This was published 7 years ago
Best places to eat in the Americas: The ultimate foodie hit list
A Manly burger, made with beer-cheddar cheese, smoked-salt onion strings, and bacon lardons at Umami in Los Angeles.Credit: Getty Images
From the "fifth great taste" to grilled delights - the Americas offer a feast of flavour.
BURGER: UMAMI, LOS ANGELES, US
Umami: it's the mysterious, savoury "fifth taste", a sensation that can't be categorised as sweet, sour, bitter or salty. It's just … different. You'll find it in tomatoes, you'll find it in parmesan cheese, you'll find it in anchovies, and you'll most definitely find it at Umami Burger. This fledgling Californian burger chain dishes up grilled beef patties flavoured with soy sauce, porcini powder, parmesan, tomatoes, and various other umami-rich ingredients to give you the hit of savoury deliciousness you never realised you needed. See umamiburger.com
Barbeque goes big in Mercado del Puerto.
WINE: CANADA'S OKANAGAN VALLEY
The Okanagan Valley flies so far under the radar that it is a well-kept secret even among Canadians. Tucked into the deep south of British Columbia, on the same latitude as France's Champagne region, the Okanagan is home to about 50 family-run wineries, many of which are winning big in international wine competitions. The catch: these family-run wineries produce such small quantities that the export market is non-existent. If you want to try the magnificent wines produced by wineries such as Stoneboat Vineyards, Gray Monk, Quail's Gate and La Frenz, you will have to head on down to the valley. See stoneboatvineyards.com, graymonk.com, quailsgate.com, lafrenzwinery.com
KIOSK: PACENA LA SALTENA, LA PAZ
The view from the verandah of Nepenthe Restaurant, Big Sur, California. Credit: Alamy
This kiosk is legendary in La Paz as the place to go for saltenas, the soupy style of empanadas cherished by Bolivians as a mid-morning treat. The trick to eating a saltena is to treat it "like a little bird" – in other words, very gently, as you bite off one end of the triangular empanada and attempt to slurp out the piping hot beef or chicken filling without crushing the pastry and wearing the whole thing on your shoes. It's an extremely delicious challenge. See pacenalasaltena.com
EXPERT CHOICE: BILL GRANGER
PATISSERIE: CRAFTSMAN AND WOLVES, SAN FRANCISCO, US
Kouign Amann at McCall's Meat & Fish.Credit: Getty Images
On a recent trip to San Francisco, at this refined but experimental little patisserie called Craftsman and Wolves in the Mission District, I was blown away by the Kouign Amann, a baked, folded, caramelised croissant filled with chocolate. See craftsman-wolves.com
TOUR: MISSION DISTRICT, SAN FRANCISCO
The gritty, street art-emblazoned avenues of San Fran's Mission District are so crammed with innovative eateries it's hard to know where to begin your culinary wanderings. Thank goodness, then, for Avital Tours, which helps you navigate the celebrated food district. A typical tour might start with a "cheese flight" and craft beer tasting at New York Times acclaimed cheese bar Mission Cheese, move on to a burrito and blood orange soju margarita at vegan organic Mexican restaurant Gracias Madre, and finish with handmade truffles at Sixth Course, as you stop off at landmarks and hear neighbourhood stories en route. See avitaltours.com
The Andes Mountains provide a stunning backdrop to the Mendoza wine region.Credit: iStock
CAFE: DONA PAULINA, LIMA
This cafe in trendy Miraflores began life in the 1970s as a small family-run eatery on a busy highway outside Lima. Dona Paulina's chicharrones – crusty rolls filled with fried pork, sweet potatoes and red onion relish – proved so popular that people were driving for hours just to get there, and a move into the big city became inevitable. These days the surroundings are fancier, but the chicharrones are every bit as good. See donapaulina.com.pe
WINE: WILLAMETTE VALLEY, OREGON, US
A vineyard in the famed Mendoza region of Argentina.Credit: iStock
We all know the Napa, but ask any American wine lover and they'll tell you Oregon's Willamette Valley is where the best American wine is produced. There is no higher regarded pinot noir on earth. Just 40 minutes drive from the city of Portland, visit any winery in the valley and you'll find yourself in a private conversation with the winemaker. Though the valley has been producing award-winning wines since the late '60s, there is little fuss here; and virtually no traffic. In fact, there are more tractors here than rental cars, and Christmas tree and grass seed farmers outnumber wine producers 10 to 1. See traveloregon.com
EXPERT'S CHOICE: ALLA WOLF-TASKER
MARKET: UNION SQUARE GREEN MARKET, NEW YORK, US
The world-famous Union Square Greenmarket began with just a few farmers in 1976.Credit: Getty Images
You can often gauge the seriousness of food intent of local denizens by shopping at the local market and Union Square, with its wonderful farmers trucks full of stellar produce, comes up with full marks. It's become a quintessential part of my food experience in my favourite city. See grownyc.org
BAR: NEPENTHE, BIG SUR, CALIFORNIA, US
Could there be a better bar on earth? Sitting high on a hillside overlooking the Pacific, travellers flock to Nepenthe in time for the sun to slip into the ocean. Despite its location in California's most iconic locale, Nepenthe has barely changed since the original owners built it in 1949 – now it's in the third generation of the same family. Built like an oversized tree-house, Nepenthe was the favourite hang-out bar of the hippie era, and even today the '60s icons of Hollywood slip in for a cheap, strong margarita. See nepenthebigsur.com
HOTEL B, LIMA, PERU
Want to feel like one of the beautiful people? Nowhere in South America invokes the era of la belle epoque more than the recently refurbished 1920s seaside retreat of a Peruvian president – now a hotel in Lima's most fashionable beach address, Barranco. Each hotel guest receives complimentary el Lonche – a formal afternoon high tea that is a legacy of Peru's 19th-century English heritage. You will be surrounded by dark timber in the old world European style dining room, or in the sunshine on the patio overlooking the beach. The food here is some of Peru's best – with a menu overlooked by one of Peru's most famed chefs, Oscar Velarde. See hotelb.pe
TOUR: MENDOZA WINERY, ARGENTINA
There are two ways to tour Argentina's most famous wine region: the easy way, and the fun way. The easy way is by jumping aboard a minibus tour and making your way between Mendoza's more upmarket producers, touring the Valle de Uco and Lujan de Cujo areas to sample the best malbecs around. The fun way is to hire a bike in the town of Maipu and navigate through the vineyards solo, calling in for some fairly generous tastings wherever you see fit then attempting to get yourself safely back to the hire shop. Regardless of your choice, the wine will always be good. See welcometomendoza.com
EXPERT'S CHOICE: ALLA WOLF-TASKER
MARKET: MERCADO DEL PUERTO, MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY
At the huge meat market Mercado del Puerto in Montevideo, one gets to sample parilla, the grilling technique perfected by the Uruguayans. Pull up a chair at one of the bars or at a small wooden table, point out the sausages and meats you would like and watch them being grilled. They arrive on large platters and in giant flat buckets with jars of chimichurri sauce and pickles. See mercadodelpuerto.com; turismo.gub.uy
FARM: BLUE HILL AT STONE BARNS, NEW YORK STATE, US
On a working organic farm donated by the Rockefeller family to the Stone Barns Centre for Food and Agriculture, chef Dan Barber incorporates all the buzz phrases of the moment, such as paddock-to-plate and whole vegetable cookery, and seasons them with the inventiveness of a paradigm-changing chef-auteur. The real estate is what first grabs the visitor: a bucolic scene of a picture-book farm where bumblebees drowse in the gardens and guests are invited to have an al fresco drink – perhaps a martini flavoured with ramps (a garlic-scented wild onion) – before retiring to the grand dining room with its even grander floral displays for the multi-course, no-menu dinner where vegetables are given equal billing with hero proteins. See bluehillfarm.com
RETAIL: MONTREAL'S KITCHEN SHOPS, CANADA
Montreal is a city filled with gourmet delights, from bustling markets to enticing restaurants, but no culinary tour of the city is complete without dropping into some of the city's kitchen shops. For some reason, Montreal has a spectacular selection of these, from the chic Les Touilleurs in the hipster neighbourhood of Mile End, known for its in-house cooking classes, to the quirky Quincaillerie Dante. At this surprising outlet, the stock includes not just Le Creuset cookware and Cuisinart blenders but also a broad range of guns, for those who think the tastiest dinner is the one you killed yourself. See lestouilleurs.com; quincailleriedante.com
CONTRIBUTORS: Larissa Dubecki, Michael Gebicki, Ben Groundwater, Ute Junker, Nina Karnikowski, Kerry van der Jagt, Craig Tansley, Lee Tulloch
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