Scouting Report 2007

JURA REGION, FRANCEMo Frechette: Founder of Zingerman's Mail Order, which sells artisanal food from all around the globe (zingermans.com) As the founder of the Zingerman's mail-order catalogue and website--entities within the Ann Arbor-based gourmet- food juggernaut--Mo Frechette is constantly on the lookout for artisanal food. Frechette combines visits to international trade shows with pilgrimages to farms in the surrounding countryside. "My trips usually involve long drives and a lot of getting lost," Frechette admits. One of his favorite revelations was on a cheese mission in the oft-overlooked Jura region in eastern France, about an hour's drive from Geneva. "It's sort of like Wisconsin crossed with Switzerland," Frechette says. "There are almost 200 different creameries making the main cheese of the region, Comté. And not many tourists." Frechette stayed in the town of Jougne ("in the middle of things, cheese-wise"), stopped by the cheese and wine shops in nearby villages like Les Hôpitaux-Vieux, and visited local cheese makers. The Fromagerie Marcel Petite at Fort de St.-Antoine particularly impressed him: "It's a giant underground fort built in the 1800s, now used to store some 60,000 wheels of Comté--there's almost nothing I've ever seen like it. Plus, the cheese is fantastic." How to get there: Hôtel La Couronne, 6 rue de l'Église, Jougne, 011-33/3-81-49-10-50, from $81; Fruitière des Hôpitaux-Vieux, 2 place de la Mairie, Les Hôpitaux-Vieux, 011-33/3-81-49-12-44; Fromagerie Marcel Petite, Fort de St.-Antoine, comte-petite.com, tours on Thursday $7.50, reserve with the tourism office at the Vallée des Deux Lacs, 011-33/3-81-69-31-21.  

PUERTO ÁNGEL, MEXICOClaus Sendlinger: President and CEO of Berlin-based Design Hotels, a collective of 154 hotels worldwide (designhotels.com) As president and CEO of Design Hotels, Claus Sendlinger travels about every other week--in other words, half the year. When asked the last four places he had been, he had to take a minute to try and remember (he recalled, in no particular order, St. Petersburg, Budapest, Vienna, and Rome). One place that Sendlinger won't soon forget was on the Pacific Coast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. "For Christmas, my wife and I went to Mexico for three weeks--the longest vacation I've taken since I left school!" says Sendlinger. After exploring the inland part of Oaxaca, they headed to the beach. "We did an area that's east of Puerto Escondido and west of Huatulco," he says. "It's right in between, where the mountains come down and reach the ocean. There are four little beaches, some with little hippie villages named after them: Mazunte, Zipolite, San Agustinillo, and La Boquilla." They stayed at Hotel Bahía de la Luna, just outside the town of Puerto Ángel. It has 11 bungalows right on the white-sand beach of La Boquilla. His friends Carlos Couturier Gaya and Moisés Micha, who own the Habita and Condesa DF hotels in Mexico City and the Básico in Playa del Carmen, had tipped him off about Bahía de la Luna. "They know Mexico so well, so I explained what I was looking for and they told us to rent a car in Puerto Escondido and drive." Sendlinger found it to be an incredibly relaxed (and relaxing) place--not just the hotel, but the entire coastal region--and he spent most of his time reading on the beach. "Early in the trip," he says, "I accidentally left my flip-flops at a bar, and I never even bothered to replace them." How to get there: Hotel Bahía de la Luna, 011-52/958-589-5020, bahiadelaluna.com, from $60.

WROCLAW, POLANDWalter Lowry: Founder of and buyer for TableArt, an L.A. store specializing in imported tabletop products (tartontheweb.com) Walter Lowry always loved window-shopping while on vacation, so about five years ago he gave up his legal career and cofounded TableArt, a Los Angeles store selling imported cutlery, linens, and objets d'art. Now Lowry hops around Asia and Europe for up to 10 weeks a year as its buyer. "I visit craftsmen in their studios to order goods from them directly," he says. "And I get to see neighborhoods that aren't in guidebooks." In February, Lowry visited southwestern Poland to meet with porcelain producers, and he became wild about the city of Wroclaw (pronounced vrot-swav), five hours by car from Warsaw. "It has the prettiest plaza in Poland and perhaps in all of central Europe," Lowry says. But the city's real draws--at least to Lowry--are the linens, clothing, and jewelry sold in the markets around Rynek Square and at nearby factory stores. "I saw jackets, with tailoring and styling that were comparable to those sold in the U.S. at Bergdorf or Barneys, going for only $100," says Lowry. And because tourism isn't a major industry in Wroclaw, "you get a sense of how Poland's creative types actually go about living their lives." How to get there: Sofitel Wroclaw, 67 Ul.sw.Mikolaja, 011-48/71-358-8300, sofitel-wroclaw.com, from $92; car rentals from $40 a day, autoeurope.com.  

YIRGALEM, ETHIOPIAGeoff Watts: Co-owner of and coffee buyer for Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, a Chicago coffee-roasting company (intelligentsiacoffee.com) Geoff Watts was fresh out of college when he began working as a barista for Intelligentsia in 1995, the same year the socially conscious coffee-roasting company launched in Chicago. In his current role as green-coffee buyer, Watts spends up to nine months a year sourcing coffee beans in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. "We want to change the culture from being a farmer to being an artisan," he says. Of the 18 countries where Watts works, Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, intrigues him most. "That's the same area where the human race originated. I guess it's a natural pairing," he quips. Small coffee farms and towns like Yirgacheffe, which lends its name to the coffee varietal grown in the region, dot a river valley about a six-hour drive south of Addis Ababa. "It's just beautifully wet, and the soil's really rich," says Watts. "You can tell the coffee enjoys being there." It's also ideal for hiking, horseback riding, cycling, and taking a dip in the hot and cold springs. Watts recommends Yirgalem as a regional base; travelers can stay at the Aregash Lodge, where the 10 round, thatched-roof tukuls (bungalows) are decorated with woven baskets and handcrafts typical of the local Sidama people. They have a strong tradition of consuming coffee and perform elaborate ceremonies when preparing and drinking it, especially in the presence of visitors. "The culture is fascinating, and the people are so friendly and gentle," says Watts. How to get there: Aregash Lodge, 011-251/46-225-1136, aregashlodge.com, from $34; car with driver from $130 a day, tourismethiopia.org.