Night-market energy
San Clemente Palace, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc listings, new cookbooks, Wild Cherry, Fasano Angra dos Reis, Maydan Market, Super Mensch, Datil, MORE
GETAWAYS • Venice, Italy
Water log
A 900-year-old landmark hotel, San Clemente Palace is on its own island, only 10 minutes by ferry from Piazza San Marco in Venice. The private shuttle departs every 40 minutes to and from the mainland from 850a to 1130p, connecting to the hotel’s private dock, where a red carpet leads to the palatial entrance.
Space is a rarity in the floating city, but it’s abundant at San Clemente Palace. In the warmer seasons, the hotel grounds are lush with greenery. Inside, the halls are just as expansive as those grounds, and we took a large central staircase up to our suite, known as the Venice Suite. It was minimal in design, but with high ceilings, a walk-in closet, and a full-sized living room and bedroom. The departure from cramped European hotel rooms was a welcome one.
The friendly staff is willing and eager to share the hotel’s unique past of having lived many lives, including those as a hospital, monastery, and most recently (and briefly) a Mandarin Oriental.
The large pool would have been the spot for some relaxation if it hadn’t rained during our stay. Instead, we visited the hotel’s spa, which debuted as The Longevity Spa earlier this year. Rooted in the teachings of “Blue Zones,” the spa has several treatments focusing on anti-aging and biohacking.
The hotel’s fine dining restaurant, Acquerello, sits in front of the palace, adjacent to the hotel’s historic church, which dates to 1113. Our dinner there was seafood-focused with vibes of romance. As we looked out into the primarily dark surroundings, we could hear the sounds of water crashing against the dock.
Staying at San Clemente allowed us to experience Venice at its best, and escape when it was at its worst (3p, in the rain, to be exact). –Dyana Lederman
→ San Clemente Palace (Venice) • Isola di San Clemente 1 Venice • Rooms from 740 € / weekend night.
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
Just in time for ski season, three for-sale properties in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France.
→ Chamonix-Mont-Blanc Chalet (Le Lyret) • 5BR/5BA, 1722 SF house • Ask: $2.426M • near center of Chamonix, with outdoor pool and jacuzzi • Agent: Knight Frank.
→ Chalet des Pistes (Les Houches) • 8BR/5BA, 4100 SF house • Ask: $4.44M • ski-in ski-out, with views of Mont Blanc and along the Chamonix valley • Agent: Mountain Base Immobilier.
→ The Makalu Lodge (Les Tines) • 5BR/5.2BA, 3218 SF house • Ask: $5.3M • newly built 4-level chalet with views of entire Mont Blanc massif • Agent: Lionel Thomas, Sotheby’s.
RESTAURANTS • New York City
Cherry on top
Restaurants used to be fun. Now, meals at big-deal restaurants are often over-orchestrated affairs edited within an inch of their lives, calibrated to elicit feelings of satisfaction and even wonder, but probably not fun.
Wild Cherry, the new restaurant from the team behind Frenchette and Le Veau d’Or, is very fun. Tucked behind a curtain inside the Cherry Lane Theatre on Commerce St. in the West Village, everything about the place points toward a good time.
Bulbs inside lighting fixtures in an array of shapes and sizes are dimmed to an ideal level, revealing supple green banquettes, a gorgeous horseshoe bar, and a slatted ceiling. A tilted mirror running the back wall showcases the whole melange from another angle. The design is so good, and so much, that it’s hard to focus on the food. But let’s stop looking in that mirror and take in what’s on the plate. Does the cheeseburger live up to the hype? –Josh Albertson
HOTELS • Brazil
Bay of kings
On my second trip to Rio de Janeiro, meeting a best friend who recently moved to Brazil, we decided to venture to the Costa Verde. Roughly four hours from Rio by car, it’s a region known for lush, verdant mountain peaks and tranquil deep blue waters dotted by hundreds of islands.
We honed in on Angra dos Reis — a chic resort town ideal for boating and popular amongst city dwellers from Rio and São Paulo — and chose Fasano Angra dos Reis as our home base. Part of a private seaside community including a marina, tennis courts, and multiple restaurants, Fasano is a tropical modernist hotel with a low-rise, horizontal layout that makes sublime use of minimalist concrete and gleaming hardwood, all set against a lush green backdrop of rolling hills. The grounds are anchored by a courtyard corridor known as “the boulevard,” where various high-end boutiques featuring Brazilian resortwear designers sit alongside wine and sundries shops. –Shayne Benowitz
AROUND FOUND • Other Notable Intel & Recs
→ LOS ANGELES: The first West Coast outpost from Rose Previte, the D.C. restaurateur behind Compass Rose and Maydan, Maydan Market (above) brings an elevated night-market energy to Jefferson Boulevard in West Adams. It’s essentially two experiences in one. Up front, a food hall operates all day, featuring five distinct stalls, two bars, and a spacious patio. The dramatic open hearth anchors the room and divides the Market from Maydan LA, a dinner-only restaurant serving refined Middle Eastern fare.
→ SAN FRANCISCO: The team that made their name with Marina burger spot Causwells has recently opened Super Mensch, a retro venue inspired by Jewish delis, in the Mission. FOUND SF liked the latkes cut into crisp slabs, and respected the effort on a housemade bagel and lox. But the pastrami on rye was the best we’ve ever tasted in SF, cured and smoked until succulent, thickly sliced, and stacked.
→ PARIS: At Datil in the Marais, lunch begins not with food, but an offering — a folded leaflet featuring a selection of artworks by women artists admired by the team. It’s an aesthetic overture, preparing your eyes before your palate. The sommelière arrives to ask about our beverage preferences, and we opt for the pairing. Every pour seems to resonate with the plate before us, but one pairing stands out: a woodland porridge matched with sake brewed by three friends inside an old bowling alley in Berlin.
ROUTINES • Getaways
Select answers to the FOUND ROUTINE query, What was your last great vacation?
→ GINA BRUNO, chef/host/culinary creative, Frank’s House/Campers (NY): Two weeks in Europe with a toddler, which felt like Olympic-level logistics. We kicked things off with a wedding in Mallorca, I stole away for a quick escape to Paris, my forever favorite city, and wrapped it up in Saint-Tropez, where the days were modest with just the right hint of bougie. My full list of recommendations can be found on my Substack, but I will shout out Les Enfants du Marché in Paris. The menu changes every day, the head chef is… spirited… but his love language is food. It’s perhaps the best food I’ve ever had in my entire life.
→ SONIA GAILLIS-DELEPINE, founder & CEO, Verdoie (Paris): I went to Copenhagen recently for two nights with my boyfriend, and it was everything I’d remembered and more. The shopping alone is worth the trip, of course, and then I discovered Ara’kai Beauty, which has a great selection of products. The Design Museum is incredible, and the city’s parks are full of that airy Scandinavian calm. The air just feels fresher! We walked through Tivoli Gardens at night, and it felt like stepping into a film reel of memories.
→ KIM FLORESCA, vp of culinary, goop Kitchen (LA): One of my favorite spots in Spain is a tiny hotel on a farm called El Casa Rural Larre Aundi, tucked away in the northern part of Spain just outside San Sebastián. It’s quiet, quaint, and surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty that literally took my breath away. Just a few miles down the road was Mugaritz, one of the most unforgettable dining experiences of my life. On weekends, we’d head into San Sebastián to wander the old city by the bay, hopping from pintxo bar to pintxo bar, never once having a bad meal.
GETAWAYS LINKS: No Real ID or passport? TSA might charge you $18 to go through security • JetBlue plans Barcelona, Milan routes to debut next spring/summer • Nobu Hotel and Restaurant Roma opens its doors in the Eternal City • Inside the just-opened Mandarin Oriental Dubai • On Harbor Island and Eleuthera, embracing the slow drift of change.
FOUND GIFT GUIDE • The Nines
Cookbooks, new
The King Cookbook (Clare de Boer, Jess Shadbolt, and Annie Shi, above), Mediterranean-inspired dishes from the elegant, perennially hip Soho restaurant’s kitchen, see above, $39.99
Steak House: The People, The Places, The Recipes (Eric Wareheim & Gabe Ulla), stories and recipes from the country’s most iconic (and outrageous) steakhouses, $60
Mokonuts: The Cookbook (Moko Hirayama and Omar Koreitem), 100 dishes from one of Paris’s most beloved spots (and chef-couples), intel, $49.95
Something from Nothing (Alison Roman), collection of low-effort, maximum yield recipes, featuring lots of soups & stews, $37.99
Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing (Niki Russ Federman & Josh Russ Tupper), smoked fish, matzo ball soup, and babka from the NYC institution, $39.99
On Meat (Jeremy Fox), legendary Rustic Canyon chef’s low-waste, sustainable approach to cooking meat, w/ beautiful photography, $49.95
The Japanese Art of Pickling and Fermenting (Yoko Nakazawa), ancient fermenting and pickling techniques from a Japanese expert, patience required, $35
Nights & Weekends (Alexis deBoschneck), sub-40-minute recipes w/ short ingredient lists from an Upstate recipe developer, intel, $35
The Art of Gluten-Free Bread: Groundbreaking Recipes for Artisanal Breads and Pastries (Aran Goyoaga), from loaves to sweets, masterpiece that won’t have you missing the gluten, $40
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