Asbury Park, NJ, Celebrates Music and Film

By Robert Firpo-Cappiello
March 6, 2018
The Asbury Park Boardwalk
The Asbury Park Boardwalk
Budget Travel’s Coolest Small Town in America 2017 is throwing a major party in April, and the price is right.

Last spring, Budget Travel named Asbury Park, NJ, the Coolest Small Town in America 2017. This spring, more than 20,000 people will savor AP’s coolness by attending the annual Asbury Park Music & Film Festival (April 27 - 29, apmff.org).

AN AFFORDABLE FESTIVAL

With festival tickets starting at $20, Budget Travelers will swarm iconic Asbury Park venues like the Wonder Bar, Stone Pony, and Paramount Theatre to catch acts that include Sublime with Rome, an evening with Danny DeVito, Built to Spill, North Mississippi All-Stars, Low Cut Connie, Bobby Bandiera, and more.

A MUSICAL MECCA

This shore town has been a hotbed of American music for decades, including the classic bandstand concerts of the early 20th century and the rock and soul scene of the ’60s and ’70s that gave birth to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, David Sancious, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul.

GREAT HOTELS

Speaking of rock and soul, a beautiful exhibit of images of Asbury Park’s musical greats shot by photographer Danny Clinch is on display at Soundbooth, the lobby bar at the newly opened Asbury Hotel (theasburyhotel.com), which has a book-one-night-get-the-second-night-free offer through May 24. Asbury Park offers an array of reliable and affordable lodging that gets you close to the beach, boardwalk, restaurants, and music.

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Best Things to Do in Santa Fe, NM

As a New Yorker with a craving for wide-open spaces, I've always been intrigued by the American Southwest, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, remotely located in the foothills of the southern Rockies, with low adobe buildings, chile-laden cuisine, and 300 days of sunshine a year, has been on my to-visit list for ages. I'm happy to report that it doesn't disappoint: With ties to everyone from Georgia O'Keeffe to George R.R. Martin, the second-oldest city in the country offers a sense of place like no other. From museums, galleries, and interactive art spaces to decadent spas, great food, and free-flowing margaritas, here are seven ways to enjoy the City Different. 1. GET ACCLIMATED Lodging at Ten Thousand Waves. (Courtesy Laurie Allegretti/Ten Thousand Waves) At 7,000 feet above sea level, Santa Fe is the highest capital in the country, and those heights demand respect. Altitude sickness can feel like the morning after a rough night out, and much like beating that hangover, hydration is key. Luckily, we were headed for the refreshing waters of Ten Thousand Waves, a spa inspired by the mountain hot-spring resorts of Japan, incongruously perched in the serene, wooded hills of New Mexico. The hot tubs and cold plunge pools are the thing here: They have hot tub suites with private outdoor bathing, saunas, and private changing rooms open to the public by reservation. Book online here.There’s also a full menu of services, and it’s a doozy. Access to the baths is included with any treatment that’s 50 minutes or longer, but you can also opt for an extra dose of relaxation with add-ons like the Yasuragi Head & Neck Treatment, a soothing, gentle massage that unlocks tension in the head, neck, and face. Other than a bit of trouble sleeping, I didn’t feel the altitude much after that first day, and I’d swear that submerging myself in various bodies of water upon arrival had something to do with it. (To be fair, I also made sure to drink the requisite amounts of water—an extra liter to a liter and a half, according to the Institute for Altitude Medicine—and that probably didn’t hurt.) Long story short: Don’t forget your swimsuit. 2. GET YOUR BEARINGS Adobe on the Plaza. (Courtesy Tourism Santa Fe) Before you run off to explore, put your new location into the appropriate context. Start in the historic downtown area: Long before it was a Jazz Age and Depression-era stop on Route 66, the Santa Fe Plaza was the endpoint of the Santa Fe Trail, a commercial corridor that connected the city with Missouri until arrival of the railroad in 1880. And now, at the heart of the city, a tree-lined, well-manicured square sits where alfalfa was once grown to feed pack animals. For a closer look at the Plaza and landmarks like the Palace of the Governors and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, schedule a walking tour to see hallmarks of the city’s signature Santa Fe style, which combines the flat roofs, rounded exterior beams, adobe brick, and portals of Spanish-Pueblo Revival architecture with elements of Territorial Revival style for an utterly distinct look. All that learning will probably make you peckish, so treat yourself to a different kind of history at the Five & Dime General Store, right on the square. At the back of the store, past the walls of cheesy postcards and and alien-themed paraphernalia, a local delicacy awaits: Frito chili pie, chips topped with a scoop of homemade chili and grated cheddar and served right there in the bag. 3. EXPLORE MILES OF MUSEUMS Multiple Visions: A Common Bond, at the Museum of International Folk Art. (Courtesy Michel Monteaux/Museum of International Folk Art) Given its designation as a UNESCO Creative City for Crafts and Folk Art, with 14 major museums, 250-plus galleries, and more professional artists per capita than any other city in America, it’d be shocking if Santa Fe didn’t have a vibrant arts scene. From classic institutions to quirky independent galleries to immersive, interactive spaces, New Mexico’s capital more than earns its reputation as a hotbed of creativity. It’s next to impossible to see everything in a weekend, but aim to hit one area at a time and you'll make a decent go of it. A short drive outside of town is Museum Hill, a red-rock plateau stunningly situated under picture-perfect blue skies. It’s home to four museums, but I only had time for two: the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture($9), dedicated to the achievements of the Native peoples of the southwest from pre-history to contemporary times; and the International Folk Art Museum ($12), where the star attraction is a rotating display of dolls, puppets, and figurines of all kinds. With more than 10,000 objects, selected from a collection ten times that size and arranged in a series of vignettes reenacting daily life in miniature, the sheer volume—not to mention the mind-boggling attention to detail—is astounding. After getting a peek at more traditional Native American arts and culture, I was curious to see what today’s artists were up to, and back downtown, in a small adobe space just off the Plaza, I found a refreshingly au courant collection. With a tight roster of often-changing exhibitions (current offerings include examinations of art and activism and Alaska Native films), the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts ($10) showcases the boundary-pushing work of progressive, modern artists—and it’s easily managed in an hour or so, to boot. From there, it’s not even a ten minute walk to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum ($20). (On your way over, be sure to ogle the eye candy at Shiprock Santa Fe, a repository of highly covetable jewelry, pottery, Native textiles, furniture, and fine art.) True to its name, the museum shines a spotlight on the American icon, a New Mexico resident for the last 30-some years of her life. Yes, the cattle skulls and the vibrant southwestern landscapes are here, but I was particularly drawn to a a display called “The Wideness and Wonder of the World,” where a potentially mundane detail caught my eye: the boxes O’Keeffe used to organize the detritus of travel, collected from the various international trips she undertook in her ‘70s. I hadn’t realized she was a fellow itinerant, and something about the revelation just grabbed me. (Well, that and her handwritten tags...be still my label-loving heart.) 4. ART ON THE MOVE Sculptures on Canyon Road. (Courtesy Tourism Santa Fe) You don’t have to go to a museum to get your fill of artistic endeavors—a leisurely stroll down Canyon Road will stimulate your creativity and get your feet going at the same time. As you pop in and out of the galleries, keep an eye out for something special: the larger-than-life bronze statues by Allan Houser, in the Zaplin Lampert Gallery sculpture garden; a very cool stainless steel figure that disappears and reappears as you walk by, created by German physicist-turned-sculptor Julian Voss-Andreae; or maybe a flock of large-scale origami cranes, winged horses, and clever renditions of Rock Paper Scissors by paper artist Kevin Box, who transforms folds of paper into something much more permanent. Box’s sculptures are featured at the Selby Fleetwood Gallery (as of July 2021 this gallery has closed), a treasure trove of distinctive, stylistically diverse artwork from the likes of Joan Barber, Helen Steele, and Stacy Phililps. For beautiful bits of Native American handicrafts, from pottery, furniture, and baskets to beadwork, jewelry, and Katsina dolls, look no further than Morning Star Gallery, where there’s plenty to discover for experienced collectors and beginners alike. Fashion mavens will find a kindred spirit at Nathalie, a tiny boutique overflowing with vintage cowboy boots, retro Western shirts, silver belt buckles, and wide-brimmed hats—pretty much anything a city slicker might need for a proper makeover. When you’ve had your fill of shopping, stop for refreshments at Kakawa Chocolate House, where the homemade truffles, ice cream, and drinking elixirs will put the spring back in your step. Meanwhile across town, SITE Santa Fe is a contemporary art space at the Railyard with even more galleries and shops, plus a ceramics workshop, a performance center, a sports bar, and a movie theater with 25 beers on tap and an old train car in the lobby. There are worse ways to spend a Saturday morning than browsing the galleries, then hitting the city’s justifiably renowned farmers market, a fixture in its own right—even in the offseason, vendors bundle up to hawk herbs and spices, baked goods, and plenty of produce. As the sun pours down and musicians stake their claim around the perimeter (and inside where it’s warm), chiles are roasted, ristras are arranged, and the people are here for it. 5. EXPERIENCE SOMETHING SURREAL Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return. (Courtesy Lindsey Kennedy/Meow Wolf) This one’s art too, but it’s so spectacular it deserves its own category. An immersive experience from local art collective Meow Wolf, the House of Eternal Return ($40 adults) is a choose-your-own-adventure, sci-fi-style head-trip—and it’s one that counts Santa Fean George R.R. Martin as both patron and landlord. The Game of Thrones author bought the site four years ago, renovating the building to the tune of $2.7 million and leasing it to the collective; the Meow Wolf Art Complex now includes a performance space, a learning center, and a bar, but the main attraction is its first permanent exhibition. In very X-Files fashion, the House of Eternal Return tells the story of a family that vanished after conducting a forbidden experiment that dissolved the nature of time and space (...yup!), and as a guest, you get to wander through their abandoned psychedelic Victorian funhouse searching for clues. A draw for all ages (toddlers and senior citizens and everyone in between on the day I visited), the 22,000-square-foot space is riddled with so many twists and turns—cave systems and tree houses, portals and hidden passageways, mirrors, optical illusions, and fairy lights galore—you could spend hours inside and barely scratch the surface. 6. EAT YOUR HEART OUT Santa Fe School of Cooking. (Courtesy Tourism Santa Fe) Food is culture, and getting to know the native cuisine is just as important as getting a handle on your surroundings. At the beginning of my trip, I spent a few hours at the Santa Fe School of Cooking and absolutely loved it—after a crash course in local food traditions, I came away properly prepared to tackle New Mexico and its various chiles. (The green version is made with fresh chile and has a piquant brightness, while the red is made with dried and therefore tastes a bit earthier; Christmas chile, my personal choice, is half and half.) During my tamale-making class, we sipped local wine, beer, and soda as our funny, approachable instructor provided a brief overview of the region’s culinary history and demonstrated how to handle some signature ingredients, and then we got to work, soaking corn husks, layering in the masa and various fillings, and preparing the little bundles for steaming. It was a hands-on experience that would make me appreciate the rest of my meals even more...and there were some pretty amazing meals to be had. For a high-end introduction to classic Santa Fe food, the stellar breakfast at La Plazuela, the restaurant at La Fonda Santa Fe sets a high bar. Commandeer a table in the light-filled, wood-beamed atrium and order the huevos rancheros, pan-fried trout (add chile for an extra kick), and fruit-topped blue-corn pancakes. A few blocks over, Tia Sophia’s offers a more down-to-earth take: The local institution has been serving belly-busting meals to the masses since 1975, and it’s also the place where the terms breakfast burrito and Christmas chile were coined. Stop by on a Saturday morning for a bowl of green-chile stew or the homemade-chorizo burrito, but go early to avoid the crowds. If matcha smoothie bowls and gluten-free buckwheat pancakes are more your speed, put Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen at the top of your list. With a focus on responsibly sourced seasonal ingredients, the internationally tinged menu has something for eaters of all stripes—vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, paleo, and carnivorous alike. Pass through on your way to Meow Wolf and fuel up for the fun. Watch the skateboarders in action at De Vargas Park, then grab a seat on the sunny patio at Cowgirl BBQfor margaritas and snacks (the cabeza de ajo, a whole head of roasted garlic in a pool of melted cheese, was a hit with my table), or more filling fare like chiles rellenos, smoked chicken, and an award-winning green-chile cheeseburger. Walk it all off with a stroll around the nearby Double Take, a 25,000-square-foot consignment shop with room upon room of cowboy boots and Western wear, turquoise jewelry and Native American blankets, and vintage memorabilia, collectibles, and fine art. If gallery-hopping on Canyon Road has you feeling fancy, take a break and duck into The Compound for lunch inside a fabulous Alexander Girard–designed adobe building. Here you’ll find reasonably priced, white-tablecloth fare from Mark Kiffin, the only James Beard Award–winning chef in town: deceptively light and crispy onion rings, crab-and-lobster salad (a favorite with the ladies-who-lunch crowd), a decadent chicken schnitzel, and a house-cured pastrami sandwich that measures up to some of the best New York delis have to offer. For dinner, try to score one of the 12 seats at the sunken bar in the front of the restaurant—they’re extremely popular, so you’ll need a reservation. (Call a week in advance to be on the safe side.) Be sure to save room for dessert: Pastry chef Rebecca Freeman’s creations are not to be missed. Every itinerary needs at least one blow-out meal, and Santa Fe provides plenty of opportunities to splurge. In the dining room at Sazón, portraits of Frida Kahlo watch over tables of guests thrilling to chef Fernando Olea’s contemporary spin on traditional Mexican cuisine. He’s a master of moles, so taste as many as you can—my favorite matched the coloradito with perfectly cooked duck breast—and prepare to be surprised. A simple-sounding shrimp consomme turned out to have a complex, multi-level flavor profile, and the chef’s signature blue-crab soup was a foam-topped revelation. For dessert, order the dulce sinfonía—your waiter will refuse to tell you exactly what's in it, which only makes it better. Outside of town, in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Terra at Four Seasons Rancho Encantado serves a global menu that simultaneously reflects the chef’s experiences in far-flung locations like Tanzania and the West Indies and nods to local Southwestern traditions. Sip a glass of wine in the high-ceilinged, modern dining room while a fire roars in the fireplace, and congratulate yourself on making good life choices. 7. HOP ON THE MARGARITA TRAIL In a genius marketing move, the city’s tourism office launched its Margarita Trail program in 2016, and it’s been a boon to agave lovers ever since. Download the app ($3) or buy a paper passport ($3), flash it at 45 participating bars and restaurants to get $1 off the designated drink, and don’t forget to ask for a stamp with each one to earn some prizes. (Banish those visions of pub crawls past: You can only receive two stamps a day.) The watermelon-cucumber concoction at Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi is a must-order; pair it with excellent green-chile- and braised-bacon-topped buffalo sliders or groaning plates of nachos with the works. For a classic rendition of the cocktail, plus crowd-pleasers like guac and queso, chips and salsa, grilled-shrimp skewers, cheesy enchiladas, and ground-beef tacos, follow the Santa Feans' lead and turn to The Shed, which was packed to the brim with happy customers on a recent Friday night. (Not so happy: the people who were quoted an hour-long wait time. Make a reservation if you don't want to take your chances at the first-come, first-served bar.) If it's a clear night, swing by Julia's Social Club at La Posada de Santa Fe for an al fresco outing. Stop at the hotel’s front desk on your way in and schedule a massage to take care of tomorrow’s three-margarita headache, then snag a table outside and hunker down around a fire pit for drinks and Mediterranean snacks. Up for a nightcap? Evangelo’s Cocktail Lounge is dive-bar heaven: a cash-only corner joint with live music, a local character pouring the drinks (don’t even think about asking for a Budweiser), and a great backstory. Bring a little extra change for the cover charge, and some for a t-shirt too. If you’d rather participate than watch the show, venture out past the Railyard to Tiny’s for the best Saturday-night karaoke in town. Take a seat at the bar and pick a song from the hefty binder as fast as you can (you’ll be waiting awhile, so get your name in right away), then take to the stage and bask in the warm approval of an enthusiastic, generous room. THE FINE PRINT With 5,600-some hotel rooms in Santa Fe as a whole and 1,900 or so downtown, there are plenty of accommodations to choose from—rooms are often available for less than $200 from late fall to spring (minus the winter holidays). Independent and boutique properties in the historic city center tend to be pricier than the chain hotels on Cerrillos Road, but if you’re in search of a bargain, you’ll find the lowest average daily rates in January, February, and March. I loved the Hotel Santa Fe, the only majority Native American–owned hotel in the downtown area. Many of the city’s arts institutions offer discounted or free entry to New Mexico residents as well as seniors and children. If you have a few state museums or historic sites on your list, it might be worth looking into the New Mexico CulturePass, which grants access to 15 locations for $30. Given the altitude, two items are absolutely essential to making your visit an enjoyable one: a reusable water bottle and a serious moisturizer. Be sure to pack both.

Inspiration

These Spots Win the "Travel Oscars"

Film location scouts spend a lot of their time on the road zeroing in on the most drop-dead gorgeous, or creepy, or sophisticated places for film crews to work their magic. Each year, devoted travelers play "location scout" themselves by evaluating some of the top Oscar-nominated films for vacation-worthy destinations. Here, three of this year's winners. ASHEVILLE & SYLVA, NC The title Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri might suggest to you that the film was not shot anywhere near North Carolina. But the town of Sylva, NC, near Asheville, stood in for the fictional Missouri town in Martin McDonagh’s compelling movie, with local buildings given new facades bearing signs such as “The Ebbing Herald” and “Ebbing Police Department.” And those “three billboards” were shot east of Asheville, near Black Mountain. Local lodging is reliable and affordable, including the Cambria Hotel & Suites Downtown Asheville, which represents what we love about the Cambria brand: its’ devotion to distinctive contemporary design and great service. NEW YORK CITY & WHITE PLAINS, NY Another dose of cognitive dissonance: The Post, Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed film about the Washington Post newspaper was shot, in part, in New York. The old AT&T building in White Plains stood in for the old Post headquarters in DC (which was demolished), and Washington’s streets were re-created, complete with vintage automobiles, on a street in Brooklyn. While the NYC area is notoriously pricey for hotels, good deals are available, and we like The Look Hotel, Red Hook, an Ascend Hotel Collection member (the Ascend brand always delivers freshly designed yet homey properties), and the Cambria Hotel & Suites White Plains Downtown. ATLANTA, GA Baby Driver was shot in the streets of downtown Atlanta, including a car chase on the Buford Highway Connector southbound, and the historic Pullman Yard. Atlanta lodging includes  Inn at the Peachtrees, an Ascend Hotel Collection member, a good base of operations for exploring the city’s historic sites.

Inspiration

George Washington, Whiskey Maker

When you visit Mount Vernon, the estate that George Washington retired to after what you might say was a rich career in politics and the military, you learn many things about his life in retirement, to say nothing of life in Colonial-era Virginia in general. You learn he chose bold color paints for the walls, particularly greens and blues, because it signified his wealth. (As if the sheer size of the place—11,028 square-feet—didn’t signify it enough.) You learn how the staff cooked and smoked meat, how tradesmen like blacksmiths and coopers worked, and the rhyme and reason for the naturalistic landscape design. But you learn most of this from plaques and tour guides.   VISIT WASHINGTON'S DISTILLERY AND GRISTMILL But things are a bit more hands-on and, let’s call it multi-sensory, three miles from Mount Vernon at the George Washington Distillery and Gristmill. Lest you think there's not be much left for a victorious Revolutionary War general and founder and leader of these United States to achieve, this is where he reinvented himself yet again. Under the watch of James Anderson, his farm manager who’d distilled grain in his native Scotland, George Washington became the nation’s first commercial distiller. As the story goes, the General was hesitant, calling liquor-making “a business I am entirely unacquainted with,” but he was encouraged by Anderson’s credentials and, of course, his financial forecast, noting that considering “the knowledge of [distilling] and the confidence you have in the profit to be derived from the establishment, I am disposed to enter upon one.”    A CAREFUL RESTORATION The building, a recreation of the original that burned down in 1814, clocks in at 75 by 30 feet. That’s tiny for a working distillery by today’s standards but in the 18th century, it was the biggest of its kind. There were five stills and he produced 11,000 gallons of spirit—mostly rye, sometimes brandy—in a good year. This undertaking established the Founding Father as a savvy entrepreneur and businessman, a nice addition to the resume of a political and military trailblazer. The reconstruction, directed by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a trade group, carried a $2.1 million price tag and involved years of archaeological research. The ground was broken in 2001 and the project was completed and opened to the public in 2007, complete with handmade copper pot stills modeled on the 18th-century originals.  A WORKING DISTILLERY And yes, they do make whiskey on the equipment—rye and fruit brandies, just like George Washington made. Re-creating the original recipe was also part of the grand plan. Dave Pickerell, former Master Distiller at Maker’s Mark and longtime consultant to the country's ever-evolving crafts spirits industry, did some sleuthing, digging up historical ledgers and distilling manuals to determine the recipe, or as close as an approximation as one can hope to get. The functional distillery is a time capsule and tribute to old-world engineering. There was, of course, no electricity to power the machines. Everything is powered by open flame and muscle. In a separate building, the mighty working gristmill grinds the grains as they come in from the farm, just like it did hundreds of years ago. It's a mesmerizing Rube Goldberg-esque contraption and in a neat twist, it's the same milling equipment that received the third patent in the nation. George Washington signed the patent document during his tenure as president.   TAKE A TOUR Actual distilling only takes place a few times a year, but on any given day, you’ll see men and women in colonial garb strolling the grounds. They offer tours that explain every bit of the distillation process. Tours are included in the price of a Mount Vernon admission ticket. 

Inspiration

5 Reasons Why Chinese Food in America Is Better Than Ever

No matter where you live (and eat) in the United States, chances are you’re no farther than a short drive from a spot where you can get wonton soup, scallion pancakes, and General Tso’s chicken. Chinese restaurants, it seems, are as ubiquitous as pizza parlors and Irish pubs. And while Peking duck will never fall out of fashion, a new crop of chefs are offering some pretty inventive, if not radical, twists on familiar dishes.  1. UPSCALE NOODLES You could make the case that David Chang started it all. The New York chef’s name remains synonymous with his first venue, Momofuku Noodle Bar, a lively, funky joint he opened the East Village in 2004 that famously offered modern versions of his favorite dishes from Chinatown’s gritty old-school noodle houses. Later came Momofuku KO (ko.momofuku.com), offering more polished selections, including Asian morsels enhanced with foie gras, truffles, and other global morsels. Now he’s gone on to open a veritable empire of clever Asian eateries—throughout New York but also in Sydney, Toronto, and Las Vegas. 2. A FRESH, GREENMARKET SENSIBILITY These days, though, Chang hardly has a monopoly on intriguing Chinese fare in Manhattan. A few years after Momofuku opened came RedFarm (redfarmnyc.com), a project by Joe Ng and Ed Schoenfeld, both notable figures in the New York dining scene. Today there are three outposts in the city. Billing itself as “Innovative, Inspired Chinese Cuisine with Greenmarket Sensibility,” the menu runs the gamut from dumplings that are a far cry from classic, what with they’re being shaped like Pac Man and those ghosts, to a full papaya/ginger/soy-sauce-marinated rib steak and the most New York-y eggroll you’ve ever seen: stuffed with Katz’s pastrami and served with honey-mustard and kaffir-lime sauce. 3. REGIONAL FLAVORS Chefs elsewhere around the country add their own regional accents, like Ryan Bernhardt, who opened TKO (tkotn.com) in Nashville in the fall of 2016. He brings a strong southern influence to his recipes, making creative use of pickles, porridge, buttermilk and other classic flavors. To wit: the kale salad, cruciferous veggie du jour, appears here adorned in shallots, cashews, crispy pork and chili vinegar. A buttermilk-dressing-slathered medley of broccoli, raisins, spicy peanuts and lemon. A cocktail list that leans heavy on rum- and rye-based drinks seals the deal.   In Atlanta, Chef Wendy Chang offers something not often associated with the deep south: soy beef and soy chicken. Herban Fix (herbanfix.com) is her airy and modern vegan restaurant, where she fuses traditional Asian tastes with all the wholesome elements frequently found in cafés in San Francisco and Burlington, Vermont. There’s Pan seared soy fish w. organic kale simmered in spicy curry noodle soup as well as a mushroom/quinoa/cherry tomato/kale. All the classic preparations are along for the ride, too—in vegan form, of course—like scallion pancakes and sweet and sour tofu.   4. WEST COAST INNOVATORS Regional obsessions play into the style at HRD (hrdcorp.com), a longstanding coffee-shop-style restaurant that bills itself as serving “global fusion” cuisine, but regardless of what you call it, it’s uniquely San Franciscan, as beyond the rice bowls, curry plates, and salads, the menu offers a wide range of burritos and tacos with inventive fillings, like spicy pork, organic tofu, and panko-crusted pork, each with kimchi and a few other eastern-leaning flavors. While we’re on the west coast, Portland, Oregon can always be counted on to throw some creative culinary mojo into the ring. We were particularly taken by Expatriate (expatriatepdx.com), a hip, dimly lit cocktail lounge with inventive craft drinks alongside a menu of inspired bites that fuse all sorts of global tastes and traditions. China meets the American South the Chinese sausage corn dog, a heat-fiend’s fantasy with hot mustard and “xxx death sauce.” Consider yourself warned. A tremendous nachos platter dubbed the Expatriot Nacho with a wink is a tremendous pile of fried wonton chips, thai chili cheese sauce, spicy lemongrass beef, crema, kaffir lime, and tomato salsa, and herbs. A feast for the eyes and the body.  5. DINER KITSCH MEETS ASIAN FUSION CUISINE Moving north, Joanne Chang broke the mold in Boston in 2007 when she opened Myers + Chang (myersandchang.com, pictured above), an eatery that blends American diner kitsch with a down-home Chinese style in terms of both food and décor. You can also spot Thai, Korean, and Vietnamese touches on the menu, which, in addition to a roster of noodles and familiar dishes, includes options like fish tacos with kimchee sesame salsa and fried chicken with ginger waffles, an elevated spin on the country classic. Chang told us she recommends Bao Bei (bao-bei.ca), a self-styled “Chinese Brasserie,” in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown. The small shabby-chic spot puts a premium on local, seasonal, organic ingredients and the thoughtfully designed menu blends Shanghainese, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese traditions, with a little French flare tossed in for good measure. The result: dishes like spicy noodles flat wheat noodles swimming in chili lamb mince, pork fat, sesame sauce, cucumber, and preserved yellow bean. Steelhead trout is adorned with crispy squash and cumin gnocchi, rapini, and velvety shiso butter clam sauce. A far cry from beef noodle soup, to be sure. And certainly only a hint of what's to come from this new generation of chefs.