#80 N’awlins Spent the better part of the weekend with our clients from Nashville. Hopefully a New Orleans outpost is coming soon. Oysters shucked and served right on the counter. And alligator corn dogs as an afternoon snack. As long as you have your own lawn chair you can plop it in front of any bar and get served. There’s no city like it.
#42: Have a drink in a Hemingway haunt The rotating carousel bar at the Hotel Monteleone was a favorite Hemingway haunt in N’awlins.
A picture perfect day to kick off the French Quarter Festival. New Orleans
Celebrity chef, Curtis Stone, opened his first brick and mortar restaurant in Beverly Hills about three months ago. That’s the same amount of time it took us to get a reservation. The restaurant revolves around a monthly single ingredient pre fixe menu. This month it is peas. Sonia hates peas, but Curtis figured out how to make her love her meal.
#23: Out of State Concert
#47 Lounge by five hotel pools Recovering from a massacre at the craps table.
#88. Certified Wine Professional Nothing like a three hour course at UCLA to cap off a stressful Monday. At least there was wine. This is the beginning of a two year program that will certify us as wine professionals.
It’s been said to be the most exclusive restaurant in LA. The only way to get a reservation at Totoraku is to have Chef’s phone number. We were fortunate enough to be invited by Anna, one of our buyers, who is currently being wooed by a boy with the digits. The chef, Kaz Oyama, is considered the king of beef. Almost everything served (there…
As I have said before, chefs are our rock stars and tonight we got to hang with some good ones at the All Star Chef Classic. The legendary Roy Choi who is credited with the gourmet food truck revolution was a highlight, as was Donald Link whose New Orleans restaurant, Couchon, is one of my favorites.
33. See Five Bar Bands He’s not what he used to be, but Michael McDonald in a bar was worth the price of admission.
#18: Small Town Festival Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Festival is only second to New York’s in size. The normally 75,000 person town grew to over 1.2 million last year when St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Saturday. Because this year fell on a rainy Monday, crowds were closer to 400K, but festive as ever.
Built in the late 1700s. Dinner with ghosts.
#3: Charleston, S.C. Locals call it “A drinking town with a historical problem.” Great town. Great food. Amazing history.
Although all of Charleston was a civil war battlefield, we visited several hot spots where you thought you could smell the gunpowder in the air.
The plantation was occupied by both the Colonial and British troops. British generals Clinton and Cornwallis used it as a staging area before sacking Charleston. The home features the oldest hand carved plaster ceilings in the US. A Drayton family growth chart spanning more than 200 years.
Checked into the historic Wentworth Mansion and promptly took a nap in the 18th century old room. The Wentworth Mansion, built in 1886 as a private residence for the wealthy cotton merchant Francis Silas Rodgers, invites guests to enjoy the preserved opulence of America’s Gilded Age. The inn’s 21 guestrooms and suites feature antique furnishings, carved marble fireplaces, and oversized whirlpool tubs. The Mansion…