Finding Alligators, Elvis, and Fine Dining at the Jefferson Hotel

The Jefferson has a rich and eclectic history. The Palm Court was originally an atrium, complete with a fountain full of alligators. Legend has it that travelers would buy souvenir alligators in Florida, and halfway home would have buyers remorse and leave them at the Jefferson. Back in the early 1900’s, the bellmen’s morning duties included finding alligators that had escaped the fountain and were lounging on the furniture.

There’s a mini-museum in the lower lobby with photographs of the many powerful and famous folks who have stayed at the hotel over the past century, including a great shot of Elvis. The hero of Jerry Jeff Walker’s famous song, Mr. Bojangles, was discovered here by a producer when he was waiting tables, and the Grand Staircase is widely believed to be the inspiration for the famous Rhett and Scarlett scene in the movie Gone with the Wind.

I love properties like this. It’s like time travel exploring all of the nooks and crannies filled with history, and it’s easy to imagine yourself living in that day and time. In addition to fun fact-finding, fine dining is de rigeur at a five-star hotel, so I had to try Le Maire.

Located off the Palm Court area, Chef Walter Bundy (formerly of French Laundry) is well on his way to turning Le Maire into a restaurant of similar reknown on the East Coast. I had a leisurely and gracious breakfast there and tried one of Bundy’s specialties, Eggs Jefferson. This is an Eastern Seaboard take on Eggs Benedict with two poached eggs, sautéed crabmeat, and fabulous hollandaise, and it was outrageously good. I didn’t have an opportunity to go back for dinner, but as they say on all the cooking shows, if you can cook breakfast well, you can cook!
www.jeffersonhotel.com

Learning Virginia Politics from a Bar Stool

Since 1895, the Jefferson Hotel has been “the” gentlemen’s bar. The lower lobby was the original hang out spot, and what used to be the front desk has been converted into TJ’s, a clubby-feeling bar and restaurant where all the politicos from the State Assembly hang out after sessions. Maybe they get inspiration from the life-sized white carrara marble statue of Thomas Jefferson in the Palm Court.

I popped in with a nice young couple I met, and we got to know each other over a cold Sierra Nevada…no Bud’s on this tap. After they left, I ordered a crab cake sandwich because there’s no better crab cake in the world than one from the Eastern Seaboard. My fellow Virginians know the secret is more crab and less cake…you just need enough egg and dry ingredients to loosely bind the delicious crustacean. It was so good that I forgot my cardinal rule of taking a picture of it before taking a bite!

While I was stuffing my face and groaning over the great remoulade that came with the crabcake, I couldn’t help overhearing the folks at the next table, dishing about that day’s session. One was a lobbyist and the other a reporter from the Washington Post, and I felt like I was in a scene from The West Wing.

My waiter pointed out a couple of assemblymen that were hanging out at the bar, and I felt like a real insider. Hey, I could have been Dee Dee Myers if I had been interested in going that route, but it’s much more fun, and less stressful, to learn about global politics by traveling.

Having High Tea Without Hats

Well, I’ve totally blown my “eating out” diet. I had the opportunity to stay at the historic Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Virginia and I fell off the wagon at teatime. This five-star property is a stones’ throw from the State Capitol, and has been genteely entertaining and accommodating our nation’s leaders and celebrities since the late 1800’s.

Elvis has stayed here, as have 11 Presidents, and a long list of the movers and shakers of the world. The hotel offers top-tier Southern hospitality in a grand setting. After checking into the sumptuous Governor’s Suite, my sister, Judy, and my two nieces Karen and Jenny, joined me in the lobby for an elegant afternoon tea.

Offered Thursday through Sunday afternoons, the tea is very popular and since seating is limited, you’ll need reservations. We were seated in a cozy nook overlooking the grand staircase and mezzanine, and our server Megan explained in detail the several different teas offered. I tried one of the hotel specialties, the Richmond Blend, a spicy black tea laden with cinnamon, orange peel and cloves that was taken from a Colonial Williamsburg recipe. Jenny had the traditional Jefferson Blend, an English blend of Keemun, Darjeeling and Ceylon, and Karen tried the light Ginger Peach.

Our three-tiered silver caddy held an assortment of finger sandwiches, two varieties of scones with Devonshire clotted cream (my favorite), and an assortment of tiny chocolate, hazelnut, and mango bite-sized tarts. There was a group of ladies who were decked out in their Sunday best, and all of them had on wide-brimmed, flower-laden hats…they were the epitome of modern day Southern belles, and we decided that the next time we have tea at the Jefferson, we would need to wear hats too. www.jeffersonhotel.com

Wishing for Spring

Nantucket in May is always a great idea, but especially so from the 14th to the 18th when the annual Wine Festival takes place. Now in its 12th year, the Festival is headquartered at the White Elephant Hotel on the harbor.

This year, several of Burgundy’s top winemakers will be on hand, as well as five vintners from Napa and seven from Stag’s Leap. In addition to the many tastings and wine/food pairing events, there will be tons of seminars, as well as the Celebrity Chef and Winemaker Auction Dinner and the Charity Gala. The signature event, the Grand Tasting, is held at the Nantucket Yacht Club.

You can get ticket and lodging packages in all sorts of combinations at www.nantucketwinefestival.com

There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

My mother used to always say, “You get what you pay for”, and last week was a testament to her wisdom. One of the oldest steakhouses in St. Petersburg, The Texas Cattle Company, has always offered customers a free birthday dinner if they show their driver’s license, so I took them up on that back in November. Unfortunately, my salad came with no vegetables…it was a bowl of yellowish iceberg lettuce…and my “medium” steak was bloody and cold. After a re-cook, it was still bloody and cold, but with a burnt crust on the outside. It was such a bad experience that, even though it was my free birthday dinner, the manager gave me a card to come back and try it again.

So last week, on my friend Mark’s birthday, we decided to give it another go. We both had the exact same experience…terribly undercooked steaks…crappy looking salads…sautéed mushrooms that were straight from a can and not really sautéed at all. Again, we had re-cooks and again they still weren’t cooked properly. The same nice manager was on duty and she once again offered me another opportunity to come back.

I’m not sure I’ll go back for a third time. Obviously, they have either a problem with the temperature of their grill or inexperienced line cooks or both. I applaud the excellent customer service that we received on both occasions from the manager, and from our good server, but this restaurant needs to address the consistency of their food. Even though our meals were “free”, I’m certain this must be a widespread problem. Mom was right…you get what you pay for, or in my case, what you don’t pay for.

Dieting on the Road

Every January, most of us vow to eat a healthier diet and lose some of that holiday weight. I actually find it easier to eat well on the road, rather than at home, as I’m so busy exploring fabulous places and meeting interesting people, that I don’t think much about food and don’t snack out of boredom.

So, I’ve decided to go on the “eating out” diet. I’m not going to buy groceries for a month, except for some coffee, fruit and cereal for breakfast. For lunch and dinner, I’ll go to a new place every day, whether that’s a gourmet take-out market, a Chinese restaurant, or even a fast food outlet. I’m going to try the new little French restaurant in my neighborhood and the Austrian restaurant, and I’m sure I’ll eat a Cuban sandwich or two along the way.

It may cost me a bit more than what I normally spend on grocery shopping, but it will certainly be a lot more fun than cooking all the time, and it won’t feel like a diet at all!

Happy New Year!

I would much rather listen to the Black-Eyed Peas than eat them. The tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day to bring good luck throughout the year seems to have originated in the South, where it’s thought that the eating the simple beans is a sign of humility.

I can agree with that as they pretty much taste like eating raw earth, so you can’t get more earthy than that. I made 15-bean soup with my leftover ham hock and there were a few of the lucky beans in there, fortunately somewhat disguised by the other 14 varieties of legumes.

Since there’s no portion required to get the “good luck”, I’ll assume I’m in good shape for 2008!