Travel Bookshelf: Hidden wineries, NOLA dining Posted on March 30th
From the wine country of northern California to the great restaurants of New Orleans, here are some books to help you explore exciting spots from Vegas to Venice - and to entertain you while you’re getting there.
Back Lane Wineries of Sonoma
Little Bookroom, $19.95
Napa gets all the glory, but to the west lies another wine-tasting area - Sonoma. Each year, about 7.5 million tourists visit the region. The lovely towns of Sonoma, Healdsburg, and Glen Ellen are well-known in their own right, but there are plenty of other towns and “small, back-lane wineries,” as author Tilar Mazzeo calls them, that also are worth visiting. These are the places that the critics and wine aficionados love but few visitors are aware of. Many of the wines here are handcrafted and made by on-site proprietors. In fact, most wineries in the book make fewer than 10,000 cases of wine a year; some produce only 100 or so.
Zagat New Orleans 2009
Zagat, $12.95
More than three years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, Zagat editors say that more than a quarter of the city still has not returned to normal - and may never. On the music front, the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park is scheduled to move into the renovated Perseverance Hall in Louis Armstrong Park, which is cause for celebration. Most of the hotels that were damaged during Katrina have reopened, with a few exceptions; the Hyatt Regency is still awaiting redevelopment, but the Fairmont is scheduled to reopen by June.
From a culinary point of view, the trend is toward small plates. Several restaurants that were shuttered after Katrina have reopened, including Charlie’s Steak House in the Uptown neighborhood, while Ruth’s Chris Steak House opened at Harrah’s. For up-to-date information, check www.zagat.com.
I’ll Never Be French
(No Matter What I Do)
Free Press, $24
Mark Greenside, the author of this enchanting book and a Californian, came to France - to a small village in Brittany - at the behest of his girlfriend at the time. In retrospect, it seemed a brave thing to do, especially because he didn’t speak a word of French. And the last time he was there was not a pleasant experience. Even worse, he hated to fly. “Let’s go to Saskatchewan” instead, he suggested. But of course they did go, and he began to fall in love with a tiny Breton village of 500 inhabitants. While Greenside’s book falls into a familiar pattern - the outsider observing the locals from an ironic distance - it also differs in significant ways.
What makes the book so fascinating is watching how Greenside changes while in a strange land - how he reacts to the different culture and interacts with his neighbors. Much to his own surprise, he begins to admire the small-town atmosphere. Ultimately, he tries to accommodate his Jekyll-and-Hyde existence, bringing together his American side with his French side. It is not an easy fit, he admits, but in it he finds “familiarity and purpose.”
747 Things to Do on a Plane
Adams Media, $10.95
If you’re the kind of person who likes to distract yourself during flight, this book will come in handy. As the title promises, author Justin Cord Hayes lists 747 things you can do to keep yourself occupied. They include writing a screenplay (really, how hard can it be?), playing a game of solitaire, listing every book you’ve ever read and every song you’ve ever heard, memorizing one of Shakespeare’s soliloquies, and - here’s a real and fun challenge - reading The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. It goes on, but you get the idea. The book also includes puzzles, rhyming schemes, and other such diversions.
Venice Encounter
Lonely Planet, $12.99
This tiny, extremely portable guide offers snapshot views of the city and its many attractions. Richly illustrated with colorful photographs, a pullout map, and detailed neighborhood maps, it is smartly written and nicely designed. It also has useful best-of lists, such as best Veneto wines and best traditional Venetian restaurants. And despite the city’s fairy-tale reputation, author Alison Bing reminds us that Venice is a real place anchored by hardworking Venetians, many of whom still pursue such traditional, if esoteric, occupations as glassblowing and octopus fishing.
Insight Guides: Las Vegas
Step by Step
Discovery Channel/
APA Publications, $11.30
Only in Las Vegas can you: get married at a moment’s notice; learn the intricacies and little-known secrets of gambling by taking a class; see (a portion of) the world in a day (from Paris to the canals of Venice to ancient Rome to New York and on to the pyramids of Egypt). And that’s just the beginning. This small and practical guide also includes examples of walks and tours in and around town (from Las Vegas for kids to gay Las Vegas to romantic Las Vegas to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam). It describes in detail the best choices for accommodations and restaurants on and off the Strip for all budget levels. What’s more, it features advice on everything from where to find the best Elvis impersonators to where to see the Super Bowl of rodeo, plus tips on how to interpret the elusive body language of poker (”tics, twitches, nervous laughs, or facial expressions can be crucial giveaways”).
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