David Landsel

Winter in Idaho

2012-03-06T23:29:00.000-08:00

Looks kinda like this. Snapped just south of Sun Valley on a February afternoon.

Me gusta. Mucho.

2012-02-14T23:29:00.000-08:00

This. This is one of the best things you will eat all year. And it will only run you about $3.75. What it is: A house-style leche de tigre shot with quail egg and tasty sea urchin at Cebicheria Erizo, a casual-chic seafood joint in Tijuana. Yes, that Tijuana, which, if you can believe, is home to one of the continent's freshest and most exciting dining scenes just now. (If you follow the Twitter feeds of food world bigs like Tony Bourdain and Rick Bayless, you likely have heard them raving. Believe every word.)

Thanks to bad branding and border hassles, crowds have yet to materalize; the top tables (Mision 19, El Taller, others) are easy to snag and prices are often surprisingly low. At Erizo, my party of four ate every kind of local seafood we could think of, from cold, sweet kumiai oysters to earthy octopus a la brasa to spicy shrimp aguachile. Oh, and tacos too -- tuna chicharron, marlin y mas. That plus tons of local beer and a fair few pisco sours (they went well with the ceviches, which I forgot to mention) cost just $120, including tip. A truly outstanding restaurant, just $5 by taxi from the border gate. If you're anywhere in Southern California and hungry, this is a meal well worth the detour.

For more on Tijuana, read my 8/11 feature in the New York Post.

Go green

2012-01-21T23:03:00.000-08:00

It's not exactly the shopping malls of Orchard Road or the lanes of Chinatown, sure, but one of my favorite places in Singapore is easily the remote Southern Islands, a cluster of green dots mostly given over to rather unkempt parkland, accessed via ferry or bumboat from the docks behind the glittering Marina Bay Sands complex. A few miles, a few bucks and suddenly, you're in as close to solitude as one may be able to find in this miniscule city-state.

Wall art

2012-01-17T19:59:00.000-08:00

One of Austin's finest features is the ample supply of open space. Even after the terrible drought that seems to have spared little of Texas, a serious hike along the miles-long Barton Creek Greenway, extending south / southwest from Zilker Park, is an absolute must. At its core, there's that beautiful Hill Country landscape in a canyon-like setting, but everywhere you go, there are touches, like these graffiti murals where the creek passes under the 360 Freeway, serving to remind you that this is for sure still the city of Austin.

Layered performance

2012-01-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

The view today from Route 118 north of Fort Davis, looking south past Marfa toward the Chinati Mountains. How terrific is West Texas. Really.

Winter comes to Platte Clove

2011-12-29T19:18:00.000-08:00

Platte Clove Road is a notoriously steep (1,200 vertical feet in 1.4 miles) shortcut off New York's Catskill Escarpment. The road -- often barely one lane wide and offering precious little guardrail to keep you from plunging to your death -- is only seasonally maintained, for reasons which become obvious the first time you drive it. In winter, threatening signs keep everyone but the most experienced local drivers away, meaning that until April 15, it's an outstanding place for a walk. (Wear hiking boots.)

Frankly speaking

2011-12-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

Of the very best things about where I live is proximity to Bard, one of the country's more adorkable little liberal arts colleges. Scattered about a handful of backroads above the Hudson River not far from the Kingston Bridge, one of the great charms of the campus is the architectural diversity -- an stylishly-renovated 1800's farm house here, a Frank Gehry-designed performing arts center (The Fisher, pictured above) there. It's like a mini-Disney Hall (oh, let's face it, it's like a mini-everything Gehry has ever done, pretty much), hiding out in the forest. Too cool.

Beyond the beignet

2011-12-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

In New Orleans, it used to be all about the simple, square beignet, dusted with powdered sugar. These days, there's competition, and it comes in the form of this Maple Bacon long john, which you'll find under the glass at Blue Dot Donuts, a cop-owned joint up on Canal Street in Mid-City. No hard feelings, Morning Call in Metairie (long my go-to around here for beignets), but I think I've found a new love.

The chill spot

2011-10-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

The landscape of the Shawangunk Ridge -- a remarkable natural oddity located just an hour or so north of New York City -- never fails to inspire. Hiking here is a real thrill -- particularly around the ridge's lonelier, higher corners, where forest typical to the region gives way to this spare and unusual mix of flora, springing out of the silver-white rock iconic to the ridge and up to a massive sky. Gives me goosebumps, every time.

Going home

2011-10-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

My hometown of Kingston, New York is an imperfect but comfortable place, a crossroads -- one foot in the green and pleasant land that is the Hudson Valley, the other in the wild and wonderful Catskills. I was desperate to get out as a kid. Now I kind of love it. The city's historic Rondout section always looks nice, but this rainbow really pushes it up a notch or two.

Wide open spaces

2011-09-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

One of best things about New York is how much open land there is, so close to the madness. Because we are not really a car culture here, many city residents forget how quickly you can get out into the wilds, once you cross the George Washington Bridge. To me, a morning jaunt along Seven Lakes Drive in Harriman State Park is as essentially New York as yellow taxis and the Empire State Building. (PS, How great is it that just twenty miles or so from town, you've suddenly got to watch out for black bears?)

At summer's end

2011-09-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

Shore Road, Provincetown. As a native New Yorker, my allegiance has always been with our own incredible beaches -- The Hamptons and Fire Island in particular. But a visit to Cape Cod last week, featuring perfect post-Irene weather and no crowds (the week before Labor Day's often like that), turned out to be a serious test of loyalty.

The calm after Irene

2011-08-30T04:59:00.000-07:00

After the storm came the sun. Central Park, New York City, August 28th 2011 @ 6:00 p.m.

Happy place

2011-06-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

Between San Diego and Tijuana, two of the largest cities on the continent, miles of nothingness. A rare and beautiful place. If a little polluted. (But who's swimming.)