20 minute read
Round the mount to Mohonk
’ROUND THE MOUNTAIN TO MOHONK
BY JEREMY WAYNE
I am coming ’round the mountain, although I am not singing aye aye yippee. I am actually (confession time) singing along to K T Tunstall’s “Suddenly I See,” when — two miles past the gatehouse, where Kara has checked my credentials and asked me if I want valet parking or to self-park — suddenly I see Mohonk Mountain House. Actually, I don’t “see” Monhonk so much as Mohonk — a national historic landmark, just 20 miles northwest of Poughkeepsie — socks me in the jaw.
Located in the Shawangunk Mountains in New Paltz, Mohonk has been owned and operated by the Smiley family since its founding by Albert Smiley in 1869. The Mountain House’s façade runs an eighth of a mile and its architectural styles — the house and resort have grown organically over the last 151 years — run the gamut,from Heidi-like chalet, to Dutch gabled townhouse to Fantasy Island stone house, with chimneys, turrets and angular red roofs that would not look out of place in Tibet.
Talk about entering a different world. Mohonk’s modest front door gives no clue to what lies behind, although the nine waiting valets (what is the collective noun for valets? A bevy? A scad?) should have tipped me off that Mohonk was going to be big. Inside, it’s a city — which is to say a very wonderful city, lost in time,
Top: Mohonk Mountain House in summer. Right: Mohonk Mountain House main dining room. Photograph courtesy Mohonk Mountain House.
with an entrance lobby that manages at once to be vast and yet gemütlich; where the corridors radiating off the main hall are wide enough to hold an army; where the five-story central wooden staircase is an architectural wonder; and where, from the sublime to the ridiculous, the floral-patterned, 1960s-style, wall-to-wall carpet (and there are acres of it) will take you straight back to your grandmother’s, or greatgrandmother’s home.
The Smileys did not think small. The Lake Lounge, where breakfast is served, is still very much the hub of the hotel. It is large enough to host a full symphony orchestra and still leave room for a marching band, neither of which would be out of place here, since the lounge, and with the parlor above it are the settings for many of Mohonk’s entertainments, which are legendary. There is music and there are other arts. There is dance and there is magic. Every weekend of the year brings a new theme or festival to Mohonk — from swing dance to ballroom dancing, from yoga and Ugly Sweater Weekends to rock ’n’ roll and birdwatching. There are girlfriends getaways and garden holidays, “Chefs on the Mountain” and winetasting weekends. In midsummer, there is a six-week long Festival of the Arts. The only problem at Mohonk is not what to do, but how on earth to find the time to do it.
And then there is food. The dining room, with its peerless view across the Hudson Valley to the captivating Catskills beyond, has stayed virtually unchanged through five generations of Smiley
ownership. To be sure, it is the size of an airplane hangar, yet with fresh flowers on each table and good, starched linen, the vast hall feels surprisingly intimate. The staff serves half a million meals a year at Mohonk, so you could be forgiven for expecting some kind of institutional slush. But under Executive Chef Jim Palmeri and a partnership with more than 50 local farms, supplying the kitchen with the best local produce, “farm-to-table” is more than just an empty slogan here. (Fun fact: Ever since the French Huguenots planted some of the nation’s first grape vines in what is now New Paltz in 1677, the Hudson Valley has been chock-full of farms.)
Venture out on to one of Mohonk’s two lakefront terraces, with their long lines of rocking chairs facing the almost mystical lake and you will be transfixed. Breathe. In mid-March, the lake is still frozen, but now spring is here and this winter wonderland has been transformed. Mohonk is a sporting paradise, everything from tennis and archery to kayaking and tomahawk-throwing. There is rowing, paddleboarding, swimming — of course — in the lake or pool, as well as hiking and rock scrambling and, for the riders or would-be riders among you, horseback riding is always an option. Or you can venture to the other side of the lake and climb the mountain to Sky Top Tower. Constructed in 1923, as a memorial to Albert Smiley, the tower enables you to see six states from its lookouts.
All this activity calls for some serious relaxation, and it it’s no exaggeration to say that Mohonk is now considered by some to be the top resort spa in the country. (Condé Nast Traveller has called it just that.) With its 16 treatment rooms, along with relaxation verandas, a solarium, and outdoor heated mineral pool, eucalyptus steam rooms and dry rock saunas, this spa has it all — world class facilities combined with tip-top treatments and therapists. Though the spa menu is a cornucopia of sweet temptation, the way to go if you plan on having just one treatment is the signature Mohonk Red Massage, inspired by the indigenous red witch-hazel that grows on the property.
If retail is your preferred kind of therapy, Mohonk takes care of that too. The spa has one of the best spa shops I have seen, where you can buy many of the therapy products used, in addition to an inviting range of athletic and leisure wear. If you need a bigger selection, Mohonk’s main gift shop, off the main lobby near the library, is the place to head for. It is the size of a supermarket but infinitely more interesting.
Suddenly I see that my time is up and it is time to return to reality. But I’ll be back. If, like me, your travel plans are currently on hold, or you have already cancelled them because of the dreaded coronavirus, think about a short drive up the Hudson Valley this spring or summer. “Come Up for Air,” runs Mohonk’s clever advertising slogan. I’ll be doing just that.
For more, visit mohonk.com.
BY DEBBI K. KICKHAM AND WILLIAM D. KICKHAM, ESQ.
TRAVEL WANDERS Wouldn’t you love to travel on the world’s most luxurious cruise ship (once the coronavirus is all over)? Well, we just did, and we’re here to tell you not to miss the boat. Regent Seven Seas Splendor is one of the finest cruise ships ever to grace the oceans.
“We want to make sure that we deliver an unrivaled experience,” said Jason Montague, Regent Seven Seas Cruises president and CEO. “We’ve taken care of every single detail.”
At fares starting at about $1,000 per person, per night, the cruise includes (among other things) your pre-cruise hotel nights, a wealth of shore excursions (which are usually cost-plus on every other cruise ship out there), all gratuities and — are you sitting down? — all of your alcohol and spirits (top shelf, by the way, not bottom or middle). So, go ahead and order all the Champagne you want — and while you’re at it, get some caviar, too.
And here’s just a small example of what sets Splendor apart the Pogessi towels in the bathrooms. These exquisitely soft linens are the type of towels you just want to sink into and we heard many passengers rave about them. All of the suites also feature 1,000-thread-count bed linens.
“Seven Seas Splendor is the epitome of luxury perfected,” added Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., the parent company of Regent. Editor’s note: Debbi and William Kickham filed this story just as the coronavirus was ramping up. At present, the U.S. State Department is asking Americans not to travel by cruise ship.
The stunning Regent Suite on Regent Seven Seas Splendor features a $200,000 Hastens Vividus bed for the ultimate snooze. It’s the Rolls-Royce of rest. Photograph by Christina Moschetti.
“Every ship we launch gets even better, and Seven Seas Splendor is magnificent. The collaboration between the designers, engineers, craftsmen, hotel and restaurant teams and the crew onboard, all bring the renowned Regent experience to life on this beautiful ship. Seven Seas Splendor is a celebration of excellence, friendship, success and luxury.”
From stem to stern, she’s a beauty — as is supermodel Christie Brinkley — who was asked to be the ship’s godmother. In a special interview aboard the ship, Brinkley told me, “As godmother, I’m the ship’s goodluck charm.”
Brinkley looked stunning in a black gown with long sleeves, adorned with doublebreasted nautical buttons down the front. She attested to her love of the sea, ship’s anchors and all things nautical — even down to naming her daughter “Sailor.” “I wanted to instill in her a love of the sea,” Brinkley said. The entrepreneur proudly depressed a button, which sent a 1.5-liter Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut Champagne smashing against the ship’s hull to welcome the newest member of the Regent Seven Seas Cruises fleet symbolically. “My parents had cruised on Regent ships. If they were here today, they would be so excited and proud for me to be godmother to Seven Seas Splendor.”
HOW SUITE IT IS Helmed by Capt. Serena Melani, a 30-year industry veteran who’s the first woman to captain a newly built ocean cruise ship, the Splendor offers her 750 guests intimate, gracious accommodations as she sails to the
world’s most iconic destinations as well as less-familiar, hidden destination gems. The ship features more than 46,000 square feet of Italian marble and a $5 million curated fine art collection that is the most discerningly curated collection of museum-quality 20th and 21st century art on the seas. (Del Rio even hung a few of the paintings himself.) The 375 suites include nearly 52,000 square feet of balcony space — among the largest allocation of balcony space in the luxury cruise sector. The suites range from the 307-square-foot Veranda Suite to the lavish (and we do mean lavish) 4,443-square-foot Regent Suite.
The latter is in a league of its own. Its guests enjoy the ultimate comfort of a $200,000 Hästens Vividus custom handmade mattress and even a linen menu offering some of the world’s finest fibers.
Debbi plopped herself down on it, reveling in those high-quality linens, and could only dream of spending an entire night on this unprecedented mattress. Mary-Jean Tully — a travel agent/designer at the helm of Tully Luxury Travel of Toronto and one of the world’s most powerful forces in the travel industry — told us that she typically sleeps only five hours per night. But she spent numerous days in the Regent Suite — and happily slept 10 hours per night. Vive the Vividus. It’s the Rolls-Royce of rest.
The suite also features an in-suite spa retreat with a personal sauna, steam room and treatment area with unlimited spa treatments (sign Debbi up for a daily massage and blowout); unobstructed 270-degree views over Seven Seas Splendor’s bow from its 1,300-square-foot wraparound veranda; and a glass-enclosed solarium sitting area on top of the bridge for a captain’s view of the world’s most beautiful destinations. (Oh yes, complimentary teethwhitening treatments are also included.)
Guests in the Regent Suite also delight in first-class air accommodations, a dedicated personal butler to manage all the details of the guests’ experience and a personal car with driver and guide in every port. The suite sells for $5,500 per night and was virtually sold out over the next six months before the virus hit, Montague said. (He also pointed out that passengers who book the Regent Suite have access to a special private dining room located right off of Prime 7, one of the new ship’s specialty restaurants.)
We know given the current situation that the Regent Seven Seas Splendor remains a dream, and we feel blessed to have had this opportunity.
But viruses abate — and dreams do come true.
For more, call 1-844-4REGENT (1-844- 873-2381) or visit RSSC.com.
BAU-WOW!
BY BARBARA BARTON SLOANE
The Bauhaus Art School — one of the birthplaces of Modernism — was founded in Weimar, Germany in 1919 and operated until 1933. There students studied not only architecture but created everything from art to furniture. Throughout the year Germany is continuing to celebrate the school’s centenary. Recently, I had the once-in-alifetime opportunity to visit all the Bauhaus hotspots and explore exhibits and events marking the design center’s founding.
TRAVEL WANDERS FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION The Bauhaus (literally “Building House”) was founded by architect Walter Gropius with the idea of creating a “total work of art.” This style, which includes architecture and graphic, interior and industrial design, would later become one of the most influential currents in modern planning — clean, simple and contemporary. American architect Louis Sullivan, describing Bauhaus, coined the phrase “form follows function” — an apt description.
The first city in my Bauhausland tour was Karlsruhe. Lying at the northern edge of the Black Forest, the town was mainly built in a charming Neoclassical style. The Landesmuseum is a massive, bright canary-yellow structure that is one of the most important cultural history museums in all of Germany. The works encompass pre- and early history, ancient cultures, the Middle Ages, the Baroque period and the rest of art history into the 21st century. Later, I explored the ZKM Center for Art and Media, housing painting, photography and sculpture as well as film, video, dance and performance. The museum’s mission is to continue the classical arts into the digital age. Meanwhile, the Daimler Collection’s “Light as an Artistic Installation,” featured 50 artists and 80 works from the 1950s to the present.
PUBLIC HOUSING FOR THE AGES The next day I was excited to tour the Dammerstock Estate, an impressive example of new architecture created by Gropius and Otto Haesler, among others. Built in 1929 in just sevent months as an affordable housing complex, it united the aesthetic principles of air, light and hygiene. Created with radiant white plaster, gray plinths, flat roofs, uniform windows and, scattered throughout, relaxing benches, sculpture and gardens, Dammerstock works just as well today as it did when first conceived. As sprawling as it is, you feel welcomed and cozy, especially resting on a bench under towering linden and elm trees fronting the iconic Goethe House. This was Romantic writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s first home as a young man and throughout his life he kept it as his retreat and studio.
‘BAUHAUS GIRLS’ One of the best preserved medieval cities in Germany, Erfurt was first mentioned in the year 742. Among its treasures is the Alte Synagogue, beautifully maintained and dating from the 11th century. A little known fact: In 1919 more women than men applied to study at one of the first Bauhaus art schools, and this city’s Angermuseum sheds light on four of the “Bauhaus Girls,” uncovering the lives of Gertrud Arndt, Marianne Brandt, Margarete Heymann and Margaretha Reichardt and their work in photography, metalwork, ceramic and textiles.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES In April of last year, the New Bauhaus Museum opened in Weimar, showcasing a wide range of the world’s oldest collection of Bauhaus treasures. The building features a striking Minimalist glass cube over a concrete base with five levels of exhibit space. The city consists of 11 World Heritage sites. Two of the most engaging are the Goethe House, built in the Baroque style in 1709 and surrounded by a verdant garden, and the Friedrich von Schiller House, Above Bauhaus Museum, Weimar. Right: Bauhaus Masters House.
the first memorial to a poet in Germany. Wandering through its rooms, I had a real feeling for the everyday life of the Schiller family as I glimpsed a lovely teapot made of local porcelain resting on a small stove top.
In Jena, I lost my heart to the charming and amusing Auerbach House built in 1924 by Gropius for Felix and Anna Auerbach. As I climbed a hill to its crest, my first impression of the dwelling was of a floating asymmetrical building that seemed to change and reverse itself as I entered and moved through the rooms. Curiouser and curiouser, I found nothing symmetrical inside its walls, which were painted with 37 different gentle pastel colors — eye-catching and completely entrancing. These myriad tones illustrated how color relates to space and light and gave each room its own special ambience.
ONCE MORE — WITH FEELING During the Weimar Republic, the Moritzburg Art Museum in Halle was a significant center of contemporary art. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, this collection was suddenly regarded as degenerate and the works were vilified in “Exhibitions of Shame” that opened in 1937. Thus 146 of these works were ultimately lost and today only 14 have been reacquired. Happily when I visited, I was able to marvel at parts of the reconstructed lost collection — glorious masterpieces by Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, among others, from international collections in France, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, the United States and Japan.
The first historical mention of the city of Dessau was in 1213 and it became an important center in 1570. Fast forward to today: The Bauhaus Museum Dessau was recently opened to mark the school’s centenary. Until now, it was possible to view the prized collection of the Bauhaus Foundation only in a limited way, but the new museum provides a splendid showcase.
GOTHIC GRANDEUR Before bidding adieu to Bauhausland, I made sure I traveled to Magdeburg to view the oldest Gothic cathedral in all of Germany. First built in 937, the current Magdeburg Cathedral was constructed over a period of 300 years beginning in 1209. The cathedral is replete with art, both antique and modern. The statue of the Egyptian St. Maurice dating from 1250 was impressive and I was enthralled by a large relief of the “Ten Virgins,” depicting the importance of being spiritually prepared.
Departing the cathedral and ultimately Germany, I felt curiously ensconced in all things medieval. Yet, returning home with my heightened awareness of the Bauhaus, I was amused, not to say amazed, to notice — all around me — examples of this symbolic design. Walls painted in bright, primary colors, the mauve New York City skyline at dusk with its straight lines slashing across the sky, the Met Life Building itself (by Gropius) and the Seagram Building (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe). Thus, I didn’t actually leave behind this fresh, forwardlooking style at all. As I light a Brandt look-alike lamp and settle down in my Mies-inspired chair, the thought hits me: Bauhaus is part of my house.
For more, visit weimar.de/culture/sights/museum, haus-auerbach.de and bauhaus-dessau.de.
TERRENO, TRANSFORMED
BY JEREMY WAYNE
FOOD & SPIRITS WONDERFUL DINING Hartford-bound? Me neither — at least, I wasn’t until I heard about Tyler Anderson’s new, or shall we say newly styled restaurant, Terreno, on the first floor of Hartford’s Goodwin hotel. Located in an 1891 building on a sunny corner site, the handsome, boutique Goodwin has really impressed the couple of times I’ve visited.
I liked Porrón, too, chef Anderson’s Spanish restaurant, which sat alongside The Goodwin’s lively bar, Piña. Porrón closed one Friday in February to the disappointment of locals, who know their generic jamón (dry-cured Iberian ham) from their a corn-fed Ibérico (a variety of Iberian ham). But, with apologies to Julie Andrews, if ever there was a case of God closing a door and opening a window, it was here. Because, hey presto — the restaurant reopened just three days later, as Terreno amd Ibérico was swapped out for prosciutto, while Bar Piña remained unchanged and was still packing in the crowds.
Sleight of hand? Smoke and mirrors? Not really. Anderson, a
Californian with a clutch of restaurant awards to his name (Best Chef Northeast from the James Beard Foundation for the past seven years among them) and impeccable New England connections — to say nothing of a wife with a Sicilian heritage — has a knack of drawing various strands of his life together to create extraordinary food.
At Terreno, the menu reads a little like a 1980s Cali-Ital throwback, which is all to the good, since that cuisine, inchoate 40 years ago, had a verve about it that sprang from newness and enthusiasm. But it was also substantial, unlike the cuisines of “nouvelle” and “minceur,” which were to follow (and don’t even get me started on the Kale-Ital years). So, let’s start at the very beginning, to continue “The Sound of Music” theme, with a wonderful appetizer of meatballs. They are not your average meatballs, these pork and veal beauties, but studded with currants and pine nuts in a subtle agro dolce, the whole dish laced with creamy stracciatella. Another appetizer, a spin on ubiquitous tuna crudo, creates an umami-rich dish, spiked with a brown butter soy and prinked with bitter radishes.
If a rather joyless kale caesar, dropped a little lazily into the salad section, fails to excite, recovery comes quickly with Sicilian-style pizzette, baby pizzas that get the all-important relationship between a thin, crisp base and a cohesive topping just right. The tartufo, with ricotta and black truffle, is an indulgent couple of bites, while the Genovese, with braised beef, olives and raclette, is a celebration of the land, a successful three-way marriage of meat, fruit and dairy.
Pastas, “all fresh and made here” as the menu boasts, have a little way to go. Gnocchi replaces the more usual penne as the pasta (or here, the potato) to be paired with a vodka-infused tomato sauce. While I get the slightly strained relationship between the spud and the vodka, this was a rather plodding dish. Butternut squash
agnolotti, with brown butter and smoked chestnut, felt a little heavy, too, the agnolotti themselves lacking the essential lightness that lifts this pasta from an earnest parcel to a heavenly bite.
We fared better in the mains. A perfectly cooked roast chicken — yielding breast, crisp skin — received added zing from a vibrant salsa verde. Served with creamy white beans and punctuated with a glossy olive tapenade, the swordfish piccata was likewise a winner. And while these more genuine-seeming Italian entrées are augmented by half a dozen burgers and steaks, which sound a distinctly less Italian note, there’s no arguing with an affogato for dessert. This simplest of Italian dolci, soot black espresso poured over virgin white vanilla ice cream, has me there on Piazza San Marco every time.
With it elegant interior, comfortable, leather-upholstered modern Empire chairs and thoroughly Terreno has made flip from Spanish to Italian, obliging service, although I will sound a note of caution.
I remember, years ago, embarking on a Spanish course in Madrid and finding half the class was Italian. I was surprised. We uselessat-languages, native English speakers tend to think that if you can speak one of those dulcety-sounding Romance languages, you can speak them all. Not so.
The same goes for food. Just because you can cook one European cuisine, it doesn’t mean you can instantly cook another, which is not to say there is no common ground.
But the art of Italian cucina is not something simply learned from a book, although a book (especially one by Marcella Hazan or Anna del Conte) is a perfectly good place to start. It is something to be built up, practiced and nurtured, a ray of golden sun always added, along with the rosemary and oregano, to any dish. That is why I feel Terreno still has a little way to go, though I’ve no doubt it will get there with time — no herbal pun intended. For more, visit terrenorestaurant.com.
