Elephant Bistro sampler plate
A culinary oasis in food desert

A culinary oasis in food desert

In a food desert in Northwest Kansas, The Elephant Bistro & Bar has become a watering hole for foodies traveling 100 miles to enjoy the international flavors prepared with classical French methods of executive chef & owner Emily Campbell. When it opened in 2018, The Elephant was quite literally the third restaurant to open in the one-streetlight town of Hoxie, population 1,200, according to recent figures.  But Emily and her husband Doug had “big dreams” to bring a foodie oasis…

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Hobgoblin Gastropub Cocktail
A Hobgoblin Comes To Boston

A Hobgoblin Comes To Boston

“A hobgoblin,” explains hospitality entrepreneur Jamme Chantler, “is a term that loosely translates into house elf.” According to Scottish lore of which Chantler is so fond, the house elf would work in a castle or cottage in exchange for food. The idea of it tickled the fancy of Chantler, who with his partner and son Nick, opened Hobgoblin Gastropub in Boston’s historic Downtown Crossing neighborhood in July. In a restaurant bedecked with gargoyles and commissioned artwork depicting 1400s paintings of…

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Terraza Waterfront app and cocktail on the water
Latin-fusion fun in Idaho

Latin-fusion fun in Idaho

In the heart of potato country along the Spokane River a Latin American concept now flourishes. For its third season, the Terraza Waterfront Café has served unique, light Latin fare and creative cocktails in a sweeping, modern interior and exterior space along the river. Thirty year Coeur d’Alene resident Doug Johnson was inspired by his memories of his grandmother’s cooking, not to mention his Mexican genealogy, to introduce his upscale terrace restaurant, which was designed to feel like it’s in…

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L’Ecole No. 41 Winery Apogee
Lessons in agility

Lessons in agility

A leader in Washington state’s $9 billion wine industry, L’Ecole No. 41 Winery recently won its 17th international award for excellence. Named by Wine and Spirits Magazine as one of the world’s top 100 wineries for 17 years, the 30-year-old historic winery in Walla Walla Valley continues to differentiate itself in the most competitive packaged consumer goods space there is.  “At the height of pandemic L’Ecole was a different winery,:” says COO Ryan Pennington. “E commerce in the wine industry…

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Chapman’s Eat Market Soup
‘We were pot committed’

‘We were pot committed’

In Autumn 2019, restaurateur BJ Lieberman and his wife Brownwyn Haines were bursting with excitement as they left the restaurant life they knew and struck out for Columbus, Ohio. Leaving Washington, D.C. and the fine-dining restaurant scene where Lieberman had worked after culinary school, the couple had a well-planned dream to build a comfort food concept with the help of chef friends who were all-in on the idea. “We moved from Washington, D.C. in September 2019, and at the same…

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Epic Smokehouse Burnt Ends
Smoke & Brisket in Pentagon City

Smoke & Brisket in Pentagon City

The mystery of the perfect brisket was solved in smoke. The secret, says Benjamin Hall, GM of Epic Smokehouse in Arlington, VA is an overnight smoking technique which renders brisket and other proteins tender, succulent and full of flavor.  “We smoke about 90 percent of our meats overnight for about 12 hours over hickory and applewood,” says Hall, proprietor of a 10-year-old establishment which caters to Pentagon staff, guests of major hotel enterprises, and residents of the rapidly developing Pentagon…

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Jackson Rooftop
The Jackson Rooftop energizes revamped city

The Jackson Rooftop energizes revamped city

The River District of Elkhart, Ind., with its growing business, restaurant and housing sectors, is fast becoming a modern urban center replete with the best of city living. And poised above the changing cityscape with views of the St. Joseph River is The Jackson Rooftop, a full-service outdoor bar and patio concept leading the neighborhood revitalization with its vision of city dining and cocktail experiences. “The River District is undergoing a revitalization to bring big city quality architecture, office space,…

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Seattle Skyline
At the top of Seattle

At the top of Seattle

Looking through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the newly renovated rooms on the 29th floor of the Seattle Hilton, a hotel guest can gaze upon the tranquility of Puget Sound or the dizzying Space Needle from the comfort of a newly renovated room. This elevated perch is the result of a yearlong reinvention of top-floor public space into a more profitable executive suite of guest-rooms, says Seattle Hilton GM Heather McCurdy. “Our building has always had this amazing panorama of Seattle…

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Butcher & Bee Table
Butcher & Bee whirs and hums

Butcher & Bee whirs and hums

Butcher & Bee restaurant of North Carolina and Tennessee is abuzz with creativity and renewal taking it far afield from its origins as a gourmet sandwich restaurant and into full flower as a dining concept hailed by patrons and James Beard judges alike. Founded in 2011 by restauranteur Michel Shemtov, the original Butcher & Bee restaurant in Charleston, N.C. flourished in an off-the-beaten-path location as a wellspring for sandwiches so perfect, so satisfying that he likened them to gourmet meals…

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