What was your most
memorable trip this year? To Pontarlier, France, the historic home of absinthe, to serve on an absinthe-tasting jury at the
annual Absinthiades festival. It's an easy three-hour TGV ride from Paris out to the French-Swiss mountain-border town. At 11 on a Sunday morning, I sat down
to taste ten artisanal absinthes in two hours. I made good use of the spit
bucket, but by the end, my lips were numb—at least my ears remained intact.
Your most memorable meal (not necessarily
on the same trip)? Definitely not on the same trip, actually
not on any trip at all, but in my hometown of Chicago, at Alinea,
Gourmet's restaurant of the demi-decade. I'd staged at the restaurant, so I was
familiar with many dishes, but I was ecstatic to discover that chef-owner Grant
Achatz could still surprise me. One of my favorites was the skate served on a
landscape of lemon, caper, and brown-butter powders.
Did you stay in, or visit, a hotel
that particularly wowed you? Le George V in Paris. Comfortable,
casual, royal luxury. And the breathtakingly lush yet modern floral and candle arrangements
by the hotel's artistic director, Jeff Leatham, always leave me speechless.
What place did you find overrated or
disappointing? Even a fantastic meal at Jean-Georges could not
make up for the self-important Trump International Hotel & Tower. What a
waste of an exquisite location.
What was your worst (or funniest) travel
experience? The funniest—and most surreal—delivering cepes
fresh from the forest to Jean-Paul Gaultier at Hermes in Paris, compliments of l'Arpege. I'd just spent three days working at chef-owner Alain
Passard's organic chateau garden, where his head gardener revealed to me his
magical mushroom-hunting prowess. The next morning, I rode shotgun on the
predawn delivery dash to l'Arpege—and then on to Hermes, where one of the restaurant's
chefs was cooking a special luncheon for Gaultier. Note to Oprah: A basket of
gorgeous cepes will get you in anytime.
2007: RING IN THE NEW
What's going to be hot this year?
The Greater Midwest gastronomic road trip. Even Ferran Adria
did a leg, though Charlie Trotter private-jetted him from Chicago to Chef's
Garden in Huron, Ohio.
What is going to be the big-deal hotel
opening? Three huge projects won't open until 2008 or 2009—the
Trump, Elysian, and Mandarin Oriental—so this year it will only be the
Nicky O, Paris Hilton's little sister's project. Oh, dear.
Is there a restaurant or a chef whom
everyone is watching? Moto's Homaro Cantu, the
only chef in the world cooking with optical lasers. Only God and the NSA know
what he's working on next.
What trips do you have planned for 2007? China—Beijing, Shanghai, and the little village near Guangzhou where my mom grew up; Roses, Spain; and I'll
always have Paris.
Where do you most want to go in the world
that is still a dream away? Palau by sailboat to scuba dive day
and night.
Where wouldn't you go even if you won an
all-expenses-paid, first-class trip? Nowhere. On an
all-expenses-paid, first-class trip, I'll go anywhere—especially where others
fear to venture.
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