Table of contents for Jan-16 in Robb Report

Gone, Bourbon, Gone As Pappy Van Winkle announces its 2016 allocation, we revisit the tale of the brand’s infamous bourbon heist. RobbReport.com/ PappyHeist Feature Comforts RobbReport.com shines a spotlight on the top places to stay during the 32nd annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City. RobbReport.com/SundanceResorts And They’re Off! Following a multimillion-dollar renovation, the famed Santa Anita Park hosted members of Robb Report for an action-packed day at the races. RobbReport.com/SantaAnita Robb Report is available as a digital edition for the iPad and iPhone via the iTunes App Store and through Zinio. Download the iPhone version today to access enhanced content, including photos, videos, and more. January Digital Bonus Feature Top 10 Cars for Long-Distance Drives Wherever the road trip takes you, these automobiles will get you there quickly, comfortably,…

OPERATING THE SIGNATURE feature of the Richard Mille RM 63-02 World Timer (richardmille.com) is a straightforward process. The rotating bezel on the $145,000 timepiece displays the names of major cities in each of the world’s 24 time zones. Once you turn the city corresponding to the local time zone to the 12 o’clock position, you can determine the time in any other zone by noting the appropriate city. While the operation is simple, the ball-bearing system that underlies the feature embodies the type of intricacy expected in a Richard Mille watch.…

FERRAGAMO AND THE LUNGARNO COLLECTION ferragamo.com | lungarnocollection.com In September, Robb Report Club members were given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with fashion label Ferragamo and its Lungarno Collection hotels. The group was in the midst of a nine-day road rally from Milan to Rome when they paused in Florence for an ultimate experience hosted by one of Italy’s most respected brands. For more than 100 years, the Ferragamo name has been associated with the highest standards of creativity and craftsmanship. In 1915, young shoemaker Salvatore Ferragamo left Italy for the United States. His U.S. clients became the most famous motion picture performers of the day and fueled his new international reputation that followed him when he returned home in 1937. Ferragamo settled in Florence, founding a prestigious guild of leather artisans…

Merle Haggard tunes were pouring out of the radio and sticks of fragrant, funky andouille—smoked just days before in LaPlace, La.—were in need of chopping. Justin Devillier picked up his knife, a burl-handled beauty made by the South Carolina bladesmith Quintin Middleton, and got to work. Beverly Hills traffic may have been purring just beyond the kitchen doors, but Devillier was steeped in the South as he prepared his Robb Report Culinary Masters Competition dinner at the Beverly Wilshire hotel. Devillier, chef and owner of the restaurants La Petite Grocery and Balise in New Orleans, was nominated as the region’s best up-and-coming chef by none other than John Besh, a New Orleans native and the de facto ambassador for the city and its cuisine. “Justin pays a lot of respect…

Barbara Lynch—a largely self-taught cook from the South Boston projects who went on to become the city’s doyenne of fine dining—stepped to the podium at the St. Regis New York. She clearly savored the moment, but the focus of the evening was on a chef other than herself: her Robb Report Culinary Masters Competition nominee for the best rising culinary talent in New England, Patrick Campbell. “From the day he walked in looking for a job, he was brimming with passion for great food,” Lynch said, and with that, Campbell emerged from the kitchen, clad in his signature checkered apron. Their mutual admiration was apparent. Campbell, the inventive chef at Café ArtScience in Cambridge, credits Lynch with shaping his personal style—one that combines elements of classic French and Italian cuisine…

In 2011, Christopher Kostow seemingly came out of nowhere to earn three Michelin stars at the Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena, Calif., where the then 34-year-old chef’s impressive tasting menu incorporated modern techniques and pristine hyper-local ingredients to create a highly personal expression of Napa Valley’s distinctive flavors. Yet anyone who tasted his creations a few years before at Chez TJ in Mountain View knew that Kostow’s future was bright: The Victorian dining room was creaky, and the kitchen equipment was secondhand, but Kostow turned out dishes as fresh as those he currently produces. Today, every preparation on his ever-changing menu at Meadowood continues to reference Napa, whether he is smoking meat over grapevines or pickling the seeds from a prodigious crop of local okra to make white “caviar,”…

NEW YORK “Daring and innovative.”—CHRIS TANG When John Becker flew to New York City for his Culinary Masters Competition dinner, he packed four big boxes with California ingredients: Fuyu persimmons, matsutake mushrooms, Brussels sprouts from Half Moon Bay, Mendocino nori, and turnips still clumped with Santa Cruz soil. As the chef de cuisine at the Progress in San Francisco, Becker is particular about the site-specific nuances of his raw materials. But he is also a master of classical technique, having worked in the Manhattan kitchens of such culinary superstars as Alain Ducasse (Essex House), Pierre Schaedelin (Le Cirque), and Michael White (Ai Fiori). White, a Wisconsin native who discovered he has a sublime touch with pasta, is the chef and proprietor of some of New York’s most acclaimed Italian restaurants,…

When Phillip Bryant assembled his kitchen team for the Culinary Masters Competition, he did not have to look far. His sous chefs were Veronica Valdivia—his girlfriend and the director of operations at their Coral Gables restaurant, the Local: Craft Food and Drink—and Michael Bryant, his older brother and the chef at the Larchmont in Los Angeles. Norman Van Aken may have nominated Phillip as the most promising culinary talent in the Southeast, but he has been a mentor to all three of them. “We owe him the world,” Michael said, pausing as he prepped an appetizer of steak tartare on a jagged benneseed cracker with deviled-egg mousse, homemade hot sauce, pickled mustard, and cured egg yolk. “Chef Norman taught us everything—philosophy, discipline, products. It’s our whole lifestyle now.” Van Aken…

GUESTS WILL BE TREATED LIKE royalty at any of the resorts mentioned in our spa suites feature (starting on page 166), and one of the properties—Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve—even resides in the province where the Thai royal family has its summer palace. There is a link to royalty much closer to home, however. The reigning monarch of Thailand, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1927, making him the only living monarch born on foreign soil. His father, Prince Mahidol, first came to Cambridge in 1916 to study public health at Harvard University and MIT. He met a Thai nursing student who was studying at the nearby Simmons College and married her. The prince, whose modest homes included a YMCA in Boston and a small…

WHEN IT COMES TO HEALTH doctrines, we accept many of them as absolutes: Broccoli is good, cigarettes are bad, and never—under any circumstances—should you perform a knee replacement on yourself. More often than not, we are correct: Most of our health mantras come about after years of science have confirmed some variation of a + b = c. Sometimes we do not have enough data to really know the answer yet, but other times, health messages that we hear day after day are either wrong or outdated. Stress falls into this category. For too long, we have been hammered with the message that stressful events are bad, and therefore we must prevent stress. Stressful events get compared with rough ocean seas, battering your brain and churning up angst that wreaks…

Air France, pages 124-125 airfrance.us American Standard, page 171 dxv.com Antigua & Barbuda Tourism, page 55 antiguabarbudabuzz.com Armin Strom, page 105 arminstrom.com Audemars Piguet, pages 10-11 audemarspiguet.com Backes & Strauss, page 109 backesandstrauss.com Bell & Ross, page 97 bellross.com Bobbie Carlyle Sculpture, page 79 bobbiecarlylesculpture.com Bombardier, page 18 aworldabove.com Brando, The, page 90 thebrando.com Breguet, Cover 2-page 1 breguet.com Brigham and Women's Hospital, page 159 brighamandwomens.org/precisionsurgery Camper & Nicholsons International, pages 14-15 camperandnicholsons.com Carl F. Bucherer, page 20 carl-f-bucherer.com Cayman Islands, page 25 caymanislands.ky Celergen, pages 164-165 celergenus.com Charles Krypell, page 99 charleskrypell.com Coffin & Trout, page 150 coffinandtrout.com Cvstos, page 137 cvstos.com De Bethune, page 85 debethune.ch Dennis Basso,…

THE MOST REWARDING journeys are very often the unexpected ones. But no such cheerful sentiments brightened the thoughts of one traveler who crossed the Atlantic from France in 1861. A native of Reims, this anxious gentleman had hurriedly packed his bags and departed his hometown on an altogether unanticipated expedition to the suddenly war-torn United States, where only a decade before he had minted his fortune with so much ease. Living well had been a profitable venture for this bon vivant. Born in 1822, Charles Camille Heidsieck (pictured) belonged to a family prominent in the annals of winemaking. His great-uncle Florens-Louis Heidsieck, a German Protestant who immigrated to France, established Heidsieck & Co.in Champagne in 1785 and recruited his nephew, Charles-Henri (Charles Camille’s father), to assist him in expanding the…

MAYORS mayors.com The Birks Muse Ribbon Collection. Renowned Canadian jeweler Birks turns to its heritage to redefine classic yellow gold jewelry. Like desired muses of decades and centuries past, Birks Muse Ribbon is intended to inspire and excite the wearer. The collection offers a fresh take on exceptional quality 18-karat gold in rich yellows, uplifting through architectural swirls and curves. A marriage between vintage and modern, the designs are refined with contemporary lightness, creating timeless pieces to keep forever. Available exclusively at Mayors. www.mayors.com. SHOREHAM HOTEL shorehamhotel.com | 212.247.6700 In the midst of Midtown Manhattan, the Shoreham is conveniently located on 55th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. The Shoreham Hotel is located within walking distance of many of Manhattan’s most important business addresses, the finest 5th Avenue shopping, MOMA,…

FOR FOUR YEARS, Robb Report has asked the most celebrated chefs in the world a single question: Who is the up-and-coming chef you admire most? Their answers become the nominees in our annual Culinary Masters Competition, and you can read about this year’s contest in “Robb Report’s New Culinary Master for 2016” (page 126). But those answers also provide some glimpses into the future. In the short time since their nominations, the groundbreaking chefs chosen by the likes of Daniel Boulud, José Andrés, and Nancy Silverton have indeed gone on to great things: Some of the most exciting new restaurants in the country are run by Culinary Masters nominees. In New York City, Justin Smillie opened his first restaurant, Upland (uplandnyc.com; nominated by Nancy Silverton), where his seasonal, bold-flavored cooking…

DINING EN ROUTE to a destination tends to be a cheerless matter of relieving hunger or boredom. Michael C. Fina aims to make those meals a more memorable part of the journey with a new line of tableware for yachts and private jets. The Hemisphere Marine Blue Collection ($78 to $312 per piece, michaelcfina.com) is thinner and lighter than most porcelain, with a larger foot for increased stability and generous rims to catch sloshes. Hemisphere, a classic pattern made by the French porcelain house Jean-Louis Coquet, has also been streamlined, with fewer and more versatile pieces, and updated in a jaunty sea blue developed by Steven Fina, owner of Michael C. Fina. “We envisioned serving a beautiful lunch on our family’s yacht, and we wanted the blue to really stand…

“It will only work if you believe,” Awi says to me as we kneel together on the beach in the glow of the 7 am sun. The morning tide is low—so low that I could easily walk 100 yards before the water reaches the hem of my purple sarong. The damp sand stretches out before us in little braids, formed by the last ripples of the sea that receded in the middle of the night. As the Ritz-Carlton, Bali, slowly stirs to life behind us—and the pemangku, or Balinese temple priest, completes his morning prayer—I prepare to have my soul purified. Awi is the priest’s assistant, or sutri, who is guiding me on the morning’s spiritual journey. She turns toward the pemangku, closes her eyes, and presses her palms together…

Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills; Bremer Family Winery; the Calling Wine; Domaine Carneros; Fabergé; Langham Place, New York, Fifth Avenue; the Macallan; Metaphora Wines; Michael’s New York; L’Olivier Floral Atelier; Palace Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel, San Francisco; Quintessa; the Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay; the Fur Salon at Saks Fifth Avenue; Sequoia Grove; Shoreham Hotel; Square Root Designs; Steinway & Sons; the St. Regis New York; Terlato Wine Group; Wilson Daniels…

THE FINAL COURSE on Justin Devillier’s competition menu—a gossamer panna cotta infused with the floral notes of grilled fig leaves—drew the highest scores from Robb Report judges. Devillier served it embellished with only a tiny scoop of intense, jammy huckleberry sorbet and a scattering of salty-sweet toasted hazelnut praline. Who would have guessed his sophisticated finale was inspired by the simple pleasures of peanut butter and jelly? “Superb! I ate two!”—FRANK WATANABE…

“I’M A FIRM believer in hitting them hard right out of the gate,” Phillip Bryant says, and his first course did exactly that: The foie-gras terrine, striated with red-bell-pepper ash, beguiled judges and garnered the top scores of the night. Bryant underlined the subtle char of the pepper with a drizzle of black-tea reduction, and instead of the usual toasted brioche, he served the foie gras with cubes of griddled Sally Lunn, a yeasty, buttery bread that goes back to colonial Virginia. Dabs of spiced apple butter and “bread ’n’ butter” pickled lychee completed a luscious and surprising dish that wore its lineage lightly. “Smoky, sweet, and savory.”—CHRISSY WEAN…

https://play.google.com/store/apps/  details?id=com.sharecare.realgreen • Download the app from this URL using a Google Play username and password. • Follow the instructions to create a Sharecare account, or log in with your existing account. • When prompted, enter the activation code: sharecare2015. Make calls as you normally do. The app will provide a short description of your mind-set during the call, and a graphic will show your intensity and sources of stress. * The app is still in development, so this is a beta version and currently available to Android users only and may be titled Sharecare instead of Living in the Green.…

SCIENTISTS HAVE DISCOVERED EVEN MORE REASONS TO PURSUE A GOOD night’s sleep. To remain healthy and mentally sharp, remember the names of colleagues and clients, and recall—even decades later—the wondrous details of one’s traveling adventures, quality sleep is essential. Charles Czeisler, MD, chief of the division of sleep and circadian disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, elucidates the dramatic ways eight hours of slumber can make a difference. SAVES LIVES SIXTY-NINE PERCENT OF AMERICANS REPORT GETTING inadequate shut-eye—less than six hours a night—during the work week, says Dr. Czeisler. One in five car accidents can be attributed to drowsy driving, he adds. Each month, 58 million people say they struggle to stay awake while behind the wheel and 8 million lose the fight, leading to 1.2 million crashes annually with…

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SINCE TAKING THE helm of Burgess in 1992, Jonathan Beckett has grown the London-based yacht brokerage from a three-person outfit to an industry leader with a dozen offices around the globe. Traveling the world has been a passion of Beckett’s since he was a teenager, and he credits years of living abroad for his appreciation of the finer things in his life. “I was paid $100 a month, and yet I lived better than most,” he recalls of a year spent working in Cairo. “It was a very sobering and humbling experience, where the friendship and generosity of my Egyptian friends—who were worse off than me—was extraordinary.” Robb Report connected with the 58-year-old CEO at Burgess’s Monaco office before he embarked on an 11-day journey to seven cities…

WHETHER TO SIMPLY toast the new year or to wish embarking loved ones un bon voyage, a ready supply of fine Champagne is particularly de rigueur during this busy season; and no bottle of bubbly travels more tastefully than Charles Heidsieck 1995 Blanc des Millénaires Brut (charlesheidsieck.com, $250). This rare sparkling wine is vinified from 100 percent Chardonnay by the storied house whose eponymous—and peripatetic—founder has been recently honored with a limited-edition set of luggage (see “Good-Bye Charlie,” this page). Culled from five specially selected crus from the Côte des Blancs, Blanc des Millénaires has been produced only three times: in 1983, 1985, and 1995, all exceptional vintages for Champagne’s only sanctioned white varietal. This extraordinary example sparkles in the glass like a pale-yellow diamond and takes one on a…

No. 1 Cape Winelands. SOUTH AFRICA’S PERENNIALLY picturesque Cape Winelands region has long been a popular day trip from Cape Town. But the birthplace of Pinotage is making a compelling—some would say conclusive—case for an extended stay among its valleys and vineyards. The wine region, located about an hour’s drive east of the city, has seen an influx of luxury lodges in recent years, beginning with La Residence (laresidence.co.za) and Delaire Graff Estate (delaire.co.za) in the late 2000s. Richard Branson made a characteristically grand appearance in 2014 when he added the hilltop Mont Rochelle (virginlimitededition.com) to his exclusive Virgin Limited Edition collection. The property reopened in the Franschhoek Valley after Branson poured $3.2 million into a new spa, two restaurants, and renovations of the 22 guest rooms. Most active in…

Onboard Air France, passengers can take a culinary tour of the best that France has to offer, all from the comfort of their seat. For years, the airline has taken on a role as an ambassador of fine French cuisine and lifestyle, entrusting dishes from its La Premiére and Business Class cabins to a variety of renowned French chefs. Michelin-starred culinary masters such as Joël Robuchon, Guy Martin, and Anne-Sophie Pic have all shared their creations aboard Air France flights. Most recently, the triple-starred chef Régis Marcon has led the design of exciting new dishes such as stewed green lentils with shrimp, braised shoulder of lamb with figs, and free-range chicken with black morels. Pair any of these with a wine selected by our world-renowned sommelier Paolo Basso and enjoy…

SINCE 2012, BARBARA LYNCH has worked to help inner-city children get “up and out,” as she puts it. “Growing up in a housing project, I know what it is like not to have a proper education, not to be shown the world, and not to have hope,” says Lynch, who chose her nonprofit organization, the Barbara Lynch Foundation, as a beneficiary for the Robb Report Culinary Masters Competition. The group facilitates programs that aim to help children live healthier and take charge of their futures. From 2013 to 2015, the foundation supported two programs in Boston Public Schools, including an elementary school curriculum that teaches students about food, healthy eating, and nutrition through the Boston Food Literacy Initiative. Students also learn how food is produced, even growing their own vegetables…

THOSE LOOKING FOR AN ALTERNATIVE TO AMBIEN or Lunesta, two frequently prescribed sleep aids, now have a third option: The newly FDA-approved Belsomra (suvorexant), which is designed to help ease chronic insomnia and may help one fall and stay asleep, says Rachel Salas, MD, the assistant medical director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep. Most sleep aids change the organization of sleep, and many of the most common ones—such as Ambien—reduce the depth of sleep so that one has a lighter sleep, according to Charles Czeisler, MD, chief of the division of sleep and circadian disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. This new generation of sleep aids, however, works differently in the brain. Drugs like Ambien and Lunesta , known as hypnotics, work on the sleep system, says Dr.…