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Ditch Cooking and the Fake Smile for Thanksgiving in Tahoe
Lake views and no cooking; that's what we call Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving can either make you feel elated or totally stressed out—usually some combination thereof. After that Pumpkin Pie high, your mind might turn to thoughts of dishes that need to be washed, relatives that need to be entertained, and horrific Black Friday shopping. The benefit of hightailing it out of town during this time is being able to push some of these worries away, while still enjoying the Thanksgiving spirit.
Lake Tahoe is always a favorite holiday destination, for its views of the water, skiing, and the fact that it's pretty much the opposite of a harried urban setting, however overrun with tourists it can get. We found some last minute event deals at the Hyatt Regency Resort that offer easy and relatively cheap remedies to some of the problems we mentioned above.
Tags: Train Travel / California / California Travel / Napa Valley Travel / Thanksgiving Travel / Thanksgiving Alternatives / Wine Travel / Wine Country / → All Tags
Gourmet On A Train: Ditch Cooking For A Napa Wine Dinner
There is a certain romantic allure to train travel—just ask fictional sweethearts Jesse and Céline of Before Sunrise. But Stateside, unfortunately, the mode of transport isn't as common as it is in other parts of the world. While you continue to dream about hopping aboard a Darjeeling Railway car, we're happy to report that a smaller-scale train trek can be had in California, even if it is less grand than journeying across exotic international ground.
The Napa Valley Wine Train is a refined alternative to unofficial "drunk buses" tourists often book to stay safe while sipping wine flights throughout the day. Equally drinker-friendly, and much more respectable, the train is holding a special Thanksgiving dinner aboard its Gourmet and Vista Dome cars for $104 and $139, respectively. Sadly, lunch tickets have already sold out.
Tags: Top Chef / Top Chef Travel / New York City / California / Food / Food Travel / Restaurant Travel / → All Tags
Ash Fulk Cooks Up Friendly Swiss Fare at Trestle on Tenth, But Maybe Not For Padma
Northern California native Ash Fulk didn't have it easy during his run on Top Chef. He didn't win one challenge on the show, and was eventually asked to pack his knives and head back to New York City, where he serves as a Sous Chef at Trestle on Tenth. The Swiss-French-American restaurant is a neighborhood-y locale open for breakfast, brunch (on weekends), lunch and dinner, making it a go-to spot for Chelsea diners looking for elevated comfort food. And schnitzel.
Trestle's menus aren't intimidating in the way that many contemporary, haute cuisine restaurants tend to be. Here you'll find familiar dishes with a Swiss-French influence that makes them just different enough to be memorable, without being too perplexing or stomach-turning. We're still wondering why fellow TC contestant Hector would dare include Tofu Ceviche on his menu. No, Trestle is where you'll find a Signature House Burger, Cobb Salad, Roasted Chicken with Seasonal Vegetables in Consommè, and Coriander Hanger Steak.
Tags: San Francisco / San Francisco Travel / Educational Travel / California / California Travel / → All Tags
The Golden Gate Bridge Wants You To Stay Longer, Learn Something
San Francisco's majestic orange gateway, the Golden Gate Bridge, has served as highlight in panoramic film shots, and famously, a protest site for a green-friendly Hollywood actor. It's come to represent the City by the Bay like no other landmark, hence the throngs of tourists and locals that flock to it for photo opportunities, or to see its fantastic details up close.
To augment its beauty, the San Francisco Chronicle reported this week that The National Science Foundation "awarded the bridge district $3 million...to install outdoor exhibits explaining "its engineering and history." For visitors, this offers the chance to soak up some educational details while ogling its impressive construction. During most of our visits to the Bridge, we've seen people cruise by for a quick picture and maybe a moment of reflection, then quickly depart. The installations will, hopefully, remedy this hurried tourist mindset. Reports the Chronicle:
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Mammoth Mountain Opens Early, Free Skiing For All!
Skiing in Southern California sounds like a horrible oxymoron, or a poorly conceived of joke. But it's true, Golden State foreigners: There's snow to be found around our usually heat-stricken climes, namely at Mammoth Mountain.
In recent years we've heard reports of poor snowfall and late season starts in some California skiing regions, Lake Tahoe in particular. That isn't the case at Mammoth in 2009, though; the mountain was hit with two-to-six feet of snow ahead of schedule, according to a report from the Los Angeles Examiner, boding well for ski bunnies itching to hit the slopes early. The Examiner states that Mammoth's current "26 inches of snow is the highest October total since the 2004-05 season," with "warm temperatures approaching 60 degrees" around the mountain. Now that's oxymoronic.
Tags: Top Chef / Top Chef Travel / Food Travel / California / California Travel / San Francisco / San Francisco Travel / San Francisco Restaurants / → All Tags
Get Cozy With Top Chef's Mattin In San Francisco
As we uphold our weekly tradition of highlighting ex-cheftestants, giving due attention to the poor souls that didn't make it to the Final Three, we arrive at sprightly French chef Mattin Noblia. With a million-watt smile and red neckerchief that we hope he was wearing ironically, Noblia stole our hearts for being so disarmingly sweet...or maybe it was the accent. Either way, Padma and Co. bid Mattin au revoir after he presented a disastrous ceviche that Tom Colicchio found so offensive he actually spit it out. Tragic.
When he's not flashing his boyish grin on national television, Mattin can be found at Iluna Basque, his San Francisco restaurant. As you can guess from its name, the cuisine is inspired by the Basque region, served up on small plates that diners are encouraged to share.
Tags: Celeb Travel / Chris Pine / Audrina Patridge / Robert Pattinson / Emile Hirsh / Brad Pitt / Angelina Jolie / France / California / Cannes Film Festival / Super World Travelers / → All Tags
Date Night For The Super World Travelers in Antibes, France
Please welcome our favorite super world travelers back onto the scene. Tuesday night in Antibes, France, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had a romantic dinner at Michelangelo's restaurant. The two are in town while Brad promotes Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds at the Cannes Film Festival.
The restaurant, located about seven miles outside of Cannes, is known for serving a variety of Mediterranean cuisines and being a nice dinner escape for celebs at Cannes. Last night's entree came with more than just a dose of Brangelina; Twilight star Robert Pattinson also made an appearance at Michelango’s, although he was a third wheel, dining with Emile Hirsh and his girlfriend.
In other date night news, The new Captain Kirk, Chirs Pine, was spotted out with Audrina Patridge at the Red Lion Tavern in Silverlake, CA. The two are reportedly dating, or at least Chris wishes they were dating. The Red Lion is known for their extensive selection of German beer so maybe he can blame it on the alcohol and move on before he ends up a special guest star on The Hills.
Related Stories:
· Brangelina Hit Cannes! [Perez Hilton]
· Chris Pine & Audrina Patridge Couple Up? [Just Jared]
· Cannes Gets Ready for Another Brangelina Invasion [Jaunted]
[Photo: Just Jared]
Tags: Airport Security / Security Theater / SFO / San Francisco / California / TSA / → All Tags
Airport Security Photo Shoot: Invasion of the Body Scanners!
The green light was on, but a sad and lonely GE EntryScan machine waited for no passengers at San Francisco International on Monday night. We peeked ahead trying to see if we would be shunted through the machine, but to no avail!
While SFO wasn't on the list of airports getting body scanners, apparently the hulking machine that could destroy our privacy but allow us to keep on our clothes arrived early for its date with the TSA. Its presence suggests that despite security concerns raised by the ACLU, among others, body scans or required pat downs are in the future for air travelers.
Tags: Celeb Travel / California / Laguna Beach / LGBT / → All Tags
Can Brad Pitt and George Clooney Save A Legendary Laguna Gay Bar?
Now here's something you never saw on MTV: Apparently Laguna Beach -- the town starring in the guilty-pleasure television series which claimed to depict "The Real Orange County" (unlike that other show) -- has a gay bar. And that gay bar, the Boom Boom Room, is in trouble, because the building that holds the club is currently up for sale, future unknown. The L.A. Times even mentioned the spot, a former clubhouse for semi-closeted actors like Rock Hudson, as an example of "heterosexualization," noting "once-blighted neighborhoods that were settled by gays--often because they felt unwelcome elsewhere--now are so gentrified, in many cases, that younger people can't afford them."
Some residents of Laguna who are actually old enough to get into the Room are looking to Brad Pitt and George Clooney, who had been in on a previous deal to buy the building (it never went through) to save their club, CBGB style--sort of. Save the Boom thinks having the actors on their side will give them a higher profile, and maybe convince a developer to leave their little corner of paradise alone. Will the lifelong bachelor and Mr. Angelina Jolie step up to the plate? Boys, it's the least you can do for Pride Month. But the bar's lease is up in September, so you have to act now.
[Photo: Save the Boom]
Related Stories:
· Hotels in Laguna Beach [HotelChatter]
Tags: Boonville / California / San Francisco / → All Tags
Where to Take Your Grandma in NorCal
If you're itching for a trip to the West Coast but don't think Grandma would enjoy the AL Playoff madness in Oakland or wouldn't like the winos in Napa who think that "Sideways" was the best movie ever, take her over the river, through the woods and into the mountains to tiny Boonville, CA for a respite.
Enjoy the lush forests, sample the products of the Anderson Valley wine district and see if you can master Boontling, the area's own 19th century folk language.
Cat lovers should check out the quaint Boonville Hotel for its charming, airy rooms and simple but tasty breakfasts, which you can enjoy outside in the garden with the hotel cat. Just make sure Grammy isn't allergic.
[Photo: Catherine George/Flickr]
Related Story:
· A Paws that Refreshes [Jaunted]
Tags: YouTube / San Francisco / California / Media / → All Tags
Fluffed Objects of Mass Destruction
In certain circles, mentioning the city of San Francisco is simply shorthand for people with too much time on their hands, none of which they spend working, showering, or eating foods manufactured by Kraft. While we think that is the point of living in California, and strenuously disagree when anyone refers to the city in derogatory terms, it's hard to explain away the following video.
A few months ago, San Franciscans--one thousand of them--came together in front of the Ferry Building to participate in the first annual meeting of the San Francisco Pillow Fight Club . And by participate, we mean beat each other senseless with pillows. Think of it as flash mobs (which were just invented by a Harper's editor anyway) with goose down. Isn't this all very 2003?
Related Stories:
· Hundreds Attend Mass Pillow Fight [SF Chronicle]
· My Crowd [Harper's]
Tags: Theme Parks / Roller Coasters / Adventure Travel / Florida / California / St. Louis / → All Tags
Theme Parks Tone Down the Excitement
Thrills! Tepid, yawn-inducing thrills! For the theme-park loving contingent of tourists who will fan out across the nation this summer, the new roller coaster season is likely to be a lot more mild than those in years past. Many of the large theme park operators have determined that whiplash and nauseating rides tend to put a dent in concessions.
Teenagers, with whom those rides are the most popular, don't spend all that much at the park anyway, but families do, and they prefer rides that are low key. Once again, the list of new rides is in the subscription-only Wall Street Journal, so here's what speed freaks have to look forward to underwhelming them this year. They seem, on the whole, pretty boring:
Pirates 4-D at Busch Gardens: Surround-sound, vibrating seats, and a voice-over by actor Leslie Neilsen all mimic the experience of watching Chinese DVD pirates make 400 copies of Maid in Manhattan in less than twenty minutes. Or there's something about sea pirates.
Killer Whale Ballet at SeaWorld: The name is entertaining enough for this one. There's a "Dine with Shamu" feature opening there this summer, too. Maybe SeaWorld is hoping to cut back on costs by feeding children to the famous Orca.
Bugs Bunny National Park at Six Flags: Rejoice at the reservations-only brunch! Nothing says action-packed quite like Eggs Benedict. Daily parades and clearly marked exits spell excitement here.
Reese's Xtreme Cup Challenge at Hersheypark: Riders sit in two competing cars with a laser pointer and shoot at targets while the operators pump in the smell of peanut butter and chocolate. Then there are "sweet rewards" waiting at the end. Hmm, what could they be? Oh, right. Six peanut butter cups.
Phew. We need to sit down after all that.
[Image via Forever Souls/Flickr]
Related Stories:
· Rethinking the Thrill Factor [WSJ]
