Go South, Hungry Travelers

The dining room at Herons. Photo courtesy of Jerry Blow

By Mollie Chen

Earlier this week, I skipped a James Beard dinner hosted by Chef Phil Evans of North Carolina's Herons restaurant in favor of my couch and a dinner of ice cream and Levain cookies. Bad move. (Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth...) By all accounts, it was a great dinner, and much more interesting than what was on my DVR. My friend Jennifer Noble-Kelly, who is the publicist for Herons but also an all-around cheerleader for the Triangle area, stopped by the office to tell me what I had missed and fill me in on new developments. Listening to Jenn, you get the feeling that the region is evolving in a very big, very tasty way. From my experience last February, when I spent a long weekend there, I'm inclined to believe her.

During the course of my food-filled Raleigh-Durham trip, I got a chance to eat at Herons, which is in the brand-new Umstead Hotel and Spa. The property is set off a less-than-inspiring mini-interstate, but inside there is sleek contemporary decor and cool nature-inspired contemporary art. Through the windows in the restaurant and the lobby you can see the hotel's twelve acres of woodland and wide, placid pond. At Herons, we were impressed with Evans' versions of regional favorites like pork and beans (here done with the fabled Ossabaw pork and butterscotch beans) and succotash, and I especially loved the towering old-fashioned apple pie.

We've Got the Beat: Jack Kerouac's Jacket

Hogan's Jack Kerouac bomber jacket.

By Nandita Khanna

Earlier this spring, Italian luxury leather purveyor Hogan launched the "Jack Kerouac Project"--a capsule collection of six well-worn, buttery-soft leather pieces from bags to sneakers--at Colette in Paris. The collection also marks Hogan's first foray into outerwear. Hogan's launch is timed with the 50-year anniversary of Kerouac's iconic novel On the Road, which embodies the essence of the Beat movement.

The line bows at boutiques in U.S. this month and will be on sale through January. The standout piece is by far the bomber jacket, which is fashioned after Kerouac's own, and is most certainly a nod to the writer's own rumpled, urban nomad style with its ribbed wool banding and double front pockets ($1,590). A fifties-style high-top sneaker and work boot would make excellent shoes for pounding the city pavement (shoes from $295 to $475). For modern adventurers out to emulate Kerouac, the caramel-hued travel bag ($1,290) is clearly priced beyond Kerouac's means but manages to evoke that "this-old-thing" feeling that makes it so darn cool looking. And, hey, it might just inspire you to pack your bags and set off on your own cross-country adventure.

Digging El Salvadorean Papusas in NYC (and Other End of Summer Eats)

Too busy pigging out to take good pictures: The Red Hook Ball Fields food stands

By Mollie Chen

The theme of this week's Top Chef (feel free to snicker) was back to basics; contestants were dared to create transcendent dishes from three lowly ingredients: a chicken, a potato, and an onion. They succeeded to varying degrees and the show made an obvious, but sometimes forgotten point: simple is good, especially if you can make it great. I've been eating out a lot lately and my favorite meals have been the least elaborate ones - and the new restaurants I am looking forward to are not the most showy, ostentatious ones.

Last weekend I finally (better late than never) made it to the Red Hook Ball Fields and one bite into my ecstasy-inducing pork huarache - a kind of open-faced taco on crack - I was kicking myself for having waited so long. My friend Hayley and I ate our way through the vendors, sampling the El Salvadorean pupusas, which were crisp and doughy and cheesy all in one, the charred corn with cheese and chile, and the caramelized fried plantains. The best part was that in between snacks, we joined the motley block party of families, hipsters, and Manhattanites that were clumped around the soccer fields watching the not-so-fit but very enthusiastic soccer players with the DJ-provided salsa and merengue music in the background. It was one of those perfect, delicious days that makes you giddy that you live in New York. If you live anywhere near the five boroughs, it is your civic duty to go to Red Hook this weekend.

Summertime and the Maine Life is Easy

By Mollie Chen

Like Nandita, I have been transplanted enough times that the question "Where are you from?" becomes problematic. My parents delight in telling people that they are from Maine, something that irks my sister and I to no end, since we were born and raised in Miami and fancy ourselves chicer than the term "Maineiac" implies. That said, Maine is gorgeous and nowadays, it's home. Plus, it's just a little over an hour from Boston which means that on long weekends my sister and I are up there as fast as you can say "Hendrick's and soda on the porch."

Labor Day weekend was no exception; by Friday afternoon I was in York Harbor, which is the definition of a picturesque seaside hamlet -- rocky beaches, lobster boats bobbing in the river, and plenty of fried clam shacks. That is the thing about Maine -- you often feel like you are living in the New England version of a Norman Rockwell print. As we sat on our porch catching up, our neighbors waved to us from the street. We had lobster rolls for dinner. The next morning my mom, sister, and I set off for a walk with our yellow lab (who is, I kid you not, an LL Bean model). We followed the seawall along the harbor, crossed Wiggly Bridge, continued through the woods, and ended up at the George Marshall Store Gallery, a former 19th century general store. Really, you can't make this stuff up. The gallery, which is curated by our family friend, Mary, is worth a detour if you are ever in the area; the exhibits range widely, from oil landscapes to playful found object sculptures but they are consistently fantastic.

Besides its general cuteness, York Harbor is also very close to "big" cities like Portsmouth, NH and Portland, ME. Since Annie and I can't go for more than a day or two without exercising our consumer impulses, we usually drive up the coast to Portland to wander the cobblestoned streets in search of good things to eat and buy.

Westward Bound

White Haute: Smythson's Nancy Bag, which is an L.A. store exclusive through October.

By Nandita Khanna

Having spent a large part of my formative years in Southern California before moving to Atlanta for college, Washington, DC for my first job, and now, to New York City, I am often hesitant to answer the straightforward question: "Where are you from?" While my allegiance often vacillates between both coasts--most often depending on season--I'm quite territorial about all that is to be savored in New York from its culture to its restaurants and shopping. California has my wholehearted fidelity when it comes to beaches--not even Southampton or Fire Island come close in my eyes. So when Deputy News Editor Debi Dunn (a loyal Californian, might I add), who edited our September L.A. Insert, posed the question "Is L.A. becoming more like New York, or is New York becoming more like L.A.?" I did some poking around when I was out there this spring.

Much to my rather selfish delight, I was pleased to see that many of the boutiques that have become institutions in New York are broadening their reach and tapping the starlet-pounded pavement of Rodeo Drive and North Robertson. West Third Street is becoming real destination for fashionistas in search of smaller-name designers and international labels, while even heavily trafficked North Robertson--made famous most notably by its appearances on the pages of US Weekly--is getting quite a facelift with Chanel and Scoop rumored to be shopping for retail space. Even the girls at Foley + Corinna are purportedly poking around looking for a perch, and Helmut Lang is opening on Melrose.

Herewith, some of the newest boutiques--all of whom have flagships in New York--to hold court in La-la land.