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It is always a challenge to discover new spots and still get to all my favorites. So please forgive my repetitions. They will merely confirm that the old places are still good.In August we were in San Francisco. On the top of my pile of receipts is one from Zuni Café: “Mojito, Summer Ice (6), Caesar, Clams, Gruner Veltliner, Espresso Granita $69.77” is what it says. Summer Ice must have been oysters. I wish I were there tonight. I really think it is one of the perfect restaurants for unpretentiousness, fresh, tasty foods and steadiness. I did not get to Swan Oyster Depot since it is a lunch place and it is hard to work and eat lunch at the same time. Saturday at the Ferry Building market or the Alemany farmer’s market is a regular treat, though my friend Niloufer was in Bombay and couldn’t accompany me.

You must buy her book My Bombay Kitchen. Stories, recipes and a charming perspective on food unlike any other.

The highlight of Los Angeles was being able to snag 2 seats at the bar of the new Mozza and watch Nancy Silverton prep all the plates behind the mozzarella bar. The top of the bar is full of jars and bowls filled with beautiful and delicious things to eat, and the food is fresh, tasty and beautiful. ( She has a new cookbook called A Twist of the Wrist which is handy and clever.) Angela had already eaten, but we had a delicious burata dish and a tagliata with arugula, etc. I think I remember excellent fruit granita for dessert.

New York is always an eating adventure, and we were there both in September and November. New places: Petrarca on White Street with Mel Dwork (Christo and Jean-Claude were eating at the next table). Mel ate branzino and I, of course, an onion-gorgonzola pizza that tasted as if it had been deep-fried in olive oil. I wanted to return for another round. I also tried virtually everything on the menu at the new, enlarged Momofuku Noodle Bar with Calvin Trillin. The big bowl of kim-chee noodles and the pork buns were the best. This was preceded by some excellent dumplings chez Trillin from Super Taste on Eldredge Street. Next time, I will swing by there and get some frozen to take back home. We tried to get into Tia Pol but failed and went to Red Cat instead. Good, but noisy at the bar. La Esquina on Lafayette Street was tasty, cheap and cozy.

Old favorites revisited included Tabla, Giorgione, Cafe Boulud, Grand Central Oyster Bar (Totten Virginicus oysters cannot be beat), Taste, The Bar at The Modern (Danny Meyer is desperately needed at the Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City), Mezza Luna, etc.

Boston is new on our schedule, and we are learning about the Copley Plaza neighborhood. I actually had 3 meals at B&G Oysters. Sheer inertia and love of shellfish (lobster rolls especially). Across the street is The Butcher Shop which also looks just as inviting and stylish, but how can someone living in the Midwest eat meat in Boston? The owner of these lovely places also has a charming greengrocery next door. Very talented woman!

In Chicago we went to our old favorites: Wow Bao for takeout lunch; Avec and Hot Chocolate for dinner and also back to Cafe Spiaggia.

I just cannot think of food anymore. Christmas will soon be upon us and its arrival demands some inspiration on my part. If I could just order the lemon meringue cake from Taste in New York, endless dozens of Totten Virginica oysters, and some buratta from Mozza ……

An update of recent culinary adventures is long overdue. Perhaps it is a good idea to wait a while before reporting, so that only the truly tasty experiences remain in my mind. I have some restaurant receipts on my desk to remind me of what transpired. From Washington DC there is a receipt for a dozen oysters eaten at the bar at Old Ebbitt Grill. They were delicious, while the Caesar salad and the calamari were more routine. I always forget to order the salad dressing on the side so it is not too soggy. There is also a receipt from a delicious meal at Zaytinya: kibbeh nayeh, lamb kebab, mushroom/butternut squash, scallops, Tanqueray gin martini, yogurt dessert.There have been 2 trips to New York with many good meals. I introduced my husband, Marc, to Tabla (downstairs Bread Bar). He was delighted. I remember several baskets of home-made potato chips on the bar at Eli Zabar’s Taste. Several more repeat experiences included Prune (with my friend Mel Dwork), Mingala for some ginger salad, Ouest, which tastes better than it looks, a great private party upstairs at Savoy, sushi at Sushi Yasuda (as good as it gets and as expensive). A nice French dinner with Carmen at L’Absinthe and the usual scoop of gelato and great cappuccino at San Ambroeus. The gelato at Grom was no better and twice the price.

Chicago is problematic. Kate and I are only there for 3 nights, and we love Avec more than any other place. But we need to expand our horizons. This time our expansion led to a delicious new spot: Hot Chocolate at 1747 North Damen. The receipt says we ate artichokes, melon salad, pretzel and pate, mussels, cookies and salted caramel ice cream. It was all delicious, and there were many other dishes which we will have next time. The Chicago schedule will now be lunch from Wow Bao daily, first and last dinner at Avec, and 2nd dinner at Hot Chocolate. Needless to say, the temptation to try many different things supersedes my interest in a lot of one thing. So those places that are un-convoluted, offer varied tastes, and inventiveness without too much self-righteousness are the most appealing.

I even went on a quick 4-day trip for fun with 3 girlfriends to Healdsburg in the Sonoma Valley. Of course it was centered on eating and wine, although our habits (and bodies) were quite stubbornly different. Fifi made the restaurant reservations which included lunch at Bouchon in Yountville (oysters, mussels, lobster salad and sweetbreads). One dinner at Bistro Ralph in Healdsburg (duck confit, an excellent Caesar salad with whole leaves of romaine, and a delicious blackberry-cabernet sorbet). We stayed at a wonderful hotel just off the square– DuChamp (after Marcel). It was modern, elegant and served a fine breakfast buffet (included). The highlight was Beverly’s birthday dinner at Cyrus. I had my doubts when I saw the flounced drapes and fancy decor, but the food was delicious, elegant, leisurely and civilized in every way! We drove back to the Bay Area along the windy and isolated coast from Jenner. Cold fresh oysters at the plain and breezy Marshall Store were as good as one can imagine.

Although I spent 2 weeks in Japan on a buying trip with Fifi, we mainly ate at old favorites (see the archive): tonkatsu at Katsukura in Kyoto twice, crab and fish at Yokocho, two dinners at Omen, one fine French dinner at Le Bouchon, a fresh fish -and -more feast at Totoshin (I ordered everything on the Japanese menu that I could read including a box of fresh sea urchin). In Tokyo we tried the new Union Square Tokyo in the just finished Midtown Mall. It was not as good as in NYC, but full of happy Japanese diners.

We just returned from Santa Fe. The culinary highlight was La Boca, a delicious small tapas place where we had 2 meals. Otherwise we ate at the same places as before, though we missed our annual green chile cheeseburger at Bobcat Bite.

In between all these travels (exhausting in the telling), the Nelson-Atkins Museum opened their new Bloch Building (architecture by Steven Holl) to international acclaim. It is a most engaging, beautiful and original building which does a wonderful job of showing off not only itself, but a magnificent collection of art. I encourage all of you to come to Kansas City sometime to enjoy this magnificent institution. (You can also visit us at Asiatica in your spare time).

Now I am going on a strict diet before I see you again.

Our California Spring Trunk Shows were very successful — both as far as selling clothes and finding tasty treats. Once again, we drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles, this time on highway 101 after a brief stop in Santa Cruz.

In San Francisco several exciting new discoveries: Nopa, where Angela ate earthy sophisticated comfort food. In the Ferry Building, Boulette’s Larder has the best breakfast we have had in years. served Monday through Friday morning (check the hours). Definitely eat inside at the lovely big table with fresh flowers, great coffee, a way-too-large mug of spoonworthy cocoa, eggs, cereal etc. It is normally a take-out place, also available for private dinner parties. I can hardly wait to go back.

Two new discoveries in Chinatown coincidentally across the street from each other on Commercial St. The first is a dive called New Hong Kong Menu where I was a guest at a magnificent feast the highlights of which were a soft, greaseless steamed duck, and a plate of minced pork with salty eggs arranged on top. Across the street is a wonderful dim-sum restaurant, City View. Appetizing, clean and quick service and environment with a wide and tasty selection. In Berkeley I had another disappointing quick lunch at Olivetos. It was a skimpy roast beef sandwich, and some unremarkable cauliflower. But I had a fine dinner at Rivoli on Solano, and admired their lovely garden throughout.

Travelling with a computer is helpful — especially in the car when you can go to Chowhound or such and check out possibilities in small towns en-route. We did that for King City in the Salinas Valley, but when we peered into the best-recommended taqueria it seemed too empty, and we lost confidence. The fuller one was the wrong one — especially gringo-oriented. our mistake.

Los Angeles is always an adventure. The concierge got us an immediate reservation — a fluke– at Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton’s new Pizzeria Mozza. It was delicious (very like Otto in NYC). Noisy and tasty both. Gelato at Angelato in Santa Monica was the dessert after a yakitori dinner at Yakitoriya. Yakitoriya was recommended as an authentic place by Mr. Matsuhisa of Nobu fame. It was genuine, but quiet on Valentine’s night — thank goodness. Everything was tasty, but there were many fewer offerings than I am used to in Japan.

For a quick treat, we went to Barefoot, around the corner from the hotel for a good hamburger and good dinner salads. A fine mojito too.

As always, we went to the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market on Wednesday morning — delicious tangerines. More from New York next month.

San Francisco is just the best! The latest delicious treats include a wonderful cheap and genuine dim sum lunch with my sisters on Pacific Street, just up the hill from Stockton on the left. It seems to have no name, but is huge, crowded with Chinese and delicious. i remember lunch for 3 of us and 2 hungry 3 year-olds was about $30. I never go to eat dim sum if there are too many Westerners, white tablecloths and polite waiters. That is a sure sign of revisionism. The Ferry Building market always has something delicious (especially the view). This time I made a dash for the Recchiuti burnt caramel sauce and 4 bottles of wine to bring to my niece’s for dinner.

I also went to Bar Tartine, 561 Valencia St. and ate a wonderful appetizer of roasted marrow-filled bones, arugula and toast. They are an off-shoot of Tartine Bakery which is one of our favorite breakfast spots. No trip to San Francisco should exclude Zuni Cafe and this one didn’t. Their fresh oysters, roast chicken and espresso granita, plus plenty of bread and wine are the perfect menu.

In Berkeley, I got a take-out lunch at Gregoire’s (around the corner from Chez Panisse) which included their magic potato puffs. Later, Fifi and I had a fine dinner on San Pablo at Sea Salt. I think I had a delicious salad among other things.

Before driving down Highway ! to Los Angeles via Santa Barbara, I dashed into the Monterey Market for some provisions. I have been shopping there for at least 45 years, and they still have the finest produce around. (lots of their customers need an Asiatica fix).

The coast is breathtaking, and we stopped at Nepenthe for an outdoor lunch on the terrace. The view was better than the food. In Santa Barbara our room at the Biltmore was $600., but our combined food costs were about $25. since we did a taco survey (dinner and lunch). Dinner at the Superica Taqueria, immortalized by Julia Child; lunch at Lilly Taqueria, which is much more real and cheaper.

Ciudad was delicious in downtown LA on a warm evening sitting outside. Their food instincts are admirable — tasty, fresh and inventive food. We also discovered Bread Bar just around the corner from the Four Seasons — cappuccino with a picture drawn on the foam!

I also just returned from the opening of the new Denver Art Museum wing (don’t ask), and had a fine meal at John Holly’s on 2422 South Downing. Chinese and Japanese food in one place is usually an ominous sign, but this was delicious!!

Since my last report I have been in India, Cabo San Lucas, San Francisco and Los Angeles. India was by far the most stimulating in every way. For two weeks, I ate with gusto, and had only one non-veg meal. The highlight was the food in Ahmedabad. Right in and adjoining our hotel (House of MG) were 2 really tasty restaurants — next door an open kitchen with a gazebo-like structure serving glorified street food (puri, yogurt, spicy eggplant, lassi, etc.), and on the roof a more refined open-air experience. Of course we were lucky to be invited to several delicious home-cooked meals; had plenty of “bed tea” in fancy hotels (served at the Imperial in Delhi with 2 mini madeleines), a great Thai meal at the Oberoi in Calcutta, plenty of huge crispy cashews, all sorts of spicy crunchies both sweet and salty. What a wonderful place!!

Cabo San Lucas is becoming way too developed. Even the last standing older place (the Twin Dolphins) will be razed shortly to make room for another “resort” with golf, higher rise buildings etc. The breakfast churros and the Saturday night roast pig were delicious, as were the fish or shrimp tacos at Rosy. Otherwise avocados from the grocery store were the best.

The glories of California are really the farmers’ markets–the Ferry Building market in San Francisco and many others. Satsuma tangerines, Meyer lemons, Recchiuti caramel sauce, Dungeness crabs, baby artichokes, cheeses from Cowgirl Creamery, all sorts of breads, salad greens, dried fruits — more than one can even imagine. While Kansas City groceries have certainly improved with the arrival of Whole Foods, nothing can compare with the bounty of California.

As for restaurants, LA’s Angelini Osteria offered an excellent mushroom risotto, and the hamburger and fries at the Four Seasons were pretty near a perfect supper. I cannot fit into my clothes. Better order up some larger ones at Asiatica!

It surely is better to jot down a few notes rather than revisitng the Thanksgiving leftovers one more time, fork in hand.

I will just jot down some notes from 2 weeks in New York this month. The best take-out and/or take home items: the takeout double capuccino from San Ambroeus and their bargain $2. ice cream or sherbert scoop (pistachio or lampone) — one at breakfast, the other after dinner elsewhere. E.A.T. chopped liver and ratatouille pizza (again on separate occasions). Eli’s Grocery for their candied pecans (crisp and shiny), and Le Pain Quotidien’s capers, sundried tomatoes and cherry preserves. Marc’s favorite olive oil is Monini Fruttato from Grace’s Market, so I carried home a big bottle cushioned by the special orders from our trunk show.

As for restaurants, i was reminded once again that Grand Central Oyster Bar is the place for serious oysters. I inadvertently ate twelve at a friend’s expense. They were enormous and tasty. The Harrison was cozy, delicious and relatively quiet. My friend Mel Dwork and I could actually have a conversation, while eating delicious food. One night Kate and I went to Mary’s Fish Camp, and were directed across the street to Fedora’s for a drink while we waited for a table. Fedora’s was like a Hopper painting. The drinks were huge, the place with an amusing cast of 4 characters (plus the two of us), we all watched the news on PBS before the phone rang summoning us back to Mary’s. Dinner there was delicious and friendly as always. Cynde and I also went to the famous Burger Joint behind the curtain in the lobby of the Parker-Meridien Hotel. For $12. each we had hamburgers with the works, fries in a brown paper bag and a beer. Delicious! Just look for the neon burger next to the curtain. Bistro du Vent, a French Mario Battali restaurant, was delicious! Though the place is not particularly charming, the food was exceptional and tasty. But his Casa Mono was really great! Razor clams, duck egg on potatoes with truffle oil, pork on cubes of sweet squash and pomegranates, grilled mushrooms and a bottle of Lopez Rose 1995.

That was our last trunk show meal for 2005!

We have been too busy traveling and eating to update this page. But I can still recall the most memorable spots of the summer.

One recurring problem: to keep trying new spots when we have so many old favorites to revisit. I will try to add a few favorite non-food experiences to our list.

Our Chicago restaurant favorite is now Avec – especially the whole roasted fish! We really miss the candied ginger scones at the Corner Bakery. We like the Big Bowl for a quick meal. Best find was Wow Bow, a tiny well-designed counter on the ground floor of Water Tower Place, with a delicious ginger drink and all sorts of tasty dumplings. The Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the Museum of Contemporary Art is delicious – especially on the terrace.

Douglas Dawson has a beautiful new gallery space. It is imaginatively done and full of imaginatively chosen objects from all over the world presented with great style. Go and visit.

Tokyo was rainy, and the first morning brought one of the great culinary disappoints of the year. Donpa, our very favorite coffee shop with the world’s greatest cheese toast, has disappeared!! All in all we need to re-scout Tokyo for more good places for all our meals. Kyoto was fine since Le Bouchon, the French restaurant on the corner of Nijo and Teramachi made us a superb breakfast every morning. Yuichi, the manager, seems amused that we eat with such gusto at 8 in the morning when most Japanese do not really go out for breakfast. Katsukura, a beautifully designed tonkatsu (pork cutlet) restaurant hidden in the Sanjo arcade just next to the Lipton Teahouse remains one of our favorites for a stylish, cheap and delicious dinner. We love Totoshin, a wonderful earthy restaurant in the northeastern part of Kyoto, specializes in fish (sashimi or cooked). It can be managed without speaking Japanese by either saying “omakase” – the chef will make up the menu, or just ordering whatever you see someone else eating and taking your chances. Price is not mentioned anywhere until you pay. Our dinner was 150. for 2.

Eating well in Japan is difficult without being able to read, since the many of the most tasty foods are available at small drinking and eating places. In these places small slips of paper cover the wall, each naming a different item and its price (in Japanese, of course). For my taste, the more expensive the restaurant, the less I like it (except for sushi, where a small refined place with a good personal introduction is the best). Sometimes in fancy (kaiseki style) restaurants the presentation is much more delicious than the food. But as always, I am looking for lots of different tastes, without too much

In July we were in Santa Fe. Bobcat Bite on the Old Las Vegas Highway is really our favorite. Not only is the hamburger delicious, but one gets to be in the wonderful expansive landscape. It is also cheap (drink before or after). In town, we like the Bumblebee, an informal drive-up. For fancy, SantaCafe is still the favorite. My favorite apricot tree didn’t have fruit yet, although the trees at the foot of Canyon Road were available for picking (but no ladder was available).

On a pleasure trip to Berlin, the most memorable bites were at the oyster counter at KaDeWe food department. Scottish and Irish oysters and French Fines Claires –I could have stayed for hours.

Since then, California. The best this time was re-visiting a small Berkeley restaurant with just the right atmosphere and the most delicious food: Vanni ( temporarily closed, but moving to a new location). An imaginative chef, generous portions, tasty food all with a South Asian repertoire of flavors. We also ate some very nice things at Pearl on College Avenue. In San Francisco, the Ferry Building market is splendid. Among the shops, I always head straight for Recchiuti to stock up on their Burnt Caramel Sauce. Going to the market on Saturday morning and having 6 Fanny Bay oysters for breakfast is not what we can do in Kansas City.

We drove to Los Angeles through the central valley, but encountered no culinary treats on I-5. But in LA we ate takeout Zankou Chicken with all the sides, including lots of garlic sauce, and a tarte tatin (the best) from the bakery in the back hall of the Ivy on Robertson. Our culinary scout Irv introduced us to Beechwood, where we ate big hamburgers on a terrace off the bar.

Los Angeles probably has the most inventive retail stores in the country. One of my favorites is Obsolete on Main Street in Venice. It just goes to show what one smart and visually sophisticated person can do!

At the moment I am still in NYC trying to find new treats. So far, watching the men’s tennis finals in Madison Square Park while eating a Tabla hotdog and drinking a beer sitting on the warn edge of a big stone basin was the big delight. When it is not muggy, Taste at Eli’s grocery makes the best potato chips which one can eat freely while drinking an excellent (and amusingly described) glass of wine (or two) at the bar. We also had a big bucket of steamers at Pearl Oyster Bar on Cornelia Street; a quick supper at City Hall before seeing the Kansas City Ballet dance “9 Sinatra Songs” in Battery Park; and a couple of ice cream cones and a few cappuccinos at the newly re-opened San Ambroeus on Madison Ave. around the corner from The Mark.

Since the last update I have eaten much too much. In December I had a wonderful trip to Madrid (via London). The paintings in the Prado were the main “feast” of each day, usually followed by a meal at a Cervezeria nearby. I’ve never seen such constant and simultaneous talking, smoking, drinking and eating as in Madrid. The most memorable food was jamon Iberico, with pellets of dry crackers, olives, a fresh salad and a glass of young wine. I also discovered a Basque apertif called “Patzaran”. The hotel was the Suecia — a joy at 70 euros per night.

In the short visit to London, it was Rasa and the River Cafe. But having bought the Casa Moro cookbook, I regret not having eaten there. Next time.

January was Mexico. A week at the Twin Dolphin in Cabo San Lucas (our favorite, the Hotel Cabo San Lucas has closed). The TD is wonderful — delicious food, though we most often had a couple of tacos in a dive for dinner, and avocado sandwiches for lunch.

Mexico City was a revelation. Delicious food at Aguila y Sol. Very chic, hip and also tasty. I loved eating potato chips and chicharron on the street with lime and salt.

Then to San Francisco. Dinner at Piperade was a reminder of Spain. It is a great way to eat off many plates which we all ordered en-masse. The best old treat was an oyster medley, a salted cod casserole and an espresso granita at Zuni (along with a dry muscat from Navarro). Also a fine bread pudding with fruit for breakfasat at Bar Tartine. Shopping at the farmer’s market is the best (missed my favorite which is Alemany Blvd., but got to the Ferry Building and bought 3 jars of burnt caramel sauce from Recchiuti (still unopened). Fresh crab, bread and salad at Fifi’s was delicious.

I had better get on the treadmill now.

This Fall’s collection is totally beautiful. The mix of fabrics is larger than ever. Our “special project” — making new fabrics by stitching vintage pieces in extraordinary ways — has led us in unexpectedly diverse directions. In some cases we have stitched vintage pieces to a backing and made them stronger and freshly textured, or have allowed us to make dressy, transparent organzas with scatterings of floating vintage squares.

Italian woolens, brilliantly colored coatings, and some Nuno avant-garde textures joined with vintage kimono just make the whole collection shimmer!

In several cases, adding new shapes and colors to “crinkle”, ajiro and pleated silk refresh those collections — and can refresh those pieces you already might have. All our shapes have been pruned a bit, some have been slightly re-shaped.

After almost 25 years meeting (and fitting) so many intelligent and appreciative women, we are very happy in our special niche. We hope to see you all somewhere this fall to show you all the clothes, jewelry, new bags, bowties, and hundreds of scarves we have collected for this new season.

Elizabeth

The obligation is to keep eating at new places, so I can let you know what I particularly liked. Well, during the Fall NY show I tried my best not to plow too much old ground. New places included: Florent, Jefferson, Hearth, The Shake Shack (I sent surrogates), Casa Mono.

The most memorable of these was Casa Mono. Once more a delicious dinner at one of Mario Battali’s restaurants– tasty and unusual dishes, earthy and fresh flavors, little pretension, good staff. Hearth was delicious, Jefferson was beautiful, Florent was a bit disappointing after all I had heard.

For repeats,eating alone at the bar at Esca was the best this time. For a mere total of $112, I had my fill of oysters (the best were Glidden Point (Bay?), delicious sea urchin, pasta with something –I forgot what– ice cream and lots of wine. It was worth it. Pearl Oyster Bar, Congee Village, Union Square Cafe, Etats Unis, Taste, Otto were all delicious as always.

As for other NY treats, try Pastec in Soho, which is a wonderful, quirky place. Do not forget to visit The Conservatory Garden in Central Park (enter at 105th Street). I have never been there when it is anything but gorgeous and uninhabited.

As for Washington DC, we had several treats on a short visit: oysters at Legal Seafood, drinks and tuna appetizer at the bar at Zola, and dinner at Cashion’s Eat Place. More soon. Chicago beckons, then back to NYC.