Meeting the Challenge of Incorporating "Regional Cuisine" into Group Tours



Because Snobby Tours^®, Inc. specializes in custom-creating unique heritage and cultural touring experiences for our travelers, we always include local, often iconic, restaurants at the destination(s) which specialize in the cuisine(s) of the region in each of our Itineraries.  



Wine-pairing Lunch at a Texas Winery
_©Snobby Tours^®, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

How do we approach dining options and meal selection for our groups?  Generally, breakfast at the Hotel plus one other meal during the day, either lunch or dinner, is included in the Tour Package price.  Prior to any tour, we pre-select restaurants at our destinations and make arrangements with the various restaurants which will allow us to create a menu with appetizer, entree, dessert and beverage selections within the designated budgetary range.  (Alcoholic beverages are not included unless the meal is a wine-pairing event, for example.)


Selecting Sweets in a Mexican Bakery
_©Snobby Tours^®, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Do we try to incorporate local cuisine?  Absolutely!  We consider this to be part of "experiencing the heritage and culture" of our Itinerary destinations.  For example:  Chicago is filled with wonderful ethnic neighborhoods each having restaurants featuring that area's cuisine.  In Chicago, we took a culinary tour one day and "grazed" in Greektown, Little Italy, and in the German area just north of the Gold Coast area. We also dined in iconic restaurants in several of Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods.


Lunch in Aix-en-Provence, France
_©Snobby Tours^®, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

What are our favourite dining options?  We prefer to pre-select from the restaurant's menu in advance of trip departure so that the menu selections are narrowed down for the kitchen and the restaurant can easily accommodate a large group seated, or alternatively, we prefer to be served "family style".

What tips can we pass on with regards to feeding a group over a one week trip?  Create a realistic "Trip Budget" which includes a budget line item for meals each day.  This will allow the Itinerary to be flexible enough over the week to include some fine dining as well as casual, lighter fare.

Winspear Opera House and Wyly Theatre - Dallas' newest "state of the art" performing arts venues

Texas Monthly magazine consults Snobby Tours® for local history -- the facts and the folklore©

Over the past year, Snobby Tours®, Inc. has been contacted several times about Waco history by Texas Monthly, Texas' premier magazine about what's happening culturally, politically, historically, and in entertainment venues all over the State.


We've done so much research into Waco's colourful past that it seems some folks think we are  experts about the place and the people who have been pivotal in Waco's creation and evolution -- from its being an outpost for the venerable Texas Rangers in the early 1800's to a "player" on a global scale having three institutions of higher education and numerous corporations doing international business -- including us!

Our love of our local history led Snobby Tours®, Inc. in 2003 to create our "Living History Tours of Waco" -- seven (7) city heritage tours focusing upon various periods in Waco's history, guided by costumed "historical re-enactors" who portray real people from Waco's past.  (More info on each of these tours can be found at www.snobbytours.com/wacotours.html)

Mollie Adams' gravestone in Oakwood Cemetery
©Snobby Tours®, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

For example:  Did you know that the Waco Suspension Bridge has a connection with the Roebling Company which built the Brooklyn Bridge?


 . . . or that Waco, TX and Omaha, NE were the ONLY two cities in the US in the late 1800's which had legalized prostitution? Mollie Adams was THE Waco "madam", who owned a diamond necklace worth (at that time) $20,000 -- given to her by a "prominent Wacoan".

"Texas" Guinan
(reprinted with permission)

And, Wacoan "Texas" Guinan -- who, as a teenager, won a singing contest sponsored by Chicago department store magnate Marshall Field  -- and who later went on to be a famous vaudeville star and the FIRST female cowgirl in Hollywood silent films -- learned her "sharpshooting" skills while riding her horse and firing her 6-shooter at cans on the fence by the Waco's old train depot as she galloped by.  


Ever heard the phrase "Hello, Suckers!" ?  It was coined by "Texas" Guinan at her speakeasy in NYC during Prohibition.


In researching for our "Living History Tours of Waco",  we've uncovered so much more about Waco's history than we knew from hearing stories over the years passed down by family and friends about Waco's famous and the infamous, that we're becoming rather fond of saying that "we're discovering where all of the bodies are buried, and the skeletons in the closets are definitely getting nervous".  

©  2011 Snobby Tours®, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

TX Hill Country Wineries to celebrate 20th Anniversary in 2011 with "Road Show Tastings"©

Hard to believe, but the Texas Hill Country AVA celebrates its 20th year in 2011.  


To commemorate this achievement -- and 20 years of winemaking in the Texas Hill Country and Texas wines receiving accolades and awards all over the world -- Texas Hill Country Wineries are "hitting the road" all over Texas in 2011 with a series of wine-related special events focusing on Texas' wine heritage, culture and cuisine. 


Snobby Tours®  thinks this is a great idea, and an excellent way to showcase and introduce Texas wines and restaurants featuring our "regional cuisine" -- especially to travelers visiting Texas in 2011 who are interested in Texas heritage tours, cultural tours, or culinary tours.


Excerpted from Texas Wine Trails News, January 20, 2011:

_{© 2011 Texas Hill Country Wineries
All Rights Reserved.}

"In celebration of the 20^th Anniversary of the Texas Hill Country AVA and 20 years of winemaking in the Hill Country, Texas Hill Country Wineries is hitting the road and bringing the wines to you for our first ever Road Show in 2011.  


"We will be visiting four great cities Texas starting with Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and ending in Austin.  We invite you to join us in your city for winemaker dinners, seminars and Twitter-tastings for everyone from sommeliers to the discerning consumer.  


"You will meet owners, producers and winemakers from at least 15 of our member wineries, 30 wines will be available for tasting, and you will learn about the 400 year old wine industry in Texas."

_©Snobby Tours^®, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

The "Road Show" destinations are:

Fort Worth, Texas- February 23 and 24, 2011

Houston, Texas- April 2011

San Antonio, Texas- July 2011

Austin, Texas- October/November 2011

Further details about upcoming dates and venues included will be published shortly on our Website as information becomes available.

Wok Wiz Chinatown walking tour is a "must do" when visiting San Francisco©

Shirley Fong-Torres'  Wok Wiz walking tour in San Francisco's Chinatown has been a favourite of ours for over 20 years because it is a heritage tour, a cultural tour, and a culinary tour all rolled into one fantastic and memorable experience.

We first met Shirley back in the late 1980's when we took her Chinatown walking tour, and we've been good friends ever since.  

_{©Snobby Tours^®, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.}

©Snobby Tours^®, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

©Snobby Tours^®, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

On that tour she showed us how to make fortune cookies, introduced us to the wonders of Chinese herbs, and enchanted us with a Chinese tea ceremony where we learned that it is important to serve from the right side and with the right hand only.  


(These photos are from that first Wok Wiz Chinatown heritage and cultural walking tour with Shirley.) 



We recently created a heritage tour of San Francisco for a group from Texas.  They took Shirley's "I Can't Believe I Ate My Way Through Chinatown" cultural and culinary tour, which was a highlight of that trip. Our travelers are still talking about what a great time they had -- AND all the fabulous food they ate at a family-owned Chinese restaurant! 

In addition to walking up, down and along the back streets and main streets of San Francisco's Chinatown and going inside a Chinese temple, our travelers visited fabulous stores featuring exquisitely carved jade, colourful silks, beautiful watercolour prints, and exotic teas.  Our group was totally enthralled.  They even saw a traditional funeral procession and the ceremonial opening of a new business, complete with a "fire-breathing dragon".

_{©Wok Wiz}
(reprinted with permission)

Shirley now is a San Francisco "icon" -- a celebrity chef and published author who runs a cooking school and appears frequently on national and international cooking shows on television.  Some of the accolades she has received are:

Voted “Best Chinatown Walking Tour”Best of San Francisco, 2007, SF Weekly

“One of the best tours in San Francisco!”The New York Times

“One of the top 100 things about San Francisco.”Gourmet Magazine, 2002

“‘Not to Miss’ while in San Francisco, Wok Wiz is among the ‘top ten.’”Cooking Light Magazine, 2002

It's no wonder Snobby Tours® always includes a Wok Wiz Chinatown walking tour whenever we create a heritage tour to San Francisco!

©  2011 Snobby Tours®, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

Versailles Palace to have luxury hotel on grounds; overnight guests will stroll in gardens for first time in 300 years.

The following news article was reported on by Eleanor Beardsley on National Public Radio, January 4, 2011:

"If you've ever dreamed of spending the night at the Palace of Versailles, you might get your chance. A building at France's cherished cultural landmark will soon be turned into a luxury hotel.

"Home to the French monarchy since Louis XIV, Versailles is a monument to royal grandeur. Soon, the palace may also become known for its five-star hotel.

"Mikael Hautchamp is the deputy administrator for the Palace of Versailles. He opens the front doors to the future luxury lodging, a grand, but dilapidated mansion about a hundred yards from the main palace.

"Known as the Hotel du Grand Controle, the mansion was built in the 1680s to serve as the offices and home of the king's treasurer, where he lived with his family and servants. The Hotel du Grand Control was evacuated, along with the rest of Versailles, during the French Revolution. In the 19th and 20th centuries it fell into further disrepair.

" 'The wall here, it's completely crumbling in parts,' Hautchamp points out.' Many parts of this building are in this very damaged situation. It's very difficult for us because our mission is to save the heritage.'

"Hautchamp says Versailles doesn't have the $7 million it will take to restore the building, which is why it turned to Belgian hotel company Ivy International. The company will renovate the mansion and turn its 23 bedrooms into a luxury hotel.

"A percentage of the profits will be paid back to the Palace of Versailles in rent. The restoration is the first in a series of commercial projects aimed at saving French monuments.

_{©Jacques Demarthon/APF/Getty Images
(reprinted by NPR with permission)}

"Visitors will have chance to see what it felt like to live at Versailles.

" 'When you're here in the bedroom, you open the window, you have this view,'  Hautchamps says. 'We can see here the Orangerie. And here you can see the castle.'

"The Orangerie is the greenhouse where Louis XIV stored his 1,700 orange and palm trees throughout the winter months. The restoration of the Hotel du Grand Controle will take place in 2011 and be overseen by France's top historical architect.

" 'It's quite a pioneering initiative in France for somebody to be able to have the right to take on a project like this in such a historic momentum and transform it into an economic project,' says Louise Grether, who manages the project for Ivy International.

"Some have been critical about handing over a national treasure to a private operator. But on the streets of Versailles, people seem fine with the idea.

"Near the palace, bookshop owner Serge Bessiere says he thinks the new hotel will be a fabulous place to stay, and celebrate any occasion. 'Louis XIV never stopped throwing sumptuous feasts and parties to show he was the Sun King . . ' Bessiere says.

"In January 2012, when the Hotel de l'Orangerie is completed, overnight guests will be able to drink champagne and stroll in the gardens of Versailles for the first time in 300 years."


Snobby Tours®, Inc. is looking forward to checking this out the next time we bring a tour group to Paris.  We have mixed feelings about turning over historic national treasures and monuments -- and even antiquities like Pompeii -- to private/corporate operators; however, we recognize that the cost of maintaining these sites for posterity is often too prohibitive to rely solely upon governmental resources. 

Calling all "foodies" and "history junkies" - European river cruises can provide the ideal "mix"©

We are quite enchanted by a recent article we read highlighting the benefits of European river cruises. 


If you're a lover of food and wine who also likes to travel, then sampling the local cuisine prepared by celebrity chefs and visiting Medieval seaports and historic cities while you are taking a European river cruise can be the ideal "mix" for you.


We agree wholeheartedly.  We like the fact that you only have to unpack once and have one "lodging base" for the duration of your trip  -- which is how Snobby Tours®, Inc. plans most of its custom itineraries as well.  We've found that many travelers prefer to settle in and not have to check in/check out frequently during a trip.


We also like the fact that there is a "backup plan" which makes European river cruising virtually "weather-proof".  If there is a drought and the rivers are too low for cruising, then motorcoaches can still take you to the sights on the itinerary.  

Generally the best time of year to take a European river cruise is between April and October to avoid the cold winters.  

Ancient winery dating back 6,000 years discovered in Armenian cave by UCLA scientists

From the CNN International Edition and the Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2011:

"Forget France. It turns out, the real birthplace of wine may be in a cave in Armenia.

"An international research team says it has found the world's oldest winery in a paper published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed Journal of Archaeological Science.

" 'It's the oldest proven case of documented and dedicated wine production, stretching back the horizons of this important development by thousands of years,' said Gregory Areshian, co-director of the excavation and assistant director of UCLA's Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.

"Areshian says that clay pots and vats discovered at a sprawling cave system in southern Armenia near the border with Iran shows signs of an organized effort to press and distill grapes during the Copper Age, about 6,000 years ago.

Ancient grape press and wine fermentation vat

_{© 2011 National Geographic Society}

_{(reprinted in Los Angeles Times)}

"The roof of the cave had collapsed long ago, sealing in the rudimentary winery and preserving the remnants under an airtight layer of rock and other debris, leading to the remarkable find.

"The team, led by Hans Barnard from UCLA, found a simple wine press, vats with residue, remnants of grape vines and seeds, and a small cup that might have been used to sample the goods.

"The press and wide shallow vat are similar to foot-stomping type equipment used by people throughout the region even up into the 19th century.

"The wine might have tasted similar to modern vintages as well. Botanists examining the find say it was the species Vitis vinifera, the same one used to produce the vast majority of wine today.

"Areshian says the wine would be comparable to a modern unfiltered red wine, and may have had a similar taste to a merlot. 

" ‘The find is an important link in the development of wine culture throughout the region’, says Dr. Patrick McGovern, a senior research scientist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. ‘It fits with the first evidence of grape domestication a thousand years earlier, and the later widespread wine distribution and consumption across the Caucasus and Mediterranean.’


"The oldest previously known evidence of wine dates to about 5400 BC and was discovered at a site called Hajji Firuz in the northern Zagros mountains, where McGovern has found jars with traces of tartaric acid crystals, a chemical marker for wine. 


"The oldest previous evidence of grape seeds and other organic materials dates to around 3150 BC and was found in the tomb of the Egyptian king Scorpion I. 


"The oldest wine press is much younger, found in the West Bank and dating to about 1650 BC.

" '99% of the wine we drink today stems from that earliest grapevine domestication event that now seems clearly to have taken place in that region,’ says McGovern, author of Uncorking the Past, a history of ancient wine-making.

"Not much is known about the people who distilled and drank the wine. But the study's authors say it's clear that it was probably meant for ceremonial purposes, and not for getting drunk on.

" ‘This find shows that there was a high degree of agriculture and horticultural skill even back in 4,000 BC,’ says Areshian. ‘Producing this wine would have been high technology of the time incorporating detailed knowledge of watering cycles, pruning the vines, how to deal with pests and the fermentation process itself, which is more complex than brewing beer.’ "


This research was sponsored by UCLA and the National Geographic Society.

Killing of Zebras from Hearst Castle Ranch stirs controversy

"When William Randolph Hearst commissioned San Francisco architect Julia Morgan to build an opulent home for him above central California's coastline on part of the vast Hearst family land holdings, he not only created a castle befitting a "king" of newspaper publishing, he also imported exotic wildlife from all over the world to inhabit the wildlife preserve he created on the property.

Entrance to Hearst Castle
_©Snobby Tours^®, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Hearst's hilltop retreat, Hearst Castle, a weekend getaway for famous Hollywood movie stars and world leaders especially in the 1930's amd 1940's, has always been a favourite stop on our "California itineraries".  Traveling up the winding road to the Castle, our travelers can occasionally catch a glimpse of some of the remaining wildlife.


Therefore, Snobby Tours® was shocked at the L.A. Times articles   reporting that zebras from "the ranch" were being killed as they grazed.  They are what is left of what was at one time the world's largest private zoo -- a menagerie of camels, kangaroos, emus and giraffes that roamed the sprawling estate of the newspaper magnate. 


The following is excerpted from the L.A. Times articles dated January 12 and 13, 2011: 

Hearst Ranch zebras
_©Hearstcastle.org

"Last week three zebras -- a buck, a mare and a yearling -- escaped from the 128-square mile ranch and wandered down California Highway 46.

"On Wednesday two of them turned up in a pasture on David Fiscalini's cattle ranch, where, he told the San Luis Obispo Tribune, they spooked his horses.

"So he raised his shotgun and killed them. The same day, another rancher shot the third zebra at a ranch nearby.

"Many people in rural communities believe a rancher has a right to defend his livestock against intruders -- no matter how rare the animals are. But Fiscalini's actions the next day raised eyebrows. On Thursday he called a local taxidermist and asked him to come out to the ranch. He said he needed someone to skin the zebra and tan the hide so he could make a rug.


" 'You can't believe the controversy,' said Rosemary Anderson, whose husband is the taxidermist that handled the zebras.

" 'It breaks my heart to see it killed, because it's wanton waste,' she said. 'It's very sad that it wasn't handled in a different manner, but this rancher felt that was he taking care of his property and getting rid of a predator.'


"Eleanor Seavey, who owns a Cambria bed and breakfast, said she and her friends were disturbed by news of the killings: 'They're such beautiful animals — why would anyone kill them?'

"They are also, she said, loved by visitors.

" 'Whenever the zebras are out, tourists stop to take their pictures,' she said. 'It just delights them.' 

"Each year about 1 million people visit Hearst Castle, which has been maintained as a state historic park since the family donated it to the state several years after Hearst died in 1951.

"The Hearst Corp. still owns the 128-square-mile ranch that surrounds the castle. It was once home to more than 300 animals but most were sold off in the 1930s, said William Randolph Hearst's great-grandson, Stephen Hearst. But some sheep, deer and 65 zebras continue to graze there, he said. He was shocked to learn about the killings.


"Hearst said the zebras rarely venture outside the fence that surrounds the Hearst Ranch, 'but from time to time they do, and neighbors give us a call and we retrieve them'."


" 'Was the threat so imminent that his first thought was to make a rug out of them?' Hearst asked. "It's just a shame, and it's a little bit rude in my book. You know, neighbors are supposed to help other neighbors.'

"Fiscalini, who was out branding Wednesday and could not be reached for comment."


It seems to Snobby Tours® that since Hearst Ranch's wildlife -- especially the beloved zebras -- have been on the Ranch for decades -- and continue to enchant visitors to Hearst Castle, including our own tour groups -- that perhaps this situation could have been handled differently and in the "kinder, gentler" way in which the wandering zebras have been retrieved in the past according to Stephen Hearst.

HERITAGE TOUR DESTINATION: ENIGMATIC CHICAGO - GOTTA LOVE IT!! - Review: 4 stars©

Snobby Tours^®, absolutely LOVES Chicago.  It's been romanticized for its colourful past and notorious 1920's and 1930's "Prohibition Era" when its South Side was frequented by gangsters and bootleggers like Al Capone, John Dillinger and "Bugs" Moran.  

Robie House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
(reprinted with permission)

Chicago is also known as "an architect's city".  It was first determined during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition to be one of the world's great centers for culture, architecture and commerce.  Some of the most outstanding architectural masterpieces from the late 19th/early 20th centuries built by Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham and others grace Chicago's urban landscape and surrounding area.   

Tiffany Dome at Chicago Cultural Center
(reprinted with permission)

The Chicago Architecture Foundation and the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust provide many of the architectural tours around town.  One of our favourites is the "Tiffany Tour", a guided walking tour of Chicago's most magnificent art glass and mosaic installations in the downtown area, including the breathtaking lapis dome in Macy's on State Street.


And we can't overlook the restaurants!  Chicago is definitely a "restaurant town".  Chicago’s inclusive environment encouraged ethnic groups including Germans, Italians, Greeks, Irish and Polish to gravitate toward the city in the early part of the 20th century. These groups are strongly integrated into the city’s fabric today, providing countless ethnic, culinary and cultural experiences for travelers.  


There are several "foodie" tours, too.  We particularly enjoy starting in the morning at a German bakery, continuing on to an Italian deli for sandwiches on freshly baked breads, and finishing off at a Greek market for sweets -- stopping at a "spice house" along the way, where just walking in the door and inhaling the aroma of spices and herbs is intoxicating.  We had no idea there were so many varieties of cinnamon, vanilla or paprika!

One of our all-time favourite Chicago tours is "The Untouchables Tour" -- complete with "gangster guides" and taken in an old bus with "bullet holes" in the glass.  The tour goes to all of Al Capone's Prohibition Era "haunts" both famous and infamous.  It's especially fun in the evening -- more exciting!  We started the evening with Chicago-style pizza at a family-owned Italian restaurant on the South Side, where we were met by our "gangster guide".  What a hoot -- and such a crowd pleaser with our travelers!


Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
(reprinted with permission)

We can't come to Chicago without visiting Oak Park, a nearby community.  It's filled with Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes, particularly down the street from Wright's Home and Studio, which can be toured with guides from the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust.  Oak Park also has the birthhome of Ernest Hemingway and the Hemingway Museum located in an old municipal building, and the home of Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of Tarzan.  Oak Park definitely spawned a lot of remarkable creativity.

Lobby of The Palmer House
(reprinted with permission)

We love Chicago so much that we are going back in October, 2011 -- at the height of Fall Foliage in the Midwest -- and staying at one of its great historic hotels, The Palmer House. 


The only "downside" we've experienced in Chicago has been regarding chartered land transportation for Chicago-area sightseeing.  There haven't been many choices for tour groups requiring 15-29 passenger charters -- either in availability or in pricing.  We're at a loss as to why this might be because Chicago is a "convention town".  However, for larger tour groups, City cabs and "The EL" are not options.

More info about our upcoming Fall, 2012 custom-created Chicago itinerary is featured at http://www.snobbytours.com/EnigmaticChicago.html



Guided tour inside Dallas' new Wyly Theatre, recipient of 2011 AIA Honor Award for Architecture, included on our Dallas Arts District Day Trip on 01/28/11

We're taking a guided tour inside the Wyly Theatre on our Dallas Arts District Day Trip on Friday, January 28th. The Wyly Theatre recently received the 2011 AIA Institute Honor Award for Architecture, and is the home of the Dallas Theatre Center.  Join us!     Reservation deadline: 01/20/11.  Reservations may be made online at www.snobbytours.com/TXDayandOvernightTrips.html

The following "Notes of Interest" were published by The American Institute of Architects:

"The AT&T Performing Arts Center is an 80,300 square-foot, 575-seat 'multi-form' theater with the ability to transform between proscenium, thrust, traverse, and flat floor configurations with only a small crew in a few hours and opens the performance chamber to its urban surroundings. Additional program elements include a lobby, large rehearsal room, small rehearsal room/black box theater, patron’s lounge/black box lobby, dressing rooms, green room, costume shop, scene assembly, theater equipment storage, administrative offices, meeting/education spaces, staff lounge, and two terraces.

"The Dallas Theater Center (DTC) is known for its innovative work, the result of its leadership’s constant experimentation and the provisional nature of its former, long-time home. The DTC’s previous accommodation—a makeshift metal shed—freed its users from the limitations imposed by a fixed-stage configuration and the need to protect expensive interior finishes.

Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre
(reprinted with permission)

"The Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre overcame these challenges by positioning back-of-house and front-of-house facilities above and beneath the auditorium, instead of encircling it. This unprecedented stacked design transforms the building into a "theater machine" that extends the technologies of the fly tower and stage into the auditorium to provide an almost infinite variety of stage-audience configurations; liberates the performance hall's perimeter to allow fantasy and reality to mix when and where desired; and manifests a strong presence in the Dallas Arts District despite its relatively modest size."

Comments from the 2011 AIA Honor Awards for Architecture Jury:

"This building is an expression of a totally new way to investigate the potential of performance experimentation – completely re-choreographed the way in which one experiences a theater."

"The flexibility of this building redefines theater in a way that is unique – curtains open, light comes in."