Food & Wine USA - (05)May 2020

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30 MAY 2020

LIGHTNING ROUND

The most recent thing I cooked

was chicken and some

sweet potatoes with

honey, piment d’Espelette,

and lime yogurt from

Gjelina’s new cookbook.

I put Queer Eye on my

screen of choice when I need to

escape for an hour.

Lizzo’s music makes me

energized.

I think of my brother

Lyndon when I need some

inspiration.

My fridge always has wine

and sparkling water

waiting for me.

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ASK ANYONE FROM THE HOTEL BUSINESS, or even

from the state of Texas, about Liz Lambert, and

you’ll hear words like “legend” and “icon.” The

force behind some of the state’s most talked-about

and beloved hotels, like the Hotel San José and

Hotel Saint Cecilia in Austin and El Cosmico in

Marfa, Lambert has also designed and opened

hotels in Mexico and San Francisco and is cur-

rently working on one in New Orleans. Prior to

opening her first property, she studied poetry,

went to law school, and worked as a prosecutor.

Soon after she left the company she started, we

spoke while she shopped for books for her young

son, a new addition to her and her wife’s lives.

—JULIA TURSHEN, FOUNDER OF EQUITY AT THE TABLE

(EATT) AND AUTHOR OF NOW & AGAIN

THE INTERVIEW

This Must Be the Place

For hospitality expert Liz

Lambert, a good hotel

defines the journey.

JT: Being in the hotel

industry means you’re

also in real estate,

you’re in hospitality,

you’re in design, you’re

in plumbing ...

LL: It’s so true. And it

never closes. It’s 365

days a year, 24 hours

a day.

JT: What’s the shortest

way to describe what

you do?

LL: I think we imagine

worlds. It’s an entire

experience. A hotel isn’t

just what you see when

you come into the lobby.

It’s the music that’s

playing; it’s what you

smell. It’s the food and

beverage.

JT: You studied creative

writing and concen-

trated on poetry. Do you

feel like it comes into

your work at all?

LL: I do. One example is

really literal: When I first

opened the Hotel San

José, there were a lot of

things I hadn’t thought

of. I realized right before

we opened the doors that

the rooms had no art. I

have a large collection of

poetry books and a lot

of paperbacks, so I just

ripped poems out and

tacked them to the wall.

JT: And the less literal

example?

LL: I think that the

parameters of a form are

where you do your best

work. You’re probably

going to come up with

something you never

would have and some-

thing that might be more

elegant. Also the way

things sound together—

the way words sound

together happens in the

language of design, too.

JT: Every hotel you’ve

built has been dog-

friendly. How did you

make that decision?

LL: It was just a no-

brainer. I think people

who travel with their dog

almost always will have

a well-behaved dog, and

it just seems like dogs

make places happier.

JT: Did I read somewhere

that you came out to your

mother at a hotel bar?

LL: Yeah, at the Waldorf.

JT: Do you think there’s

something about hotels

that gives you some

freedom?

LL: A hotel creates this

world that allows you

to be your best self in

some way, or be a dif-

ferent self. I think one of

the unfortunate things

that some hotels do is

alienate people with long

hallways of bad carpet

or bad lighting. And then

the best hotels are the

opposite: They’re aspira-

tional. They’re detailed,

and they’re layered, and

the cast is constantly

changing.

This interview has been

edited and condensed for

clarity.

PH

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FW_0520_Obsessions.indd 30 FINAL CONTENT 3/18/20 12:28 PM