What was your most memorable trip this
year? A culinary tour of China. I had 77 meals in 17 days.
Your most memorable meal (not necessarily
on the same trip)? A lavish meal in Paris to
celebrate a friend's 50th birthday, with caviar and salmon, homemade blini foie
gras, and milk-fed baby lamb, among other delicacies.
What was the most exciting thing that
happened close to home?
The best thing that happened was what didn't happened: BART determined that an
anticipated earthquake retrofit of a trans-Bay tunnel, which
would have had big implications for the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market,
wasn't necessary.
Did you stay in, or visit, a hotel that
particularly wowed you? Certainly not in China, and I always rent wherever else I go.
What place did you find overrated or
disappointing? Some parts of China were
depressing—filled with pollution and too much construction.
What was your worst (or funniest) travel
experience?
I was very disappointed to have missed rat season—by a week—in one of the
regions of Sichuan province, where we had
crunchy fried beetles instead.
2007: RING IN THE NEW
What's going to be hot this year?
Santa Barbara, Cabo, Portland, Uruguay, and Argentina.
What is going to be the big-deal hotel
opening? Solage, in Calistoga in the Napa Valley, from the
company behind Auberge de Soleil. Heritage House, on the coast
in Mendocina, a vintage hotel from the '40s with unimaginable views from a
water's-edge perch above the sea (it would be impossible to build there today).
The food was never very good, but all that should change with the new
Australian chef.
Is there a restaurant or a chef whom
everyone is watching? Judy Rogers, at Zuni Cafe,
has taken on a partner, Gilbert Pilgram, so everyone is wondering if their
favorite San Francisco restaurant is about to change.
What trips do you have planned for 2007?
South America, on a cattle-ranching expedition.
Where do you most want to go in the world
that is still a dream away? Japan.
Where wouldn't you go even if you won an
all-expenses-paid, first-class trip? Mcensk, five hours south
of Moscow. I went there once to do a story on Russian pickles. Had I not
brought Powerbars and salami from home, I might have starved.