Le Pré Catelan (Rio de Janeiro)

Until a recent trip to Rio de Janeiro I thought Alex Atala at D.O.M. in São Paulo was the only chef diving head first into Amazonian ingredients in Brazil. I was wrong. Another chef, Roland Villard, at Rio’s Le Pré Catelan inside the Hotel Sofitel on Copacabana Beach, is just as intimate with these exotic ingredients. If not, more so. The French chef, serves an 11 Course Amazonian Tasting Menu that ranks among the best meals I have ever had the pleasure of eating.

Villard is not usually mentioned in the same breath as Alex Atala and Claude Troigros outside of Brazil because he is in fact, technically at least, a corporate chef for Sofitel. In Brazil, however, the Guia Quatro Rodas has ranked him an equivalent of three Michelin stars (and even chef of the year) and he is one of the most highly regarded chefs in the country. He is the only chef in the country that belongs to the Academy of French Culinary Arts. Le Pré Catelan is also considered one of the ten best hotel restaurants in the world by Hotel World Magazine.
The restaurant serves a contemporary French-international menu, but it’s their Amazon menu that caught my attention. Three years of research went in to the design of the menu and finding the suppliers of the traditionally hard to source Amazonian ingredients. From the first course I was swept up in the magic of the experience. The Brandade – a Provençal preparation of salted cod – was transformed with tucunaré fish and coconut milk. It was served in a hand carved bowl from the Marajó indigenous group and, instead of a spoon, the scale of a pirarucu fish (paiche in Spanish) was provided. Sharing the same plate were Tapioca biju crêpes filled with flat lobster and fresh hearts of palm. A brilliantly flavored pepper jelly adjoined it. While later courses might challenge, this in my mind is the one Amazonian plate being served anywhere on the continent to beat.
Next came a pastry shell filled with Siri crab meat, tapioca and sagu pearls, and topped with bacuri (a yellowish orang fruit with a slightly sweet, slight acidic flavor) sauce. This was followed by Pirarucu fish in a cashew crust with a tucupi and jambu consommé. Jambu is a curious herb,it looks like watercress, but has mouth numbing effects and is used widely in Belém. The sensation was minimal here, however.
After a Murici sorbet to clean my palate, came the Moqueca style blinis and grilled shrimp with a savory Brazil nut cream. One of my new favorite Amazonian plates is the use of Tambaqui ribs. Tambaqui is a meter long freshwater fish that sort of resembles a giant piranha. It sometimes is called Pacu too. It has huge, meaty ribs that can be grilled and served like a lamb rib. I had it a few days before while lunching at the Fasano hotel’s Al Mare restaurant. Villard served it with smoked baroa potato purée and an herb sauce. A cashew sorbet followed, then came a breaded manioc confit of beef ribs, with the deep cherry like flavored jabuticaba sauce and terra banana marmalade with bacon.
There wasn’t any room for dessert, but I made room. Villard’s pastry chef was equally as impressive. Incorporating molecular gastronomy into the Amazon is seems to make sense. At least it did here. Out came what they called a “chocolate surprise.” It looks exactly like a Hostess Snowball in size and texture, but was filled with a rich coconut cream. Açaí, cupuaçu and taperebá sorbets ended the dinner.
During my meal, the flavor or plating of dish was not affected one bit by working with these ingredients. I would even say they were enhanced. The menu is one of the most impressive feats of a Frenchman in South America since Papillon. This is a meal I would, and probably will, order again and again. Word has it that Villard is working on a tasting menu with every dish using rice and beans. Count me in.
Le Pré Catelan
Av. Atlântica 4240
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
011-55-21-2525-1232

Puerto Rico’s Ruta del Café (Coffee Route)

Moving deeper into the mountains from Ponce, sticking to the famed Ruta Panorámica, Puerto Rico’s landscape takes a drastic turn. Buick size ferns grow out into the road and patches of green bamboo form a canopy over it. Avocados and oranges fall from trees and rot on the pavement, filling the air with a beautifully pungent aroma. The chirps of the coqui are constant. I have flashbacks of Dominica and Costa Rica.

In Jayuya, I get lost looking for my parador. I stop four times and each time I’m told something different. Jayuya isn’t big, but five different highways meet here and twist in a maze of one ways. A kid at the gas station draws me a map with loops and no’s and x’s where the road would end. I lose the trail but pick up the familiar Parador road markers.

Hacienda Gripiñas is a 150-year-old Spanish farmhouse that has been the social center of Jayuya, a coffee plantation, and the home of the founder of the village. The building maintains the history in clapboard walls, red tile roof, balconies overlooking coffee fields & trees. Wooden shutters are all open so the citrus scented air blows throughout the creaky old building. My room on the second level has a rocking chair, beamed ceilings, and a rose bush molded on the drywall. In the dining room the walls are filled with the linear notes of criollo folk songs. As they make my dinner the women, who are dressed in plantation style uniforms and aprons, sing from the kitchen.

“Al-go par-a to-mar,” my waiter asks in a tranquillo, cordillera twang. “Qu-er-ies ar-roz con hab-i-chue-las o pla-ta-nos ma-dur-os?” He says “Buen pro-ve-cho,” as my Asopao is served. The entire time he has this wise smile on his face like he knows some secret to living.

The route through the cordillera is pure coffee land. Puerto Rico was once a coffee powerhouse and its shade grown beans competed with Hawaii’s Kona and Jamaica’s Blue Mountain. On becoming a commonwealth they lost their touch, but appear to be back on the rise. After a quick stop at some Taino petroglyphs I go to Hacienda San Pedro, a coffee plant, just outside of Jayuya. The bodega wasn’t open yet, but the guys at the plant didn’t mind if I wanted to look around. It was more industrial than I expected, so I headed west to Hacienda Patricia, a century old artisanal plant that hand picks and sun dries their beans. A younger man peaks his head out a window when I pull up.

“Can I buy coffee here?” I ask.

He waves me in. I enter a concrete room with a table where there was just a sealed plastic bin and a scale. He opens the bin and the scent of the Arabica wafts through the air. Why don’t they serve this in the hotels? I could taste it without tasting it. At $12 a pound, it wasn’t cheap. He weighed it out, ground it right there, and sealed and stickered the bag. Walking out he asks if I want to take a look around. We go to a room with newly picked green and red beans and then a darker room with drying racks. We step out on a walkway, which sticks out of the side of a hill with a full panoramic view of the lush green mountains, where they place the racks to dry. If quality were related to the beauty of the place it is grown and processed, this would win awards.

I pull over at Maricao’s central plaza to ask a wrinkled old woman in a floral dress for directions. Even before I could ask her directions for Hacienda Juanita, she asked “De donde eres, Papi?” When I tell her she laughs. Then she points me up over the hill.
Hacienda Juanita is a working 24-acre coffee plantation. Like Hacienda Gripiñas, the cooler climate here brings weekend travelers who come to escape the heat of the cities and hike in the nearby Maricao State Forest or kick back in their pool or tennis courts. Their dining room, another of the Mesones, serves criollo dishes, using mostly the fruit and vegetables found on their property, that follows the original 18^th century plantation recipes. For the second night in a row I order asopao. The dish is Puerto Rico’s version of chicken soup that mixes rice with sofrito and a list of optional additions like pigeon peas, olives, capers, bay leaves, achiote, and oregano. For the second night in a row it is different.

At check-in they gave me a hand drawn map to a nearby waterfall, Salto de Curet. I have to follow a twisting unpaved mountain road through coffee plantations and then park my car in a dirt lot. The map says to follow an unmarked trail and cross a small stream three times and then turn and walk up the stream until reaching the waterfall. After about twenty sweaty minutes I find a clearing and a breathtaking 50-foot cascade and emerald pool below it. Looking in my bag I realize my bathing suit is still in my room. That pool looked refreshing though. I take a look around and no one is anywhere in sight. The hills are impassable on every side except the way I came. Being a Wednesday morning, no one is coming anyway. When else would I have a chance to do this? I strip down and dive in. It’s bone chillingly cold, but undeniably cleansing.

At dinner, I ask my waitress Rosa if there is a story behind the Pastelón de Guineos Juanita I’m eating. I hadn’t seen anything quite like it before. It’s a sort of corned beef with peas and corn with a bottom and top layer of soft guineos maduros. It looks like a slice of pie.

“A story?” She thinks for a moment. “Well, this is the only place you will find that dish in Puerto Rico. Everyone else uses platano, but we’ve used the guineos ever since the restaurant began. They’re sweeter.”

So there is a story.

IF YOU GO:
Hacienda Juanita
Style: The grandeur of an original Nineteenth century plantation. Location: A 24-acre fruit and coffee plantation in the western highlands. Accommodation: 21 typically decorated rooms with poster beds. Rates: From $107 per night. Amenities: Pool, bar, tennis courts, access to hiking trails, and their own Meson Gastronomico. Contact: 787-836-2550; www.haciendajuanita.com.

Sea Kayaking around Amorgos

This larger island is part of the Cyclades Islands and has a line of rocky peaks down its spine and long stretches of bright blue water along it's coastlines under 300 to 400 metre high cliffs (the film 'The Big Blue' was filmed here so the coastline may be familiar to you.). If you're looking to base yourself on one island or in a smaller region, Amorgos and the tiny un-inhabited islands off its Southern coast (The small Cyclades) which are only a few miles away from each other make a good choice. Though rocky these islands still have some green life on them and small secluded beaches waiting to be arrived at by kayak.
The paddling in this part of the Cyclades is relatively calm and there is a lot of sheltered terrain. It also helps that the peaks are so high because if it's blowy on one side of the island you can pop around to the other side to suit conditions.
Amorgos has two major towns, both with pretty white washed buildings and spectacular views. It also has a very famous monastery which has been built dramatically into the side of the cliffs. Only two monks live there now (they don't really get along that well either.) but they will give you a guided tour inside the narrow rooms built over 300 m on the cliff.

St Anton am Arlberg

For many, St Anton-am-Arlberg is both the cradle and Holy Grail of the skiing and snowboarding world. Ringed by majestic peaks, it has slopes of the highest calibre and a charming old railway town in which to celebrate the conquest – or attempted conquest – of those slopes. It is also close to other illustrious neighbouring ski areas – not just Lech and Oberlech, but Zürs, Stuben and St Christoph which are all available on the same lift ticket, giving the region a true embarrassment of riches. There are sweeping, beautifully groomed cruising runs, long, thigh-burning bump runs (particularly from the top of the somewhat hair-raising Schindlergrat lift at Schindler Spitze), daunting but exhilarating couloirs, and magnificent off-piste opportunities including (for brave hearts only) an exciting but quite severe descent from the very top of St Anton’s highest peak, the Valluga (9223 feet) down to Zürs). This is only permitted when you are accompanied by a qualified guide. Steep but much less daunting are the shortish, sharp descents through snowfields which filter into the Steissbachtal (Happy Valley) gully, the great homeward-bound route taken by so many skiers and boarders at the end of a day’s adventures. The Valluga slopes are the focal point for huge areas of off-piste and the starting point for the exhilarating run down to the picturesque village of Stuben. The delightful hamlet of St Christoph, high on the infamous Arlberg Pass, was an important and historic trade and military artery across the Alps. The five-star Hospiz Hotel, built on the site of an ancient hospiz where monks regularly rescued travellers overwhelmed by fierce storms, is one of the finest hotels in the Alps, and has a 14th century wine cellar right beneath the church.

A Danube Cruise is a relaxing way to see some of Europe's most beautiful and historic cities. You're tied to this ancient trade route but you'll never be short a view of a castle, a medieval town to explore or a vineyard to stroll though, and you're passing though some of Europe's most famous capitals as well.
The river runs though Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and Romania so there are hundred of potential itineraries. This one cruises the most scenic section.
These great rivers have so many ports to visit that even a journey of a single day gives a sense of the history of such a great and important trade route. And that is what this river represents, a great slinking, dragging, proud trade route though Europe, all her important cities, or those with the greatest wealth at least, line the banks in their historic glory, all pointed spires and crowded, yet beautiful architecture.

Cruise the Danube

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A Danube Cruise is a relaxing way to see some of Europe's most beautiful and historic cities. You're tied to this ancient trade route but you'll never be short a view of a castle, a medieval town to explore or a vineyard to stroll though, and you're passing though some of Europe's most famous capitals as well.

The river runs though Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and Romania so there are hundred of potential itineraries. This one cruises the most scenic section.

These great rivers have so many ports to visit that even a journey of a single day gives a sense of the history of such a great and important trade route. And that is what this river represents, a great slinking, dragging, proud trade route though Europe, all her important cities, or those with the greatest wealth at least, line the banks in their historic glory, all pointed spires and crowded, yet beautiful architecturRegensburg’s 11th- to 13th-century architecture – including the market, city hall and cathedral – still defines the character of the town marked by tall buildings, dark and narrow lanes, and strong fortifications.
Kelheim is the Danube's first main port yet more journeys start at Regensburg, the river's oldest city, with the river's oldest and most ancient stone bridge. Built in the 12th Century the bridge splits the river, now just wide enough for proper river traffic, into 16 stone arcs, a fitting start to the journey.
The Danube gathers another two rivers into itself at Passu, which is also the first large town along the river's route. Passau is built around the bottom of a hill, on which sits the Veste Oberhaus – the fortress of the Bishop, and is surrounded by the rivers on most sides. The Bishop didn't just have a great Bavarian fortress though, he also had the Gothic gloriousness, St. Stephen's Cathedral, which, until 1994 had the world's largest organ. Organ concerts are held daily between May and September.
Between Passau and Linz, Austria's third largest city - one that sprawls over both sides of the Danube - the river is lined with pretty villages. Until you reach a sudden bend: the surprising Schlögener Schlinge loop, where it feels like you have turned so far you're going back the other way. This hair-pin river turn is comes along just after Neuhaus.
The river then rushes through Linz, where Hitler spent his youth, but then slows down again so that it can irrigate the wine region of Wachau, where the hills are so steep that the white grapes are grown in terraces. Stop off to taste the local sweet Rieslings and peppery Gruner Veltliners sold in boutique wineries along the river's gorge.
On its meander between Melk and Krems, the river carves through a broad, hill lined valley famous for orchards as well as vineyards. Melk Abbey is a beautiful Baroque sight and has towers and architecture worth disembarking for, as well as an ancient library and walls hung with paintings of Austrian heritage and nobility, and if you do stop here, you must also venture down the medieval lanes and alleys of Krems and drink the Riesling the local people are so proud to produce. If you have only time for one day on the river this is the Danube at its most scenic and there is easy access from Vienna, which should probably be your next significant stop on your journey down river - but not before you pass a portion almost as lovely as this one, where castles perched on the rivers bend, including the lovely Schonbuhel Castle, follow every corner turned.
Vienna is where, if you are cruising with a line rather than at your own leisure, you will want to spend more time than their itinerary allows for. You'll spot a Baroque church to the right, an Art Nouveau masterpiece to your left and be tempted by the strings of Strauss calling you from a concert hall, or the smell of coffee and fresh baking from a cafe. So do as much as you can, not missing the Hofburg, but remember that this as a journey rather than a city hop and return to experience more than just the graceful buildings that line the river and the at once delicate and historically permanent bridges that you pass under.
Slovakia's capital Bratislava follows Vienna; a city changed from capital, to suburb of Vienna, and back again, and the architecture of the city's centre is accordingly beautiful and historic as are its stories. Strolling round the old town, with its medieval gate, cobbled streets and Baroque and 18th-century rococo buildings and street cafés, is like strolling round in a fairy tale.
The most historic and scenic section of the Danube ends in Budapest, a city too many people neglect when travelling the Grand Tour, yet with as much heavy history as any other. Entering the twin cities all lit up in the evening, lights reflecting off the river, is a pleasure of the old fashioned variety. Budapest is older than it's European look projects – its Turkish thermal baths are a testament to that – but it's also modernising, so expect familiar foods as well as traditional flavours. Buda is the older section, where you can find the taverns and castles, where are Pest has the modern monuments and museums.
On the outskirts of Budapest the land changes shape from rolling hills of Buda to flat openness or Pest and the river again broadens...

Archipiélago (Ponce, Puerto Rico)

 

Tired of the banking industry, native Ponceño Alejandro Vélez Blasini set off for the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont. After a successful run with a tapas bar, in mid-2009 he opened Archipeilago, a restaurant on the sixth and seventh floors of a building overlooking Ponce’s Parque de Bombas and Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe on Ponce’s Spanish style plaza. The rooftop view is stunning, one of the best of any restaurants I’ve ever seen. The town square below glows at night.

Inside, there’s a high fashion crowd that rivals any scene in San Juan – even the hostesses and waiters could be on Top Model. It’s as chic and modern as anything I have seen in San Juan, or Miami for that matter. Everyone is beautifully dressed and the scene of everyone dining on plates like Fried Cheese stuffed with guava and wrapped in prosciutto and Sancochado de Viandas gives the feel of some sort of Nuevo Latino photo shoot or telenovela.

Brasil a Gosto (São Paulo)

Brasil a Gosto, on a quiet tree lined street in São Paulo’s Jardins neighborhood, is one of those restaurants that teaches you as much as it feeds you. The restaurant was in fact founded after the chef Ana Luiza Trajano searched 47 different Brazilian cities across the country to complete an inventory of regional ingredients and recipes and then wrote a book, the same name as the restaurant, about it. Trajano takes many of those recipes, many of them usually found in dirt rooms shacks and market stalls, and presents modern interpretations in a contemporary dining room with high quality ingredients.
When I first sat down I was surprised that the chef came out to greet me even the restaurant was rather busy. Each day Trajano offers a different three-course executive lunch specials, as well as a local hot dish that originates in a particular region such as Minas Gerias or Espíritu Santo. I went with the executive menu of the day.
First came out a basket of mixed tuber chips (various bananas, yams, yucca) and fresh breads out of the oven that I’ll just assume are all traditional Brazilian recipes. Little dishes of Baru nut spread and a creamy cheese sauce flavored with parsley were sent out too. Next came skewers of grilled cheese curd (queijo coalho na chapa) drizzled in sugarcane syrup and a small dish of parsley pesto for dipping. So simple but it comes out looking so elegant. The main course consisted of slices of pork tenderloin with a deep red, smoky jaboticaba cherry sauce sided with a grilled banana and yam puree. Dessert was called a cocada, though it was unlike any cocada I have ever had. The baked, shredded coconut was served in a small bowl and a creamy custard like texture and and crunchy top like a crème brûlée. A more traditional crunchy cocada topped with lemon sorbet was served on the side. Every aspect of the meal was brilliant and tasted great.
I’m sad I didn’t have to dine here again on my latest trip to São Paulo. Trajano does amazing things with Brazilian ingredients. She makes a crust out of Baru nuts for Tilapia, the river fish Pirarucu is accented with lemongrass and ginger, and even goat appears with a creamy manioc sauce. The dégustation menu will have to wait. For now.
Brasil a Gosto feels like the rainforest with lots of natural light finding its way through the many plants that sit within (there’s several inner gardens including a vertical one) and surrounding the restaurant. Blown up images from the book of farmers, fishermen, and plants and woodcarvings add to this effect. It’s very much the tropical bistro I’ve always wanted to know.