Time Sep

75

Reinventing

the restaurant

VESPERTINELOS ANGELES

Treating visitors like locals

ILLA EXPERIENCE HOTELQUITO ECUADOR

An oasis for the arts

TIPPET RISE ART CENTER
STILLWATER COUNTY MONTANA

Just over 150 miles from
Yellowstone National Park near
Montana’s Beartooth Mountains
lies Tippet Rise. The 10000-
acre working sheep and cattle ranch is
both thrumming with art—site-speciic
sculptures a concert hall an open-air
performance venue—and humbling in
the wide-open vistas and vastness of the
landscape and sky. “It’s been our lifelong
dream” says Cathy Halstead a painter who
opened Tippet Rise in 2016 with her pianist
and poet husband Peter. “Our experiences
as artists compelled us to create a place
where music art and nature could be
experienced in harmony with one another.”
In May the duo announced the commission
of a 1900-sq.-ft. pavilion by architect
Francis Kéré that will feature a log canopy

Little if anything about

Vespertine follows the rules of

traditional dining. For starters

the restaurant which opened

in July 2017 is housed in a building that

looks like a cross between a spaceship

and a wale. Its servers speak as little as

possible so as not to distract from the

overall experience. It has its own musical

score which composers Jeremy Galindo

and Christopher Royal King describe as

“an aural microcosm.” And its menu is

full of bold lavor combinations such

as scallops with salted plum smoked

bone marrow and crystallized onion; and

endive with almond geranium black

lime and roe. Depending on whom you

ask the 18-plus-course tasting menu

which starts at $250 per person is either

crazy good—or just plain crazy. “We’re

a weird restaurant because we don’t fall

into a speciic category” says founder

and chef Jordan Kahn who refers to his

establishment as a “living organism.”

“All we have any interest in is creating a

beautiful memory for somebody.”—M.M.

So perfectly preserved is the
historic city center of Quito with its
indigenous adobe walls alongside
colonial Spanish architecture that
it was among the irst two cities declared a
World Heritage Site in 1978. A microcosm of
that rich history can be found at the boutique
hotel Illa (“Sacred light” in Quechua) which
opened last December. The mansion dates to
the 18th century and
has been carefully
restored with each
of the three loors
representing an era
in Ecuador’s history.
“We added our own
families’ deepest
traditions” says
co-owner Marcel
Perkins noting
that his wife’s
grandmother’s gift with textiles is evident in
the hand-woven rugs and embroidered linens.
The “experience” in the hotel’s name refers to
the eight activities offered to guests including
watercolor painting with a local artist and
Ecuadorian chocolate tasting. Staffers “share
our families’ way of living so [guests] can feel as
Quiteños during their stay” says Perkins.—K.M.

made from locally sourced lumber. “We

want it to be a communal gathering place”

says Halstead. Whether visitors snack or

sketch make music or small talk—well

that’s entirely up to them.—K.R.

THE SHAPE-

SHIFTER

MORPHEUS HOTEL

MACAU

Designed by the

late Zaha Hadid

Morpheus is the

world’s irst free-form

exoskeleton-bound

high-rise: a grid

of steel envelops

40 stories of glass

with a luidity

inspired by Chinese

jade carving. The

interior is just as

reined with 770

rooms a casino loor

high-roller facilities

a rooftop pool a

modern-art gallery

and not one but

two Alain Ducasse

restaurants.—C.Q.

STEEL TOWN

SPARK PLUG

SUPERIOR MOTORS

BRADDOCK PA.

Can a restaurant

reinvigorate a

struggling steel town?

That’s the idea behind

Superior Motors

which opened last

summer in a former

car dealership after

raising a record-

setting $310225

on Kickstarter.

Already its modern

American food is

bringing recognition

to Braddock and it

says it will teach its

workers—many of

whom are locals who

lost manufacturing

jobs—new skills.

“Eventually we want

to launch a full-on

culinary school” says

chef and founder Kevin

Sousa a Pittsburgh

native.—Alejandro de

la Garza