High on our list of restaurant spaces is the decadent main dining room of Crackers in Mitte. Sparingly furnished and dramatically lit in hues reminiscent of a David Lynch movie, Crackers offers solid millenial comfort food – precisely cooked meat and fish with local veggies and steakhouse-adjacent sides. You’ll love the decor and be fine with the food, but your best bet is a drink at the bar where any hour is a pleasure and an evening can be as good as lost.
The Beat
Hotel Crush Visits the Argyle Salon and Spa
It’s with great anticipation and a tinge of desperation that we storm into an appointment at a new spa. Like the delirious aroma of good perfume or the tingle of a delicious new bubbly, we seek, crave, and devour novelty. The backlog of knots to work through as our excuse, we booked an 80-minute custom massage at the Argyle and a plunge in the Turkish hammam. For those familiar with Los Angeles, the Argyle Salon & Spa is located in the hotel we will always call The Argyle, though it is DBA an alias called the Sunset Tower. Our arrival signaled the refreshing appearance of an orange juice, and we were escorted downstairs to the quiet blur of the Argyle’s spa suites.
We love the bright and easy waiting rooms of most spas, with their cucumber-spiked water and delicious brownies (well, at Bliss), but we also love the decadently anti-social treat of having our own suite for the duration of our visit, stocked with Arcona products. After settling in, our masseuse (and cruise director for the afternoon) supplied us with an icy washcloth, a scoop of coconut brown sugar scrub, and a quick immersion on how to operate the Hammam jets. We love a good steam and the hammam did not disappoint, smothering us in a wall of hot water vapor as we lingered under the cold tap. Twenty minutes was our ration of dizzying heat, and we were back in our suite ready for a reset.
We remember the best massage of our life like our first trip to Europe, and we’re happy to report that our masseuse at the Argyle was competitive with the EU. A good massage is rigorous without being painful, relaxing while still effective. Working each knot one by one, our masseuse eased our muscles back into place, leaving us refreshed and numb with relaxation.
A Dip In the Shallow End: Primary Wave @ SLS
Any excuse to sip bubbly will do, so it was Grammy weekend on which we leaned for a pleasant drenching of champagne and dessert. The setting was Primary Wave at SLS, a hotel that nearly verges on a lifestyle for a brigade of patrons who rely on staples like cotton candy foie gras and liquid nitrogen-chilled cocktails. It was a quick tour through and we were sated…until next year’s crop of novelty stirs our cravings.
Party Lobby and Patio Dessert Table:
The Kitchen:
Paella and Dessert:
Our New Favorite Champagne
There’s something delicious and irresistible about a new champagne. The best ones are tart and dense with bubbles that pop on your tongue, with just the slightest linger of sweetness. Which is why when we tried the Moët & Chandon Imperial 2002 (in adorable mini bottles) we were hooked. The setting was awards season Hollywood and the party was a modern day Gatsby indulgence – towering vases of white flowers, dramatic chandeliers, bites of crabcakes and foie gras, shrimp and lamb. But it was the champagne bubbles buzzing on our tongue that stood out as sensational, and for that we are ever wiser.
One Last Dance At the Parker Palm Springs
Our last visit to Palm Springs plunged us through the kind of thrilling, dizzying heat tempered by a glass of lemonade and a lazy poolside lounge chair. But the Earth must frustratingly rotate, and therefore we’re stranded every six months in a frosty skid called Winter. We grudgingly make the best of it, bundling in bright coats and stormy boots, stirring marshmallows into our hot chocolate. But we never forget our luxuious summer afternoons, and for that we repatriate (with more layers of clothing) to the Parker Palm Springs.
The Parker is a rare intersection of abundance and minimalism, flawlessly styled and yet devastatingly quiet. Outside lounges mellow into gardens, buildings recede into the trees. The sense is there that if you need something, only then will you see it. We took a walk to the pool and spent the afternoon reading on a lounge chair, buzzed in the sunshine, happy as the bunny that had crossed our path.
Like the best hotels, the Parker is a microcosm of comfort, dense with casual luxury and smothered in attentive service. Though we love the comfortable bed and the gorgeous bath amenities, our favorite decadence here (and at all hotels!) is room service. Breakfast here is not to be missed, and for that we rely on our standing order – a split of the lox and bagel plate and crisp Belgian waffle with berries, followed by a deliciously satifying nap.
No small amount of luxury lingers next to the vanity:
