LE BERNARDIN—Considered Manhattan’s ultimate seafood restaurant, this elegant, celebrated spot delights even those who think they don’t care for fish. Chef Eric Ripert, the French-born culinary star who heads up the kitchen, divides his menu into Almost Raw, Barely Touched, and Lightly Cooked, and he presents an astonishing array of sublime fare while strictly enforcing his no-endangered-species rule. INFO: Tel 212-554-1515; www.le-bernardin.com. Cost: prix-fixe dinner $115.
THE MEYER EMPIRE—Amiable restaurateur Danny Meyer now has so many acclaimed eateries, from high end to burger stand (he has opened multiple wildly popular Shake Shacks in the city), it’s hard to keep track. His flagship Union Square Café is a New American–style bistro offering unfussy, Mediterranean-based comfort food. Meyer’s formula for genuinely warm service and delicious food at good value also explains the sustained popularity of the handsome, highly rated Gramercy Tavern. Maialino is his first Italian venture, a charmingly atmospheric, Roman-style trattoria. The name means “little pig,” and pork stars on a menu that also offers fresh takes on finger foods and pasta. UNION SQUARE CAFÉ: Tel 212-243-4020; www.unionsquarecafe.com. Cost: dinner $65. GRAMERCY TAVERN: Tel 212-477-0777; www.gramercytavern.com. Cost: prix-fixe dinner $86. MAIALINO: Tel 212-777-2400; www.maialinonyc.com. Cost: dinner $55.
PETER LUGER STEAKHOUSE—A veritable shrine to Porterhouse, Peter Luger’s is possibly the country’s finest steak restaurant, drawing happy carnivores to its tavernlike, old–New York premises in Brooklyn beneath the Williamsburg Bridge since 1887. Each butter-tender prime beef steak is handpicked and dry aged on site. INFO: Tel 718-387-7400; www.peterluger.com. Cost: dinner $65.
NEW YORK PIZZA—Nothing beats a New York pizza, its smoky crust slightly charred, daubed with warm blobs of fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce, and basil, plus toppings like homemade meatballs, pepperoni, and kalamata olives. In what remains of Little Italy, Lombardi’s still makes the original pizza of a century ago and serves it in classic, red-tablecloth digs. The pies are baked in a coal-fired oven.
Across the river, under the Brooklyn Bridge, Grimaldi’s has had hordes lining up since it opened in 1990. No wonder, the pizza is probably the best in town.
Back in Manhattan, John’s of Bleecker Street serves brick-oven pie in a setting that features booths and tables covered with carved initials and graffiti dating to the 1920s.
Among the newcomers is Co. (“Company”), where Roman-style pies featuring toppings like zucchini-anchovy puree with zucchini blossoms have pizza buffs swooning. LOMBARDI’S: Tel 212-941-7994; www.firstpizza.com. Cost: large $20. GRIMALDI’S: Brooklyn. Tel 718-858-4300; www.grimaldis.com. Cost: large $16. JOHN’S PIZZERIA OF BLEECKER STREET: Tel 212-243-1680; www.johnsbrickovenpizza.com. Cost: large $14. CO.: Tel 212-243-1105; www.co-pane.com. Cost: $16.
TIME WARNER RESTAURANT COLLECTION—Two glass-and-steel towers on the western edge of Columbus Circle, the Time Warner Center contains a cluster of eateries, from eclectic to sublime, that’s made it a destination for dedicated foodies. At Per Se, Thomas Keller of Napa Valley’s French Laundry (see p. 713) has created a Gotham version of his celebrated flagship, with glorious views over Central Park. More stunning still is the cuisine (and the tab too): It is regularly voted the city’s No. 1 spot. Keller’s popular Bouchon Bakery, a café-patisserie, serves soups and sandwiches along with mouthwatering macaroons and pastries. The conspicuous-consumption award goes to Masa, where true sushi fans never question the cost of the multicourse delicacies presented by sushi god Masa Takayama. The costs are less stratospheric next door at Bar Masa. At A Voce, chef Missy Robbins takes Italian fare to new heights, serving up clever iterations of rustic-yet-refined classics, including heavenly fresh pasta dishes. PER SE: Tel 212-823-9335; www.perseny.com. Cost: 9-course prix-fixe dinner $275. BOUCHON BAKERY: Tel 212-823-9366; www.bouchonbakery.com. MASA: Tel 212-823-9800; www.masanyc.com. Cost: multicourse sushi for $450. BAR MASA: tasting menu $98. A VOCE: Tel 212-823-2523; www.avocerestaurant.com. Cost: dinner $55.
A 19th-Century Queen of Spas
SARATOGA SPRINGS
New York, U.S.A.
The name Saratoga Springs has long evoked images of thoroughbreds and genteel garden parties. Once known as the “Queen of Spas,” the area has been a longtime summer playground for the moneyed, thanks to its natural springs and a horse-racing season considered one of the nation’s best.
The elegant Saratoga Race Course, America’s oldest sports venue, is the flower-bedecked town’s top attraction with an impressive Victorian grandstand. Between races, spend an hour at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame across the track, a repository of Triple Crown trophies, diamond-encrusted whips, and interactive exhibits.
In the summer months, the open-air Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) hosts the New York City Ballet, followed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Big-name artists from opera to pop music fill out the season’s roster.
The Adelphi Hotel, built in 1877, is the epitome of Victorian charm, with 39 rooms full of antiques of various periods and a décor that borders on theatrical. There’s also a wealth of fine smaller inns and B&Bs to choose from, foremost among them the Batcheller Mansion Inn, a splendid example of high Victorian Gothic architecture and an old-world welcome.
About 10 miles east of town is the site of the Battle of Saratoga, the first significant military victory of the American Revolution. Replica British cannons and a self-guided tour at the Saratoga National Historical Park convey the story of how, in 1777, American forces met and defeated a major British army.
WHERE: 200 miles north of New York City. VISITOR INFO: www.saratoga.org. SARATOGA RACE COURSE: Tel 518-584-6200; www.nyra.com. MUSEUM OF RACING: Tel 800-562-5394 or 518-584-0400; www.racingmuseum.org. SPAC: Tel 518-587-3330; www.spac.org. When: May–Sep. ADELPHI HOTEL: Tel 518-587-4688; www.adelphihotel.com. Cost: from $145 (off-peak), from $350 (peak). When: mid-May–late Oct. BATCHELLER MANSION INN: Tel 800-616-7012 or 518-584-7012; www.batchellermansioninn.com. Cost: from $165 (off-peak), from $345 (peak). SARATOGA NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK: Tel 518-664-9821; www.nps.gov/sara. BEST TIMES: late Jun for the Saratoga Jazz Festival at SPAC; late Jul–early Sep for racing season.
America’s Grandest Estate
BILTMORE
Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.A.
“Strange, colossal, heartbreaking . . . in effect, like a gorgeous practical joke,” said Henry James upon visiting George Washington Vanderbilt III’s new palace in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, who also conceived The Breakers, the family’s “cottage” in Newport, Rhode Island (see p. 865), Biltmore was completed in 1895 after an eight-year construction. It took 1,000 laborers to lay the 11,000 bricks for this “weekend getaway,” which was inspired by French châteaux and has hosted luminaries such as Edith Wharton, Henry Ford, and Woodrow Wilson. It ranks as the largest private home ever built in America, containing 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, and extravagances (telephones, hot and cold running water) unheard of at the turn of the century.
Biltmore—still owned by Vanderbilt descendants—can be visited on tours that explore about 100 of the 250 rooms (decorated with some 1,600 works of art, including pieces by Renoir, Whistler, and Sargent) as well as a bowling alley and a 10,000-volume library.
Of the 8,000 acres of stunning grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, of Central Park fame (see p. 841), more than 400 are gardens showcasing magnificent dogwoods, roses, and some 50,000 tulips and 1,000 azalea bushes. Tour the Biltmore Estate Winery, which produces several well-respected wines, then spend the night at the newly built Inn on Biltmore Estate and enjoy a meal served on Vanderbilt china in the elegant Dining Room.
The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa once hosted Biltmore’s overflow of high-society houseguests. Today, despite its size, the 500-room inn still promises a cozy feel, with a slew of restaurants, a Donald Ross golf course, and an award-winning spa. It also houses the world’s largest collection of Arts and Crafts furniture, with names like Stickley an
d Morris adorning most chairs and lighting fixtures. In Asheville’s Montford Historic District, the far more intimate Black Walnut Inn, designed in 1899 by Biltmore’s supervising architect, offers eight tastefully appointed guest rooms.
The estate represents the height of Gilded Age splendor.
BILTMORE: Tel 800-411-3812 or 828-225-1333; www.biltmore.com. INN ON BILTMORE ESTATE: Tel 800-411-3812 or 828-225-1600. Cost: from $199 (off-peak), from $399 (peak); prix-fixe dinner $48. GROVE PARK INN: Tel 800-438-5800 or 828-252-2711; www.groveparkinn.com. Cost: from $229 (off-peak), from $280 (peak). BLACK WALNUT INN: Tel 800-381-3878 or 828-254-3878; www.blackwalnut.com. Cost: from $150 (off-peak), from $325 (peak). BEST TIMES: Feb for the Arts & Crafts Fair Conference at Grove Park Inn; early Apr-mid–May for Biltmore’s Spring Festival of Flowers; Jul weekends for Summer Evening Concerts; Nov–Dec for Christmas celebrations.
World’s Longest Stretch of Barrier Islands
THE OUTER BANKS
North Carolina, U.S.A.
Some of the most beautiful beaches on America’s Atlantic coast are in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, a string of skinny barrier islands that stretches 130 miles from the Virginia border south to Cape Lookout and Beaufort. The northern stretch consists largely of seasonal beach towns popular with anglers, swimmers, and windsurfers, such as Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, where the Wright Brothers pioneered airplane flight. In nearby Duck, the Sanderling Resort & Spa sits along miles of lonely windblown beach adjacent to the 3,400-acre Pine Island Audubon Sanctuary. Eat at the inn’s popular Left Bank restaurant, or—for more casual fare—at its restaurant housed in a restored 1899 U.S. Life-Saving Service station with a name to match.
The midportion of the Outer Banks is dominated by bustling Nags Head and Jockey’s Ridge State Park, home to towering sand dunes and gateway to Roanoke Island. Its main town, Manteo, is famous as the location of the first British settlement in the New World, which vanished in 1590. The mystery is explored in the Waterside Theatre’s production of The Lost Colony, a play performed outdoors here since 1937. Inarguably the nicest place to stay in town is the aptly named Tranquil House Inn, overlooking the waterfront and offering 25 sunny rooms and the nautical-themed 1587 Restaurant.
Continue south to Cape Hatteras National Seashore and check out the candy-striped Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest traditional lighthouse in North America, and tiny Ocracoke Island’s exceptionally pretty beaches.
The southern end of the region encompasses Cape Lookout National Seashore, where wild horses have roamed for centuries. Skip inland to Beaufort, founded in 1713, and visit the North Carolina Maritime Museum. Then join the locals who frequent the white clapboard Beaufort Grocery Company for its homemade gumbo, a much-loved specialty.
WHERE: 225 miles east of Durham. VISITOR INFO: www.outerbanks.org. THE SANDERLING: Tel 800-701-4111 or 252-261-4111; www.thesanderling.com. Cost: from $110 (off-peak), from $250 (peak); dinner at the Left Bank $85, at the Lifesaving Station $40. WATERSIDE THEATRE: Tel 252-473-3414; www.thelostcolony.org. When: late May–mid-Aug. TRANQUIL HOUSE INN: Tel 800-458-7069 or 252-473-1404; www.1587.com. Cost: from $109 (off-peak), from $199 (peak); dinner $40. NORTH CAROLINA MARITIME MUSEUM: Tel 252-728-7317; www.ncmaritime.org. BEAUFORT GROCERY COMPANY: Tel 252-728-3899; www.beaufortgrocery.com. Cost: lunch $20. BEST TIMES: Mar–Apr and Sep–Oct for pleasant weather; mid-Jul for the original Wright Kite Festival at Kill Devil Hills.
Cleveland Rocks!!
ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.
Architect I. M. Pei admitted to knowing little about the music in question when he was commissioned to design Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. After some remedial listening, he set off to create a building that would embody rock’s brash dynamism while incorporating several of his signature elements: The glass pyramid echoes his Louvre Pyramid in Paris (see p. 114). It’s an ideal home for the living heritage of rock—and it guarantees a pretty fun afternoon besides.
Exhibits are interactive—there’s lots of sound and videos—make sure not to miss the collage of the 250-plus inductees (the museum hosts the annual induction ceremony every 3 years; New York City does the honors in between). The permanent collection includes instruments and stage costumes from the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Iggy Pop, but also unexpected items, such as Jim Morrison’s Cub Scout uniform. Also on display are Janis Joplin’s psychedelic Porsche, ZZ Top’s 1933 Ford coupe, and even school report cards once belonging to John Lennon and Keith Moon of The Who (the latter’s reads “shows promise in music”).
Although it’s home to the esteemed Cleveland Orchestra and musicians from Phil Ochs to Trent Reznor, Cleveland is hardly the hub of the music industry. However, it was native DJ Alan Freed who supposedly coined the term “rock and roll,” and put on the country’s first rock concert in 1952. The museum is just one of the stops on what’s known as Ohio’s “Hall of Fame Corridor,” which includes the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame in Akron and the hugely popular Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
INFO: Tel 800-493-7655 or 216-781-7625; www.rockhall.com.
Where the Wild West Lives On
OKLAHOMA CITY’S COWBOY CULTURE
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
When cattlemen and cowboys come to Oklahoma City, they head straight for Stockyards City Main Street, a retail district smack in the center of town and chock-full of saddleries and Western-wear clothing stores. It’s right next to the Oklahoma National Stockyards, the world’s largest stocker/feeder market, where every Monday and Tuesday you can watch live cattle being auctioned.
With their business dealings done, everyone heads for Cattlemen’s Restaurant, the consummate Western steak house and the state’s busiest restaurant. The most popular cut is rib eye quickly broiled over hot charcoal and served in a salty jus with homemade Parker House rolls. The original 1910 café is popular for breakfast, but the dinner crowd likes the 1960s-era South Dining Room. Settle into a red vinyl booth and enjoy the backlit wall-size panorama of two ranchers herding Black Angus. One of them is Gene Wade, who won the place in a craps game in 1945 and ran it until 1990.
Oklahoma has more horses per capita than any other state, and Oklahoma City has more horse shows than any other city in America. Stockyards City Main Street is at its best and busiest during competitions such as November’s American Quarter Horse Association World Championship Show, where competitors from around the world show off their cowboy skills.
The Old West comes alive at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. The American Cowboy Gallery follows the evolution of the working cowboy in America, and there’s a good permanent collection of Western artists, particularly Charles M. Russell and Frederic Remington. On Memorial Day weekend, ranch hands rustle up cowboy food at the museum’s annual Chuck Wagon Gathering & Children’s Cowboy Festival.
Oklahoma is home to 39 Native American tribes. Visit in June for any of the powwows that take place here or for the annual 3-day Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival. More than 1,200 Native American artists and dancers from more than 100 tribes come from across the nation (and Canada) to participate in ceremonial dance competitions, parades in full traditional dress, and a marketplace where it is as much fun to browse as it is to buy.
WHERE: 106 miles southwest of Tulsa. OKLAHOMA NATIONAL STOCKYARDS: Tel 405-235-8675; www.onsy.com. CATTLEMEN’S RESTAURANT: Tel 405-236-0416; www.cattle mensrestaurant.com. Cost: dinner $25. NATIONAL COWBOY & WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM: Tel 405-478-2250; www.nationalcowboymuseum.org.
A Treasure Trove of Art and Artifacts Devoted to the American West
GILCREASE MUSEUM
Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
An unsurpassed repository for the best of the Old West, the Gilcrease Museum is the lasting legacy of Thomas Gilcrease, a one-eighth Creek Indian who struck it rich in 1905 when oil was found on his 160-acre allotment 20 miles south of Tulsa. Gilcrease spent his profits gleefully amassing the world’s largest
collection (some 400,000 items) of fine art, artifacts, and archives devoted to the American West.
When the price of oil dropped in the 1950s, rather than break up the collection, Gilcrease deeded the entire lot to the city of Tulsa. It includes artwork by Charles M. Russell, Frederic Remington, George Catlin, and John Singleton Copley. The Gilcrease Museum also has a large anthropology collection, with thousands of items—from 12,000-year-old Paleo-Indian tools to 20th-century Plains Indian beadwork.
Oil money is also behind Tulsa’s other world-class collection, the Philbrook Museum of Art. Housed in an ornate 72-room 1920s Italian Renaissance villa that once belonged to oilman Waite Phillips, it’s known for its fine Italian Renaissance and Baroque paintings.
The town of Tulsa itself is a sort of open-air museum, thanks to all the grand Art Deco homes that were built here from the 1920s to the 1940s to remind the world of the town’s status as “Oil Capital of the World.” Stop by the Warehouse Market Building, which houses Lyon’s Indian Store, a beloved Oklahoma tradition since 1916. The Indian Store is considered the best place around to buy all the turquoise, Pendleton blankets, and Oklahoma beadwork your heart desires.
GILCREASE MUSEUM: Tel 888-655-2278 or 918-596-2700; www.gilcrease.org. PHILBROOK MUSEUM OF ART::Tel 800-324-7941 or 918-749-7941; www.philbrook.org. LYON’S INDIAN STORE: Tel 918-582-6372.
Much Ado About Ashland
OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
Ashland, Oregon, U.S.A.
“Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show; but wonder on, till truth make all things plain,” wrote William Shakespeare about the magic of theater. And that magic is abundantly on display every year at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), the largest and longest-running celebration of the Bard in America. Today, upwards of 130,000 theater lovers attend performances at the festival’s three state-of-the-art venues, including the outdoor Elizabethan Stage, fashioned after the 16th-century Fortune Theatre. The Tony Award–winning festival, which has staged performances in Ashland since 1935, is the home of the biggest rotating repertory theater in the country.
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