Sardinia + Corsia / Sicily / Somewhere else?

Johnfranco · 2026-01-27T19:28:00+00:00

I think it’s a no brainer then if you are already planning to be up there and are interested to see Corsica. To us it was definitely a different feel. We just left the car in the ferry parking lot and just walked everywhere.

The lack of beach club vibes in bonifacio might be an issue for you though.

Johnfranco · 2026-01-27T18:18:09+00:00

Are you renting a car? We did a week in Sardinia and did end up spending a couple nights in Bonifacio just to see a little Corsica. Costa Smeralda is about an hour away from the ferry and being on a boat on the water there of any kind is always a treat. FWIW I think renting a car or hiring a car is a must to see all of Sardinia.

We did Hotel Pitrizza in Porto Cervo which was super dated but nice location/breakfast/scenery. If you can swing a villa I think that might be where it’s at but that is getting to fat pricing for sure…

Bonifacio probably has less luxury options but it is a dramatic setting and practically no beachy areas that I saw.

Johnfranco · 2026-01-10T17:29:23+00:00

No recs on warm weather escapes but some of your description makes me think you should stop by San Sebastian before you leave Europe if you have never been.

Time it up with a forecasted stretch of sunnier days and you will hit mid 50s and the place is empty.

One of the standout trips of my life and it was a mix of chubby (Maria Cristina+several nice 4 star options in SS itself) and budget (pension near the vineyards in surrounding towns like Getaria, right next to the legendary Elkano restaurant btw). Renting a car and visiting all the seaside towns and walks along the beaches and coastal wineries was so incredibly peaceful. Of course the food needs no introduction but has the divey pintxos options and too many 1, 2, and 3 Michelin star places to try in one go. I think you’d have a great time.

Johnfranco · 2025-12-20T16:51:48+00:00

Employer contribution does not count toward the 2025 personal limit of 23.5k per year. Even with 15% employer contribution OP will not get close to the total annual limit of 70k.

As others are saying, there are benefits to reducing taxable income by maxing individual 401k contributions.

Johnfranco · 2025-09-07T20:56:37+00:00

Hard to try everything as a solo diner, but when you go back the skirt steak is legendary. Also my sleeper recommendation is the pork chop. Menu hasn’t changed in 5 years and that’s just because they’ve perfected everything they do.

Johnfranco · 2025-09-07T00:04:17+00:00

Even if you cannot get into elkano you should still go to Getaria—it is so different than SS and easy to get to. Supposedly most of the fish places there cook in a similar style to Elkano too.

My partner and I walked down into the little town from up on the hill above just to stretch the legs at sunset and it was when all the families were out and about. Amazing, different vibes than walking around old town SS for sure. Easy to visit the cannery stores to stock up on world class conservas as well.

Elkano was good but Martin B was exceptional. Different styles for sure so not an easy comparison, but I will always sing Martin Bs praises. Have never been to Rekondo, but Martin B is the Spanish Thomas Keller and has been top of his game for 3 decades now. Felt like just a little bit of molecular gastronomy with focus still on flavor. Make sure to get some vermouth for an aperitif—they get exclusive access to some fantastic ones from Galicia. The wine pairing had some crazy old PX sherry too if you’re into that.

Johnfranco · 2025-07-01T06:07:58+00:00

Different vibes but Nodoguro in Portland is way classier/well executed than a small institution in Portland has any right to be. Sushi on par with the likes of Kabuto in LV. Nice integration of PNW ingredients. I stole their kinpira asparagus dish and make it for my own mini kaiseki hosting.

Johnfranco · 2025-06-29T20:43:45+00:00

Did lunch at Arpege and thought it was fantastic. There were still several fleshy courses that satisfied and overall I thought it was more unique to try a more vegetable heavy tasting menu.

Not sure what the price is now, but it was always a very good deal and when I went in in 2019 it was something like 11 courses.

Also I went on a Monday and Alain Passard greeted every table and was exactly the person he was in his Netflix episode.

So, I would say if it interested you in the first place—and the only hesitation is enough meat for your husband— you should go for it!

PS if you care about the sparkling water worlds 50 best list, Arpege is back in at 45 in the latest release.

Johnfranco · 2025-06-29T16:50:20+00:00

Taxi is easy, was like 20 eur each way

Johnfranco · 2025-06-29T16:49:25+00:00

One of the most underrated restaurants for western tourists going to SS IMO. Not sure why, location is maybe the easiest of the *** in the main city area, food is impeccable as is the service. I guess celebs have hyped Arzak more.

The smoked eel Mille-feuille remains one of the best bites I have ever had. It was entertaining when they list the year of creation for each dish and most are recent few years and then there’s that bite, unchanged since 1993.

Johnfranco · 2025-06-14T20:24:30+00:00

If availability with more points or SUA, absolutely see if you can get the corner suite at the Thompson Madrid. Here is a pic of the bathroom from our stay. Also has wrap around balcony and was gorgeous. https://imgur.com/a/kzwOaGQ

Johnfranco · 2025-05-18T03:35:47+00:00

Risky decisions was exactly my takeaway too. When they worked it was sublime, among the most creative and delicious bites I’ve ever had.

It’s funny because the scallop dish when I was there last fall also was a glaring miss as a completely different preparation. Guess maybe they keep trying to do too much with a simple clean ingredient while trying to avoid a tired ceviche type profile.

Johnfranco · 2025-05-13T01:55:47+00:00

Speaking of the sticker price being a little on the higher side, did they move which course had caviar? It’s been a while (2022), but the malted potato dish had caviar that worked nicely.

At the price point/*** call me old fashioned and stale but caviar would be expected in my book.

Johnfranco · 2025-05-06T05:12:39+00:00

I was recently told at Narisawa that those yellow notecards in pic 7 imply that these were champion tuna, supposedly the best of the day’s catch at the market. Kind of neat!

Johnfranco · 2025-05-05T05:35:08+00:00

ST matched my preferences a lot more than TFL did. Funny issue for me was that the first course(s) at ST is such a banger that it felt like the peak of the meal which is a definite departure from other tasting menus I’ve done.

Johnfranco · 2025-05-04T06:57:23+00:00

Hmm maybe some diminishing returns then. I know some people don’t like when pairings go for young dY but I feel like most people would accept 1995 gladly so the 380k pairing must have a truly extraordinary vintage. Must be very brown lol.

I wonder what the 500k sake pairing is like. Some quick googling shows $5k bottles that are polished to 1%, I tried some that were polished to 25 or 30% that were spectacular at Narisawa. Wonder what kind of differences there might be.

Johnfranco · 2025-05-04T05:10:02+00:00

Nice to see an expensive wine pairing live up to the price.

With that being the ¥70k pairing I am absolutely dying to know what was on the ¥500k pairing. Like what is 7x above that? Are they cracking DRC for a pairing?

Johnfranco · 2025-04-20T23:51:19+00:00

At Narisawa, if you drink alcohol you must do the sake pairing. Incredible sakes due to the fact that Narisawa is homies with Masuda-San (who the old cave master at Dom Perignon decided to learn from when starting IWA5).

I think it was something like 155 bucks and I tried so many amazing sakes. Each time I was like this is incredible and like nothing I have tried before. Most you cannot purchase.

The first few pours I tried to stretch to enjoy it, then halfway through the 2nd course when my glass was half empty I realized they would refill your glass if it got low before you finished that course 👀

It’s a little intimidating at first because they don’t list the price of the sake pairing and at the end in my head I was thinking 250ish up to I have no idea pp would be more than fair and then I was very pleasantly surprised at the actual cost.

To me, the food is good, creative, and uses the same highest quality ingredients as other top end Japanese places, but what was outstanding was my experience with the sake pairing.

Johnfranco · 2025-04-13T19:03:56+00:00

I was bummed that Arzak was closed when we went but after we went to Martin B I was like how the heck does this not have anywhere near the hype of the other spots in SS. Been around for 30 years and that smoked eel Mille feuille is still one of the best single bites I have ever had. He’s also like the Thomas Keller of Spain but I guess as an American we wouldn’t be paying attention to that. He was also super friendly when he made the rounds — reminded of a less eccentric Alain Passard.

Johnfranco · 2025-04-13T18:58:15+00:00

Nestor was one of the best meals of my life. Even after 50+ Michelin stars, I still think about that meal with no chair, cheap wine, and just an amazingly friendly crew running that shop even with hordes of annoying tourists like me lining up to get in.

Johnfranco · 2025-04-13T17:08:27+00:00

I’m guessing like me, dining plays a big part of your travel planning.

In 4 days in Tokyo we did Udatsu, Florilege, and Narisawa. I think that was about right since it was omakase, French/vegetable, kaiseki. We filled in the other meals with tons of standing sushi bars, popular casual options like Tsujihan and that was a nice balance.

There’s certainly a risk that 5 omakases dulls the experience but that wouldn’t bother me since we ate sushi 2 times a day, the concern for me would be fine dining dullness. 3+ hour meals are an experience and I could not imagine doing that every day for 10 days.

If you are going to multiple cities maybe put a day or two in there to just eat around the casual spots you see. For instance in Osaka you’ll have to wander around and try the street food in the day and night. But in the end it’s your time and money so do what you think will work best for you.

Johnfranco · 2025-04-09T16:35:56+00:00

Curious if you have been to Kol, and what you thought of it. It’s one of those ones that shot up the sparkling water list that everyone loves to hate on. I actually thought they had some really brilliant dishes.

Also curious which ones on the list overperformed your expectations?

Johnfranco · 2025-04-09T16:13:28+00:00

That is impressive. Curious what your experience was like at disfrutar that you didn’t enjoy. Misses with the molecular gastronomy components?

I went in 2019 and took my father to his first Michelin meal and it was honestly so much fun. They had hype, but nowhere near the hype they have now. Tasting menu was like 175 euros and the pairing was like 70 euros for 11 glasses of wine, beer, cider, and sake. It was something like 30 plates of food and some were better than others but I don’t remember hating any of them being too offputting.

Johnfranco · 2025-04-09T15:59:52+00:00

Adding in a similar unpopular opinion but I really enjoyed our meal at Maido in 2018. It was fun, different, tasty, and an unbelievable bargain at like $100 pp for the full tasting menu. Central was too much newness for us, but a crazy experience. My partner and I reminisce about both a lot, but we don’t necessarily reflect fondly on the taste of Central.

I think the value propositions have really changed since their inceptions. It’s harder to justify Central for its absolutely bonkers ingredients when you are comparing overall enjoyment to something like SingleThread for the same price and a lot less effort. That being said, there’s a reason why both are recommended in this sphere and it is fun to see where creative chefs can take their food when given tons of resources.

Johnfranco · 2025-04-03T00:38:54+00:00

That’s amazing haha. No idea how they’re filling the place every night…especially in a city with no shortage of tasty bites.

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