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Volume 5, Issue 42, October 16, 2007 |
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Here’s a disappointment for airplane aficionados: Boeing’s much-vaunted 787 Dreamliner, due to start deliveries in May 2008, has run into delays, and first flights scheduled for the rest of this year have been pushed back to Spring ‘08. That means the aircraft probably won’t be delivered until, at best, the end of next year, at least six months behind schedule.
Meanwhile, the much-delayed A380 superjumbo, which is off schedule by two years, is finally ready to take to the commercial skies and will make its first flight this month with Singapore Airlines. An eBay auction held for seats on the first flights netted more than $1.25 million for charity.
If you’re not one of those early flyers, you can still experience vicarious thrills by visiting the interactive Web site Airbus has established. A380Delivery.com has videos, articles and a photo gallery, and will provide live streaming coverage beginning Oct. 15 of the “final countdown” and delivery ceremony, to be held at the Airbus HQ in Toulouse, France. Videos of the first Singapore flights will also be posted as they occur. 
Again this year, Global Traveler invites you to enter our Global Traveler of the Year essay competition, sponsored by GT and Alitalia. Essays will be accepted online from Nov. 1 through Dec. 16. This year’s essay topic: In 200 words or less, tell us about your favorite place you have visited in the world, and why. One Grand Prize will be awarded: an Alitalia package for two to Milan, including Magnifica class tickets and two nights at the NH Hotel. The winner will also be invited to Global Traveler’s annual Awards Luncheon on Jan. 16 in New York City.
Northwest Airlines has announced that as of next March, it will fly between Portland, Ore. (PDX) and Amsterdam (AMS), nonstop. This marks the recent resurgence of Portland as a genuinely international gateway, which had for a while only remained international by virtue of short-haul flights to Canada. Today, PDX has nonstop flights not only to Canada but also to Japan, Latin America, the Caribbean and Germany. Northwest will codeshare with KLM and offer connecting flights via the Schiphol gateway.
The refurbished Nordica hotel in Reykjavik reopened last week under the Hilton banner. The Hilton Reykjavik Nordica has 229 guestrooms plus 23 executive rooms and three suites, high-speed Internet access and wireless connectivity throughout the hotel, a gourmet restaurant — Vox — as well as a spa and conference facilities. The Hilton Nordica is a short walk from the city’s historic harbor and has views of both the harbor and the cityscape. Rates start at about $456 a night.
Famous chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck is making his first entry into the nation’s capital with The Source, a three-level restaurant at the interactive news museum Newseum, adjacent to the Smithsonian on the National Mall. The Source’s ground-floor lounge offers “approachable” informal dining, from steak sliders to pizza, while the upstairs is devoted to fine dining, with Asian interpretations of cuisine using fresh food from the mid-Atlantic region — steamed black bass, roast suckling pig and more. There is also an extensive wine list and a private dining room.
Jet Airways, which began flying its first transatlantic flights, between Newark Liberty International (EWR) and Mumbai (BOM), in August, introduces daily service from New York’s JFK on Oct. 28. The new flights depart JFK at 7:55 p.m. and head to Delhi (DEL) via Brussels (BRU).
FR.OG (France Origine)
71 Spring St.
New York, NY 10012
tel 212 966 5050; fax 212 966 4484
www.frognyc.com
There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of French restaurants in New York City. Not so many, however, combine the look and taste of France and Morocco with the flavors of Lebanon and aspects of Vietnamese cuisine. Perhaps only a top chef such as Didier Virot, who trained under Jean-Georges Vongerichten and successfully handled the kitchen at New York’s popular AIX Brasserie, would attempt the combination.
But first, a few words about the restaurant’s name. It bothers me because of its pretentiousness, and I don’t understand why the co-owner/chef, or his partner, Phillip Kirsh, would want to use an acronym that sounds and looks so awful. Those thoughts aside, the restaurant offers an eclectic menu, an interesting designer décor, and fits in nicely with SoHo’s avant-garde ambience.
Although the restaurant has reduced the number of Lebanese and Vietnamese dishes first offered when it opened in April, the menu is still schizophrenic enough to make you wonder what country’s culinary tradition dominates. Some items, such as pomme paille, are written in French, while others, like colossal shrimp, sound as American as apple pie. Nevertheless the food, wherever it’s from, is well prepared and creatively presented by Chef Didier.
To start off the meal, our table of four ordered several cigares — crispy, cigar-shaped spring rolls filled with chicken or shrimp, cucumber, lettuce, carrot, mint salad, and garlic dressing — and sautéed scallop kebabs with cardamom and cane sugar. All were excellent. From the plats principaux list we ordered four dishes to share. The seared daurade (sea-bream) filet was tender and moist, its skin wonderfully crispy, and the accompanying thin green pasta with basil was a nice surprise. The wild striped bass was brilliantly cooked, accompanied with string beans and rice cake. On the other hand, the colossal shrimp, while certainly huge, were not that flavorful, and the sautéed lamb chops were good, but not extraordinary. A white Burgundy and a red Lebanese wine went well with everything.
The restaurant’s interior includes a main floor with a blue/white/green color scheme and long white Moroccan-style curtains along the side walls. White banquettes and tables sit in the middle of the room, and a spiral staircase leads to the lower level, outfitted in an orange/pink/white motif. I couldn’t quite decide if the design and color scheme of FR.OG was over the top, but for a very different lunch or dinner experience, in one of New York’s most exciting and vibrant neighborhoods, it’s a good choice.
Score: ••••• Ron Bernthal
To celebrate next April’s 10th anniversary of its ANA Mileage Club, All Nippon Airways is revamping the frequent-flyer program, with extra benefits and a longer redemption period. The new program does away with embargos, too. Starting next year, Diamond Club members will be able to book any flight with miles, as long as seats are available, for a premium. The club is also expanding its partner opportunities for additional mileage accrual.
The recently remodeled five-star Shilla Seoul hotel is offering a Festive Seasons Package good Nov. 22-25 and Dec. 16-Feb. 28. The package, which starts at $238 single or double, includes a superior-category room, free mobile phone rental and complimentary use of the fitness club. Upgrade to the Executive Deluxe package ($303) to add executive-floor accommodations, free buffet breakfast and free Internet access.
Dine your way to 1,000 bonus miles — even Medallion Qualification Miles — in Delta Air Lines’ new SkyMiles Dining by Rewards Network promotion. Register first, and then spend at least $25 at each of four different participating restaurants by Nov. 30 to earn the bonus.
To get you to check out its latest online booking features, American Airlines is holding a Find It, Book It, Win It sweepstakes; entries are open until Nov. 16. (Alamo is a co-sponsor, so you’ll get a chance to learn about its new booking kiosks too.) The demo of the booking features and of a GPS tour only takes about a minute and leads to a registration form for the sweeps; registering also automatically gives you your choice of a free Alamo upgrade, six days’ rental for the price of five, or $15 off a weekend rental. Grand prize in the sweepstakes is a GMC Acadia crossover vehicle; four other prizes of Garmin GPS navigation systems will also be awarded.
Bizclass bargains are significant in Lufthansa’s new year-end sale to various destinations in Europe. Sample round-trip business class fares: New York (JFK)-Brussels (BRU) $1,094, Philadelphia (PHL)-Munich (MUC) $1,250; many other gateways and destinations are available at similar discounts. These prices are good for departures Nov. 18-24 (buy tickets by Nov. 17) and again Dec. 17-Jan 4 (purchase by Dec. 4); return must be no later than Jan. 9.
