by David Burn | Sep 28, 2006 | Place
I’m live blogging this entry from the MGM Grand on the Vegas strip. The place lives up to it’s name. According to Wikipedia, it’s the world’s largest hotel building, with 5,044 guest rooms, suites, villas and Skylofts (including 3,153 no smoking rooms).
In 2000, in an attempt to appeal to a more mature clientele, the hotel underwent a major renovation. The theme is now more of the Art Deco era of classic Hollywood and the hotel started billing itself as The City of Entertainment, a similar title given to Los Angeles.
I must say one could wander from shop to show to fine dining to gambling to the bar to the pool and so on for days. Not that it’s a healthy pursuit. I’m just saying.
by David Burn | Aug 17, 2006 | Place
Yesterday morning, while driving home from Atlanta, I got off the interstate in Macon hoping to find a Starbucks. I found something else instead. Jeneane’s Cafe at 524 Mulberry Street. Breakfast had just ended, so I walked up to the cafeteria-style lunch line and paused to absorb the choices of down-home Southern cooking presented before me. I finally asked the nice, patient lady for pork loin and stuffing, with sides of black-eyed peas, fried okra and two biscuits.
by David Burn | Aug 2, 2006 | Music, Place
Boulder is an important town to me. I went to school there in ’86. I spent a month there in the summer of 2001. I lived nearby in Denver twice. I’ve seen an inordinate number of stellar shows at The Fox and Boulder Theatre, imbibed on Pearl Street’s best infused mojitos, nibbled the tofu, etc. But what it all comes down to is this: there are lots of good people in Boulder. People I am lucky to call friends.
Boulder is also blessed with musicians who like to come down off the mountain on special ocassions to jam. Rockygrass is such an ocassion. And local pickers, Yonder Mountain String Band, did descend, along with the hill folk who follow them.
After the first night at our friends’ cottage on Alpine, and two nights sleeping in our REI tent along side the St. Vrain River (waking at 7:30 am to get out of the hot sun both mornings) we motored into downtown Boulder on Sunday afternoon and checked in to the St. Julien Hotel & Spa, “where nature meets nurture and simplicity meets style.” Ms. D enjoyed a hot stone massage. I took a nap in the four-poster bed after showering in the all-slate bath. Slate, not just on the floors, on the walls as well.
Of course, I’m far from the only one who thinks highly of Boulder. One of the world’s most creative companies just opened an office there, in order to offer its employees the choice of working in Miami or Boulder.
When living amidst all the natural beauty, organic food, beautiful people and world class athletes, one can, from time to time, find it all a bit too much. Yet, when one steps back–as I have several times in my life–and looks at Boulder through fresh eyes, mostly what’s there is a model community filled with active, educated citizens making their own reality better day-to-day.
by David Burn | Jun 4, 2006 | Chicago, Food & Beverage, Place
I returned to Chicago this week for the first time since I moved from the city 16 months ago. It was a good trip. I stayed at Kimpton’s Hotel Monaco on Wacker and Wabash. I enjoyed some salmon downstairs at South Water Kitchen before venturing out to The Map Room, “A Traveller’s Tavern” on the corner of Hoyne and Armitage. While there I finally got my first taste of Victory’s HopDevil Ale.
The brewer’s site describes it thusly:
Menacingly delicious, with the powerful, aromatic punch of whole flower American hops backed up by rich, German malts. HopDevil Ale offers a roller coaster ride of flavor, coasting to a smooth finish that satisfies fully.
I had reason to cheer. Since, my hotel was but a block from 233 N. Michigan, I could not help but reflect on how much things have changed for the better since I stopped working in that black building. Which is not to say I don’t love Chicago, because I do. Without a doubt, it’s one the great American cities along with San Francisco and New York.
While we don’t have the number of amazing restaurants, neighborhood bars or limitless live music possibilities, life in Lowcountry or Slowcountry, if you will, has its own advantages–natural beauty, great weather, affordable housing and recreational pursuits like beachcombing, boating, fishing, surfing, etc. Yet the thing that trumps all of this is the fact that I now have the job I was looking for in Chicago and could not find.
by David Burn | May 30, 2006 | Lowcountry, Place
A couple of weeks ago I flew out of Hilton Head airport for the first time. A few minutes after take off, I noted Fripps Island and Hunting Island on our right, then a big body of water, then a beach community that I couldn’t quite place. After consulting the map, I learned it was St. Helena Sound and Edisto Island that I saw from the US Air twin-engine prop.
Yesterday, we drove to Edisto Beach. What took five minutes in the plane, took more than an hour and a half by car. Such is the nature of watery land. More times than not one goes around, not over.
While our nearest beach is but 20 minutes away, we like to see what the different beach communities offer. Since moving to the Lowcountry 16 months ago, we’ve visited beaches on Sullivan’s Island, Edisto Island, Hunting Island, Hilton Head Island, Tybee Island, St. Simon’s Island, Sea Island, Jekyll Island, Cumberland Island and Amelia Island. Edisto was most reminiscent of Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island in the northeast corner of Florida. Both have a laid back, old school beach town feel with relatively modest, but still high-priced homes on the beach.
It was a sunny day with a strong breeze. We saw dolphins just offshore, swam in the inviting ocean waters and read our books under the umbrella.
by David Burn | Mar 6, 2006 | Place, The Environment
We took a day trip to Cumberland Island National Seashore yesterday.
Cumberland is located off the southernmost part of the Georgia coast, and can be reached by boat only. Two ferry trips a day are conducted from St. Mary’s. The roundtrip is $15, plus a $4 entry free in to the National Park.
One of the largest undeveloped barrier islands in the world, Cumberland is home to about 250 wild horses–brought to the island by the Spanish in the 1550s.
In preparation for this post, I clicked through several Google links, and found City of Dust to be a remarkable source for historical information. Most visitors know about the Carnegie family’s presence in the late 19th and early 20th century, as the Dungeness ruins are one of the island’s attractions. What I did not know was Charles Fraser’s role in acquiring 3000 acres of Cumberland Island property for development in the 1960s, an act that precipitated a battle with legendary environmental activist, David Brower of The Sierra Club.
Given that we know all too well what Fraser achieved 110 miles to the north, it’s a relief to know things didn’t go his way on Cumberland.
According to Wilderness Society, there’s still plenty of preservation work to be done on the island. When it comes to protecting our last great places from developers, it seems the work is never done.
by David Burn | Feb 19, 2006 | Food & Beverage, Place
On Friday night, we dined at Zink American Kitchen in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. A unit of Harper’s Restaurant Group, Zink’s purpose is to hold down the modern bistro space in the tarheel state’s largest city. With plentiful cocktails and fine wines to choose from, a full sushi menu, entrees like Amish chicken, Idaho trout and grilled ahi tuna, plus sides like mac & cheese, Zink clearly has “eclectic” nailed.
After dinner, we stepped outside and instantly hailed a cab. Said cab whisked us down Elizabeth Avenue to the Visulite Theatre for Yonder Mountain String Band, our kinfolk from Colorado. The club was cozy and chill. And the show rocked. It’s hard to ask for more on Friday night in America.
by David Burn | Feb 10, 2006 | Place
Mystic Hot Springs courtesy of David Gans.
by David Burn | Jan 17, 2006 | Food & Beverage, Place
There is a great mountain town less than five hours to the north and west of here.
Here’s how USA TODAY described Asheville, North Carolina in 2003:
This once down-on-its-heels city of 70,000 nestled in the Appalachian Mountains is morphing into one of the South’s hippest hangouts. Coffee bars, trendy eateries, music clubs and galleries have taken up residence in the glorious art deco buildings that fill the downtown. And artists and musicians are arriving in droves.
Santa Fe of the East, some call it.
I see more similarities with Boulder, CO, but I digress.
On Saturday night we dined at Zambra Tapas, by far the best tapas bar we’ve ever entered. We opened with a truly wonderful wine–Periquita Terras Do Sado from Portugal. Created by Jose Maria da Fonseca in 1850, Periquita is made primarily from the Castelao Frances grape, an indigenous variety that thrives in southern Portugal. Some of the tapas we enjoyed:
~ artichoke, poblano and queso dip with housemade flatbread
~ pan fried trout with hazelnuts, orange, and brown butter
~ grilled hanger steak with cilanto chimichurri, cana de cabre
After dinner, we walked to Barley’s Tap Room for an organic beer, then headed across the street to The Orange Peel for Donna The Buffalo.
In the morning we made our way to Everyday Gourmet, an espresso shop opened by a Seattle transplant. In other words, it was the real deal. Before we left today, we had a terrific lunch at Thai Basil. I could go on and on…the place has galleries galore, unique shops, natural beauty, charming neighborhoods and interesting people. Asheville is a great place to visit, and I imagine the locals love living there.
by David Burn | Dec 31, 2005 | Film, Food & Beverage, Place
If you enjoy wine, Mondovino, a documentary by Jonathan Nossiter, is a must see. The film has a fascinating cast of characters, and its central theme explores the mounting tension between local producers and global behemoths like Napa’s Robert Mondavi and Sons.
Aimé Guibert of Languedoc and Hubert de Montille of Bordeaux, both determined believers in terroir–the sense of place that gives wine its true character–are the clear heroes in the film. Michel Rolland, a wine consultant who espouses the values of modernization and the Mondavi family who value globalization are the villians.
Hubert de Montille told The Telegraph, “I am un partisan du terroir. But you have vin terroir all over the world, including the United States – wherever you have people who cherish diversity and individuality in wine. For me, the battle isn’t between Europe and the US. It is industrial wine against the culture of wine, that’s the real conflict. These big companies are so powerful and their ambition is so great that they may not keep a space open for vin terroir, for all wine that has a sense of place, rather than just a sense of marketing.”
Southern France’s Languedoc region is one of the places where this conflict was most recently fought. Mondavi had identified forested land in Aniane as suitable for making world-class wine, but citizens of the town with the aid of their Communist mayor rebuked their advances.
According to Wine Spectator, Mondavi had planned to spend about $8 million developing the vineyard and building a showcase winery, which would eventually produce up to 20,000 cases per year of high-end Syrah.
But the site they chose was on the 2,200-acre undeveloped massif, which is flanked by woods and nearly impenetrable bush (known as garrigue), and topped by 750-foot-high plateaus with sweeping views. Hunters, ecologists and naturalists fought against any development in the area, which they consider an environmental shrine.
Mondavi was in part attracted to Aniane because it is home to one of the finest wineries in southern France, Mas de Daumas Gassac, which makes a long-lived red wine in Aniane. But the winery’s founder, Aimé Guibert, criticized Mondavi for wanting to develop a winery on public land.
