I stumbled across Hofmann on an afternoon walk back to my friend’s apartment in Barcelona, through the quiet Sarria neighborhood off Avinguda Diagonal. Hofmann is the one-starred restaurant of the eponymous cooking school. It could have been the older crowd at lunch, or the Germanic ring of its name, but at first glance it seemed overly formal for a city like Barcelona (not that I could really speak for the youthfulness or informality of Barcelona). Continue reading
Low-key is a good word for the newly Michelin-starred Al Pont de Ferr, along a quiet canal on the south side of Milan. With simple archways framed in red brick, stark white walls, and wood tables, the interior suggests humbler beginnings. Continue reading
Huckleberry does damn good stuff with an oven, from croissants to cornmeal cakes to muffins to biscuits. It also happens to be a fun place to eat, even when there is a long weekend brunch line out of the back of the bakery. The wait is never quite as long as you’d expect, and the street-facing windows let in so much of the Santa Monica sun that sometimes you almost forget to ogle the cute girls in yoga pants picking out pastries. Almost. Continue reading
