One of the joys of being a travel writer is discovering new places. Lonely Planet Television recently sent me to Tijuana, Mexico—a place I had never been before—alone with a video camera to record my impressions. The following unscripted short film is the result. Though it’s a diversion from my usual California-centric posts, it provides such a rare glimpse of what I do on the road, and is so uncensored and wacky that I had to share it. Take a look.
Tijuana: Betcha Wanna
11:21PM February 28, 2008 4 Comments »Sonoma Restaurants: Early-Spring Daytrips
5:59AM February 21, 2008 1 Comment »
The hills up and down California are greening: March, the emerald month, is around the corner. It’s time to start thinking about short hops to Sonoma—before the tourists arrive. Though current room rates are a steal, you don’t have to stay overnight. It’s only 45 minutes from the city. Go for the day. (But not this weekend: plan San Francisco rainy-day activities instead.)
Build your afternoon road trip around a good meal. You can leave at noon, drive through sublime electric-green landscapes, maybe hit a winery, then kick back over an early dinner and be home in time to catch a movie. Trust me: you’ll feel like you’ve had a mini-vacation. Here’s my short list of favorite dining rooms, along with some good cheap eats for budgeteers.
Tops on every foodie’s list is dinner at Cafe La Haye ($$$), where the hearty cooking has marvelous depth of flavor. Standouts include a succulently sweet house-smoked trout with red-onion relish; pork ‘two ways’ (order the pork medium; the kitchen undercooks it otherwise); and hanger steak with potato-bacon pie. A new chef took the helm last year, and attention to detail is sometimes lacking—to wit, an impotent, wilted-lettuce garnish served with the trout—but the important elements are rock solid. The room is tiny—only 35 seats—with an open-truss ceiling, corrugated metal roof, and cool contemporary art adoring the walls. Reservations essential. No lunch.
When I want a guaranteed-festive evening, I head to the girl & the fig. The earthy flavors of southern French cooking inform the menu, which runs the gamut from steamed mussels with matchstick fries (a house specialty), and a rich Provençale fish stew, redolent with saffron and fennel; to pan-roasted chicken, and a deliciously simple grilled flat-iron steak-frites. Burnt-orange walls and polished woodwork cast a warm glow to the big, always-busy dining room, but the cartoon paintings of Rubenesque women are disturbing; better to sit outside on the expansive patio under strings of colored lights and pretend you’re in Provence. Reservations essential.
The latest addition to the town’s high-end-dining scene, El Dorado Kitchen ($$$–$$$$) is Sonoma’s new face of chic, with a sexy, monochromatic dining room: wear denim and cashmere and blend right in. Exec chef Ryan Fancher hails from the French Laundry, evident in his elegant, sure-handed use of traditional elements with contemporary ingredients, as in the housemade tortellini with moscarpone, duck confit, and parsley salad. Some dishes disappoint for their lack of depth (especially the pork osso bucco), but El Dorado is an important new stop on the culinary circuit, totally worth checking out. If it’s warm enough, sit outside in the big courtyard for maximum romance. Reservations essential.
Modern Japanese and sushi are the focus at Shiso ($$). It looks strangely like a diner, with booths lining the walls, but no diner I know has such a fabulous paint job. The chef-owner is passionate about raw fish, but does great things with hot food too, particularly the wok-tossed mussels and braised ribs with butternut squash and shiso.
For big plates of pasta, rotisseried chicken, and veal parmesan, head to Della Santina’s ($$). Nothing ever changes—the ’specials’ have been the same for years—but it’s consistently good (if not great), and the flower-lined brick patio is perfect for date night on a warm evening.
Sonoma Valley Restaurants: Near the Wineries
My favorite up-valley lunch spot is Caffe Citti ($$) in Kenwood, a mom-and-pop roadside Italian trattoria where you order at the counter, then snag a seat on the big deck outside (alas, there’s no longer a vineyard view over the new high fence around the patio, but at least it blocks road noise). There’s no fuss or pretense here; the focus is on the food. Order the homemade pizzas, sandwiches on homemade foccacia bread, or raviloi with marinara sauce, made with Grandma’s secret recipe. Okay, so it’s American-Italian, but damn, it sure tastes great. Stop here if you failed to pack a picnic basket in town.
The top pick for dinner or weekend brunch in Sonoma Valley is the fig cafe & wine bar ($$), a soulful bistro that lives up to the real French definition of the term: a relaxed restaurant serving comfort food for weary travelers. Among the standouts, rich, savory pot roast, tarragon-steamed mussels, and hearty cassoulet made with duck confit. No glass of wine costs more then $8, and every bottle is under $40. Weekend brunch ($) is a bargain, an ideal stopover before wine-tasting in the valley.
Sonoma Restaurants: Cheap Eats
My favorite breakfasts are at locals-only Pearl’s Homestyle Cooking. Try the thin, crêpe-like pancakes; on Fridays, go for the chili huevos rancheros. And keep an eye out for Pearl, the oh-so-cute kitty cat for whom the restaurant is named.
For superior Mexican, skip the places around the Plaza, and instead drive to Juanita Juanita, a tiny roadside joint that makes good tostadas and killer ‘garlic-garlic burritos.’ Kick it with cold brew on tap on the (dog-friendly) patio. Arrive before 8pm. Service is hit or miss, probably a miss if they don’t recognize you as a local. Dig the super-cool freehand spray-paint mural outside. Awesome.
When you’re jonesing for a late-night snack, head north of town on Hwy 12 and find the taco trucks between Boyes Blvd and Agua Caliente. The best of ‘em is the Jesus Taco Truck: look for the garish painting of the Christ on the back of the truck. (He hasn’t been around much lately. The secular trucks are satisfactory in a pinch—and taste even better if you’ve been pounding tequila all night.)
Valentine’s Day for Procrastinators
9:25PM February 13, 2008 5 Comments »
If you couldn’t get your act together in time to create something lavish for your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, fear not. Here’s how to handle it: Postpone the holiday till you can focus proper attention on your beloved. Remember, your partner is in love with you, not the calendar. Think creatively.
Do this. Write out a card, preferably handmade on a nice piece of paper—maybe a collage if you’re crafty—that simply says, ‘I love you. To celebrate our relationship, mark your calendar for ___.’ Then pick a date to do something together. You’ll not only gain time, you’ll avoid the frenzy a prescribed holiday brings and prove yourself an independent thinker.
Now, what exactly to do? I suggest something simple and within your means, something that requires little planning. Celebrating love means focusing your attention on your partner. For that you need a good backdrop, maybe a long walk down a gorgeous stretch of beach, a one-night midweek getaway to a romantic inn, or a great meal at an out-of-the-way roadhouse.
To get you started, here are my top picks for easy getaways near home. The secret is to find seclusion. Go somewhere—anywhere—where there are no distractions. That includes television.
1.) Book a midweek stay at a nearby inn. Take one vacation day and split it into two: Leave work at noon and return to your desk the next day at noon. My favorite out-of-the-way places within an hour (or so) of San Francisco:
• Pescadero Creekside Barn on the San Mateo Coast.
• A woodsy retreat in West Marin.
• A night in the story-book village of Occidental.
• A food- and wine-tasting overnight in Healdsburg.
• A couples’ spa retreat in Calistoga.
• A waterside cottage at Nick’s Cove on Tomales Bay.
2.) Take a Saturday day trip down Hwy 1 along the San Mateo Coast. It’s close to home, an easy drive, and spectacularly beautiful—especially now that spring’s first flowers are budding. Lunch in Pescadero, load up the car with jams and sweets from Swanton Berry Farm, then wander out Pigeon Point on your way back. Best of all, the drive together will afford you time to catch up and laugh together while listening to your favorite CDs.
3.) Spend time together outdoors away from the sound of internal combustion engines. Hold hands as you walk through grassy fields whooshing in the breeze, or giggle as you spaz out together in a kayak.
• Trek out Tomales Point, at Point Reyes, through herds of roaming elk on high bluffs above the crashing surf.
• Kayak Tomales Bay and scope the sky for rare migratory birds (bring binocs).
• Cozy beneath a blanket and whale-watch at Pigeon Point Lighthouse on the San Mateo Coast.
• Hike beside seasonal waterfalls on the skirts of Mount Tam, in West Marin.
4.) Take a food-inspired road trip. Explore the back roads of Marin and Sonoma, then feast on a meal together. This requires a good map: Pick up a copy of the Benchmark California Atlas (call Get Lost Books or REI), which shows every single road in California, along with the topography. Some of my favorite road-and-food combos:
• Marshall-Petaluma Rd, with a seaside meal of oysters and champagne at Nick’s Cove, in Marshall. For more on Nick’s, read my Tomales Bay getaway guide.
• Coleman Valley Rd, through West County Sonoma, with lunch or dinner at the Seaweed Cafe. Read the Bodega Bay guide—and watch the video.
• Lucas Valley Rd to Nicasio Valley Rd to Point Reyes Station, where you can pack a picnic at Cowgirl Creamery and take it Point Reyes. For more, read the West Marin guide.
• Hwy 1 to Pescadero, with a detour along Stage Rd, followed by an Americana-country dinner at Duarte’s. Check out my San Mateo Coast guide.
5.) Stay home and do something you never have time to do together. Like cooking an extravagant meal using all those New York Times recipes you’ve been saving up. Or sipping champagne in the hot tub you never use. Or simply taking a walk to the top of Twin Peaks—an ideal place to make out. (As you approach the parking area, look for the staircase to the tippy-top of the hill; you’ll likely have it all to yourselves.) Just don’t watch movies: Be active, not passive.
The point is to express your love. If your relationship is flagging, the secret to reviving it is to remember what drew you together in the first place. By so doing, you’ll not only reignite the fire in your hearts, you’ll have a lovely day together.
Point Reyes Whale Watching
11:59PM February 7, 2008 3 Comments »
The grey-whale migration is in full swing at Point Reyes National Seashore, one of the premier spots on the entire California coast to spot these enormous mammals. But there’s more here than just whales. Hike rocky headlands rising from the sea, scope the wide-open sky for migratory birds, kayak Tomales Bay, or stroll long, sandy beaches beside the roaring surf.
On the other side of the San Andreas Fault from the Marin shore, the 65,000-acre peninsula is on an entirely different tectonic plate, and it feels like it too: this is the windiest, foggiest place on the West Coast. Except for several 19th-century dairy farms, the land has remained completely undeveloped since Sir Francis Drake landed here in 1579 to repair his ship, the Golden Hinde. The peninsula’s eastern side is marked by pine forests and the steep hillsides of Inverness Ridge, the spine of Point Reyes; west of the ridge the land undulates in rolling prairies and grasslands, with wide-open vistas of sky and sea.
Get your bearings at the Bear Valley Visitor Center, the park’s headquarters. Pick up a copy of the fog-proof Tom Harrison hiking map. The Drakes Beach Visitor Center is smaller and 30 minutes from the mainland, but has interesting historical exhibits about Sir Francis Drake, as well as a good café.
At the very tip of the peninsula, the postcard-perfect 1870 Point Reyes Lighthouse sits below the 600ft-high headlands—308 steps, to be exact—in order for the beam to shine under the typically high fog. Bring binoculars to spot passing ships and whales, and listen for the braying and barking of elephant seals lazing on the rocks. Make it a point to go inside the lighthouse to see the giant first-order Fresnel lens when the lighthouse is open. Even if it’s not, you can still whale-watch from the point. Because it’s ten miles out to sea, you’ll have a drop-dead vantage point on the migrating gray whales (December through April), an awesome sight!
Whale-watching Road-closure Alert:
On weekends and holidays, from late December through mid-April, the road to Chimney Rock and the lighthouse—the top spots for viewing migrating gray whales—closes to vehicles south of South Beach. To relieve traffic jams on the narrow road, the park has initiated a shuttle-bus service from Drake’s Beach. For full details, read this.
Beaches flank Point Reyes, some mellow, others fabulously treacherous. The surf is calm enough for wading at Drakes Beach; its drive-to access and proximity to a visitor center and rest rooms make it good for families with kids, but that’s also its drawback: too many people. There are fewer beachcombers on Limantour Beach, and the birdwatching is fantastic. On the Tomales Bay side, the water is warmer and sometimes smooth as glass, perfect for little kids; head to Heart’s Desire Beach, part of Tomales Bay State Park—one of the state parks Schwarzenneger proposes closing.
But for real drama, head to the Great Beach, a 10-mile-long stretch of sand that gets positively hammered by the surf; this is one of the few Northern California beaches to face almost due west, and it gets killer waves. Seriously. Listen up: Do NOT turn your back on the ocean here; rogue waves drown inattentive visitors every year. (Read more tips and cautionary tales about beach safety at Point Reyes, including how not to drown if caught in a rip current.)
Crisscrossed by 140 miles of hiking trails, Point Reyes’s most dramatic hikes are atop coastal bluffs, by the beach, and along Inverness Ridge. For the most bang for your buck—especially if you have out-of-towners in tow—it’s hard to beat the Tomales Point Trail at the park’s northern end. Park at Pierce Point Ranch, then trek over undulating grasslands, hundreds of feet above the surf, through the Tule Elk Preserve, with herds of wandering elk just yards away. (Stay back: they’ll charge if you get too close!) The moderately easy 3-mile one-way hike is long enough for most, but continue another 1.7 miles to the tip for stellar views of Bodega Head.
For equally stunning vistas, take the more challenging Inverness Ridge Trail from Limantour Rd to the top of 1282ft-high Mount Vision (which you can also access by car from the other side). Near the lighthouse, the jaw-dropping Chimney Rock Trail has stellar wintertime whale-watching, and in spring awesome wildflowers.
From the Bear Valley Visitor Center, the Arch Rock Trail is wildly popular, primarily because the trailhead is near the main visitor center; the four-mile trek to the beach shows off the peninsula’s varied landscape—pine forests, grasslands, and coastal bluffs—but you can’t access the beach at trail’s end. For a big, easy wow, take the half-mile roundtrip loop along the Earthquake Trail to see an 18ft break in an old wooden fence, a remnant of the 1906 earthquake—a must-do if you’re starting your day at the Bear Valley Visitor Center.
A Note about Dogs on Point Reyes:
Unlike at state parks, you can bring your pup to parts of the park so long as he stays on a short leash (less than six feet long). The rangers are very strict about enforcement; remember, if you get a ticket here, it’s a federal offense. (I know, I know…don’t blame me.) Dogs aren’t permitted on any trails (except Kehoe Beach access trail), and they’re allowed only on a few beaches. Read the rules before you come.