioning in the hallways is loud, and, oddly enough, functions better there than in the guestrooms.  The “business center” on the first floor is a joke, amounting to two small closets in which the hotel has tucked two Dell computers.  Now and again one will hear some noise from an upstairs room when in residence, the necessary buffering never having been attended to. 

Some other nice accidents.  This is one of the very few hotels in the country that get the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to your door every morning, and even the Sunday Times is there right on time.  The linens, especially the towels, were quite decent; annoyingly, most upscale hotels provide shoddy, thin, small towels now.  There is a DVD player, which, in fact, is pressed into service often since thunderstorms in the South may cut satellite TV service. 

405. Going-Away Spices
Richmond Hill Inn, a very classy inn on the outskirts of Asheville, North Carolina, puts a little present outside your door in the morning, dazzling you with the wonders of nature instead of all the cares of man you would find in any newspaper.  There you will find a small sampling of an herb or spice, along with a card, telling you of its history and many uses.  Our party found lavender on one day, rosemary on another.  Simultaneously this reminds you that this inn has an ambitious kitchen, absolutely smashing gardens (its best feature), and active tilling that provides plants to delight both the eye and palate.  For more on Richmond Hill, see “Gabrielle’s Place—Asheville, North Carolina.”  (7/5/06)

404. American History at Its Best
You do not have to be a liberal to think that Richard Hofstadter of Columbia was a giant who brought American history to life through deft portraits of America’s heroes, be they Calhoun (“the Marx of the Master Class”), Jackson, or whomever.  If you want biography, intellectual history, and inventive insight all rolled into one, go back and get his American Political Tradition.  We say this because David Brown is now out with Richard Hofstadter: An Intellectual Biography.  Boy, we bet he stayed up nights working out that brilliant title.  It is published by the ponderous University of Chicago.  Wilfred McClay of the University of Tennessee just did a revisionist appreciation of the biography and of Hofstadter in The Wall Street Journal, May 13-14, 2006, sort of a putdown from Chattanooga.  “… Mr. Brown’s book makes it hard to evade the fact that Hofstadter was a historian who, for all the charm of his work, was nearly always wrong in his most important assertions.”  That is, to say, McClay finds him too hard on the New Right: a careful reading will also show that Hofstadter also had it in for the Old Left.  A reading of his Columbia Commencement Address of 1968 probably demonstrates that he was a shameful middle-of-the-roader, in the end, with no particular liking for extremism run amok from any wing.  (6/28/06)

403. Rum at Its Best
We will be discussing rum in much greater detail, since summer is upon us, and we expect you to put a bit down to ward off the dog days of August and the hurricanes that will soon follow.  In the years that followed Castro, Bacardi offshore became the juggernaut of the rum racket, and even the few other brands that dot the liquor store shelves are not the pick of the litter.  One rum friend has always told us that Barbancourt, out of Haiti, is the rum to drink.  An Englishman vouches for Zacapa.  You will find it and several other choice rums on the lists supplied by Forbes or by slightly downmarket Cigar Afficianado and others. Like every other heavy alcohol, rum gets right if it comes from a house that stirs in the correct ingredients and allows it to get a little age and concentration.  But more about that later.  (6/14/06)

402. Wasabi—The Real Thing
“Most sushi restaurants, both in the U.S. and Japan, do not serve the genuine article.  The green stuff next to your spicy tuna roll is usually a combination of horseradish, mustard extract, and food coloring.  Genuine wasabi is expensive (the plants are hard to cultivate) and tastes sweeter, with less concentrated heat” (FSB, January 2006, p. 118). Doug Lambrecht’s Real Wasabi in Hilton Head, S.C., imports wasabi plants from Asia, makes them into powder that it sells online.  (Please note: website was down at time of posting.)  He is trying now to grow a little on his farm near Cashiers, North Carolina.  Pacific Farms in Florence, Oregon has grown and sold wasabi since 1997.  (6/7/06)

401. Cambridge: Shopping on Tory Row
A day before the May rains that nearly washed away Eastern Massachusetts, we spent a misty morning in Cambridge wandering down Brattle Street.  Once known as Tory Row, this quiet, gently curving thoroughfare was home to a dozen wealthy royalists.  On the eve of the Revolution, most of these “worthies” abandoned their mansions and fled.  George Washington, who assumed command of the Continental Army in Cambridge on July 3, 1775, occupied the Vassal House for a year while planning the siege of Boston.  Now known as the Longfellow House—it was a wedding gift to the poet, who lived there from 1837 to 1882—it still stands at 105 Brattle Street, where it is maintained by the National Park Service.  (The Longfellow House, 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.  Tel: 617/876-4491.  Web: www.nps.gov/long.) 

We confess we did not have history in mind that morning.  Our thoughts were in the material world and if yours are the same, you might follow our lead.  Begin at the Harvard Coop (not on Brattle but a block or so up on Harvard Square): this four-story bookshop with spiral stairs and acres of darkly gleaming shelves stocks thousands of books that you really do need and might not find elsewhere.  We scooped up French scientist Herve This’ Molecular Gastronomy and the illustrated Diary of Frieda Kahlo.  The Art and Architecture section is particularly fine; naturally, “how to get into Harvard” books are prominently featured, as are sometimes rarified tomes by university professors.  (The Coop at Harvard Square, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02238.  Telephone: 617/499-2000.  Web: harvardbkstore.com.) 

Go out of the Coop and turn right, ignoring the riff-raff of cafes and shops, until you reach 17 Brattle Street.  Motto specializes in modern artisan jewelry from 100 American designers.  Semi-precious stones are featured here, as in Alexis Bittar’s dangling cluster earrings of glowing quartz, garnet and tourmaline.  We nearly succumbed to Gabrielle Sanchez’s simple grey pearl dangles ($295), but were distracted just in time by a pair of flat hand-hammered gold hoops set with tiny diamonds.  (Motto, 17 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138  Telephone: 617/868-8448.) 

Do you need to buy a gift?  Almost everything next door at sister store MDF, 19 Brattle Street, falls into the ‘exquisite’ category, from a square finely detailed bamboo ceramic teapot ($55) to Michael Aram’s aluminum scoop with bronzed coffee bean handle.   Hmm, maybe you need a new handbag….  On an overcast morning, an oblong bronze tote with dark brown leather whip-stitching and handsome silver buckles beckoned discreetly.  (MDF, 19 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA  02138.  Telephone: 617/491-2789.)

Whoops, go back to Black Ink at 5 Brattle and admire the silvery ceiling, tea-green walls, and rigid geometry of the shelves on which perfectly arranged wares are displayed.  Most of these gift items might be described as ‘ironic’.  Pastel towels, for example, squashed into sundae glasses, resemble strawberry milkshakes topped with whipped cream and cherries.  Along with the plastic peanuts and bright yellow adhesive “measuring tape,” (get it?), there are some lovely items.  A scroll-down German poster of bright orange protozoa floating in an aquamarine sea would brighten a beach house or nursery ($175), while an asymmetrical rice paper fan resting in its own bamboo holder is a triumph of form and function.  (Black Ink, 5 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.  Telephone: 617/497-1221.) 

Well-heeled 20-somethings swoon over Jasmine Sola’s pair of chic, colorful stores—one for shoes and one for everything else.  Candy-hued walls in rose, spearmint, buttercup and sky blue create a vacation mood.  A wall of bright skintight T-shirts with real and imagined logos ranges from $20 to $40, while a Basil and Maude black chiffon skirt, heavily embroidered with bronze and gold beads in a vaguely Indian design was $195.   Under it all, wear lacy Bela BumBum (“beautiful bottom”) panties from Brazil—guaranteed to transport the “fun-loving, sassy woman” to the “shores of Ipanema and Copacabana.”  (Jasmine Sola, 37 Brattle (617/354-6043) and 39 Brattle (617/576-0031), Cambridge, MA  02138.  Web: www.jasminesola.com.) 

Men, by now feeling that they have gotten short shrift, can linger at Colonial Drug over the luxurious Trufitt & Hill badger shaving brushes, some set in silver, and the latest in Neal’s Yard men’s toiletries.  This old- line pharmacy also stocks Mason and Pearson hairbrushes and Elygedium toothpaste, as well as over 1000 hard-to-find classic fragrances.  We sniffed Piguet’s Bandit and Worth’s Je Reviens, before veering wildly off course.  We couldn’t resist a lime-green tube of Moynette Paris ($40), a “French Polynesian floral fantasy inspired by Tahitian gardenia, French muguet de bois and Nay champa (“a whispering vanilla-like ingredient used in temples during meditation for a calming, relaxing transcendental effect.”  What were we thinking?  (Colonial