12 TRAVEL+LEISURE | SEPTEMBER 2019
CONTRIBUTORS
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: COURTESY OF BESHA RODELL; COURTESY OF MARCUS NILSSON; NILOU MOTAMED/COURTESY OF ADAM SACHS; MICHAEL SINGER/COURTESY OF RUTH REICHL
2
1
(^34)
WORLD’S BEST RESTAURANTS
(P. 17)
When the New York Times’s
Australia dining critic got
the call from the editors at
Travel + Leisure and Food &
Wine asking if she wanted
to go on a round-the-world
adventure to document
the globe’s top restaurants,
she accepted immediately.
Then she hung up and
the fear started creeping
in. “I have mainly written
about restaurants in the
countries where I’ve lived,”
the Melbourne-based writer
explains. “But this wasTHE CHEF’S ISRAEL
(P. 116)
For a week, the former
editor in chief of Gourmet
traveled with culinary
stars like Gail Simmons
and Nancy Silverton on
a whirlwind tour of the- e a^ o e
Holy Land. “No one ever
wanted to be the first to
say good night,” she says.
The author of the recent
memoir Save Me the
Plums is now working on
a novel set in Paris.DINING LIKE A MADRILEÑO (P. 120)
The four-time James Beard
Foundation Journalism
Award winner and former
editor-in-chief of Saveur has
traveled the globe in search
of standout culinary scenes.
In Madrid, he loves that
“there are so many spots that
specialize in one thing, like a
standing-room-only bar that
serves only fried bacalao.”much more extreme in the
sense that I was being
asked to assess restaurants
in places where I was
the outsider.” Rodell’s travels
spanned four months
and took her to 81
restaurants in 24 countries.
And while she seldom
spent more than a few days
in each place, she still
managed to fall head
over heels for certain
destinations. “Morocco
moved me the most
because it felt like stepping
into history,” she says,
“but I was also insanely
enamored of Slovenia, Seoul,
and Oaxaca.”AN AMERICAN STORY (P. 100)
The Brooklyn-based
photographer looks back
fondly upon the time he
drove to Tennessee on
his Harley-Davidson and
camped in the Great Smoky
Mountains. His most recent
trip to the state, to visit
the beloved Blackberry
Farm and its luxurious new
sister resort, Blackberry
Mountain, was just as
memorable. “I did a sound
bath, hiked through the
mountains, and talked to
the hotel’s knowledgeable
farmers about their
produce,” he recalls.- u eic
3. am^ ac
4. arcu i on