Zen in New York

After the frenetic first few days of New York market week, we have discovered our own private Shibumi. Trevanian would be proud. We have therefore decided, after spending numerous hours reliving other people’s best of New York lists (and usually being sorely disappointed), we would prescibe a few of our own favorite old and new haunts to the greatest American city.

First the rest, rejuvenation, and solace of the perfect nights sleep. One can go for the soaring classical neo-metropolis of the Four Seasons (Cary Grant should be your bar mate), the picture perfect Central Park-side Ritz-Carlton (would you like a carriage ride with your croissant?), Gramercy Park’s dark lux glam (a private key to the park, for your pleasure), ultra-mod gravity defying Mandarin Oriental (coolest thing in the world swimming a mile up in the sky), or the brooding hypercool of the Bowery (remember to step over the derelict bum, while sidestepping the paparazzi).
Our current residence is the Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca. Thus to the zen of the title. Built of reclaimed lumber, handmade brick and furnished like your favorite apartment, this hotel could truly be called your home away from home. Even the pool is housed in a painstakingly hand wrought ancient Japanese barn – no nails to be seen. Floating on water in this lantern lit room is as close to heaven as I wish to venture.

Too expensive you say? Ah, but this is New York, still a steal compared to the other great worldly cities like Paris, London, Moscow, and Rome. So next time, pull out the plastic, rack up some frequent flyer miles and plop yourself into a little slice of the big apple.

Argentina: A Few Of Our Favorite Things

Well, it’s been a week back in reality. We leave you with a selection of our favorites.

New world hip latin cool with classic old world European elegance.
Steaming hot empanadas (San Juanino).
Tender pampas-fed beef (La Cabana).
The best meal ever (La Bourgogne).
Exquisite cheap malbec (Catena).
Magnificent awe-inspiring Iguazu falls.
Alvear Palace’s grand hotel and graciously accommodating staff.
Shopping antiques (Defensa street, San Telmo).
Shopping cool (Honduras street, Palermo Soho).
Hand stitched Polo and leather goods (Arandu).
One site not to miss: Recoleta Cemetery.

Let’s Talk Food and Drink

Argentines love eating. Similar to Parisians a great deal of their social and political life involves a table with conversation. The selection is endless, but the main staples arise from the culinary best of Spain and Italy. A couple of our favorites include:

1. Parrillada (mixed grill): nothing like a sizzling asado (barbeque grill) at the entrance of a restaurant to rev up your appetite. As we stated before, the steak is superb (free-range and fabulous). This is not a country of vegetarians.
2. Empanada: a tasty turnover filled with ground beef, ham and cheese, chicken or just about anything else. Comes either baked (al horno), the best way, or fried (frito).
3. Pizza and ice cream (helado): are particularly good secondary to the Italian influence.

Now drink is another story. Mendoza is the premier wine region and Malbec the definitive Argentine wine. Given the current devalued Peso a great bottle can be had for 10 – 20 dollars. For an even greater experience try one from Bodega Catena Zapata, Achaval-Ferrer, or Cheval des Andes which are among the worlds best. San Juan is famous for its Syrah and the area around Cafayate for its white (torrontés).

Coffee lovers have a place to die and call heaven. Even the little hole in the wall places on the side streets have an excellent espresso machine. An espresso with a drop of milk is café cortado – the best in my opinion. Starbucks has invaded Argentina, but if you want a more local similar experience try Havanna. Nothing like an alfajores (cookie-type sandwich) with dulce de leche (creamy caramel) filling while people watching around the square.

This would not be complete without a discussion of mate (pronounced mah-tay). More that a simple drink, mate is a social ritual. Yerbe mate is the dried, chopped leaf of Ilex paraguayensis, a relative of the common holly. The cebador (server) fills the mate gourd with yerba, then hot, not boiling, water from a pava (kettle). You then sip it through a bombilla, a silver straw with a bulbous filter at its lower end that prevents the yerba leaves from entering the tube. And the taste…like wet hay, I guess it’s an acquired thing.

The Mission

We flew an hour and a half up to the Argentine/Brazilian border today to the most magical setting: Iguazu falls. The magnificent falls stretch through the rain forest engulfing the sky with a perpetual mist, birthing rainbow upon rainbow with the glint of the sun.

Myth has it that an Indian warrior named Caroba infuriated the forest god by escaping with a young maiden named Naipur with whom the god had become infatuated. Enraged, the god caused the riverbed to collapse producing a line of precipitous falls over which the lovers fell. Naipur turned into a rock at the base, Caroba survived as a tree overlooking his fallen lover. The thunderous torrent is quite breathtaking with walkways both over and under the cascades. Most famous is Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat) – remember that great opening scene with the priest tied to a cross going over the falls in “The Mission”?

Well, the sun is setting, time for some Malbec, tomorrow its back to the city and more last minute shopping.

The Flea market

The Sunday San Telmo market marked the start of our buying extravaganza. Chandeliers, glassware, and silver were the hot items of this mart. Reminded us a bit of the Porte de Vanve market in Paris. Small stalls one after another sparkled in the morning winter sun (although winter here the last few days is a quite pleasant 65 – 75 degrees). Bric-a-brac heaven! Surrounding the square are numerous higher end and much more expensive antique shops – great stuff, just too pricey.

Today we toured the more northern cities of upscale San Isidro and tranquil Tigre. This was historically the summer playground of the portenos (local BA natives). Nestled overlooking the Rio de la Plata this kind of resembles a Spanish Hamptons. Inland this area also houses the furniture factories and wholesalers – more difficult to do business, but definitely worth the effort. Take your own guide or translator to facilitate the deals. After a leisurely river-cruise (island deltas and river houses could have been from backwoods Louisiana) we headed back to the city to do some tourist shopping along Florida Street (imagine Times Square as a mile-long pedestrian street). Tonight it’s early to bed, got to get up at 5am tomorrow for our flight to Iguazu. More on that next time .

Argentina third world…my empanada!!

After two days of traversing uber-wide boulevards, strolling quaint cobblestone byways, and eating way too much steak (pampas-fed beats hormone-infused any day) we have decided that Buenos Aires is an amalgam of the best of France, Spain, and Italy. Where else can you view an exquisite chateau, while eating a taco, having just downed an espresso?

Food in Argentina is great and cheap. You can eat and drink yourself sick at an excellent restaurant for about twenty dollars. I’m talking steak and a bottle of top shelf Malbec.

Too much to tell you in one short blog. I think I will leave you with a magical image that is now burned in my brain forever. We have always had a thing for cemeteries. Living previously in New Orleans, the cemetery was always a mysterious venue of crypts, sarcophagi, and mausoleums. Bonaventure cemetery in Savannah is a place of majesty and mystery, a combination of oaks, palms, and tributes to the dead. Nothing compares to Recoleta Cemetery. This morning’s thick fog dusted the entryway, a cool breeze rustled the Patagonia pine fronds, the banyan tree limbs thrust almost horizontal eerily creaked while the staccato rasp of pigeons filled our ears. This place is amazing. Imagine row after row of exquisite monuments and statuary – all clearly expensive, some probably priceless. Within each lies a noble family’s tribute to its heritage, truly amazing. Eva Peron was finally laid to rest in this cemetery after an apparently prolonged and bizarre journey after her death.

Okay, enough for now. Tomorrow we will fill you in on our amazing finds at the flea market of San Telmo. Stay tuned.

Next stop......Argentina

Argentina, our next fantastic adventure begins today. The land of wonders (Iguazu Falls, Tierra del Fuego), wine (seductive Mendoza), food (world’s best steak), shopping (San Telmo), and the intoxicating, gyrating, insomniac Buenos Aires is in our crosshairs. Just a short ten-hour plane ride to the new “next” great place.

Over the next week, we plan to shop, trek, eat and drink our way across the landscape and invite you to come with us – this time at least in the blog-sense. With the only world currency worse than ours, the Peso is the new dollar. So wake up your travel bug , pour yourself a glass of something sinful, cozy up to your computer and follow our journey.

My Dinner with André

Fabulously fashionable, fiercely fantastical, fanciful, formidable, yet always sweet as key lime pie.

The Cisco Brothers are Coming! The Cisco Brothers are Coming!

Hold your horses gunslingers, this isn’t the famous outlaw with his sidekick Pancho. The Paris Market is proud to welcome our newest furniture and upholstery line – Cisco Brothers.

Based in Los Angeles, Francisco Panedo is widely regarded as the best in the business. Cisco developed his furniture with superior craftsmanship, cutting-edge style, and unparalleled value. The closely-knit family atmosphere of the company nurtures uncommon client loyalty.

In 2006, Cisco developed the Inside Green method of construction and became the first designer to create 100% FSC Pure sustainable upholstered furniture. The company moved exclusively to FSC Pure certified woods on upholstered furniture, using reclaimed hardwoods for a collection of stunning case goods and the use of water based glues and environmentally friendly detergents to wash all fabrics. The result is furniture that looks, feels, and even smells fantastic. Naturally antibacterial, this stuff is even good for your health.

Today Cisco Home has six retail showrooms including a gallery at ABC Home Furnishings in NYC, the acclaimed LA Design Center in Los Angeles and soon The Paris Market and Brocante in Savannah.

The Spider, the Oyster, and the Twig

No this is not the beginning of some strange joke, rather these are just a few of the names swirled into wonderful, natural, and organic creations from our own lighting guru. Sometimes simple and discrete, sometimes riveting, complex and over-the-top, yet always enthralling, these unique masterpieces are available only at The Paris Market and Brocante.

The tidal marshes serve as a fantastic palette of inspiration for this aspiring artist. Gently working metals and incorporating natural materials, the finished products are individual, unique, one-of-a-kind designs sure to strike up conversation (in fact some of his creations have already appeared on various designer blogs – love it!).

Below are just a few examples of pure genius. All items can come in almost any size and shape, some just dictated by the constraints of nature. Have a rough idea of what you want? Send us a sketch, and before you know it, your idea will come to light – pun intended!