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What’s New in the New England Après-Ski Scene

There’s very little “new” in New England and that’s just the way we like it. We’re proud of our history in this little corner of the country, including home to some of the oldest ski resorts in the nation. After all, we’re the hearty bunch who still cherishes the single chair at Vermont’s Mad River Glen. Yes, we’ll happily embrace the new heated bubble chair at Okemo this winter, but we like our predictability. This is especially true of the après-ski scene, where we’ve been going to the same bars and restaurants for years, if not decades. That’s why it’s always a surprise when a new restaurant comes on the scene and creates a buzz in town. This is exactly what happened in Stowe this past March when the small eatery Plate made its debut. Los Angeles natives Jamie Persky and Mark Rosman create a Californian mix of salads made from local produce and meat dishes like a pork belly and egg appetizer. Local microbrews like Lost Nation Brewery from Morrisville are on tap and their signature dessert, the banana pudding, is already receiving rave reviews.

 
To read about other new restaurants close to ski areas in New England, see my latest story for Liftopia. 
 
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A Guide to Men’s Fashion in Toronto

Every time I throw on that velvety smoking jacket I found at Cabaret on my last visit to Toronto, I thank Wendy Woods. Owner of The Refinery, Wendy’s business as personal style coach has evolved from meeting you in person to helping you online. Fill out a detailed questionnaire about body type and style, pay the $197 fee, and she’ll help design a new wardrobe solely from online stores. Now she can help clients in Australia, America, Germany, the UK and across the globe. Still, no one knows the Toronto fashion scene better than Wendy, so I persuaded her to accompany me once again. Last time I wrote about the wonderful men’s vintage clothing scene in town. This time I asked her to simply show me the top men’s boutique stores in town.
 
First stop was Ossington Village off Queen Street West to have a look at Philip Sparks’ latest designs. Known for his tailored shirts, bow ties, ankle boots, dress shoes, and chinos, you can quickly see whether you like his work or not. The shop is the size of a shoebox. Then it was off to The Junction, those pre-prohibition era buildings near High Park, where we happily lingered at Gerhard Supply. On display are the wares of many of the country’s top designers like Vancouver-based Ken Diamond, known for his leather belts and wallets; and Toronto’s own Outclass Attire, designers of bomber and casual jackets. You’ll also find a few Yanks thrown in for good measure, like California’s Broken Homme, maker of a brown boot that easily won us over. At the last stop, GotStyle on Bathurst, not far from the Thompson Hotel, I would have happily left my credit card on file and went crazy. Then I remembered that I was a travel writer, not an investment banker. That said, I tried on a sweet light blue sports jacket from Touch of Sweden that I would have happily parted with the $550 price if it fit me. Oh well, there’s always next time. 
 
Thank you Michelle Revuelta and Tourism Toronto for designing another stellar week in town. Always a treat! 
 
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Three New Restaurants to Try in Toronto

With its mix of intriguing ethnic choices, like the Cree food I sampled at Keriwa Café on my last visit, Toronto has always been one of my favorite food destinations. Having dim sum is always high on my list of priorities, but this time I didn’t head to Spadina Avenue. I checked out the latest offering from chef Susur Lee, Luckee, at the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel. Called one of the “Ten Chefs of the Millennium” by Food & Wine magazine, Lee became a media sensation on the Food Network’s Top Chef Masters and other hit show, Chopped. When he’s not in the kitchen, he’s out on the floor greeting clientele and agreeing to take selfies with fans. 
 
His dim sum was the most memorable I’ve had in a long time. The ubiquitous har gow (shrimp dumplings) arrived orange thanks to a hint of butternut squash, on a bed of wild mushrooms. If my brother Jim was with me, we would have ordered 6 plates of these. Even his vegetable dumpling, something I rarely order, was a tasty mix of spinach, celery root, mushrooms, and jicama in a light as air dumpling. Lee excels at other dishes besides dim sum, like the sautéed scallops sweetened with soya glaze, and “Luckee Duck,” an apt name for the person who orders this version of the Peking Duck served with a schmear of foie gras. Susur, I’ll be back again for my selfie! 
 
When a friend from Toronto recommended I visit the new America Restaurant on the 31st floor of the Trump Hotel in the Financial District, I was skeptical, thinking the place would be some Texan steakhouse offshoot. As soon as I stepped foot into the restaurant, I realized I was wrong. The vibe with subdued lighting is more New York supper club, circa 1940s, especially with the Ella tunes in the background. I sat on the comfortable banquette and dug into a foie gras pancake, a buckwheat pancake topped with a healthy dollop of the meat, chunks of peaches, peanut marzipan, and hot Canadian maple syrup. For entrees, the scallop jambalaya was served in a hot skillet, coupled with grilled octopus and Andouille sausage. It goes well with the Blue Mountain pinot noir from BC. Run by Oliver & Bonacini, the same people who brought you the award-winning Canoe, America is here to stay in Canada. 
 
SIGNS, another new venture in town, seemed like a gimmick when I first heard about it. All the servers are deaf and you order the food via sign language. As a travel writer, I’m used to ordering my food though sign language since I spend a good part of my life in places where they don’t speak English. But the thought of putting deaf people on display made me uncomfortable. My worries were quickly allayed when I met my server, a young woman who helped me learn signs quickly like “thank you” and “what do you recommend?” A tip sheet is handed to you when you sit down at a table, sort of a Berlitz guide to sign language, where you can learn how to sign “I’m a vegetarian” or “we’re in a hurry.” My favorite was “Fantastic!” where you thrust your hands high in the air. “How was your entrée?” my server signed me, pointing to my lamb shank. “Fantastic!” 
 
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Seeing Toronto’s Neighborhoods by Bike

One of my favorite excursions lately is to get an overview of a city on a guided bike tour. In a short amount of time, you can see a good chunk of the city, learn about the history of the locale, visit intriguing buildings and public art only a local would know, ask for a list of recommended restaurants, and yes, get a decent workout. In the past two months, I had great rides in Reykjavik and Portland, Maine. So when I heard that Toronto Bicycle Tours was still offering their 4-hour, 10-mile “Heart of Downtown” ride in mid-October, I was in.

 
It was crisp, sunny autumn day when I met my guide, Terrence Eta, got adjusted to my hybrid bike, and threw on my helmet. He started with an overview of the city’s British heritage at stately Osgoode Hall, one of the oldest buildings in the city, built in 1832. Then it was on to the urban plaza, Nathan Phillips Square to view the new and old city hall, and Eaton Center, the busiest mall in Canada. We cruised into Old Town, known for its distinctive yellow brick, to stop at the circa-1903 King Eddy hotel, now the Omni King Edward Hotel. Terrence mentioned that in 1964, the Beatles stayed here on their first trip to Toronto. It also caused another commotion that year when Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton rented a suite together–while married to other spouses. 
 
A short pedal led to the Financial District and skyscrapers designed by starchitects I.M. Pei and Mies van der Rohe. Then we cruised past the St. Lawrence Market, named the number one food market in North America by National Geographic (try the classic peameal bacon sandwich at Carousel Bakery) and into the Distillery District. In the 1870s, this was the largest distillery of whisky in North America. Today it’s home to microbreweries like the local favorite, Mill Street, art galleries, restaurants, and the beloved chocolatier, Soma. Next stop was Sugar Beach on the Lake Ontario shoreline, named for its proximity to the massive Redpath sugar refinery. 
 
A quick stop below the CN Tower to peer up at the intrepid Edge Walkers, before we circled the Rogers Centre, home to the Toronto Blue Jays, and cruised along John Street to Grange Park. This is one of the special spots in the city, where you’ll find budding photographers snapping pictures of the backside of the Art Gallery of Ontario, with Frank Gehry’s signature staircase jutting out of the building, and the storied “Tabletop” building to the right. Then we checked off Chinatown at the corner of Spadina and Dundas, the vintage stores and coffee shops at Kensington Market, and the ethnic restaurants that line Baldwin Village. Few know the city better that Terrence who grew up here and went to the University of Toronto, and it showed. Highly recommended! 
 
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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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Toronto’s Emerging South Core Neighborhood

As soon as my Porter Airlines flight arrived at Toronto Island Airport and I took the 2-minute ferry ride over to the city, I noticed the numerous cranes tilting towards the sky. Toronto has a mind-boggling 180 high-rises currently under construction, more than the combined building efforts currently underway in New York and Mexico City, which along with LA are the three cities that have a larger population than Toronto in North America. A good chunk of that construction are office buildings and condos going up in the South Core neighborhood, where I’m spending the week at the Hotel Le Germain Maple Leaf Square. This is the entertainment corridor, bookend on one side by the Air Canada Centre, home to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors; and on the other side by the Rogers Centre, originally known as the SkyDome, where the Toronto Blue Jays play their home games under the retractable roof.

 On my first day here, Jason Kucherawy, owner of Tour Guys and guide at Toronto Urban Adventures, took me on his “Teams, Trains, and Tower Tour,” a walking tour that’s offered to the public for free (simply tip the guide). His first stop was right behind the hotel at the sports bar ESPN called the best in all of Canada, Real Sports Bar and Grill. Hundreds of folks were inside watching college football games on the largest high-definition television in the country. Then we walked along Bremner Boulevard to see Toronto’s newest attraction, Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada (which I’ll describe later this week), backed by the CN Tower. Across the street is the historic John Street Roundhouse, now home to the Toronto Railway Museum. Next door is Steam Whistle Brewing, known for their one beer, a crisp, cool pilsner. If you like your brew, you’ll want to know about Jason’s other tour, a pub crawl. Other favorites include tours geared to bacon lovers, graffiti aficionados, and this being the Halloween season, ghost tours. 
 
One of our clients highly recommended Hotel Le Germain Maple Leaf Square after we put his family of four up there this summer. The location is excellent for seeing the Toronto sights, rooms are spacious, a continental breakfast is included in the price, and there’s a cozy lounge downstairs, Play, that features local microbrews and Montreal smoked meat sandwiches. What I especially love is that there’s no bottled water. You simply fill your pitcher up with filtered water in the hallway, next to the complimentary apples. Sustainable practices along with great service (the concierge Chris and Susan can answer any question) are the reasons why the Quebec-owned Germain brand is growing across Canada, with 10 properties in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, and Calgary and another 4 under construction. 
 
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October Newsletter Now Available at ActiveTravels.com

Having just returned from a glorious trip to the Lake Geneva region of Switzerland, it was an easy call to make that our feature story in the October newsletter. Brazil and Argentina are two of the most popular destinations for our clientele this winter, so it was a good time to talk about the excellent ground operator we work with in Brazil, AuroraEco. We also divulge four of our favorite resorts in the Caribbean, including Caneel Bay on St. John and the Jamaica Inn in Ocho Rios. All are blissful retreats from an often harsh winter. In the Tried and True Travel Tips, I talk about finding restaurants on the road, an abridged version of a recent column I wrote for Men’s Journal. Lastly, we describe a great fall escape, the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York, where the fall foliage is at its peak time of year. 

 
I’m off to Toronto where I’ll be reporting live all next week. Please follow along both here and on Twitter @ActiveTravels. Thanks, as always, for checking in! 
 
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Find Peak Colors on the Drive from Asheville to Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The 80-mile stretch of roadway between Asheville and Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway is a joy anytime of year, but it’s hard to top this coming week when the leaves on red maples, dogwoods, and sassafras trees are at the height of their fall foliage. Spend your first night in the heart of downtown at the Renaissance Asheville. Then it’s time to hit the High Country, where the drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway reaches its highest elevation at 6,047 feet, surrounded by row after row of ridges like the flanks of Mount Pisgah and Cold Mountain, the setting for the best-selling novel. There are numerous opportunities to stretch your legs and stroll to lonely mountain streams and waterfalls amongst the 120 species of trees, the greatest variety in the US. A good place to start is the self-guided Harwood Cove Nature Trail that begins at the Chimneys Picnic Area.

 
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A Favoite Fall Foliage Drive–Keuka Lake, New York

Autumn in the Finger Lakes of western New York State is the time of year when leaves on the maples turn a tad crimson and the grapes on the vines are ready to be harvested for their award-winning Rieslings. Start on the northern tip of Keuka Lake in the town of Penn Yan. Head south on Route 54A and just outside of town, you’ll see signs for Apple Barrel Orchards, a third-generation U-pick apple orchard that makes homemade cider on the premises. Continue south along the shores of the 20-mile long lake to reach Dr. Konstantin Frank’s Vinifera Wine Cellars. Founded in 1962 and now run by Dr. Frank’s grandson, Fred, Dr. Frank put the Finger Lakes on the wine lovers’ map with his award-winning dry and semi-dry Rieslings. Have lunch on an outdoor deck overlooking the narrow northern part of the lake at Heron Hill Winery. The Blue Heron café takes full advantage of its locale nestled amidst the farmland to offer local seasonal fruit over field greens and a caprese salad with large fresh tomatoes. A perfect place to stay in Hammondsport is the octagonal-shaped Black Sheep Inn, where the owner, a former caterer in Cleveland, creates innovative and tasty breakfasts. 
 
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Bike the Kingdom Trails and Stay at the Burke Bike Barn

Now that Columbus Day has come and gone, along with much of the fall foliage traffic in Vermont, it’s time to hit my favorite mountain bike trails in New England. Uou know how much I cherish the Kingdom Trails. They’re even sweeter when the last maple leaves are clinging to the trees before the first snowfall. That would be right now! Spend the night at Burke Bike Barn. Located on the White School Trail, just outside the village of East Burke, this timber frame barn first went up in the 1840s. Recently renovated, it now features two units, each with full kitchen. The larger unit has three bedrooms and sleeps 6 (starts at $150 a night), while the smaller unit has 2 bedrooms and sleeps 4 (starts at $120 a night).