Through wars, hurricanes, political and economic upheaval, Seville Square and surrounding Historic Pensacola Village remain one of America’s most enduring Florida gulf shore neighborhoods.
Mari Carmen Josephs, Carmen’s Lunch Bar, Pensacola, Fl
The Pensacola Business Challenge’s mission is to grow the downtown economy one business at a time.
on Palafox Street, historic downtown Pensacola, Fl
Pensacola has a fierce independent streak that has buoyed its success for 450 years as both an important Gulf of Mexico commercial city and a tourist destination.
raw oysters plain & with crab, The Compleat Angler, Orange Beach, Al
“Is it hard work?” asked journalists on an IFWTWA media trip to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Ala. Without a pause in her stride, 85-year-old Ms. Velma Fell replied, “I love it.”
Velma Fell, 42 year employee of Bon Secour Fisheries, Bon Secour, Al
With a sly smile, chef Chris Sherrill’s response to winning Gulf Shores 5th Annual Oyster Cook-off in November was, “eat oysters, love longer.” Ten restaurants along the beautiful white sands of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach epitomize both coastal food and southern hospitality.
Mt. Shuksan from Picture Lake, North Cascades National Park, in Whatcom County, WA
With rich farmlands and vineyards in the east, stunning mountain and coastal scenery in the west and some of America’s most active volcanos in between, Washington State is a magnet for travelers worldwide. Known for its apples, the state boasts some of the nations best organic produce, naturally raised meats, extraordinary seafood, world class restaurants and a growing wine industry.
Sunset on the bay, Lummi Island, WA
Pronounced “gooey duck,” it is, naturally, neither gooey nor a duck…it’s a…ah…
Purslane salad with goat cheese stuffed squash blossom fritter, Ciao Thyme, Bellingham, WA
“There was no free casual sex in Victorian society, unless married,” quipped Good Time Girl Hayley Boothe. Along withJane Burleigh, the Good Time Girls provide a unique social perspective on the boom town history of Fairhaven.
Hayley Boothe and Jane Burleigh, the Good Time Girls Walking Tours, Fairhaven, WA
Poland, crepes, or even exciting food, are not connections that normally come to mind, but Magdalena Theisen wraps a myriad of creative fillings in etherial crepes, and customers flock to her Fairhaven creperie.
Magdalena’s Creperie, Bellingham, WA (photo credit: Magdalena’s Creperie)
Following in the path of John Chapman, aka the legendary Johnny Appleseed, it’s a natural progression from acres of apple trees to distilling a clean, crisp apple based vodka.
In the land of Bruegel, chocolate and mussels, the lush green land of Flanders is punctuated by towns of extraordinary beauty. Medieval castles, Renaissance houses, canals and cafes are in view with every convoluted turn in the ancient streets. Yet in Brussels, larger than life cartoon wall art decorates, and compliments, its historic core.
wall art in Brussels depicting popular Belgian cartoon characters
In four days, VisitFlanders introduced me to three cities rich in layers of culture, four restaurants bursting with layers of flavor as well as beer and chocolate as it ought to be enjoyed. Articles, as they appear, will be added to this post, so please check back often.
Dominique Personne chocolates, Brugge, for Hertog Jan and Gruut Brown herb beer, Gent
Flanders, today, is at the vanguard of a new wave in international gastronomy that’s pairing the freshest of locally sourced ingredients with 21st century culinary techniques.
The mild climate may have favored Flanders own agricultural abundance, but access to the world through trade constantly brought new products, such as the potato and chocolate, fueling today’s Michelin starred restaurants, creating chocolate beer and celebrity chocolatiers, although Dominique Personne is considered the bad boy of Brugge – watch the You Tube video in my latest article.
Dominique Personne with chocolate gun and the Chocolate Shooter
Ghent’s de Vitrine is Kobe Desramaults little city bistro. Yet the secret these young chefs are revealing is simple, fresh regional ingredients treated with respect and given pride of place. “I think about the vegetable,” Speybreck says, “not what meat or fish it goes with. What can I do with a nice cauliflower. Each ingredient has its own place.”
Neal’s Yard, LondonOrange marmalade with gold leaf
Amidst the frenzy of summer in London, it’s comforting to know that scotch eggs and marmalade with gold leaf can still be part of your customized picnic basket from Fortnum & Mason. In three hours, Context Travel’s Janine Catalano narrates a three century evolution in British gastronomy with “a walk through central London from less than a common perspective.”
Roasted Bone Marrow with toastSt. John Bar & Restaurant, London
Chef Fergus Henderson’s 1999 book, “Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking,” caused a sensation when published. It placed Chef Henderson and St. John’s at the forefront of an omnivore movement, in direct opposition to modern meat consumption, in which the whole animal is eaten – trotters, tripe, kidneys, heart, sweetbreads …
It would be easy to walk right past The Little French Restaurant on London’s narrow Hogarth Street. The diminutive road, opposite Earls Court underground station, is lined with at least a half dozen small cafes, shops and quaint flower bedecked townhouses. Yet a passerby would be hard pressed to dine in a more charming French bistro.
Grilled goat cheese at The Little French Restaurant, London
Grilled calamari stuffed with cheese, As Greet As It Gets, London
Not only is London’s population a polyglot of the former empire, but Britons have embraced an unprecedented broadening of their culinary palate. As Greek As It Gets, a restaurant in fashionable Earls Court, says it all in words and in the authenticity of its menu offerings.
As Philadelphia continues refining its vibrant Center City restaurant scene, the suburbs, a former culinary wasteland, are blooming with innovation in attractive locations.
The lowering sun casts a gold light on the swift flowing Delaware River as diners at Charcoal tuck into tender chunks of hanger steak, superbly seasoned octopus and wild mushroom soup with green curry.
It’s 9:00 pm on a Thursday evening and the Kitchen Bar Restaurant is nearly full. For a weekday night in leafy suburban Abington Township, where even most of the fast food chains are already closed, this is uncommon.
There’s a lot of competition for customers seeking good dining on Philadelphia’s Sansom Street since it’s in proximity to everything of interest in center city.
“The idea of the Laos government is to become the battery of Southeast Asia,” Robert Zoellick, World Bank president, Time, 12/09/2010
According to the teachings of the Buddha, life is comparable to a river. It moves from cause to cause, effect to effect, one point to another, one state of existence to another, giving an outward impression that it is one continuous and unified movement, where as in reality it is not. So does life. It changes continuously, becomes something or other from moment to moment. (The Buddhist Concept of Impermanence)
Is Laos in the 19th century racing towards the 21st? Not since the 1970’s has this most relaxed of southeast Asian societies faced the prospect of monumental changes globalization is bringing to this ancient land. In a series of articles for Suite101 and the Examiner, I explore these shifting forces even as I experience centuries of tradition.
Muang Ngoi on the Nam Ou, Laos
Forested mountains and ethnic villages may dominate photos of northern Laos, but it’s the region’s swift rivers an energy hungry southeast Asia covets.
In the misty mountain provincial capital of Luang Namtha in northern Laos, a mere 50 miles from the Chinese border, a traveler would not normally expect to enjoy a perfect grilled cheese sandwich, stuffed with banana, while sipping a shot of Lao Lao.
In the far north of Laos, overlooking the swift flowing Nam Oh River as it cuts a path through towering forest covered limestone mountains, the Nong Kiau Riverside Resort and Restaurant melts into the lush countryside.
An aromatic mix of onions, garlic, herbs and chili enveloping slices of fresh fish fillet may be the ingredients for Mok Pa, but the banana leaves are the secret.
galangal, on left, is darker, related but not the same as ginger, on right
Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have been on the Asian trade routes to Europe for millennium. Southeast Asia was adept at fusing earlier European, Chinese and Japanese culinary influences and a century of Western colonial cuisine. The kitchens at restaurants of today’s tourist route destinations continue to preserve the past as well as innovate.
Laotian cuisine, like the nation, is much more than that land between Thailand and Vietnam. Neither as sweet nor spicy as its neighbors, the dishes of Laos are multi-layered creations of herbs, greens, meats, fish, vegetables and spices not used in Western cooking. Yum Kai Tom is one such dish that’s both easy to master as well as being quintessential Laos.
ingredients for Yum Kai TomArthouse Cafe
There’s no lack of fine restaurants in Laos’ UNESCO World Heritage City of Luang Prabang. Once the royal and spiritual capital of several southeast Asian kingdoms, Luang Prabang epitomizes tropical post-colonial romanticism. The historic core rests high on a peninsula and restaurants take advantage of the spectacular mountain scenery of northern Laos. The Arthouse Cafe, on Kingkitsarath Road, is no exception.
Purple sticky rice
Luang Prabang’s popular and excellent Tamarind Restaurant makes a terrific Khao Gam.
Stuffed Lemongrass is delicious, as the lemongrass permeates the meat with its citrus flavor.
Stuffed Lemongrass
Vientiane, the capital of Laos, has no lack of interesting dining opportunities from a vibrant street food scene to the legendary Mekong River at sunset providing a stunning backdrop for a relaxing dinner at the Kong View Restaurant.
Kong View restaurant, Vientiane, Laos
A tuk-tuk full of saffron robed monks pass by the entrance to Ban Vilaylac. Their Wat is directly across the street. Appropriate location since Ban Vilaylac’s potted garden entrance bridges centuries of traditional Vientiane and French colonial Laos cuisine. Next door, reservations for either lunch or dinner are hard to come by at Makphet Restaurant, yet there are no celebrity chefs, yet the lines of appreciative diners can be long.
view from the Charming Lao Hotel
Much overlooked, Laos north central town of Oudomxai is surrounded by stunning scenery to view while enjoying good Laotian cuisine at The Charming Lao Hotel.
Stuffed squid at Dibuk Restaurant
In a building as old as many bistros in Paris, under ceiling fans stirring the languid tropical air, guests of the Dibuk Restaurant in Thailand’s old Phuket Town can spend time dining with the Indian Ocean lapping nearby.
Tom Kha Gai and its ingredientsChef Wan at Look-In restaurant
The Look-in Restaurant, just off Bangkok’s busy Sukhumvit Road, is not on most visitors’ tourist map – not yet.
Tom Kha Gai, Thailand’s incomparable coconut soup with chicken and flavored with galangal is a Look-in knockout.
The finest restaurant in Vietnam’s capital of Hanoi is also its most fascinating. Koto, next to the Temple of Learning, is in an elegant, three-story French Art Nouveau townhouse.
Koto, Hanoi, Vietnam
There’s a quiet side to Cambodia’s bustling Siem Reap, home to Angkor Wat, on the banks of the Siem Reap River. The town’s best restaurant and small hotel, Bopha, is located at 512 Acharsva Street facing the east bank. It’s a haven of calm.
at Bopha, Siem Reap, Cambodia: traditional fish stew
Pho at La Viet
The Italian Market/Queen Village district, to any resident of Philadelphia, is inexorably morphing into a little Southeast Asia. A stroll through these historic colonial neighborhoods provides visual evidence of Asian grocery stores, restaurants and professional offices catering to this increasing community. The area around 11th Street and Washington Avenue includes a sizable number of Asian businesses and one very good Vietnamese fine dining restaurant, Le Viet.
Butterfish at Kinnaree restaurant
Set in an unassuming strip mall in suburban Philadelphia, Kinnaree Thai French Cuisine balances traditional Thai dishes with centuries old French influences.
You can read more articles by Marc d’Entremont at:
Throughout Zimbabwe visitors have abundant opportunities to view Africa’s array of animal life on a guided safari photo tour or from their room’s balcony.
Breakfast on the lawn at Antelope Park Lodge, Gweru, Zimbabwe
Within National Parks
Sikumi Tree Lodge, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe
At stunning natural wonders
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
At historic sits
(top & bottom center) stairway & doorway at Great Zimbabwe, (lower left) a room at Lodge at the Ancient City
Travel with Pen and Palate 
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