Ski in, ski out
Restaurant Ursus, La Charpenterie, Costa Rica real estate, Château de la Haute Borde, Claridge’s Bakery, MORE
GETAWAYS • French Alps
Into the trees
Situated in the high-altitude French ski resort of Tignes, where the hotels and buildings emphasize function over form, Restaurant Ursus is a hard reset. Chef Clément Bouvier has packed the dining room with nearly 400 spruce trees, creating a dense indoor forest. It sounds like it could be a set piece, but the lighting is low, the acoustics are hushed, and the effect is one of genuine intimacy rather than kitsch. It’s delightful.
While the service is a bit wooden in English (I have a feeling the descriptions are more lush and rich in French), the menu commits to the environment without feeling like a costume party. The meal began with the Forest Floor, a collection of earthy bites. My starter, a humble porcini mushroom soup served on stones and bark nestled in actual moss, set a very specific tone, very quickly. The bread service is equally magnificent: a basket of dark, crusty loaves and architectural spikes served with a decadent butter trio. The standout is the lard paysan (smoked bacon) butter, which has a savory depth that anchors the meal.
Bouvier’s sourcing is hyperlocal, and it shows. A simple potato soup was a surprising scene-stealer, with a velvety richness that felt like a hug. For the main course, venison was served perfectly pink with tart berries, crushed pistachio, and a glossy, dark jus that cut right through the richness. It felt right eating it surrounded by timber. If the venison was good, the veal sweetbreads were even more sublime, the chef walking us through each of the ingredients he’d sourced near the mountain.
We finished our meal with the cheese trolley, a massive stone-slabbed cart rolling through the trees. It is strictly Savoyard, a comprehensive tour of the region’s best wheels.
Restaurant Ursus is an ambitious, high-execution evening that feels entirely singular to this austere mountain area. After a day on the slopes, a meal like this proved the perfect coda. –Adam Fern
→ Restaurant Ursus (Tignes, France) • Val Claret • Mon-Sat 7-9p • Open seasonally through May 2.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Snow drought in US west reaches record levels • French-East Asian restaurant Bar des Près debuts St. Barts outpost • Inside L’Adventure, the new Paris boutique hotel from the Hotel Costes team • Touring Conrad Corfu, set to open this spring.
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
Three for-sale properties along Playa Flamingo in Costa Rica.
→ Calle Flamingo (Playa Flamingo) • 4BR/5.1BA, 4197 SF house • Ask: $1.495M • on beach’s south ridge, with separate pool area, all with ocean views • Agent: Paula Zúñga, Sotheby’s.
→ Casa Las Brisas (Playa Flamingo, above) • 5BR/4.1BA, 4650 SF house • Ask: $2.95M • on beach’s north ridge, with sweeping ocean views, plus pool and jacuzzi • Agent: Matt Rosensteele, Coldwell Banker.
→ Ocean View Residence #21 (Playa Flamingo) • 4BR/4.2BA, 7782 SF house • Ask: $6.195M • multi-level residence with small pool, inside members only Cantomar Ocean Club • Agent: Robert F. Davey, Christie’s.
GETAWAYS • France
Artists’ retreat
Only two hours from Gare Montparnasse in Paris, tucked into the Loire Valley, the Château de la Haute Borde is five-room guesthouse that’s also a working artists’ residency. The three owners (Céline Barrère, Cécile Simon, and Violette Platteau) blur the lines between hospitality, creativity, and ecology.
Stays last a minimum of three nights, each one helping fund the château’s resident artists. Days might include a meditation session in the garden, a wild foraging walk in the surrounding woods with century-old trees, a jump in the pool, or a hands-on workshop on natural skincare. Conversations happen over tea or barefoot in the grass. This is a place that encourages slowness, and nudges you towards curiosity. –Victorie Loup
BAKERIES • London
Exceedingly good
After months of delay, Claridge’s has finally opened its bakery: the debut London shop from Richard Hart, best known for his cult Copenhagen spot Hart Bageri. With its own shopfront on Brook’s Mews, Claridge’s Bakery boasts countryside-chic signage and a sleek countertop displaying baked goods like museum exhibits.
There’s no seating, so you can’t linger over coffee and a croissant, but there aren’t croissants anyway. In keeping with the hotel itself, everything here is resolutely British, from the Bakewell tart to the lardy cake to the selection of iced fingers. It’s unsurprising, given Hart is London-born – he trained as a pastry chef here before moving to California, then Denmark, and now Mexico City (where he opened Green Rhino last summer), returning to launch Claridge’s last month.
AROUND FOUND • Other Notable Intel & Recs
→ NY: To reach the steakhouse Palladino’s (above), opened last fall in Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal, one either enters the terminal from the stretch of Vanderbilt Ave. just above 42nd Street, or, better, by crossing the floor of the Main Concourse (past the iconic, clock-topped information booth in the middle), and clambering up the grand staircase at the concourse’s west end.
→ LA: A mostly walk-in cocktail bar featuring snacks, mains, and desserts in Los Feliz, Vandell opened in December, and it’s been packed ever since. It may be Los Angeles’ bar of the moment, but it aspires to timelessness.
→ SF: A stone’s throw from the North Beach bars, a long walkway covered in arched reeds leads to a new, modern seafood restaurant inspired by Mexico City, Equal Parts. New in December, it’s helmed by Top Chef contender/Bar Crudo alum Melissa Perfit, who’s brought several of her trademark dishes with her.
ROUTINES • Goods & Services
Select answers to the FOUND Routine query, What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
→ HARRISON CHENEY, executive chef & co-owner, Sons & Daughters (SF): When we moved restaurants, it almost tripled my commute. I wanted to make sure that my journey to work wasn’t only fast but sustainable, so I bought an Aventon Level 3 E-Bike. The freedom it’s given me to take a simple bike ride to the beach or around the park to clear my head has been game-changing.
→ POLINA SYCHOVA, interior designer & restaurant founder, Sino (LDN): I absolutely love my coffee machine, the La Marzocco Linea Mini. It’s an investment but it’s completely transformed my mornings. The coffee is café-quality, the design is beautiful and it’s built like a tank. It’s a small luxury, every single day.
→ MITSUNOBU NAGAE, executive chef and co-owner, l’abeille (NY): I recently bought a knife from my favorite Japanese knife maker, Takamura. It’s a beautiful piece, razor-sharp and a joy to work with in the kitchen.
ASK FOUND
One fresh PROMPT for which we seek your intelligence:
Tell us about your favorite hotel in the world, one worth booking an entire trip around.
More answers or questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfound.com.
GETAWAYS • French Alps
Cabin fever
If Restaurant Ursus is the high-concept forest, La Charpenterie in Val d’Isère is the cabin you actually want to live in.
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