Patricia Harris

From plastic penguins to a mist-producing tree, the art at 21c’s new hotel will entice you to stay…

When Cindy Hutson serves yellowfin tuna tartare at Ortanique, her restaurant in Coral Gables, Fla., it is pressed into a ring mold and topped with a layer of guacamole. But today Hutson is on Grand Cayman, and she is scooping the gleaming fresh tartare into crisp breadfruit cups. And because breadfruit is in season, she […]

For his love of water, not wine, Diogo Vaz Guedes, founder of the Aquapura hotel group, selected Portugal’s Douro River Valley as the location for his firm’s first resort. Vaz Guedes believes water is essential for relaxation, and he plans to build hotels in settings where a river, lake, or ocean defines the vacation experience. […]

The four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath residences at the Carnegie Abbey Club outside Newport, R.I., could never be mistaken for hotel rooms. Downstairs, dual-hearth stone fireplaces separate dining areas from formal living rooms. On the upper levels, expansive media rooms serve as hubs for family life. Furnishings throughout the homes are stylish but not precious—no need to hesitate […]

Northern Ireland is small—about the size of Connecticut—and the countryside begins just a few miles from Belfast’s City Hall. Travelers have a choice of staying in the capital or visiting on day trips from one of the bucolic retreats outside of town. The Merchant Hotel Belfast: In an age of stripped-down modernism, the Merchant is […]

A leaden sky portends cold rain as old-fashioned London cabs—Belfast’s Black Taxis—sit parked along the Peace Wall with their motors running. Billy Scott, the self-styled “breakaway red commando,” stands out from his peers in his shiny oxblood-colored hack. A short, pale, dark-haired man with a quick sardonic smile, Scott surveys the razor wire along the […]

As any restaurateurs would, Allison Vines-Rushing and Slade Rushing expected challenges when they opened their new establishment near New Orleans, but they could not have anticipated the natural disaster that devastated the city. Nevertheless, their restaurant, Longbranch, in Abita Springs, La., was up and running less than a month after Hurricane Katrina struck. Before they […]

To those foodies who ponder such matters, it seemed inconceivable that Philadelphia restaurant mogul Stephen Starr could lure Masaharu Morimoto from Nobu, Manhattan’s reigning Japanese fusion establishment, to the City of Brotherly Love, a less prestigious stage for a chef. But Starr did so in 2001 by promising Morimoto his own place. “At Nobu [owned […]

Bill Fischer, founder and president of Fischer Travel Enterprises in New York, advises some of the world’s most discerning travelers. His approximately 500 clients pay a $10,000 annual retainer (and a one-time membership fee, currently $50,000) for his guidance in selecting destinations and securing services and reservations. “For these clients,” says Fischer, “you can’t make […]

When isadore sharp opened the now-defunct Four Seasons Motor Hotel in downtown Toronto in 1961, he had no intention of creating the world’s premier hospitality brand. “My background was in real estate and construction,” recalls Sharp, the chairman of Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. “I was just trying to put a business deal together.” […]