On the Road
A Good Breakfast
Mar 15th
In a hotel room in Florence, I woke up late and 35. I was there on a press trip, along with Barbra Austin, and it just happened to be my birthday. The sun was shining, the church bells were ringing, and I was about to cancel our morning plans.
“Right or left?” I asked as we set off on an unscripted post-breakfast wander. Barbra’s choice led us to the Arno, where we stood gazing at the river, the Ponte Vecchio, and a strolling Brangelina brood.
We celebrated this “holy grail of celebrity sightings” (B’s words) with a second breakfast at I Due Fratellini. Still More >
Volpetti (Rome)
Feb 4th
Volpetti has been serving the working-class quarter of Testaccio since 1973. Over time, the deli has evolved into a foodie destination, a place to sample and buy some of the best products in Rome.
Volpetti’s employees are well-practiced in catering to the fantasies of food pilgrims. They were eyeing me from the moment I walked in – another foreign girl wearing a gluttonous grin. I was taken by the elbow and shown a starter cheese, an accessible pecorino. “That’s nice,” I said while nibbling on a wedge. “Now what else can I taste?”
My particular guide, after sizing me up, returned with More >
Tram Tram (Rome)
Jun 11th
It’s not difficult to find a good restaurant in Rome. But it’s nearly impossible to find one that’s not filled with foreigners. I arrived in the Eternal City with the dream of finding the virgin trattoria – a charming place not yet covered by tourist fingerprints. That dream, I soon realized, is mathematically improbable. With the Eternal City now clocking 100,000 daily visitors, almost every threshold, no matter how “insider,” has been crossed.
The only hope for those who yearn to eat among the locals is to walk far away from the center into a neighborhood not on most maps. San More >
Crèmerie de Linkebeek (Brussels)
May 5th
After four years of living in Paris, I probably qualify as something of a cheese snob. But because French fromagers rarely stock foreign cheese, I’m also pretty ignorant to the traditions of other countries. During a recent jaunt to Brussels, I asked a food-obsessed local friend where I could learn more about Belgian cheese. He told me there was only one game in town: the Crèmerie de Linkebeek.
The Crèmerie de Linkebeek has been operating since 1902, making it the oldest cheese shop in Brussels. The epitome of old-school, the name Linkebeek comes from the nearby village where the original owners More >
Vismet (Brussels)
Apr 9th
Before they were covered over in the 1870s, canals used to dominate the Ste-Catherine neighborhood. An old harbor and its accompanying fish market brought nautical color to the area, along with scores of fish restaurants. The harbor has long since disappeared, but Ste-Catherine remains a destination for seafood lovers. The marché aux poissons is still running (albeit only weekly) and the fish restaurants have happily stayed put.
Many of these (Bij den Boer, Jacques, le Pré Salé) are old-school joints with low ceilings and traditional recipes. But a relative newcomer has been making waves with its trendy style and tweaked approach to More >
