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Sustainable Maine

While Maine has long been revered for its juicy lobster, local fishermen and chefs are vying for a new set of seafood to bask in the culinary spotlight. Over the past year, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute has been working closely with some of the region’s top fishermen and chefs to identify fish and shellfish species that thrive in the Atlantic waters but have been underutilized in northeastern US cuisine. By creating demand for these sustainable species, like northern shrimp, Atlantic mackerel, whiting, Atlantic pollock and red fish, fishermen hope to preserve the seafood that has historically been overfished, such as flounder, cod and halibut. Chefs from coastal Maine’s finest restaurants are now showing the world just how tasty these sustainable species can be. For example, Chef Mitchell Kaldrovich from Sea Glass restaurant at Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth pan-sears whiting, which is less flaky than cod so it develops a nicer crust when seared. Now hunters are getting in on the sustainable movement. Maine Fish and Wildlife recently held a meeting with Registered Maine Guides to look at alternative species found in the Maine interior that might attract hunters.
 

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My Favorite Small Outfitters, Ken’s Hinterland Adventure Tours, Dominica

Unlike the rest of the Caribbean, the attraction in Dominica is not the beach, but a lush mountainous interior ripe with every tropical fruit and vegetable imaginable and inundated with so much water that around every bend is another raging waterfall, a serene swimming hole nestled in the thick bush, or a hidden hot spring to rest your weary body after a day in the outdoors. Indeed, this island closest to Martinique has become an affordable haven for the active traveler who yearns to hike through a jungle-like forest. My guide for a week of treks into the interior was Kent Augiste of Ken’s Hinterland Adventure Tours. The highlight was a 7-hour round-trip hike inside Morne Trois Pitons National Park to the crater known as Boiling Lake. We hiked through a dense forest of tall gommier trees, staring at the iridescent purple-throated hummingbirds as they kept us company. Afterwards, we lounged in the natural hot spring at Papillote Wilderness Retreat. Owner Anne Jno Baptiste first came to the island from the States in 1961. Eight years later, she bought a 7-acre chunk of land enveloped by the rainforest that she would cultivate into a flower-rich botanical garden and one of the Caribbean’s first eco-resorts. 

 
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Fitness Rooms Available at the TRYP New York City Hotel

Ever get up at the crack of dawn and head to the hotel gym, only to find out that the two elliptical machines are already taken at 6:30 am? That really pisses me off. Which is why I was delighted to hear about the Fitness Rooms being offered at the new TRYP Hotel, set to open on February 1st, near Herald Square. Choose between an elliptical machine, stationary bike, or treadmill and it will be waiting for you in your room. The hotel is on 35th between 8th and 9th Avenues, near Penn Station and a 7-block walk to Times Square. 
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Top 5 Wine Regions for Bicyclists, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Oregon Wine Country is less than an hour drive southeast of Portland off Route 99W. Download a winery map and off you go on rural roads to sample a handful of the 200 wineries. Pedal Bike Tours in Portland offers a guided day ride to Willamette if you want to go on a group tour. If you find yourself in Salem, do yourself a favor and stop at a personal favorite, Cristom Vineyards. Many of the Oregon pinots are bright, redolent of fruit, have a fine nose, but on his small plot, winemaker Steve Doerner has managed to bring layers of complexity to his wine. The Jessie, for example, named for the owner’s grandmother, has hints of black cherries, tangy plum, and cinnamon, with a smooth finish that will have you reaching for your credit card to order a case, the exact move my brother and I made. 

 
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Exciting Changes in the Newton Food Scene

It’s not everyday that I write about my hometown, Newton, Massachusetts, but I’m excited to tell you about the latest batch of restaurant openings. For once a week this past decade, Lisa and I have been having lunch at Coffee Corner in Newton Highlands, home to the best tuna melt, iced coffee, and salads in the area. Owner Danielle sold Coffee Corner in the spring and has now opened Newton’s Nectar (87 Union Street) in a great space across from the T in Newton Center. Nearby, the owners of the consistently tasty fare at Sycamore will soon be opening Little Big Diner, an East Asian-style diner featuring ramen, rice bowls, buns, and more. In Newton Highlands, Boston’s favorite burrito, Anna’s Taqueria will be opening in mid-November at the former Baker’s Best site. Last but certainly not least, New Haven’s Frank Pepe’s, home to one of my top 10 pies in New England, the white clam pizza, is finally making its debut in Massachusetts on December 1st at the former Paparazzi’s in Chestnut Hill Mall. Never thought I’d be saying this, but the Newton food scene is happening. 
 
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Climb Mount Moriah, Nevada

A four-hour drive from Salt Lake City, Great Basin National Park is a little-known gem where mountains over 13,000 feet rise dramatically from the desert floor. Wheeler Peak (13,063 feet) is the highest mountain in the park, but if you want diversity of terrain, local rangers suggest trekking the 11-mile Hendrys Creek Trail to the summit of 12,067-foot Mt. Moriah. The 5,000-foot vertical climb takes you through thickets of pinon pine and vast glades of aspen forest. At 11,000 feet, you reach the Table, Moriah’s rolling sky-high plateau. On the Table’s rim are stands of twisted bristlecone pines, which, at 3,000 to 4,000 years old, are the oldest type of tree on the planet. From here, it’s just a scramble up rocks to the summit. If visibility is good, you can look across an uninterrupted carpet of sagebrush for a good 100 miles.

 
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The Debut of Toronto’s Aga Khan Museum

Multiculturalism is the main reason why I return to Toronto as often as possible, a half-dozen times in the past decade. I love the diverse population—chatting to an Eritrean taxi driver about the struggles in her country, dining on sublime dim sum with a Hong Kong-born chef whose har gow (shrimp dumplings) arrives orange thanks to a mix of butternut squash (more on the restaurant Luckee later this week), to shopping for vintage clothing in Little India. So it came as no surprise to me that the Aga Khan Museum, the first North American museum devoted exclusively to Islamic Art, made its debut in mid-September in the northeastern part of Toronto. 

 
Aga Khan, the imam and prince of the Ismaili branch of Shia Muslims, who number some 15 million across 25 nations, spent more than $300 million to fund the museum. His renowned collection of art, over 1,000 pieces that span a millennium, has been on view at the Louvre in Paris and Hermitage in St. Petersburg, but now he has a permanent home worthy of the works. It took 18 years from conception to completion, but the debut of the Aga Khan Museum couldn’t have come a better time. With media constantly bombarding us with all the atrocities happening in the Muslim world, it’s downright therapeutic to walk into an exquisite setting bathed in natural light and be dazzled at the beauty of these objects. 
 
The collection is housed in a building created by the Pritzker Prize winning octogenarian, Fumihiko Maki. Artifacts are displayed on two floors, in high-ceilinged white rooms with teak floors. The galleries are centered around an open-air courtyard, which is open to the public free of charge if they simply want to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee and Turkish sweets. Before viewing the works, walk up the lapis-stone stairway into the auditorium, an explosion of teak wood already starting to garner attention for its excellent acoustics. 
 
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art might have a larger collection of Islamic Art, now housed in its new wing, but the Aga Khan has a good eye for objects. The museum is designed chronologically and starts with a blue Koran from 9th century Iran, calligraphy written in gold. The geometric patterns, whether circles found on the 12th-century robe of a Mongol warrior or a 9-pointed star seen in the woodwork of a 14th-centurty Spanish squinch, are mind-boggling. A rare piece of Iznik ceramics from the Ottoman Empire shows how the color red suddenly appeared in the predominantly “blue and white” patterns of the day. My favorite part of the collection was the brilliantly illustrated pages of the Persian epic, Shah-Nameh, a colorful portrayal on each page, which will be turned every three months in order not to damage the manuscript. An easy 20-minute taxi ride from downtown, the Aga Khan Museum is a great addition to the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Ryerson Image Centre, and the other noteworthy art found in Toronto. 
 
 

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