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Located on the Emerald Coast of Florida’s panhandle, Pensacola is more than a beach town. In fact, it’s a premier arts and culture community. As a hub of history and entertainment, creativity thrives on every corner of its vibrant streets. From museum gallery nights to operas and food festivals to ballet and more, Pensacola is the ultimate destination for getting lost in experiences. With ample ways to dive into the town’s community, traditions and performances, you’re sure to uncover more reasons to visit time and time again. Pensacola has all the ingredients for the perfect coastally cultured getaway and the recipe is at your fingertips.

The Pensacola Museum of History is the perfect place to soak in the importance of the town’s legacy as America’s First Settlement. The space transports visitors on a journey through time, spanning more than 465 years, and allows museum-goers to fully immerse themselves in Pensacola’s rich narrative. “From 1559 to the present day, the museum is a living timeline of our culture as a city and as a region,” says University of West Florida Historic Trust’s Director of Marketing, Claire Stewart. “It doesn’t just teach a history lesson — it serves as a venue to connect with the generations who came before us and understand the foundations upon which our city was built.” Located downtown, the museum is the ideal starting point on any trip to absorb centuries of stories that the town holds within its historic spaces.

Photography provided by Vacation Artfully

If museums aren’t your thing or maybe you’re just ready to party, there is no shortage of exciting events and festivals all year round. Gatherings like the Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival, Foo Foo Festival, Taste of the Beach and more lure thousands of visitors from around the world to Pensacola’s sugar-white beaches every year. More than 20 events each year are curated by the Fiesta Pensacola organization, which ensures that celebrating culture remains present, accessible and fun. “Fiesta Pensacola’s yearly events like the Pensacola Crawfish Festival, Fiesta Celebration and Pensacola Seafood Festival offer many opportunities for visitors to have a coastally cultured experience,” says Fiesta Pensacola Executive Director Bridget Middleton. “From the vast variety of music, food and artists at our festivals to the rich history we honor and celebrate during our Fiesta Celebration, there is something for everyone!” And they truly mean everyone. Speaking from experience, Pensacola is an inviting destination known for its top-notch hospitality. Locals welcome visitors with open arms, eager to share their favorite events and traditions. The pride of those who organize and participate in each festival or event is almost palpable, creating an atmosphere that’s as friendly as it is vibrant.

For more hands-on (literally!) experience with creative expression, the First City Art Center offers classes and workshops in mediums like glass blowing or pottery. And as for world-class live entertainment, there’s an abundance of options to choose from: Ballet Pensacola, Pensacola Symphony Orchestra or the eclectic local theater scene at Pensacola Little Theatre. My top suggestion? You’d be remiss not to enjoy an evening with the Pensacola Opera. “It is a wonderful experience to see grand opera in one of the world’s major metropolitan cities, and it is quite a different experience to come in contact with this beautiful art form in a small town steeped in culture,” says Pensacola Opera Artistic Director Corey McKern. “Pensacola Opera offers an accessibility to high-level culture that is indeed rare in the United States.” Whether opera is your passion or you’re new to the scene, any show this group performs is guaranteed to be memorable and meaningful.

“The ability to behold the beauty of the Gulf of Mexico while eating and drinking in our amazing restaurants and staying in a beach condo or a charming downtown hotel would already make a weekend getaway well worth it,” emphasizes McKern. “Adding to that itinerary, a night in the historic Saenger Theatre is a great way to immerse yourself in a city that takes pride in its culture. Being from the South, I am well aware that there is no place quite like Pensacola, and I love being a part of it!”

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Before we dive into the complexities of Minnesota cuisine, let’s address the elephant in the (dining) room. Yes, there’s definitely some truth to those lefse and lutefisk stereotypes; after all, our state has strong Nordic influences dating back to early European settlement. But like most preconceived notions, those presumptions don’t tell the full story.

Photography by Matt Lien

Simply put, Twin Cities food isn’t just 50 shades of beige. Alongside those Scandinavian staples are international delights like masa from Mexico, kimchi from Korea, laab from Laos, suqaar from Somalia, housemade Hmong sausage, Argentinian-style steaks and so much more. That’s not to mention all the delectable dishes crafted from Indigenous ingredients that, like this place’s original peoples, have been here for centuries.

This is about so much more than just mouthwatering food, though there’s plenty of that to be had. It’s about honoring heritage. It’s about celebrating culture. It’s about storytelling on the plate. And it’s about inviting in others to create greater empathy and understanding.

But you don’t just have to take our word for it. Although we’ve had the great pleasure of eating our way through most of the restaurants around town, it’s the acclaimed chefs behind our deliciously diverse restaurant scene who can best explain how the Twin Cities became an unexpected haven for global cuisine. Here, in their own words, nine local food luminaries give their take on what makes the Land of 10,000 Lakes so standout.

Photography by Reece Hickman

We Minnesotans often find ourselves having to set the record straight when it comes to misperceptions about our home. How the Twin Cities’ most prominent chefs describe this midsize metropolis to out-of-towners — warm — might seem counterintuitive given the state’s climate.

“The best way to describe the Twin Cities to people who haven’t been here is that it’s a warm, comforting place,” says renowned Hmong-American chef Yia Vang, who last year opened his magnum opus, Vinai. “I purposely use that word ‘warm,’ because the weather might be cold, but people’s hearts are warm. We have this welcoming hospitality going on.”

Making its debut after years of anticipation, Vinai was one of 2024’s most celebrated restaurant openings not just in the Twin Cities but in America. Accolades steadily rolled in from the likes of The New York Times and Esquire, and Racket MN aptly dubbed it “the year of Yia.” Vang opted to name the Minneapolis eatery after the Thai refugee camp where he was born. He says it’s a love letter to his parents, who immigrated to the United States in 1988 in hopes of giving him and his siblings greater opportunities.

Photography by Lauren Cutshall for Vinai

At Vinai, Vang is sharing his people’s culture in the best way he knows how — through comforting, heartfelt dishes that feel like home even for the unfamiliar, such as the popular braised beef rib, shrimp and pork toast and crabby fried rice. All that fare is made even more flavorful thanks to accompanying fresh produce and housemade hot sauces, such as the must-try Mama Vang variety.

Chef Jamal Hashi, whose family immigrated from Somalia in 1993, echoes that emphasis on the Twin Cities’ warmth. “This is a place where innovation thrives, but there is also so much respect for tradition,” he says. “People here are so open, genuine and curious about different cultures. We have Somalis moving here from other parts of the country and even other parts of the world — not because of the weather, but because of how warm this community is.”

Photography provided by Jamal Hashi

Speaking of innovation, Hashi introduced Midwesterners to his people’s cuisine with his camel-on-a-stick offering at the Minnesota State Fair back in 2010 — believed to be the first East African food served at the annual end-of-summer extravaganza. That playful take highlighted the fare his family had long been offering at their Safari Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis: roasted goat cutlet, jambo steak, chicken fantastic with Somali rice and other favorites.

Commemorating the eatery’s importance, a photo of that now-shuttered restaurant hangs in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Hashi has gone on to open more than a dozen restaurants, including a Harlem outpost of Safari Restaurant, the first Somali eatery in New York City that fittingly earned a New York Times shoutout as the Big Apple’s best African restaurant. Today, he is working to bring culturally relevant foods to area schools and other institutions.

Through their culinary creations, Hashi and Vang are not only sharing stories about their unique familial histories but also honoring the substantial Somali and Hmong populations in Minnesota, both the largest diasporas of their respective groups within the United States. The Twin Cities is also home to sizable Mexican, Indian, Ethiopian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Filipino communities. That multicultural makeup reflects the state’s long-held tradition of embracing immigrants.

Photography by Eliesa Johnson

Minnesota’s first peoples, the Dakota and Anishinaabe, began intermingling with European explorers and fur traders as early as the 1600s. Starting in the 1700s then surging in the mid-1800s, immigrants largely from Scandinavia and Western Europe flooded into the state. The Land of 10,000 Lakes received another wave of immigrants after the Vietnam War, when refugees from Southeast Asia arrived. Then, asylum seekers from East Africa made their way here in the 1990s to escape the political violence of their homelands. These migration swells over time have majorly reshaped the face of our community.

This open-arms embrace of diversity flies in the face of commonly held misconceptions about Minnesota, as Vietnamese-American chef Christina Nguyen points out. “I don’t buy the whole ‘Minnesota Nice’ thing — the idea that people here are super icy,” says the restaurateur behind Hai Hai and Hola Arepa. “Yes, we can be reserved, but we’re also kind and empathetic. This is actually a really progressive place, with a willingness to accept people and a genuine curiosity to learn about other cultures.”

Photography by Tyson Crockett

She also thinks the cold that defines our region is something to be celebrated, not just tolerated. “Our winters are long and introspective, and people have a lot of time to work on creative endeavors during those cold months,” says Nguyen, who grew up in Minnesota, the daughter of immigrants. “We’ve got the four seasons, and we sometimes take for granted how beautiful spring, summer, fall and even winter are.”

Recognized for her flavorful fare like banana blossom cobb salad, Hanoi sticky rice and water fern cakes, Nguyen joined the Best Chef: Midwest club at last year’s James Beard Awards, which are considered the Oscars of the food world. Making the honor even sweeter was the fact that fellow Twin Citian Ann Kim, who earned the accolade back in 2019, presented the award to her. Kim, too, has opinions on the cold, borrowed from the late great Prince.

Photography by The Restaurant Project

“I often think of Prince’s quote that it’s so cold in Minneapolis that it keeps the bad people out,” says the chef/owner of prominent pizzeria Young Joni. “He pretty much nailed that. I love it when people discover that the Twin Cities is such a hidden gem. It’s this inviting, affordable place where immigrants can set down roots and create a life for themselves.”

The Korean-American chef, whose family immigrated to the United States in 1977 sponsored by a Minnesotan uncle, didn’t set out to create a culinary revolution; rather, she shifted to the restaurant world for a change of pace from acting. But soon she realized she had an opportunity to acquaint diners with Korean staples such as kimchi and BBQ beef short rib — foods that during Kim’s childhood in a largely white suburb caused her great embarrassment — by presenting them in a “safe” way, atop pizzas.

Photography by Rachael Crew

“Pizza became the gateway to introduce people to new flavors and to prompt new conversations, which is a great place to start,” she says. “As I think about my culinary career after 15 years, I realize this is a way to honor my heritage, but that wasn’t really my initial goal. There’s also a lot of weight and pressure that comes with that, and sometimes there are unrealistic expectations and judgments that come with being the first person to do something differently.”

That’s a nuanced nod to the criticism Kim has faced over the years that her cuisine — which she very openly explains is intended to reflect her upbringing rather than somehow represent an entire ethnic group — isn’t authentic. It’s a common critique for BIPOC chefs, sometimes from within their own communities.

Photography by Matt Lien

Ann Ahmed can relate. Despite receiving ongoing critical acclaim for the soul-warming fare served at fan-favorite spots Gai Noi, Khaluna and Lat14 — think laab seen, green papaya salad and panang spaghetti — the Lao-American chef has had major insecurities about the authenticity of her culinary creations for much of her career. In fact, it wasn’t until last year when she returned to her birth country of Laos, which she left at the age of two, that she finally overcame that sense of self-doubt. Even still, she sometimes feels she exists between two worlds — not quite Lao enough, not quite American enough.

“When I opened my first restaurant 20 years ago, I didn’t even call it Lao food because I was worried that no one would come,” she recalls. “Over time, I found my identity and my voice, which helped create that confidence within. I’ve always served bold flavors, but I didn’t have the bold personality to really put myself out there. I’ve come to realize that the more you can share your story, the more you can educate people.”

Photography by Matt Lien

Staying true to yourself and showcasing your culture’s bold flavors can be especially tricky in a place known for its aversion to spiciness. But like many Minnesota misconceptions, that too seems to be more farce than fact. Hmong-American chef Diane Moua disproved that stereotype when she refused to alter her recipes to appeal to the assumed unadventurous Midwestern palate upon opening Diane’s Place last year.

“In the beginning, even our servers were telling me we couldn’t serve the Hmong hot sauce because it was so spicy that people might choke,” she says with a laugh. “I refused to dumb it down because if you go to any Hmong gathering, this is the hot sauce you’ll have at everyone’s house. But I did make a sweet and sour sauce that’s not as spicy for people who can’t do the hot sauce. We go through way more Hmong hot sauce than sweet and sour, which makes me so happy.”

Photography by Gemma Weston

Before striking out on her own, Moua spent many years working as a pastry chef, most recently at Gavin Kaysen’s celebrated eateries, including Spoon and Stable, Bellecour and Demi. The two-time James Beard winner and Minnesota native cheered on his former colleague when she decided to open her own restaurant honoring her heritage and her refugee parents, who raised her on a Central Wisconsin farm. (Her beloved pastries are still on the menu at Diane’s Place, alongside delectable dishes like Hmong pulled pork, beef laab carpaccio and sticky fried rice.)

That kind of community support is crucial given the many obstacles restaurateurs face — let alone restaurateurs from marginalized groups that have experienced historical injustices. Layered onto that are ongoing divides and inequities, as evidenced by the racial reckoning that spiraled out from Minneapolis five years ago after George Floyd’s killing. Among the many hurdles BIPOC entrepreneurs encounter is difficulty securing funding; just ask Vang, who spent years trying to make Vinai happen. Those financial limitations often mean their restaurants aren’t located in buzzy neighborhoods with expensive real estate, Ahmed explains, requiring customers to specifically seek out those dining experiences. Other challenges abound, like diners’ attitudes about the price of certain cuisines and their tendency to box chefs into what they can and can’t do.

Photography by Connor Siedow

Having built a bona fide culinary empire here, Argentinian chef Daniel del Prado has recently turned his attention to uplifting others. One of the Twin Cities’ most prolific restaurateurs with nearly 10 eateries to his name — among them Martina, Colita and his most personal, Argentinian steakhouse Porzana — he is partnering with former employees to bring their culinary dreams to life. Case in point: Über-cool East Asian eatery Minari is a collaboration with Jeff Watson, executive chef and culinary director for del Prado’s restaurant group, to honor his Korean heritage. And elevated Edina sports bar Dexter’s is a partnership with a former server, Carla Jones.

Born in Buenos Aires, del Prado moved to the United States in his early twenties to pursue a culinary career. He made his way to the Twin Cities in 2005, working at esteemed eateries like La Belle Vie and Solera then opening Bar La Grassa with his mentor, Isaac Becker. He ventured off to other parts of the country but returned in 2012 to help Becker open Burch. That was all before del Prado started a string of eateries honoring his Spanish and Southern Italian ancestry. These days, he’s focused on passing the baton to the next generation.

Photography by Eleisa Johnson / The Restaurant Project

“My next chapter is helping other chefs open up their own restaurants,” he says. “I started from zero, and I did everything through hard work and learning as much as I could. Now, I want to share my resources and my know-how with the people who helped get me where I am today. This gives me another boost of energy to keep doing this because this can be a hard industry. I’m actually very excited about this next stage for my company, and I hope that’s the legacy I have here in the Twin Cities.”

Minari is in good company in Northeast Minneapolis, which has become a multicultural hot spot, with Vinai, Diane’s Place, Young Joni and Hai Hai all nearby. In fact, Moua and Vang have been asked if there’s friendly competition between the two of them since their eateries are just down the street from each other. But just as no two lived experiences are the same, their takes on Hmong food are uniquely theirs.

Photography by Eleisa Johnson / The Restaurant Project

Also in the neighborhood is Oro by Nixta, Mexican chef Gustavo Romero’s mission-driven restaurant centered around a single objective: to preserve heirloom Mesoamerican corn varieties, which have long been at risk due to colonialism, politics and international trade. Much to Twin Cities foodies’ delight, that purposeful pursuit yields delicious benefits in the form of tacos, tamales, molote and more.

Although Minneapolis is a far cry from Gustavo’s homeland in the east-central state of Hidalgo, he thinks the two places share some key characteristics. “One of the biggest similarities I see is how resilient and proud people are,” he says. “In my hometown, we believe we have the best of everything. Even with our flaws, we’re still very proud. That’s something Minnesotans also have. They know we have shitty weather here, but they still claim to be the best state in the country.”

Photography by Kadi Kaelin

At 17, Romero crossed the border into the United States and began working in restaurants in Arizona, California and Florida and even spent a short stint in Italy. He cut his teeth cooking other cuisines but often wondered why there weren’t any Mexican restaurants that served food the way he knew it back home. He moved to Minnesota in 2014 and eventually saw an opportunity to introduce Midwesterners to authentic Mexican food, no matter the distance from the Mexican border. In 2020, he and his wife opened a tortilleria that totally transformed Minnesotans’ understanding of what makes a good tortilla. Then in 2023, they debuted the lauded Oro by Nixta, where they offer a masa master class of sorts.

“Entire civilizations have survived on this crop,” says Romero, who officially became a United States citizen last August. “But the more I started talking to people here about corn, the more I realized there was a lack of understanding about our people and our food. I think one of the easiest ways to understand people is to look at what they eat and what they’ve had to do to survive throughout history.”

Photography by Travis Anderson Photography

Romero’s ambitions are closely aligned with that of Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman, who is on a mission to revitalize Native American foodways in Minnesota and beyond. That comes to life at his renowned Minneapolis restaurant Owamni — which serves decolonized fare devoid of Eurocentric ingredients like beef, pork, chicken, dairy, wheat flour and cane sugar — as well as at his NATIFS nonprofit and its Indigenous Food Lab incubator kitchen. The latter is situated in South Minneapolis’s Midtown Global Market, another destination for global fare.

The TIME 100 honoree grew up eating government commodity foods on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation, one of the poorest communities in America. Like Romero, Sherman spent much of his early career cooking European cuisines, which highlighted how little he knew about his own people’s food. That epiphany set him on a path to amplify Native knowledge via the medium he knows best: food. At Owamni, that takes shape as simple yet sophisticated dishes like Three Sisters, a stew made with corn, beans and squash; smoked elk rack with pumpkin carrot purée; and fan-favorite roasted sweet potatoes with maple-chili crisp.

Photography by Scott Streble

As much as the Twin Cities’ multicultural fabric is made up of those who have come here, it’s also about those who have always been here. “When we look at United States history, Indigenous peoples have largely been left out of the discussion,” says Sherman, who moved to Minnesota in his early twenties. “Our cultures, languages and knowledge are relatively unknown. I feel hugely honored to be able to help open up people’s minds to the immense diversity of our Indigenous cultures and to help people recognize all of the Indigenous food that sits right here in America.”

For Sherman and his Twin Cities counterparts, food is about so much more than just nutrition. It’s also a means of preservation, education, celebration and connection — something we’re dearly in need of these days. Though their missions and motivations certainly vary, these local thought leaders are united by their powerful ability to use food to effect meaningful change.

Photography by Bill Phelps Studio

Ultimately, it all comes back to community — much like that warm embrace that the Twin Cities has historically shown immigrants, refugees and others who choose to call this place home.

“Here’s the secret behind Vinai that we don’t really tell people,” Vang says with his characteristic smirk. “We’re here to build community, and good food just happens to be the byproduct of that. People come here because they want to be a part of the community and they want to sit at the table, even if the food is a little outside their comfort zone. Then slowly as they feel comfortable and let their walls come down, they start seeing and smelling all the delicious food around them, and they want to try it. Understanding literally starts one bite at a time.”

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Long before Netflix’s bombshell documentary on longevity maverick Bryan Johnson turned your neighbor into an expert on the health of his mitochondria, another wealthy entrepreneur was tinkering around with his own formula for cheating death. Meet Dave Asprey, the “Father of Biohacking.”

In his twenties, Asprey weighed 300 pounds, and his 46-inch waist could barely fit into an XXL T-shirt. Relentlessly long days working in Silicon Valley had left him with brain fog, arthritis and pre-diabetes. Eighteen months of exercising 90 minutes daily on a strict low-fat, low-calorie, plant-centric diet hadn’t worked. “It was not a lack of effort,” Asprey says. “It was a lack of knowledge.” Determined to reclaim his health, he began experimenting, applying many of the same data-based hacks he learned from working in tech to his body. He started tracking and regulating his hormones, diet, sleep, blood sugar, exercise and stress, noting the inflammation he experienced when any one of these key systems was out of sync.

Illustration by Eleanor Shakespeare

Asprey not only lost 100 pounds and cleared his brain fog, he also claims to have reversed his biological age by 20 years and increased his IQ by over 12 points. He went on to create the wildly successful Bulletproof Coffee (a “keto coffee” made with grass-fed butter or ghee and MCT oil that’s designed to increase energy and mental clarity) and is widely credited with coining the term “biohacking” (Asprey’s name is in the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of biohacker).

At its best, biohacking uses technology — as well as simple daily adjustments — to extend longevity and boost performance, health and vitality. (At its worst, biohacking conjures five-day water fasts and pseudo-scientific hacks like penile injections.) Some of the newer therapies involve cycling psychedelics, therapeutic plasma exchange and gene therapy.

Asprey, who is not a medical doctor, is not without legal troubles — or critics. In 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent him a warning letter regarding false declarations he made about his supplements’ ability to prevent and treat COVID-19, citing the lack of scientific evidence to support his claims. Asprey was required to cease making such statements and declined to comment on the incident. And his high-fat, low-carb “Bulletproof Diet” has also come under heavy scrutiny. “This diet can help people lose weight initially, but with most of the food coming from fat, it can be challenging to sustain long-term,” says Samantha Lynch, a registered dietitian nutritionist who specializes in integrative and functional nutrition.

Despite these controversies — and his lack of formal medical training — Asprey is still invited to lecture to thousands of doctors at medical conferences. There, he’s not one to tone it down. “I’ve got to get real with people when the doctors won’t,” Asprey says. “You can’t take away my medical license because I don’t have one,” he says.

Today, at 51, the four-time New York Times bestselling author of The Bulletproof Diet and Smarter Not Harder is 200 pounds with 4.8% body fat and an epigenetic age of 31.5 years old, according to a TruDiagnostic test (an at-home blood test that analyzes DNA to determine one’s true biological age). And with his popular podcast, The Human Upgrade, he is determined to share his hard-earned wisdom about health and longevity with the world. “We normalize obesity, metabolic dysfunction, hypertension, diabetes and early aging,” he says. “But we can do better. There are lots of ways to take control of your biology.”

His newest venture, Danger Coffee, is free of neurotoxic mold (a common coffee contaminant, he says) and packed with minerals that our bodies need. Though he stepped down as the CEO of Bulletproof Coffee in 2019, he has founded eight other companies, including Upgrade Labs, a longevity clinic where would-be “super agers” can test-drive many of Asprey’s favorite biohacks. At 40 Years of Zen, a five-day, $16,000 personal development retreat he hosts outside of Seattle, Hollywood celebrities, C-suite execs and professional athletes can sample cutting-edge treatments like neurofeedback, brain mapping and low-dose cyclic ketamine treatments. “Combining ketamine with neurofeedback creates a synergistic effect where the neuroplasticity induced by each method is amplified,” Asprey says.

If the thought of spending five days with electrodes stuck to your head makes you want to swan dive into a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, fear not. Asprey’s biohacking blueprint has some core principles that even the most hardcore skeptics can get behind.

Dave Asprey’s Longevity Blueprint

Optimize Sleep

In addition to tracking your sleep and avoiding food within three hours of sleep, he recommends sleeping in total darkness. Cover all blue lights with tape and use blackout curtains with Velcro at the edges. He suggests using dimmers to keep lights at candlelight level. “LEDs take two seconds to scramble the timing system of your brain.”

Balance your Hormones

Asprey is a big believer in bioidentical hormones (Editor’s note: although such plant-based versions are often viewed as safer than traditional synthetic HRT, there is no credible evidence to prove this.) Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) can prevent symptoms of hormonal imbalances that kickstart the aging process in men and women and is proven to protect bone and cardiovascular health. “If you supplement with hormones at the right age — and the age varies based on people — there is now so much evidence it reduces all-cause mortality risk,” says Asprey.

Eat with Intention

In general, Asprey advocates eating an organic, whole-foods diet rich in healthy fats (omega-3s) and antioxidant-rich vegetables and fruits. Asprey avoids artificial ingredients and seed oils like canola, soybean and corn (high in pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids). While he doesn’t eschew red meat, he only eats grass-fed steak and favors white rice over brown (brown rice can contain 80% more arsenic than white, according to The National Celiac Organization). Bottom line: “You want to eat foods that nourish you without a lot of toxins,” he says.

Exercise Smarter, not Harder 

Asprey doesn’t push sustained, hardcore workouts as aggressively as one might imagine. Although regular exercise has been shown to reduce the risk of mortality by strengthening vascular health and lowering systemic inflammation, overexercising can hurt your joints and increase cortisol levels, he says. In his book, Smarter Not Harder, Asprey advises readers to “tap the power of laziness” to exercise in the most mindful, efficient way possible. “You want to have the biomarkers of working out without over-exercising,” he says. He exercises for 20 minutes a week; he claims his two, precisely targeted, 10-minute workouts allow him to build adequate muscle mass and strength while maintaining a solid “VO2 Max” (a cardiovascular biomarker that measures how efficiently your body consumes oxygen during exercise). Supporting his less-is-more approach: Recent research out of the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that walking just 7,000 steps per day can reduce the risk of premature death by 50-70% in people ages 38 to 50. Interestingly, walking more than 10,000 steps a day did not further reduce the risk.

De-stress and Connect 

“It’s important to learn the skill of chill,” says Asprey. In addition to meditation, breath work and other forms of stress reduction, he also recommends prioritizing relationships. Studies show that social connection improves cardiovascular functioning, reduces susceptibility to inflammation and viral disease, sharpens cognition, reduces depression, lowers stress, and yes, it can even slow biological aging.

“I schedule social time on my calendar just like I schedule work — it’s that important,” Asprey says. He recalls a conversation with Eric Kandel, a neuroscientist and Nobel Prize winner. When asked about the secret to living a long happy life, Kandel said emphatically, “Have a really good [partner].”

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“Street food is an integral part of Mexican culture, prevalent in every corner, from metro stations to busy streets,” says chef Roberto Alcocer of Valle in Oceanside, California. “It’s a reflection of our daily life — a livelihood for many and a way to connect with our heritage.” Leche quemada burnt milk candy and tascalate hot chocolate with roasted corn are just a couple of cherished taste memories from Alcocer’s childhood that you’ll find on his menu today.

In recent years, Latin American street food has inspired fine dining chefs across the United States who are paying homage to these humble culinary traditions with a refined contemporary perspective, often garnering Michelin stars and international accolades along the way. Here are five favorites from Chicago to Oceanside worth their weight in epazote powder.

Photography by Grupo Xcaret

Ha’ Restaurant

Quintana Roo, Mexico

Chef Carlos Gaytan shot to fame as the first Mexican-born chef to earn a Michelin star in 2013 for his Mexican-French fusion restaurant Mexique in Chicago. More than a decade later, he oversees a mini-empire with restaurants in Chicago, Downtown Disney and Riviera Maya.

“For me, it’s so important to open a restaurant in Mexico and go back to my country,” Gaytan says. “It’s a dream come true.” His soigné tasting menu at Hotel Xcaret México earned a Michelin star in Mexico’s inaugural guide last year. The first course playfully nods to street food, with a meticulous quenelle of wagyu beef tartare served alongside a crunchy savory buñuelo dusted with epazote powder, proffered by a wooden mannequin hand. “Buñuelo is a traditional Mexican dessert normally coated with sugar and cinnamon,” he says. “It reminds me of when I was a kid.”

Photography provided by Valle

Valle

Oceanside, California

From birria and barbacoa to ceviche and aguachile, many dishes on Valle’s Michelin-starred tasting menu have street food roots. “Our ceviche is inspired by the seafood carts of Ensenada, where I grew up,” Alcocer says. “Street food was crucial to my childhood and culinary development. Near my parents’ auto parts shop, a seafood cart run by chef Simon introduced me to ceviche and seafood preparation. He taught me how to shuck oysters and clams, which fueled my love for food.”

Alcocer tops local rock cod aguachile with an elegant chayote rose and he uses two different types of masa to make a bi-color tetela, stuffed with chicharrón prensado (pressed pork cracklings) and garnished with edible flowers. Tetela is Oaxacan street food akin to a triangular quesadilla, traditionally stuffed with cheese and refried beans. Try the Mexican wine pairing featuring pours from Alcocer’s own winery across the border in Valle de Guadalupe.

Photography by Kelly Sandos

Cariño

Chicago, Illinois

A nine-month road trip winding through Mexico City, Oaxaca, Michoacan and Monterrey, followed by a stint cooking in Tulum inspired chef Norman Fenton’s playful modern Mexican tasting menu in Chicago. The classic hangover cure michelada is deconstructed with tomato dashi mignonette and beer foam garnishing a raw oyster, rimmed with hot sauce and tajin. Precisely plated empanadas, tostadas and quesadillas all make appearances, and a dainty riff on chamoyada serves as a palate cleanser before dessert. “I’m trying to replicate the emotions from my journey through Mexico,” Fenton says.

There’s even a late-night taco omakase at the seven-seat chef’s counter that highlights Cariño’s on-premise masa program, featuring varieties of corn from the Midwest and Mexico, with tacos, tetelas, tostadas and more. More experimental than the traditional dinner menu, the late-night menu helps curb food waste associated with fine dining by repurposing food-prep scraps into salsas, toppings and tortilla flavorings.

Photography by Rey Lopez

Causa

Washington, D.C.

Chef Carlos Delgado considers himself an ambassador of Peruvian cuisine and culture and has fond memories of street food as a kid in Callao on the northern side of Lima. “As soon as the sun goes down, the charcoal grills come out and the smell of anticuchos cooking always brings me back to childhood,” he says. “Getting a late-night plate of this with friends while enjoying an overly sweet chicha and some choclo — while fighting over which vendor has the best sauces — is one of my fondest memories from growing up.” Anticuchos are Peru’s most famous street food, consisting of various skewers basted in ají, a pepper-based sauce.

At Causa, Delgado takes this street food inspiration to a more complex level with salmon belly and wagyu beef anticuchos, ceviche made with liquid nitrogen–frozen leche de tigre and seafood choripan on housemade squash milk bread bun with ají amarillo seafood sausage.

Photography provided by Casa Vigil

Casa Vigil Miami

Miami, Florida

“Argentinean food is all about sharing and spending time with family and friends,” says Executive Chef Mikel Goikolea, who combines Argentine and Basque influences at this Miami hotspot. Meat is an integral part of every Argentine meal, often cooked over fire. “There are more than 20 types of Argentinean empanadas, but every region has their own recipe for the classic beef empanada,” he says. At Casa Vigil, Goikolea uses ossubuco or skirt steak to pay homage to Argentina’s Italian heritage, first grilling and smoking the meat in the Josper oven, then slowly cooking it with a malbec reduction for a rich, juicy twist on an everyday staple.

The restaurant’s Josper charcoal grill emulates the primitive but powerful grilling of outdoor street food, lending a smoky char to dry-aged steaks, whole branzino, octopus and vegetables. Dine on the outdoor terrace or rooftop overlooking Upper Buena Vista’s cheerful open air market.

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A few stick out among the derby-capped crowds. Passers-through, who are stopping in Minneapolis for a night or two, are easy to spot, rubbernecking their way down Washington Avenue, unaccustomed to the overstimulating sights, sounds and smells of a city so big.

Perhaps they are first approached at a streetcar stop. A tip of the hat. A tentative handshake. “Are you new in town? Can I show you the sights?” A wide, warm grin. A friendly face in a foreign land. First, this well-dressed gentleman recommends a shared dinner, possibly at one of Minneapolis’s most popular establishments. It might be the Hotel Nicollet, the Creamery Restaurant and Buffet, or Schiek’s Palatial Place — which employs three French chefs to create luxurious meals for the city’s well-to-do. Minneapolis’s eight-story West Hotel on Hennepin Avenue is famous for its giant billiard room, where a drink and a cigar can be enjoyed after a vest-popping meal at their massive buffet.

Once dinner is complete, the gentleman, known among his ilk as a “steerer,” innocently suggests a game of stud poker to the unsuspecting rube. They soon find themselves at a table surrounded by fellow good-natured men, amiably betting (and all in cahoots, of course). The sucker does well at first, winning here and there, but it’s all manufactured to boost his confidence as the stakes grow higher. And once he’s all in, he loses, courtesy of the dealer’s deft sleight-of-hand. And if the sucker has an inkling that he may have been duped and threatens to fetch a cop, one magically shows up, ready to deliver some bad news.

“Gambling without a license, eh?” he says. “If you leave town now, I won’t haul you into Central Station.”

Soon the sucker finds himself being escorted back to the train station and told to go home. Hopefully, never to be heard from again.

Illustration by Hilbrand Bos

For an unlucky few, this would have been their introduction to Minneapolis. And this was just one example of the graft being conducted during Albert Alonzo “Doc” Ames’ notorious fourth term as mayor of Minneapolis. It was a city seized by vice, and the fix was everywhere. Doc was not only taking a cut from these shady card games, but he and his associates had their dirty hands in all sorts of illicit business; from shaking down houses of ill-fame to selling positions on the police force.

Doc had always been ambitious. His father had been one of Minneapolis’s first physicians, and he’d followed in his footsteps, eventually owning a thriving practice where he earned a reputation for treating those who could not pay. There was a motive behind it, however. With every complimentary splint or bandage, he knew he would earn a future favor.

As a Republican, Doc tried to win his party’s nomination for mayor in 1876, but when that went nowhere, he promptly switched allegiances and became a Democrat. Much of his future success would be attributed to his uncanny ability to sniff out opportunity, buoyed by a devoted cadre of blue-collar supporters known as the “tin-pail brigade,” who dutifully followed him to the polls. They were swayed by his charm, charisma and promises to alleviate their hardships.

Throughout his political career, Doc had some notable accomplishments. He spearheaded efforts to build the Minnesota Soldiers’ Home and championed an eight-hour workday. But there were also rumors circulating that the oft-inebriated Doc frequented gambling houses, saloons and brothels, and often conducted shady under-the-table deals. After two more terms as mayor, he lost the faith of the Democratic Party. The Republicans also wanted nothing to do with him. But Doc Ames still yearned for power.

Political enemies weren’t the only folks with whom Doc butted heads; he quarreled frequently with his own family, too. In the early 1890s, he drank and philandered his way across the city, which broke the heart of his wife Sarah, who had been a devoted wife and mother to their children Effie and John. One day, Effie witnessed her drunken, undressed father welcome a female patient into his office, and the situation rapidly escalated. Her husband William Rochford, who happened to be Doc’s business partner, gently tried to escort the woman down the stairs and out the door, but she tripped and fell. The woman sued Rochford, and when Doc testified on her behalf in the ensuing trial, the betrayal devastated Effie.

When Sarah tragically passed away, the family tension escalated. Doc refused to attend Sarah’s funeral. During the ceremony, he sat outside in his carriage with his feet up, smoking a cigar in a show of defiance and disrespect. And, in a cruel and bizarre twist, he then tried to abscond with Sarah’s body from Lakewood Cemetery. His antics accelerated the rift between him and his daughter, leading to permanent estrangement.

In the early 1890s the Minnesota State Legislature passed the nation’s first direct primary election law which allowed anyone from any party to vote in a Minneapolis primary provided they only voted once. While it was meant to reform an antiquated election system that allowed party insiders to choose their candidates, the new law backfired when Doc’s followers flocked to the polls to vote for him as the Republican candidate for mayor in 1900.

Doc not only won the primary but routed the Democratic incumbent James Gray in the general election, to the chagrin of many. And here is where the craziness really began.

First, the newly minted 58-year-old mayor hired his timid brother Fred as chief of police. He then fired half of the police force and replaced many of them with unqualified loyalists with questionable pasts. His choice for chief of detectives was a drunken bruiser named Norm King, who had a history of physical abuse against civilians. He made a bellicose seafood restaurant owner named “Coffee John” Fitchette a police captain. And his young medical assistant, Irwin Gardner, was responsible for extorting protection money from Minneapolis madams. Once collected, he would hand over a percentage to “the Old Man,” as Doc was known to both his friends and enemies.

The corrupt Ames administration went straight to work in January of 1901 and sailed along through that summer and fall, profiting from whoever the mayor’s henchmen could threaten, blackmail or con. It would take one of those out-of-town “suckers,” a stubborn Michigan logger named Roman Miex, to really set the wheels of justice moving. He had been fleeced in a card game on Thanksgiving Day by what was known on the streets as a “big mitt gang.” But instead of leaving town as he had been ordered, Miex spilled his story to a local reporter. The grift quickly made headlines, which led to an immediate outcry that set the Ames gang back on its heels.

It took a muckraking journalist named Lincoln Steffens to ultimately bring national humiliation to Minneapolis. While writing a series of scathing exposés on municipal corruption for McClure’s Magazine, Steffens arrived in Minneapolis in the summer of 1902 and quickly inserted himself into the unfolding events. He even managed to get his hands on a ledger that tied the bunco men (a group of professional con artists) to the mayor’s office. It was a damning connection that sent the rats in City Hall scurrying for cover. Steffens’ work, however, wasn’t the catalyst for the investigation. A grand jury led by businessman Hovey C. Clarke had been wading through evidence and testimony since late spring, and it eventually recommended criminal trials for the mayor and his cronies. Steffens’ “big mitt” ledger was the physical evidence necessary to solidify the charges. Soon, members of the mayor’s inner circle were tried one by one, convicted and sent to prison.

Not all, though, paid for their crimes. Doc Ames fled Minnesota, first hiding in Indiana and then in New Hampshire until a Hennepin County sheriff finally found him and escorted him back to Minneapolis in March of 1903. Now sickly and frail, Doc was prosecuted in a highly publicized trial, with his attorneys arguing that his greedy associates had taken advantage of his compromised mental state.

Doc’s first trial ended in a conviction but was overturned on appeal. More trials followed, leading to both hung juries and conflicted emotions by Minnesotans, who began feeling sorry for his prolonged legal woes. Authorities finally gave up their quest to convict Doc, and the once-disgraced former Minneapolis mayor lived out the rest of his life as a family doctor before dying in his sleep on November 16, 1911.

Ultimately, the “Old Man” never performed any redemptive act of atonement or experienced any epiphany. In fact, he stayed spiteful to the very end. He died with an estate of over $1,400 — and, in one final act of curmudgeonly vengeance — left Effie and John just a single dollar each.

Excerpted and adapted from Dirty Doc Ames and the Scandal that Shook Minneapolis (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2018).

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San Diego‘s sun-kissed brand of carefree fun has always appealed to families and friends seeking a laidback adventure. The sunny Southern California weather lends itself to outdoor activities like golfing, surfing, paragliding and kayaking among leopard sharks and sea lions at La Jolla Cove, but the city’s culinary and cultural cachet is growing, too. San Diego has the most small, family-owned farms in the United States, and independent restaurants and chefs relish the cornucopia of organic produce and sustainably caught seafood available locally all year round. Visit vibrant weekly farmers markets in Little Italy, Hillcrest and North Park to see for yourself.

Photography provided by Hotel del Coronado

Stay

Hotel del Coronado

San Diego’s beachfront grand dame resort wraps up a multiyear $550 million renovation this spring with a complete restoration of the iconic Victorian building. The hotel’s fascinating history began in 1888 when it opened with its own power plant, ice house, theater and — at the time, unheard of — manual elevators. Guests were entertained with various novel activities such as archery, glass bottom boats and even a menagerie of animals including parrots, monkeys and sea lions. Marilyn Monroe filmed Some Like It Hot here, and The Del has been a favorite vacation destination for presidents and movie stars for over a century.

Today, the sundeck is the heart of the resort, surrounded by dining, entertainment and a retail arcade. Beachfront rooms in The Cabanas neighborhood include spacious terraces and private fire pits, ideal for sunset drinks. Instead of a club lounge, book access to the Ocean Club for a complimentary breakfast buffet and exclusive beach cabanas.

Photography by Jim Sullivan

Dine

Marisi

This modern Italian restaurant in downtown La Jolla gives Amalfi Coast vibes with a rare combination of excellent people-watching and exquisite food. Purple and white bougainvillea dangles overhead on the spacious heated tile terrace, which is always buzzing for weekend aperitivo hour with bellinis, spritzes, stuffed zucchini blossoms and airy focaccia on every table.

Chef Cameron Ingle deftly uses the Italian hearth to cook whole branzino, Tuscan-style bistecca alla fiorentina and focaccia. A selection of fresh handmade pasta includes plump potato gnocchi swimming in verdant basil pesto. Vegetables here are outstanding too, mostly sourced from nearby Chino Farm. Ingle lets the flavorful produce shine, pairing earthy roasted carrots with pickled green tomatoes and the sweetest mara be bois strawberries with velvety burrata. Cocktails are fun and wine service is excellent, with elegant stemware and knowledgeable servers. A new soft serve machine whips up pine nut–studded swirls to conclude.

Photography provided by Shop Good

Shop

Shop Good

After an arduous personal wellness journey, Shop Good founder Leah Kirpalani understands that health and skincare are intricately intertwined. Skin is the body’s largest organ, after all. She created a clean beauty and healthy lifestyle boutique to help decode and demystify complicated ingredient labels and marketing claims. Every product sold here has been personally tested and vetted, with brands like Agent Nateur, Botnia and Ilia among her bestsellers. Kirpalani’s friendly team at both the North Park and Del Mar locations readily share their encyclopedic skincare knowledge, passionately helping guests find the perfect product or personalize a new skincare routine.

Holistic aestheticians with a compassionate and inclusive approach to beauty offer apothecary-inspired, results-oriented facials in two treatment rooms behind the retail shop. From back facials and scalp treatments to gua sha and high frequency, Shop Good facials are more effective and a better value than most floofy hotel spa treatments. You’re guaranteed to walk out feeling more beautiful.

Photography provided by San Diego Tourism Authority

Do

Balboa Park

Home to 18 museums and the world-class San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park is larger than New York City‘s Central Park, with a range of attractions for every interest. Comic-Con Museum is the newest permanent opening for a dose of pop culture superhero fun inspired by the annual entertainment convention, while the recently reopened Timken Museum of Art showcases work from European old masters, including Rembrandt and Rubens.

The Japanese Friendship Garden is a popular location for weddings and engagements, bursting to life each spring with an annual cherry blossom festival in March and hosting cultural workshops in black pine pruning, bamboo making and tea whisking throughout the year. Mingei International Museum is another thought-provoking stop, with 30,000 objects used in daily life from nearly 150 countries on display. Collections of textiles, jewelry, folk toys and delicately preserved ceramics range from ancient relics to contemporary designs.

Photography provided by La Jolla Ecological

Do

La Jolla Sea Cave Kayak

The La Jolla Ecological Reserve is a protected marine area with one of the highest concentrations of sea life in California. Everyday California’s eco-friendly guided kayak tours are fun and educational ocean adventures accessible even for beginners, and you never quite know what you’ll encounter. Wipeouts do happen on occasion, but everyone is outfitted with life jackets and athletic young guides help push your kayak from the shallows past the swells into calmer deep waters.

Enthusiastic guides share personal stories and fun maritime factoids, and you might even spot baby bat rays or baby whales if you’re lucky. With a fleet of 75 single and double kayaks, these tours are available year-round along with wetsuits for colder weather. While kayak tours are most popular, surf, snorkel and paddleboard lessons and rentals are also available. Shop the brand’s fun athleisure line at the retail flagship once you’re safely back ashore.

Photography by Kimberly Motos

Dine

Cellar Hand

This beguiling restaurant located in an unassuming strip mall is a collaboration between Santa Barbara’s Pali Wine Co. and Chef Ashley McBrady, a woman whose fanatical pursuit of the best ingredients has earned the respect of farmers, fishmongers and diners alike. The sprawling patio offers a casual indoor-outdoor ambiance and a well-priced wine list of easy-drinking and eclectic California bottles.

Begin with house-fermented wood-fired pita and colorful dips. Everything from pomegranate molasses drizzled over whipped tahina to pinipig dukkah sprinkled on tomato and fennel matbucha is made from scratch, and there’s even a dedicated fermentation chef.

Bluefin ‘nduja toast with thick cubes of tuna marinated in sweet smoky paprika and Calabrian chiles is a must, followed by brown butter pork chop generously dressed with cherries and smoked almonds to share. Sunday brunch takes breakfast classics to new heights, with ice cream–topped brûlée French toast and cheesy, pork belly breakfast sandwiches.

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The post Artful Living City Guide: San Diego, California appeared first on Artful Living Magazine.

Photography by Paul Markert

Lois Dirksen, Erin Gwiazdon and Kim Thelen

Level Mpls

In the advertising world, women-owned agencies are a small percentage. Level Mpls, a Minneapolis-based advertising and marketing agency, is one of them. As the company continues to make its mark on the industry, CEO and owner Lois Dirksen is strengthening the agency’s future by expanding its ownership. She recently invited two longtime leaders to become members of the ownership team: Erin Gwiazdon, chief operating officer, and Kim Thelen, president and chief client officer.

“Lois’s official commitment to [have us] be a part of leadership and the official decision-making process speaks volumes to the trajectory of this organization,” Thelen says. “We’re really building to be sustainable for the future.”

That decision-making effort included finding a bank that aligned with their core values. “In advertising and marketing, we’re in the relationship business, so we look for partners with this same trait,” says Gwiazdon. Bridgewater Bank asked the right questions and offered the right solutions, yet Gwiazdon says their relationship goes beyond crunching numbers. “We love how much they support the community and work to empower women, from access to capital to specific banking advice . . . it’s the service they provide and the connections they help form.”

This strong alliance allows the team to stay focused on what they do best: Remaining at the forefront of ever-changing consumer needs and trends, which include healthcare (“in our DNA since Day One,” says Thelen), government agencies (working with the state of North Dakota on childhood immunizations, for example) and the department of agriculture, where they produced webisodes with local chefs, showing residents how to grow and cook their own crops and developing elementary-age farm-to-school curriculum. “It may not have the flashiness of selling potato chips, but it makes a difference in people’s lives,” Dirksen says.

For the foreseeable future, Level will continue to grow strategically, maintaining a focus on quality work, client satisfaction and a culture where each employee feels valued and therefore puts value out into the world. “We know what it’s going to take, and making these moves as an agency will help to get us there,” says Thelen.

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The post North Notables: Lois Dirksen, Erin Gwiazdon and Kim Thelen of Level Mpls appeared first on Artful Living Magazine.

Photography by Pierre Ware

Photography by Pierre Ware

Photography by Pierre Ware

Photography by Earl Manning

Photography by Earl Manning

Photography by Earl Manning

Photography by Pierre Ware

Photography by Pierre Ware

Photography by Earl Manning

Photography by Pierre Ware

Photography by Earl Manning

Photography by Earl Manning

Photography by Pierre Ware

Photography by Earl Manning

Photography by Pierre Ware

Photography by Pierre Ware

Photography by Pierre Ware

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