El Bulli may be closing its doors, but the concept of the food-lovers' pilgrimage is hardly going with it. Some people say the journey is more important than the destination - Grub Street says the journey is bunk if there isn't something tasty waiting at the end. When summer hits and the urge to skip town strikes, it's especially tricky to shake the desire to seek out the most unique, interesting, and, yes, delicious, food around. That's why Grub Street's editors have come together and scoured the country (yes, the whole country) to find a destination in every state that is worthy of your food fanaticism — okay, two in California, since getting Grub Street's San Francisco and L.A. editors to agree on just one place would have been an impossible task. As the Michelin Guide is fond of saying, every one of these stops is worth a special journey.
That doesn't mean Grub Street just plucked 50 fancy places and called it a day: All around the country, "great" food can come in some seriously unexpected places. So whether that means a high-end farm resort nestled in the Smoky Mountains; a tour of the country's best bourbon distilleries; or a way out of the way, hole-in-the-wall chicken shack that serves up some of the best birds in North Carolina, we've looked for restaurants, tours, festivals, resorts, and activities that are well worth any amount of time it takes to get there. (In some cases, that's a lot of time.)
Each and every one of these food-centric destinations has something that our editors find undeniably appealing — so much so that you could say these spots are all must-visits for the elite eaters out there (if not for bucket list purposes, then certainly for bragging rights). Grub Street by no means endorses the idea of hitting all of these spots this summer (though if you do attempt the feat, by all means let us know
#38 Oregon
The destination: SakéOne Saké Brewery
How to Get There: Forest Grove is about a 45-minute drive southwest of Portland.
When to go: The third Saturday of each month is Saketini Saturday, where guests learn how to make sake cocktails; in August, the annual Pacific Rim Festival celebrates Japanese food, crafts, performance, and, of course, sake.
Oregon's Willamette valley is best known for wine, but it also happens to be home to country's only kura (brewery) for junmai ginjo (premium) sake. Founded in 1992 by Greg Lorenz, SakeOne now produces a dozen varieties of sake. Free tours of the kura (at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. daily) teach guests about rice milling and the water used in sake as well as the mold known as "koji" that's instrumental in fermentation. Sample the finished products in the tasting room: Flights start at $3, and for $10 you'll get to pair various sakes with complementary foods.
SOURCE: newyork.grubstreet.com
