I don’t know too much about Harlem, about its history or the many nuanced perspectives on its gradual gentrification. I do understand that Red Rooster has been an important part of that story, and that those who know more than I do have strong opinions on the role it has played in the process, for…
Sprawling terraces packed with tired parents and their up-too-late children, dramatically lit ice cream stands and a make-shift amusement park surrounded by stands offering fried stuff and noise with a view of stinky ships in the port. The usual suspects. Tired from a morning spent roasting poolside, followed by a 3-hour lunch and a series…
A ride together around the sun, a year spent building a home and then being confined in it. Our noces de coton. To celebrate our first wedding anniversary we decided to try out a restaurant that we had walked by many times on the olde Rue du Palais Gallien, one whose name we had said…
We didn’t stray far from home for our first restaurant meal after déconfinement. That 1km max running radius seemed to set in deep psychologically and for the first time we really opened our eyes to the many fantastic options on Palais Gallien. Yes, nearing Gambetta, it turns into kebab country and the suffocating odor of…
With the essence of the crispiest pork still lingering on our palates, we arrive to the end of a Chelsea Market corridor to what feels like a noisy open-aired taqueria next to some seafood market somewhere on the coast. It’s the surfer-chick sister restaurant of Los Tacos No. 1. A few sandy-looking picnic tables, a…
The sheer volume of options is what struck me most on this past trip back Stateside exactly one month ago. “I’ll have whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want” is a concept that takes some time getting used to when you’ve grown distant from it. And after an entire uninterrupted year of “croissant…
I guess at some point in the early 2000’s, the world found out about Dubrovnik. And then, it became GOT’s King’s Landing, which certainly did not help keep mass tourism at bay. Eventually what was a rather affordable, relatively “untouched” gem of a port city became the setting for grand yacht parties. The charm it…
To be honest, I was barely there for this dinner at Madame Pang on New Year’s Eve, at the brink of the new decade. I arrived at the finish line for 2019 like an out-of-shape long-distance runner, dry-heaving but with a smile plastered across my face for show. “We made it!” 2019 was a busy…
The perfect free sample proved irresistible bait on a Friday afternoon in Madrid, reeling my friend and me into a bocadillo bar named BDJ. We knew what we wanted before sitting to see the menu: more of whatever was in that bite at the door. And that bite was of a sandwich called the Mortadella…
“I just don’t even know how we’re going to fit.” “Yeah but that tortilla though…” A very lazy Saturday morning saw my friend and me strolling the streets of Salamanca in central Madrid, recounting the events of the night before. There had been an all-male pregame and a rum and coke with far too much…
After a weekend of total inactivity, I forced myself off the couch and into the shower this morning (ok, more like midday.) The idea was to go out, eat something pretty, enjoy the unusually warm weather and check out how my grandmother’s ring, which I just started wearing as an early birthday gift to myself,…
Tucked away on a barely-there side street between the Quai de la Douane and Place Saint-Pierre is Porte Quinze, bistro gastronomique of Ivorian Chef Gilbert Okoin. With its modest capacity of just 20, the ambience is intimate, and the interior as discreet as the location. Light wooden surfaces, touches of taupe, grey and white here…
A long time has passed since my bachelorette trip to Mallorca back in April, and many things have happened since then. I got married, for one. As I think back on that trip now, it’s all a blur of excellent wine, one-on-one’s with four of my favorite people, endless gin tonics and hungover brunches with…
Our Assumption Day long weekend got off to a patchy start this year. Too tired after the wedding to plan any big adventure, we decided on a peaceful retreat in the Pyrenees. Ben picked the spot, a spattering of lakes in the Néouvielle National Nature Reserve. We prepared our packs for one night of camping…
On the hottest day ever recorded in the history of Bordeaux, two friends and I made a reservation at a pint-sized pizzeria where the dining area is about 1 meter from a 350° C wood fire burning oven. After some hesitation and a few longing glances in the direction of Aphrodite, a breezy Greek terrace…
