My rickshaw driver keeps pace with taxis as he peddles me through Hanoi’s Old Quarter. The cool wind against my face brings relief from Vietnam’s stifling summer heat. Just as I’m about to relax, I smell smoke. It’s not the ubiquitous smog of unregulated motorbike exhausts. I immediately recognize this aroma as barbecue, like pork …
Category Archives: Travel: Culinary
Photo of the week: Mayakoba
This is one of my favorite images from my last visit to Fairmont Mayakoba in Mexico’s Riviera Maya. Just as I was sitting down for lunch, it started to rain and a blackbird took cover…
Sunrise of the week: Grand Velas Los Cabos
This is one of my favorite sunrises of the year. I took this from the lobby terrace of Grand Velas Los Cabos, just as the sun was rising up from the ocean. I’ve always found it strange that I can watch the sunrise over the ocean on the West Coast…
72 Hours at Grand Velas Los Cabos, 27 photos
The original Grand Velas revolutionized the all-inclusive resort sector in the Riviera Maya when it opened there more than 10 years ago. And now comes Grand Velas Los Cabos, which is guaranteed to be a game-changer for Mexico’s Baja Peninsula…
Photo of the week: Langostine at Grand Velas Los Cabos
This is the langostino al carbon from Frida restaurant at Grand Velas Los Cabos, the newest edition to the Grand Velas resort family. The langostine is served with a chipotle-molasses sauce, esquites (corn salad) and a little blanket made from red chilies (like a spicy fruit roll-up)…
Hotel Review: Taj Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad, India
On the outskirts of modern, high-tech Hyderabad, on a hilltop in the heart of the Old City, one of India’s finest historic palaces recently opened as a luxury hotel…
Photo of the Week: Chicago River
I snapped this shot from the rooftop of the LondonHouse Hotel in downtown Chicago. The rooftop, and indeed most of the rooms in this hotel, provides spectacular views of the city. This is just a sneak peak of tomorrow’s post…
Hotel Review: The Robey, Chicago
After what seemed like the longest delay in hotel-opening history, The Robey finally opened its doors in November in the heart of Chicago’s Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhood. A member of Design Hotels, the 69-room, 12-story Robey is the second U.S. property for Mexico City-based Grupo Habita…
Alinea, Chicago: 3 hours, 29 photos
Alinea reopened in May after a five-month closure to refreshen the restaurant for its 10th anniversary. They nailed it. This is still one of the greatest restaurants in the world.
Photo of the week: Shanghai hairy crab soup
Shanghai is famous for its hairy crabs, which are in season in the fall. It was a sweltering day in October when I tasted this hairy crab bisque at Ye Shanghai, one of the city’s most elegant Chinese restaurants. On such a hot day, a hot bowl of soup was the furthest thing from my mind…
THIS JUST IN: pdn Taste – 2016 FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS!
Winners were announced today for the PDN Taste – 2016 Food Photography Awards, and I won two categories! PDN Taste is the most prestigious food photography contest in America…
Photo of the week: The Agrarian Kitchen, Tasmania
The Agrarian Kitchen is a literal farm-to-table cooking school in rural Tasmania, 45 minutes northwest of Hobart. Pretty much everything that makes it into the kitchen here comes from the surrounding farm: chickens, ducks, hogs, fruits, vegetables…
Trout fishing — and the yearning for peace — in Kashmir
Death returned to Kashmir this month. A fresh wave of violence erupted after a teenage rebel — a local celebrity on social media — was killed in a shootout with police. More than 70 people have died in clashes in August alone. Five thousand more have been injured, according to various news reports. It is an ominous …
Review: Acre, farm-to-table in San Jose del Cabo
Fat drips from a fifty-pound hog, splashing onto the fire. Sparks flicker into the hot Mexican air. The pig has been roasting over the mesquite embers since sunrise. The temperature outside is already sweltering, made even hotter by the blistering rotisserie, which is cranked by hand, inch-by-inch, throughout the day. By 5 p.m., as the …
Photo of the Week: San Jose del Cabo, Mexico
Ah, Los Cabos. How I’ve missed you (I shot this photo in 2011), but I will see you again very soon. I just booked my flight. I look forward to photographing the spectacular new Mar Adentro hotel from famed architect Miguel Ángel Aragonés, plus…
Challenge the Chef: Tortilla Soup at Las Ventanas al Paraiso, Los Cabos (recipe included)
In honor of Cinco de Mayo, here’s a flashback to the time I challenged the chef at Las Ventanas al Paraiso in Los Cabos with my tortilla soup, which ended up on the resort’s dinner menu for a while.
