Traveling to Paris with my son is in its golden phase: Now 13, as long as he has a croissant every morning and a museum at some point in the day, he’s happy. The lunches can be easy, the dinners don’t have to be bucket-list. The only shopping needed (for him) is a trip to Monoprix. It’s the opposite of how I visit the city, and I have to say: It’s pretty great not to be scheduled into oblivion while writing a guide. (Such as this, this and this. And…this.)

We built each day’s itinerary around a single museum, selecting cafés and restaurants in its orbit. Because my son is lucky to have visited the Louvre and the Jeu de Paume on every trip, I wanted to try smaller or less-loved ones. Researching the Paris Museum Pass — only worth it if you’re visiting two or more places per day — led us to a couple of places I’d never heard of before, such as the Galerie Géologie et Minéralogie in the Jardin des Plants and the Musée de l’Architecture et la Patrimoine, which had the extra benefit of not being overrun.

In terms of meals, he’s a vegetarian (who eats oysters and snails — I try not to discourage him by pointing out how not-vegetarian this is) and doesn’t care to be dragged around to the latest opening from a former Arpège cook, so I save those spots for my own trip. Kidding. I always sneak in one.

Below are our favorite spots from a recent trip. Should you decide to use the listings for yourself, I’ve added where I would eat or shop nearby on my own.

5 Things My Kid Taught Me About Paris — and Travel

- Don’t exhaust everyone trying to find the coolest new coffee bar or onigiri spot. Even touristy cafés are charming here, and the (parbaked) croissants, baguettes and butter are 99% better than what you’d get at home. (Same goes for the kir royales.)

- Only book one timed-entry museum ticket a day to allow for lazy mornings at the (touristy) café, missed buses and pleasant distractions.

- You don’t need to go to the Berthillon. Every other café on the Ile Saint-Louis will sell you a scoop. (If you do go, opt for the tea room next door, and hit it before or during lunch, when the line is shorter.)

- Don’t try to max out every meal: An in-room (or park) picnic allows you to try all those cheeses, rotisserie chickens, bread and pastries you’ve been eyeing around town and at La Grande Epicerie.

- The Skip the Line pass at the Eiffel Tower is 1000% worth it.

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This week’s post is a collaboration with and the tasteful travelers at Yolo Journal, who are (smartly) hosting guest posts while they OOO this month. Enjoy!

What makes a hotel unforgettable? We each have our own list. For you, it might be the view or the bathtub. For me, it’s the breakfast. (And I don’t really eat breakfast!)

I hopped onto the intermittent fasting trend in 2019, the week before I flew to Sicily to write about the cooking school at Rocca delle Tre Contrade, one of the more perfect villas on this earth. Why did I resist their breakfast spread, which took up half the dining room to offer everything from rosy prosciutto to fresh ricotta to a tender-crumbed Bundt cake, its flavor changing each morning? (You’ll find more recipes in their new book, for which I wrote a foreword.) Once the pandemic travel ban had lifted, the ridiculousness of this missed opportunity made me swear to always order breakfast when traveling. Here are the five most memorable, ranked from best to best.

1/ Auberge de Chassignolles / Chassignolles, France Most people make a pilgrimage to this hotel deep in the (bizarrely overlooked) Auvergne region for its restaurant, which hosts a promising young chef each summer season, as well as for its exceptional list of natural wines. I can’t wait to return for the breakfast: Almost every item on the table — bread, butter, raw-milk yogurt, granola and many jams — is made in-house, with the cheese coming from the region’s great cheesemakers. Also, they don’t mess around with the coffee and tea. (How many hotels take tea seriously?!) More about my love of the Auvergne in this article.

2/ Ottmanngut / Meran, Italy This 1850’s guesthouse in South Tyrol is wildly charming. But what tipped me into must-come-back mode was the breakfast. Served in the garden beneath palm and cypress trees, the daily-changing three-course feast is worth its 40-euro price — available to non-guests, too.

On my visit, excellent Darjeeling tea and local apple juice were followed by just-baked whole-grain bread with local cheese and marmalade from the larder; housemade yogurt with buckwheat, figs and fig leaf-infused oil; and a surprisingly modern egg dish. The best part? A tap on the toe from the hotel’s pet turtle.

3/ Brokkestøylen / Setesdal, Norway Last summer, while visiting Norway to write about its summer farming, I stayed in a well-appointed dome at this rural hotel, where the food is as much of a draw as the riverside sauna and cold plunge. Co-owner Gro Furset went out of her way for every meal, but her breakfasts were the most memorable, beginning with the shot of probiotic drinking vinegars that she makes from foraged plants and berries.

Breakfast for one takes up half the table, and everything is homemade or local, from the garden veg and neighbor’s cheese to the moose sausage and the butter and jam. It was the buttery almond-flour waffles that I couldn’t get enough of, especially with smoked salmon and cultured cream. Gro even sent me off with a batch for the drive to the next hotel.

4/ Ett Hem / Stockholm, Sweden The breakfast itself is solidly Scandinavian — hearty, just-baked breads (and croissants) with jam and your own wedge of cheese, cold cuts, eggs however you please, fresh fruit. What’s most memorable is that you can eat it wherever you’d like in what is more home than hotel. One morning in the greenhouse or garden. Another in the living room or library. And, finally, in bed.

5/ Tawaraya / Kyoto, Japan In the recent post I wrote about Japanese breakfast — how to make it and where to find the best — this ryokan ranked high. Maybe it was the freshly made tofu in the hinoki warmer. Or the salt-grilled mackerel with an onsen egg. Or the fact that dozens of beautiful boxes, bowls, pots and cups filled with the best of everything magically appeared and disappeared without having to get up from the tatami mat. Find the rest of my Kyoto guide here.

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When asked what I wanted to do for my birthday out on the North Fork, the answer was easy: make Japanese breakfast for friends. (And eat it on a gondola? Long story.) That’s because nothing feels more special — or gets your day off to a lovelier start — than miso soup and tea followed by fish, rice and pickles. And always an egg.

For the last few years, my social content has been filled with heart-stopping images of Japanese breakfast in actual Japan. This is not that. Rather, it’s a lot of mismatched bowls and a bit more cooking — however simple — than one’s used to before noon. But once you’ve got your pantry in place and served the meal a few times, it will become as much of a ritual as Sunday pancakes. It always makes memories. (Though rarely leftovers.)

There are a lot of components, but make what you’d like. This is the base.

At the end of the recipes, you’ll find checklists for meal timing and pantry staples, followed by where to shop. Finally: My favorite places in the world for enjoying this meal. Besides a gondola.

V. Simple Miso Soup

Serves 2

As much as I enjoy making dashi, there’s enough going on with this meal. Besides, this instant dashi is so good, even my Japanophile friends complimented my bday miso soup. If you insist on DIY dashi, this is a solid starter recipe.

2 cups water
1 tsp. instant dashi, such as Ajinomoto HonDashi
2 Tbsp. miso paste (your choice; I like shiro/white for this)
½ cup cubed tofu (firmness of your choice)
Sliced scallions (optional)
Wakame (optional)

Bring the water to a simmer in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the instant dashi until dissolved. If you have a small mesh strainer (a tea strainer works well), add the miso and submerge it in the liquid, using a small spoon to stir and press it through the strainer until it’s dissolved. (So much easier than trying to incorporate a blob of paste.) Taste and add more miso if you’d like. Add the tofu, stir, and heat through for 1 minute. Divide between bowls and top with scallions and wakame, if using.

Rice!

Serves 2

Do you have a rice cooker? Then you know what to do. If not, try this recipe, adapted from Harris Salat and Tadashi Ono, who just published an essential cookbook on Japanese comfort food.

1 cup short-grain Japanese rice
1 cup water

In a large bowl, wash the rice, gently swishing your fingers through it until the water runs clear. Strain and repeat twice more. (Experts suggest then soaking the rice for 30 minutes. Who has time?) Add the drained rice and water to a medium saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, uncovered, then cover and lower the heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes, then turn down the heat as low as you can go and gently simmer for 10 minutes without lifting the lid. Turn off the heat and let the rice sit, covered, for 10 minutes to finish steaming. Serve immediately, especially if making TKG (see below).

TKG

Serves 2

Known as tamago kake gohan, this isn’t a dense omelet, like the name might imply. Rather, it’s a fluffy rice-and-egg dream that couldn’t be simpler, or more comforting. It’s so beloved that it has UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage designation. The key? Make sure your rice is hot and your eggs are farmer’s-market fresh. Let each guest make their own magic at the table.

2 cups hot, just-made short-grain Japanese rice
2 really good eggs
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. tamari
Rice topping and nori, optional

Add a cup of rice to each serving bowl. (Make sure there’s room for active stirring.) At the table, crack an egg on top, divide the soy sauce evenly, and use chopsticks to mix briskly until the egg is fully incorporated and gets soufflé-y, about 1 minute. Top with rice topping and shredded nori, if you’d like, or serve a sheet of nori alongside for wrapping.

Salt-Grilled Fish

Serves 2

This easy recipe is based on the shioyaki style. If you’re lucky to have access to a good fish market, please make this with mackerel, bluefish or sardines. If not, try yellowtail, salmon or tuna.

2 6-oz. fish fillets (mackerel, yellowtail, salmon or tuna), skin on
1 Tbsp. sake
1 tsp. kosher salt

Pat the fish dry with a paper towel and place on a plate. Pour the mirin over and rub in until the fish is evenly coated. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Place your oven rack on the top setting and preheat the broiler. Line a small baking sheet with aluminum foil. Remove the fish from the fridge and pat dry again with another paper towel, making sure there’s no remaining moisture so the skin crisps evenly. Make shallow cuts in the skin about 1” apart, being careful not to cut too deep. Sprinkle the salt over both sides of the fish, patting it in to evenly distribute. Place the fish skin side down and cook for 4 minutes, checking after 2 minutes. (The thickness of the fish will determine the cooking time; you’ll need a few minutes more for salmon or tuna.) Flip and cook for 3 minutes, until the fish is cooked through and the skin is brown and nicely crisped. (It will be bubbly and uneven. Don’t worry.)

Salmon Teriyaki

Serves 2

This is your gateway fish-for-breakfast recipe. Also delicious for dinner! Or try it with extra-firm tofu. The sauce’s simple ratio makes it easy to scale.

½ cup sake
¼ cup soy sauce or tamari
¼ cup mirin
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 (6-oz.) salmon fillets, skin on

In a small bowl, mix together the sake, soy and mirin and set aside.

In a large skillet set over medium-high heat, heat the oil until it shimmers. Add the salmon, skin side down, until the skin is crisped and coppery, 4-5 minutes. Flip and cook until the second side is just starting to brown, about 2 minutes for 1”-thick fillets. Transfer to a plate.

Pour off the fat in the skillet and return the skillet to the burner. Lower the heat to medium and pour in the teriyaki sauce. Cook, stirring, until the sauce is reduced by about two-thirds, 4-6 minutes. Return the salmon to the skillet skin side up and cook, spooning the sauce over it, for another 1-2 minutes. The sauce should be nice and syrupy and the salmon just cooked through.

Taiwanese Tea Eggs

Fred Ribeiro at New York’s Té Company used to make these heavenly tea eggs before the pandemic. I loved them so much, I ran the recipe on my site*. Happily, he just started serving them again. I batch 6 (6-minute) eggs for the week, reusing the brine 3 times. And while Fred has access to lovely oolongs, you can totally use PG Tips.

*While you’re there, check out these great interviews with Samin Nosrat, Rachel Comey, Alice Waters and Stella Bugbee.

Oshitashi

Serves 2

Throwing this one in because it’s always nice to have greens, but you can skip in favor of pickles…and serve it for dinner instead.

½ pound spinach, watercress or Swiss chard
1 cup dashi (1 cup water + ½ tsp. HonDashi)
1 Tbsp. mirin
1½ Tbsp. soy sauce or tamari
Toasted white sesame seeds

While you bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil, prepare an ice bath and place next to the stove. Combine the dashi, mirin and soy sauce in a medium bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning (you might need more soy) and set aside.

Blanch the greens until emerald green and soft, 30-45 seconds, then immediately shock in the ice water, swirling until cool. Squeeze as much water out of the greens as you can and shape into a torpedo. Cut into 2” pieces and, holding the pieces together, add to the bowl, making sure they’re submerged. Let sit for 15-30 minutes.

To serve, squeeze excess dashi from the greens, keeping the pieces together, and arrange on a small serving dish or shallow bowl. Spoon a teaspoon or two of dashi over the greens, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Quickest Japanese Pickles

Serves 2

If you find great tsukemono in NYC, please let me know! Until then…try this with thinly sliced cucumber, carrot, Napa cabbage, watermelon radish and daikon. (If you’re a digital scale person, the amount of salt is 2% of the weight of the veg.)

1 cucumber (8 oz.), peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp. kosher salt
Pinch of sugar

In a medium bowl, gently massage the salt and sugar into the cucumber until well combined. Weight down the cucumber (try a clean bowl or a Ziploc filled with water) and let sit for 1 hour or overnight.

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Carlo Moretti night carafe Wish I could say I found this 1960s Murano beauty in a Venetian antiques store. (Perhaps the shop in this guide?) I found it on eBay for my bf’s bday. Prices vary widely and sellers don’t always include the drinking glass, so dig.

Gurkees Classic Neptune rope sandals Read about these cute sandals thanks to the pros at , then dug till I found them in kelly green and other not-natural colorways. Also liking this olive take from Nomadic State of Mind.

Film Forum tote This fund-raising tote is one of the better hostess gifts I’ve received — even though it was meant as the wrapping paper. The illustration is taken from the mural that was painted on the original location of NYC’s best indie theater. Perhaps they can also interest you in a Maira Kalman T-shirt of movie-watching dogs?

Issey Miyake socks When Jessica Koslow recommended the LA boutique Noodle Pudding in “Favorite Angelenos’ Favorite Los Angeles” the other week, I dove into the site. (Her promise that you’d run into best-dressed chef Nancy Silverton there sealed it.) My takeaway: Issey Miyake makes socks?!?

Muji fan As you may have discovered this summer, good-looking fans are not easy to find. This compact, oscillating number from Muji has more modes than you need, but they’re all good. On the “personal fan” front, my friend Christina survived a recent trip to London thanks only to the Shark ChillPill, which includes a mist mode and an instant cooling plate to chill your pulse points. Is it worth $150? She says God yes.

LL Bean vintage tote While hunting for an affordable LL Bean rolling duffel for summer camp, much more desirable leather-handled Boat & Totes from the 80s and 90s kept popping up. Check eBay and Poshmark and let me know what you find.

Gestura Noyau cake tester Slim and elegant, this (deadly!) Japanese metal skewer can be used in place of toothpicks for testing cakes, but also popped into potatoes, etc., to see if they’re ready. (My son, who gave me one for Mother’s Day, uses it to check dumplings.) Pro cooks use them to check the doneness of meat and fish: Insert into the thickest part for a few seconds, then place it on your lower lip or inner wrist. Slightly warm = medium rare.

Cooking Thai: Heritage and Modern Recipes from My Kitchen Notebooks When I wrote an entertaining story starring then-blogger Pim Techamuanvivit for the New York Times Magazine (or was it T?) in 2006, she said, “Thai food isn’t difficult, it’s complicated.” Twenty years later (!), her award-winning restaurants in San Francisco and her native Bangkok have proven that complexity pays off. So excited to dive into this book, written with Andrea Nguyen, author of many seminal books on Vietnamese cooking. What a team! Preorder now.

Two New Summer Restaurants!

Noury The couple behind Kiko (go if you haven’t) just opened what you could call a greenmarket izakaya: light, fresh, just right for the weather. I managed to go twice in the first two weeks for sashimi, tuna tartare with pickled daikon, tsukune (chicken meatballs), sugar snaps with cherries and creamy tofu dressing and, the surprise, white nectarines with grilled Jimmy Nardello peppers in ginger ponzu. Order a yuzu Arnold Palmer to start, the melon parfait for dessert — and snap a photo of the perfect “flowers” in the bathroom. If you’re an Omen person, it’s time to expand your range — even if it’s only a block away.

Claudette Join me as I ease into the post-cool phase of dining! There’s something endearingly neighborhoody about this reboot of the West Village spot, which closed for two years due to building issues. The twinkly new chef, who grew up in Portugal and Marseille, cooked with Ducasse, giving him a great touch with Provençal dishes like bourride and lamb caillettes (think meatballs). Particularly into the tower of potato chips layered with jambon de bayonne and fried sage (enjoyed with a bespoke 50/50 martini), as well as a starter of house-cured mackerel with potatoes and smoked crème fraîche — a dream ensalada rusa (enjoyed with a rosé from the robust list).

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Suzanne Goin is the chef/owner of A.O.C. In Los Angeles, where she also oversees the food and wine at the iconic Hollywood Bowl.

LA Home Farm What started as an effort to help farmers move their produce and locals get great produce during Covid has blossomed into a full-on grocery store/market in Eagle Rock. Except this is no ordinary market: owners Lauri Kranz and Dean Kuipers purchase restaurant-sized orders from all the best local farmers and display the bounty on a gorgeous table right in the middle of the shop. So if you missed the market or just need some inspiration for dinner, you can pick up Munak Ranch tomatoes, Finley Farm yellow watermelon and Andy’s Orchard’s nectarines any day of the week. And because Lauri and Dean are nonstop maniacs, there is also a superb selection of cheese, artisanal everything, wines, pottery, art and more! While you’re in the neighborhood, stop by Bub & Grandma’s for a sandwich (or bread to take home), Queen’s Raw Bar for a plateau and Wild Crust for a pizza!

Lost & Found These hypercurated shops are right around the corner from Hollywood and Vine: shoes, leather goods, jewelry, homewares, men’s and women’s clothes… My favorite blankets, mortar and pestle, Pas de Calais sundresses, Il Bisonte bags and all of my husband David’s birthday presents come from Jamie Rosenthal’s very personal, very perfect storefronts.

The Arepa Stand My former Lucques chef de cuisine Mercedes Rojas makes the most delicious arepas—inspired by her childhood in Venezuela but with super-fresh California ingredients. I like to hit her stand at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market on Sundays (always a good idea), but she’s also at the markets in Mar Vista, Playa Vista and Torrance. I can never decide between The Inglewood (bbq pork, avocado, queso de mano), The Hills (black bean puree, fried plantains, veggies, greens) or the East LA (chorizo, eggs, gouda)……you can’t go wrong with any of them!

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At the end of these recommendations, you’ll find lists of the usual suspects, both classic and newer. If it’s your first trip, definitely weave them into your itinerary. What follows are the winnowed-down favorites from the spots that trusted local friends steered me to on a recent visit, as well as a few long-distance cultural crushes formed while writing an LA guide for a hyperluxury brand last month.

Going abroad anyway? Here are guides to London, Paris, Copenhagen, Rome and Venice, plus upstate New York. Search the archives for more on each city, such as my favorite locals’ favorite spots.

CULTURE

MAK Center for Art and Architecture Set in three landmarked Schindler houses, MAK features exhibits like “Superflex: Rainbows, Sponges, Flies and Spoons.” Or just follow the self-guided tour, narrated by writers, artists and architects. Because you’ll want to snoop around these beautiful buildings.

Marciano Art Foundation Bruce Conner’s show, up through July 18, drew my eye to this center, set in a 1960s Scottish Rite Masonic Temple. The foundation features post-1990 works from international artists, with an emphasis on those working in LA. (Have 10 minutes? Please watch this video on the Bruce Conner show…)

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We talked about our careers in and around restaurants and food media and dove right into the significant shit — the beautiful and the horrifying — that has gone down since the late 90s, our conversation spurred by the fact that René Redzepi had posted his resignation video an hour before. Her wisdom, clarity and sharp sense of humor came through from the first course. Luckily, I would be able to spend more time with her after the meal: Her memoir, the New York Times bestseller Care and Feeding, is now out in paperback.

The book’s twin arcs are her career in the New York food world and her addictions (booze, drugs, sex, abject behavior). Let’s just say the jaw-droppers aren’t limited to her experiences with Mario and Tony. It’s a book for the food lovers, the food-media nostalgists, the self-sabotagers and anyone whose scalp tingles when reading, “Very few people are curious about the unknown women who prop up the work of important men.” Needless to say, I was curious to know more about her — as well as hear her thoughts on what we could have done to protect women in restaurants from predatory chefs, what a post-pirate restaurant landscape could look like and, on the semi-lighter side, what it takes to be a freelance writer today.

If you want to learn more from Laurie, go to Ireland with her! She’s leading a memoir workshop on an island in West Cork in September.

NB: I’m paywalling the juicy bits of the post (lots of Batali and Bourdain, plus what women in the food world — make that we — could have done differently to keep the louts in check). It’s a first for an interview. Please let me know what you think in the comments.

Photograph by David Scott Holloway

There is this whole magazinecore and nostalgia for 90s media. On the one hand, it gives us an opportunity to be like, “You know what? It was super fucking cool.” But by the same token…was it?
I mean, it was and it wasn’t. I wish that there was more physical print media. I do miss that. But at the same time, I think there was a lot more media gatekeeping. It was just harder for someone like me to get a foot in the door as a published writer. And I do love that anyone who wants to write about something has a way to publish it today.

You wrote about feeling like an outsider, especially in terms of the media sphere. What was behind that?
I went to an Ivy League college, but I didn’t go to Columbia Journalism or whatever. So I think it’s probably just a lifelong inferiority complex, or I was raised in a way that was very much like, don’t take up too much space, don’t ask for anything, show up. I mean, it’s a great work ethic in terms of, be on time, don’t make trouble — you know, all of those things, which I think are super important. But I’d never gotten any message that was like, “You deserve to be here, too.”

How did your perception change being by being in those rooms?
I was very excited and nervous to get the job at Art Culinaire. It was probably the best first magazine job for me, because it was a very small masthead, and I got to learn some of the skills that I didn’t yet have that made it easier for me to move on to a bigger publication like Wine Spectator. I could just focus on really learning how to do a good interview, how to do research, how to edit myself. I definitely could have benefited from having someone above me, but you know what? What a coup to go from freelance writer to executive editor. It was ridiculous, so that felt great. And then to get hired at Wine Spectator — which was a real magazine with offices in Manhattan, and both a print and web publication — it felt like I was getting somewhere. And yet I did still feel like, what would really mark me as having arrived is if I could get on the masthead at Martha Stewart or Bon Appétit or Gourmet. And I think with hindsight, it’s very likely that if I had gotten my foot in the door in one of those places, I would have been dissatisfied.

So yeah, I felt like Wine Spectator was probably as far as I needed to go in that world — and as far as I went, because then I had a baby, and I really wanted a different kind of work life and a different structure. Getting the job as Tony Bourdain’s assistant in some ways felt like, Oh, this is this is where I need to be. This is the right structure, the right boss, the right mix of tasks. And I did still feel like, I’m selling myself a little short. I was an admin, basically, but I was also getting to write and edit and think about things, and he would ask for my opinion and my input on stuff, so that was, in a lot of ways, the dream job.

How would you describe being a working writer today?
I’ll start positive, because I so often start negative on things. It is exactly what I want to be doing. It is such a privilege and a pleasure to have my livelihood be tied to thinking and writing and editing and ruminating on things, reading other people’s writing and building off of things that I’m reading. Every once in a while, I think, gosh, I wish that I made more money. I mean, just doing books does not pay the rent in New York City and buy groceries for me and my voracious teenage son. So I’m also doing freelance writing. I do some consulting for a podcast. I am starting to teach. I’ve been doing public speaking. There are a lot of other auxiliary income streams that have to be in place in order to make it a viable situation… Save your money, marry somebody rich [laughs], or get a — there’s a lot of grants out there and ways that writers can be supported. That is a lot of work as well, but there is money out there for writers.

Laurie Woolever (right) cooks with the Babbo crew at the James Beard House in 2000

We met at a fancy press dinner in March, while Noma was imploding. I really enjoyed talking to you about the state of restaurants. By the same token, we were both like, We’re still here. This is still happening. This kind of leadership is still in charge. So how are these restaurants going to evolve?
I think it probably was naive of us to think that things would change completely and quickly in 2017, 2018, and that first wave of #MeToo reckonings.

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Thank you again for reading along these past months. Back to food life next week!

Door painted 1946 by Graham & Brown. Heritage Tile custom mosaic. Light by In Common With. Muuto folded shelf. Calendar from Wms&Co. Crappy shower-curtain liner from the hardware store.

Fancy paint in the place that counts | Graham & Brown painted my front door a few months after the renovation had wrapped. It truly was the finishing touch. My son nixed my original choice (navy) in favor of 1946, a softer green that tied in with the tiled entryway. He was right.

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La Double J Linen Napkins Milan’s JJ Martin is bringing her high-vibration Italian chic to a townhouse on the UES, opening the first week of June. While her fun-girl prints get all the love, this semi-fun girl thinks the Italian-made housewares are the real collectibles. Love the trim on these oversize two-tone napkins.

Mikan net bag In Paris, M Magazine…

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The investment part first hit me when I toured a Chelsea sublet in 2021: I immediately fell for the apartment because of the cheerful Jasper Morrison Glo-Balls lining the hallway, followed by another pendant and a floor lamp version in the living area. Not only did they tell you a lot about the owners’ style, they had been there for at least 15 years and still looked great — as they did when I moved out three years later. (Plus, they made me smile every day.) A pendant costs upward of $650, but if you get a couple of decades out of pleasure out of it, that seems like a much better investment than, say, ¼ of this season’s It bag.

Speaking of trends, with each light — and I had to buy several for every single room — I had to ask myself: Will it look dated in 5, 10…20 years? Because this isn’t Pinstagram. It’s my forever home. It’s an important question that I learned to ask with each decision throughout the renovation.

Here’s where I splurged — and saved — and the dimmer switches (and bulbs!) that brought it all together.

In the Kitchen

Charlotte Perriand Applique Cylindrique Longue sconces | Industrial yet pretty, and they haven’t been knocked off to death — yet. The only wink in an angular, white-on-off-white kitchen, they bring a welcome curve and burst of (slightly off) color, as well as a nice wash of light to the countertops.

Photograph by Belle Morizio for Domino. Styling by Naomi DeMañana. Art Direction by Linda Denahan.

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Photo by Belle Morizio for Domino. Styling by Naomi DeMañana.

Is it safe to say that when it comes to apartment bathrooms in New York, no one really starts from scratch? I mean, unless you have the emotional and financial fortitude to move plumbing or are miraculously designing a brand-new space, you’ve got to work around the guts.

In my case, it was two very small, badly damaged bathrooms — ripped-out toilets, gap-toothed tiles. Luckily, my friend, designer Lithe Sebesta, managed to pack everything into spaces so miniscule you can barely get undressed in them without bonking a knee, and found fixtures compact enough to fit. She made mine pretty and my son’s fun — but not so “fun” that he’ll outgrow it in a year — while coming up with some very clever storage and display hacks.

The non-negotiables:

A classic NY bathroom for me; blocky color for my son

Nice (but affordable) fixtures for tiny spaces. No Waterworks!

Seamless storage

Highly functional hooks

You can find kitchen and bedroom tips here and here, plus the full Domino story, by the wonderful .

But first, the befores…

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Photograph by Belle Morizio for Domino. Styling by Naomi DeMañana. Art Direction by Linda Denahan.

Over the last several apartments, I came to think of my bedroom as I do a hotel room: Since the only time I spend there is to sleep, it doesn’t need to be big or deluxe. (Or maybe that’s how I rationalized repeatedly giving my son the bigger room?) Its job is to be calming — and freakishly functional. A machine for snoring and storing.

When Lithe Sebesta helped merge two crumbling apartments into one flowing space, she tucked the bedrooms into the air shaft–facing side. Who needs a view when the solar shades are almost always drawn? The challenge lay in hiding all of my clothes, accessories, toiletries, suitcases and random bits like travel adapters and gifts for loved ones that I pick up while traveling and hide until Christmas. Somewhere in there, I also needed a laundry setup, since my building barely has a basement — and I’m not huffing clothes up and down five flights of stairs. How to pack it in?

The non-negotiables:

Excessive storage

Maximizing the minimal natural light

A hidden laundry area

Good reading lights

A not-too-ugly ceiling fan

A personal print gallery

But first, the before…

This area was originally the kitchen and a tiny bedroom. The energy from the previous owner was…not great.

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Photographs by Belle Morizio for Domino. Styling by Naomi DeMañana.

In February, a year after my son and I moved into our Chelsea apartment, Domino ran a renovation diary. Samantha Weiss-Hills asked great questions about the process that went beyond the splurges-and-“one thing I learned” template to share some of the many brilliant solutions that my longtime friend, interior designer Lithe Sebesta, came up with over the two years that she helped create the space. also picked up some fun tips in her interview for Homeward, but you can’t fit everything in one story. So over the next few weeks, I’ll share the details and products from several rooms that made the financial nail-biter that was gut-renovating a dilapidated space more than worth it.

I don’t know about you, but home tours usually make me feel crummy rather than provide ideas that I can swing. Everything looks unattainable, and fun trends aren’t in my wheelhouse: Whatever Lithe and I chose had to be timeless, based on many moves’ worth of experience rather than of-the-moment pieces that would date quickly. Not that we bought more than a few new pieces of furniture: Everything I owned quickly filled the space, which Domino stylist Naomi DeMañana brought to life with incredible wild and foraged flowers from the shoot, sourced at 28^th Street Wholesale Flowers, a new favorite. (Last Saturday, I arrived there just before 12, as they were about to close, and got 50% off cherry blossoms. They also had branches of fuzzy green almonds! Just ask them what they can sell you for 20 bucks.)

First up: The kitchen. As the room in which I spend the most time, it had to work seamlessly while feeling and looking good — for myself, my son and all who inevitably stand in there with us. This was the space I was most willing to spend on, so I bit the bullet and reached out to Reform to see if they would consider a press discount. (Even then, it ended up costing more than custom, and we were soon on first-name terms with our “customer success representative.”) And I knew that if I was going to pay to have appliances hauled up five flights, they were never going back down to be repaired. As a bargain hunter who can design an IKEA kitchen in her sleep at this point, it was miles out of my comfort zone. We got there! Now I pinch myself daily — in a good way.

The non-negotiables:

Excessive storage

Almost zero shit on (or above) the counters

An induction stove

A sink by the window

A countertop that even my son couldn’t destroy

Good lighting, none overhead

But first, the before…

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The Things

Japanese daily calendar Fell for the XL version of this tear-off calendar in Paris, but couldn’t pack it. Luckily, the excellent design source WMS&CO. stocks the medium size. Yesterday’s page becomes today’s special scratch paper.

David Mellor teapot The British designer’s flatware is resurgent, thanks to spots like Gem Home and fans such as Cl…

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Last week’s mini-guide focused on sit-down spots. These are the places I squeeze in in between. (When I’m not looping back to agnès b. to fill my tote with the free art broadsheets that make for great wrapping paper. It was William Eggleston this time!!!)

Find many more Paris restaurants here, shopping and culture here — along with recs from the city’s best.

Heading back soon for spring break with my son, so kid stuff coming soon. Onward!

BAKERIES

Jack Henry Boulangerie This young New Yorker opened near Odéon last spring. He specializes in whole grains, from excellent sourdough to a surprising whole-wheat chausson aux poires. Don’t need a full loaf? You can ask for a few slices — perfect for taking to the Jardin du Luxembourg with your cheese from Barthélémy. Closed Sunday and Monday. Also nearby: The oldest Japanese tea shop in Paris, Jugetsudo, where you can shop or sip pricey matcha, sencha or genmaicha in a boutique designed by Kengo Kuma. (Mom, sorry about the dirty fingernail in the photo.)

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Some might romanticize April in Paris. For me, it’s February. It’s cheaper, emptier and, if you time it right, the sales are just ending. (Feb. 3 or 4, to be exact.)

As soon as I land, I start visiting my touchstones, from stockpiling Comté at Ferdinand on the walk home from the Gare du Nord to slices of fruit tart at Les Petits Mitrons and a bouquet of flowers on the rue Lepic, with an afternoon a swing through the local Monoprix and Chocolat Alain Ducasse for gifts, aiming toward a late dinner at Soces. This year, with the newsletter in mind, I went only to restaurants, bakeries and coffee bars that had opened in the last year or so and shops that I’d never been to. I even started my first day on the back side of Montmartre, where interesting spots have opened in recent years, instead of barreling straight down the hill.

While it was fun to see a different side of the city — enlisting friends new and old to dine at places they might not have heard of — the list I’m sharing here is smaller than the one I began with. Maybe I’m too jaded (or was too cold), but the elated sense of discovery that I usually return home with was more muted this time. The list of new flavors, design touches and chefs to watch that I usually write down on the plane to share with restaurant clients or turn into story pitches was worryingly short. More than a few of the most-hyped restaurants that I went to were…nice? A fun vibe? perfectly captured a feeling I was trying to describe at some of the slicker new spots: “Sometimes I feel like I’m eating in someone’s pitch deck.”

Parisian chefs suffer from many of the same problems as their American counterparts: High rents, spiking labor and ingredient costs, and a shift in ambition that means that young cooks are refusing to grind it out for a decade (or more) in a city at poverty wages before heading out on their own. A sane solution to the restaurant work-life balance (as well as to the financial sinkhole that is running one — read this essential piece) has yet to be found, and it’s the key to unlocking the next era. But, on this trip at least, I was mostly feeling old and nostalgic for the days of La Famille and Le Châteaubriand.

Maybe it was because I recently helped Entorse Editions edit the translation of the brilliant oral history of the lightning-in-a-bottle restaurant that put the 11^th arrondissement on the map, and which inspired every chef who has opened a wine bar (a.k.a. restaurant) in the US since 2006. Le Château is due to change hands any day now, with Iñaki and his family now running great spots in St.-Jean-de-Luz. During the trip, I was also saddened by the rumors that one of the city’s most brilliant younger chefs is seriously ill. All great eras must end — or evolve — but if you know who the torchbearer of the next 20 years will be, please DM me and cheer me up.

The highs were high, so please keep reading so you can add these to your list.

Next week: Pastries, coffee, shopping and a Japanese salon.

In the meantime, find my big Paris guide here, plus tips from a genius roundup of locals, including baker Apollonia Poilâne, 19 St.-Roch chef Pierre Touitou, Astier de Villatte’s Benoît and Ivan, Lettre Recommandée’s Lauren Collins, Le Fooding editor Doublet, design powerhouse Anna Polonsky and more.

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One of the most rewarding parts of…maturing…in the workplace has been watching the whippersnappers snap their way up to the top. (See: Alison Roman from a few months ago.) Emily Weinstein first landed on my radar when told me about a smart newcomer who’d worked on a New York Times video shoot with her. Over the next decade-plus, she rose from freelance…

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In recent months, two places have opened in NYC that have even those of us who refuse to stand in line, well, standing in line (or getting creative with reservations). In the case of Stars and Bistrot Ha, you’d do well to believe the hype — and get there soon, before the Uber Blacks block the street. They’re still in that sweet hover mode between scrapp…

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This week, I was floored by how many incredible-sounding spots I learned about thanks to the generosity of my guests. Read on for the favorites of restaurateur Lindsay Tusk, arts leader Abbye Churchill (you need to know about this project), design doyenne Kelsey Keith, chef Lee Desrosiers, baker Liz Prueitt, visual storyteller Emily Eisen and food writer Omar Mamoon. Had to share Evan Kinori’s spots above the paywall to give you a taste.

EVAN KINORI is the most interesting menswear designers in the U.S. (Women, you can squeak into a smaller size.) His beautifully tranquil shop in the Mission is worth a visit for the design, too.

Photo courtesy of Evan Kinori

The Marin Headlands One of the best and most defining aspects of San Francisco is that it is right next to a sprawling national park and preserved woodlands and rolling hills. A bike ride or quick drive over the Golden Gate Bridge will bring you here. Try trails like Bobcat or Miwok and end at Rodeo Beach. Bring a book and snacks.

Yo También! Cantina & a walk/bike ride through Golden Gate Park If it’s a nice weekend in the city, it’s one of the best spots for lunch or late breakfast.

Top of the Mark This hotel bar is on one of the highest hills in the city, in the same area where some of Hitchcock’s Vertigo was filmed. It’s an old, tourist-haunt kind of bar, but in a bygone way that doesn’t even feel touristy anymore — I wonder how many people even realize it’s there. Really fun to take the elevator to the top of the hotel and have a drink with a panoramic view of the city at night.

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