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Please Pass the Community Culinary Spirit.
Sharing kinship and cuisine from chef collaborations to communal tables.
last spring hotels were feeding people’s hunger for escape with new outdoor dining offerings like rooftop restaurants.
this year we see them encouraging community via culinary experiences for those craving kinship and cuisine.
Along the pink sands of Santa Maria Bay on Mexico’s Baja California, Montage Los Cabos recently put such a collaboration on the menu, continuing its annual culinary series with the first event of 2022, “Mirazur Beyond Borders.” The exclusive dinner series created in partnership with Chef Mauro Colagreco of Mirazur restaurant in Menton, France, crowned #1 in the world by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2019, 2020 and 2021, will include a menu of culinary creations and cocktails that celebrate the richness of Mexican culture, soil and land, and cannot be tried anywhere else.
Ace Hotel, with 10 boutique addresses on both sides of the Pacific, regularly makes scenes via culinary events. In November, for instance, “Bubbles and Bivalves” at Ace Hotel Brooklyn featured Ben “Moody” Harney, founder of the nomadic oyster cart The Real Mother Shuckers, discussing the African American history of oysters while teaching folks to “shuck like a pro.” Held shortly before Omicron arrived in NYC, the event was a sellout.
Everyone can use downtime, alone time, even staring-mindlessly-at-the-wall time. But after time on lockdown, people are beyond itchy to enjoy company again. According to a recent Amex Trendex report, 69% of consumers surveyed around the world indicate their mental health has been impacted by the pandemic “either by isolation restrictions or concerns for well-being.”
After gleaning last spring that hotels were feeding people’s hunger for escape with new outdoor dining offerings such as rooftop restaurants, this year we see them encouraging community via culinary experiences for those craving kinship and cuisine. The possibilities are as endless as daily specials at a diner, with food-and-beverage outlets transporting guests via artfully designed spaces, entertainment, tasting menus, even members-only entrée to invoke and encourage buzz and bring people together.
Of course, nothing brings foodies together like magic from the kitchen. As noted by Food & Wine, “there will be more chef collaborations” in the year ahead, with Executive Chef Tatiana Rosana of The Envoy Hotel in Boston observing: “With guests craving social interactions and chefs hungry to get creative after a long stretch of just surviving, these dinners provide a perfect opportunity to have fun.”
In Paris, Jean Imbert au Plaza Athénée, a new restaurant at Dorchester Collection’s Hôtel Plaza Athénée, has communal dining at its core with a stunning, 39-foot table of Breccia marble running right down the center of the dining room. Lined with seating for…well, a whole community, the table, called a “show-stopping masterpiece” by Elite Traveler, is topped with marble vases, antique candlesticks, and silverware selected by Chef Imbert and designer and architect Rémi Tessier.
And at the former Great Camp built by William Avery Rockefeller II in Saranac Lake, New York, back in the Gilded Age, The Point maintains a tradition of communal dining started by its progenitor, transporting guests back to that misty time with hosted dinner service in authentic fine-dining style on communal tables to amplify the house party vibe – assuming they have the duds for it. Dinner on Wednesdays and Saturdays is black-tie, with seven courses paired with wines, while other nights require only cocktail attire for five courses. The kitchen of the Forbes Five Star luxury resort is currently being expanded and re-equipped via renovation, opening the door for more appetizing occasions over the summer ahead.
Now – what’s for dessert?
Traveling With Intention.
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