A little recap on where I’ve flown, boothed, slept and eaten in the past few weeks. (Warning : this post is slightly more lengthy than my usual, so click “expand” if you get cut off)
I went to Asheville, North Carolina for the first time ever to speak on a panel at Independent Lodging Conference on community building and placemaking in hospitality. My co-panelists were Amy Michelson of Hatteras Sky (I stayed at her newly opened, The Radical Hotel) as well as Shawn Chopra of Good Neighbor in Baltimore, and moderated by Emily Isenberg of Isenberg Projects in Boston. I loved sharing this conversation with them. The projects we’ve worked on are different but likeminded. Community building is about friend-making, which oddly enough takes a good amount of energy, patience and commitment in a hotel development setting. Maybe in real-friend life too though? How many times have you said “let’s get lunch….” this week so far and meant it? Pencil me in post summer.
Asheville was fun! I have some star favorites and also many go-backs. I’ll start with what I messed up on and have to return for.
Many people recommended Neng Jr’s and yet I did not heed their advice and did not make a res in advance. When we arrived, the host looked at us shamefully. Lo and behold, this cutie spot only has 18 seats and was a 2023 James Beard finalist. Now highlighted in neon colors with palm to forehead emojis on my Google Saved for future Asheville visit.
East Fork Asheville is a local pottery studio that seems to provide most of the plateware in town. I saw it in operation at many of the restaurants - beautiful stuff. Oops, I missed out on their studio.
Chai Pani Asheville was another one that was reco’d all over. Even my Uber driver praised it. We popped in and put our name down on the very long waitlist but ended up abandoning ship due to impeding hunger.
However, don’t worry, I did have a super fun night and consumed delicious things. Locals luckily pointed us in the right direction which is of course always best.
I arrived later than expected to Asheville and so missed the conference brewery happy hour. Oops (again). Instead, I popped down the street from The Radical in the Arts district and into The Crucible; a tiny dark cocktail bar (could these be my four favorite words strung together?) situated on an island in the middle of a fork in the road. The weather was super humid around 6pm but about to downpour. I ordered a glass of chilled red, sat on under the covered patio and chatted with the locals (trying not to appear too desperate when requesting their inside scoop, secret spots, non-touristy go-to hidden amazing hole in the walls with incredible Southern-ish food) while the thunder and rain came down for a flash 7 min.
When we couldn’t get into Neng Jrs, I cried a little bit but then gathered myself to ask the host where to go instead. They had a slew of recommendations but we ended up picking Pink Moon Bar. And it did not disappoint. A tiny backyard bar in the back of another bar (whose name I can’t remember), with a passcode for entry. Ah. It felt like when early 2000s speakeasies were a thing in NYC and you couldn’t get a cocktail without whispering into a phone booth, lining up at a hot dog stand or entering through the barber shop. Pink Moon Bar was perfect, glowing in neon pink light, with maybe 10 seats around the bar and 1 lovely bartender. We asked him where to go next and since it was by then almost 9pm and I would have maybe eaten anything, I’m very happy he pointed us in the right direction…
Leo’s House of Thirst. First of all, excellent name, right? The restaurant is in a little house and pretty adorable. We had lots of really great dishes but 2 that stand out are delicious tomato salad, and a pasta with pork, peach and and fried sunchokes. Summer plates.
My gift to you : My Google Saved List for Asheville HERE.
From Asheville, I flew to NY for Upstate Art Weekend where I went to obviously see art, but as a roadtripper must, planned routes around food destinations. I grabbed a friend and borrowed another friend’s car. We started out at Ten Barn Farm in Ghent to see my childhood friend’s artist in residency, The Macedonia Institute’s gallery show. Devora and her husband Aidan host artists in their house in Chatam, and offer their barn as an artist studio. The show was a collection of their resident’s work, housed in the most fantastic setting. And better yet, Ten Barn Farms has an incredible restaurant. I had super tasty zucchini pancakes with poached eggs from the farm.
We saw so much art in 1.5 days, but my favorite by far was The Campus in Claverack - a massive exhibition housed in a former abandoned school. I’ve been in adaptive reuse art spaces like this before : Moma PS1 and even on this trip, The School : Jack Shainman Gallery. But The Campus did this setting so so well. I loved that it was very exploratory and not too fixed-up. For example you wander into the locker room, the shower hardware is in tact and you watch a video art piece framed by the tile shower walls. They really used every square inch of the school - so much art! But it didn’t feel forced or disorganized. It was so much fun to pop in and out of classrooms and be surprised by what we saw in each. We also stopped at Art Omi, which is always such a magical treat.
We took a break for an apertif at the lounge at The Maker, the most beautiful bar in Hudson, and for dinner headed to Casa Susanna at Camptown in Leeds. I’ve stayed at their other hotel, Rivertown Lodge in Hudson many times. When I stayed at Camptown the first time, I loved it. They did a genius job of space planning the tiny motel conversion rooms by splitting a bank of rooms in two down the length, and creating little bed nooks. I sometimes feel somewhat claustrophobic in small spaces but this was so well done and I really enjoyed my stay. Casa Susanna was great - worth a visit for sure! I loved the boquerones, blue corn and mushroom masa, the scallop aguachile and the plateware that looked like earthen tortillas.
Next, we headed to Kingston where we squeezed a lot in before an afternoon drive back to Brooklyn. Sorry, Charlie wins for the cutest name, best classic Manhattan and late night pizza. A dream for a neighborhood bar, no?
Breakfast at Rosie General was so tasty and Rough Draft Bar & Books had the most wild espresso drinks with fresh peach extract.
We popped into the Hotel Kingsley and admired their barstools and front desk set within the old vault.
I also went a little crazy when we popped in to see the Kieran Kinsella & Rodger Stevens "Dialobjects" show at boutique, At Land, and I ended up buying a Lindquist bag, wallet and Rodger Stevens copper necklace. Whoops.
And then a speed-run through one of my all time favorite museums, DIA Beacon, before hitting the road. The Meg Webster pieces are such show stoppers. And of course, had to do a little twirl through the Richard Serra installation.
It was fun, but work, but fun. Seeing art, eating food, drinking drinks and staying in hotels is so crucial to being a happy human, but also for expanding references, becoming inspired and seeing how guest experience is evolving in different places. I got so much out of this trip.
Back in Manhattan, I checked-in at the newly renovated Hotel Chelsea. I’ll write more about that, my new favorite NYC bar and my perfect midtown lunch in next week’s edition.
Happy weekend!