Travel Guide

[ad_1]

(CNN) — Chefs Adam Bordonaro and Ryan Lory opened their first restaurant in 2019. Ardyn, an intimate, romantic spot in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, received immediate attention, with rave reviews from the media and diners and a packed dining room and bar, to boot. The two men have been close friends for seven years, meeting at Charlie Palmer’s Steak, where they both worked and staying in touch as the two walked parallel paths. Almost exactly one year after opening, all restaurants in New York City were shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, and Ardyn’s brief, shining run came to an abrupt halt. “The blood, sweat and tears were paying off. We were finally at a place where we’re going to make it here,” says Lory.Chef-partners Adam Bordonaro (left) and Ryan Lowry at their now-shuttred restaurant, Ardyn, in New York CityArdynDoomsday preppersAs ready as anyone could have been for the lockdown, Bordonaro and Lory were. “We saw it coming — Seattle had been hit hard four weeks before. This is not an ‘if’ question, but a ‘when’ question,” explains Lory.Their survivalist brainchild is a hybrid of a fine-dining tasting menu, a meal kit and gallows humor with a side of silliness: The Doomsday Dinner Party, which starts at $600 for four.Prepped dishes ready to be packaged and deliveredArdyn”We wanted to do something that would allow someone at home to replicate the restaurant’s quality and spirit in their home,” says Lory.The meal kits include seven courses — the current menu will be changed next week — with citrus-cured Hamachi, charred broccoli and 45-day dry-aged Wagyu ribeye from Snake River Farms. The meals come ready to assemble, heat and plate, so nothing gets gross en route. There are detailed instructions, YouTube videos, a music playlist and an upsell to add bottled cocktails and wine pairings.The final piece of frivolity — the meals are delivered by two tuxedo-clad people wearing bunny masks. Because why not? The duo wanted to create something memorable and special, exclusive and strange to help break up the monotony of every day.One of the Doomsday Dinner Party delivery bunniesArdynSo far it’s been a very successful gambit. So much so that Ardyn is launching their Doomsday Dinner Party experience in the Hamptons this month.Giving back Keeping themselves afloat during this unprecedented downturn for the restaurant industry was not the only thing on their minds. “Everybody is getting whacked right now,” says Lory.In partnership with the March On Foundation, the Ardyn team has created a nonprofit called the COCO Fund (Covid Community Fund) a nonprofit that will be funded by donations and 15% of the proceeds from the Doomsday Dinner Party series. The fund aims to assist those in the restaurant, event and hospitality industries, whose workers are among the hardest hit by the pandemic.Bordonaro and Lory are taking this situation very seriously, and neither is sure yet what the future holds.”We could not have envisioned a more ominous and terrible situation for the industry to be in,” says Lory. “We don’t want people to think ‘this is the end of the world,’ but this is doomsday for restaurants. This is going to be an everlasting change to the restaurant industry. No doubt.”

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

(CNN) — It’s safe to say no one in the world is sitting down to a three-plus hour, eight-course dinner costing hundreds of dollars at any of the top fine destinations around the globe.The pandemic’s stronghold has all but made it impossible for luxury restaurants to keep doing what they were doing prior to the shutdown.On Wednesday night, however, one of the world’s best restaurants, which (temporarily) closed its doors when New York City pressed pause, did a 180. Three Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park, known for providing diners with a luxurious, unparalleled dining experience, among the most memorable in the world, is reincarnating itself. Starting Thursday, it will use its resources to become a food commissary to support New York City’s first responders and others in need.On Wednesday night, in an Instagram posted on his personal page, Daniel Humm, chef and owner of Make it Nice hospitality group, announced plans to turn the lights back on and help NYC weather a storm he thinks is just beginning.”Starting today, we have turned Eleven Madison Park into a commissary kitchen with the goal of producing thousands of meals per day for those who are working in the front lines and those who are deeply effected by the current crisis,” Humm wrote on his Instagram featuring a dark, empty kitchen.The pandemic sweeping the world has been an especially dark time for high-end restaurants, many of which quickly pivoted to take out and delivery — alcoholic beverages to-go included — keeping a bare-bones staff and trying to stay afloat.Not all Michelin-starred restaurants attempted the shift. And, indeed, a restaurant such as Eleven Madison Park, where the price of dinner includes otherworldly hospitality and just the right amount of guest coddling, might have struggled to make a smooth transition to takeout.The economic consequences that posh restaurants have to contend with because of their standstill status are dire, says Hillary Dixler Canavan, the restaurant editor for the global food site Eater.Eleven Madison Park has partnered with a local nonprofit to serve food to first responders.Jake Chessum”The high-end restaurants that are closed are bleeding cash right now,” she says. “In the US, they haven’t gotten economic relief from the government yet, and while some may get cash reprieve by pivoting to a takeout model, broadly speaking, to-go food at upscale restaurants isn’t profitable unless you do high volumes. These places weren’t designed for pick-up and delivery.”As some mid-range restaurants struggle to serve customers during this uncertain period and as more upscale dining destinations opting for an all-out closure, dates of reopening TBD, Eleven Madison Park’s shift is noteworthy.To bring the commissary kitchen to fruition, the restaurant has partnered with Rethink Food NYC, a non-profit that upcycles excess food to distribute meals to underserved communities in NYC.At this time, NYC’s underserved communities includes the men and women on the front lines of the pandemic and individuals who’d typically rely on food banks, many of which have closed due to health concerns around Covid-19. Many doctors and nurses and other hospital staff are staying in Manhattan hotels, many of which have also transitioned from one day accommodating tourists to the next providing a safe, clean space for first responders.Eleven Madison Park is making approximately 2,000 meals a day, which Rethink is picking up and delivering to both hospitals and New Yorkers in need,” Rethink executive director of strategic initiatives Meg Savage tells CNN. As soup kitchens around the city are closing, Savage says Rethink is scaling operations in response so they can serve more food to more people who need it.Eleven Madison Park could not be immediately reached for comment, but the response, according to Humm’s Instagram has been overwhelming. Less than 24 hours after making the announcement, Humm’s post had received over 21,000 likes and over 1,000 supportive, praising comments.Shivani Vora contributed to this story.

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

Find out why this stunning archipelago is a diver’s paradise.

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

From the abundant wildlife to one of the world’s rare pink sand beaches, here’s why the island nation is a great spot to visit.

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

Delhi (CNN) — India has 22 official languages. But the real beauty isn’t just in hearing them spoken — it’s in seeing them rendered in script.Scribes sat on the steps of the Jama Mosque putting pen to paper. They chatted, they sipped tea and, on some days, visitors came to watch them work. The minarets of the decorative mosque still tower over the market, but now only a handful of artists remain.One of them, renowned calligrapher and New Delhi native Qamar Dagar, is fighting to keep the tradition alive in an increasingly digital era. “India was a hub of Perso-Arabic, Sanskrit, Pali and many ancient calligraphy in different scripts once upon a time, ” she says. Tucked away in Old Delhi, the bookshops of Urdu Bazaar display some of the finest examples of calligraphy, according to Dagar. Many sell religious texts, which are often ornately handwritten to signify the author’s dedication to learning. It’s not a coincidence that faith and handwriting are so closely linked. Qamar Dagar is fighting to preserve the vanishing art of calligraphy in India.CNN”Calligraphy is a spiritual practice,” Dagar explains, “because it allows one to understand oneself through this medium, and to help learn how to discipline yourself.”It is also a form of self-expression. Dagar uses an abstract style — called pictorial calligraphy — that combines lettering and imagery to reveal her personal understanding of the words depicted.”It’s really a sharing of… my life in a way, of how I look at things, of my emotions. Because art is all about emotions,” she says.But simply promoting her own work isn’t enough. Dagar aims to protect the livelihoods of Delhi’s remaining calligraphers as well.In 2017, Dagar received the Nari Shakti Award — the highest civilian honor for a woman in India. Courtesy India Ministry of Women and Child DevelopmentShe created an organization called the Qalamkaari Creative Calligraphy Trust, which organizes events for artists to share their work with the public. In 2017, she received the Nari Shakti Award, which is the highest civilian honor for a woman in India. Dagar is also passing on her own knowledge to the next generation. She holds three-day workshops with young people at schools and leads calligraphy sessions at the Andaz Delhi Hotel to introduce tourists to the medium. “Now, people are realizing the importance of [calligraphy] and what India can contribute to this field,” she says. “There is no dearth of talent here.”

[ad_2]

Source link

[ad_1]

San Rafael Waterfall on the Coca River was a prominent tourist attraction for the country, and according to NASA, drew tens of thousands of people every year. The water dropped 150 feet into a crater-like opening on the other side. Now, the iconic waterfall is gone, replaced by three streams, NASA said. All tourism to the site has been closed and it no longer appears on the country’s travel website. Experts at the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) in Ecuador believe the event happened in early February upstream, and diverted the current river pattern underground. Shortly after, MOE technicians said they inspected the waterfall and reported “possible undermining of the river’s path, prior to the fall of the waterfall.” However, they could not determine an exact cause at the time. There is some discrepancy over if it was a natural phenomenon, or caused by construction of a hyrdoplant on the river. The Ministry of Tourism does not plan to reconstruct the falls, NASA said.

[ad_2]

Source link