
The Grey Hearth · Atlanta, Georgia
The tasting menu Atlanta argues about, settled
Nine courses off a wood hearth, and the smoked catfish course alone justifies the booking war. Go hungry, order the wine pairing, skip lunch.
The feed

The Grey Hearth · Atlanta, Georgia
Nine courses off a wood hearth, and the smoked catfish course alone justifies the booking war. Go hungry, order the wine pairing, skip lunch.

Riverfront Summer Concert Series · Nashville, Tennessee
Drove up from Atlanta for the Saturday headliner. Golden-hour sets, a river breeze, and the kind of night outdoor venues are for.

La Milpa · San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Tortillas pressed to order, a salsa verde with a fan club, and a kitchen that treated my kids like regulars. Family travel gold.

Trattoria del Ponte · Venice, Italy
You eat what the Rialto boats brought that morning. In three visits that policy has never once let me down.

Rialto Market Morning Food Tour · Venice, Italy
Our guide was on first-name terms with half the market. Six stops, a decade of Venice knowledge, and the best cicchetti crawl of my life.

The Grey Hearth · Atlanta, Georgia
We've done anniversary dinners in eleven cities. The Grey Hearth cracks the top three — mostly for how the night was paced.

Sunrise Balloon Flight over Cappadocia · Göreme, Türkiye
A hundred balloons lifting out of the valleys at first light. We budgeted one splurge for Türkiye and this was the right one.

Handmade Pasta Workshop · Florence, Italy
We rolled pappardelle, mangled our first ravioli, and ate our homework with too much Chianti. Booked it again for next year already.

Maison Verte · Paris, France
Paris keeps its best-value meal in plain sight: the weekday set lunch at the dinner-famous place. Maison Verte is exhibit A.

Bar Alcove · New York, New York
In town for a conference, ended up at the counter three nights out of four. The martini is correct and the plates deserve their own review.

Douro Valley Wine Day from Porto · Douro Valley, Portugal
The Douro's terraces are the most beautiful wine landscape in Europe, and the small-group day tour is the right way to take them seriously.

Sakura Omakase · Kyoto, Japan
Thirty years behind one counter shows up in every grain of rice. The most money I've spent on dinner this year and the least I've regretted it.