The Ballantyne Hotel Near Charlotte, NC
November 2, 2016
Well, here we are in North Carolina where NPS owns some land (at the beach) but can’t vote and where the idiots in state government pass absurd laws about bathrooms. This is not where I would choose to spend my travel dollars. But work is work, so, well, here we are.
The flight down on American Air was very nice. Great equipment. Expensive wifi. Good seating.
Nice parking lot view from 424
The Ballantyne is 20 minutes from the airport away from the city and is one of those luxury compounds where you just get stuck and maybe play some golf or have a “spa day.” NPS does not play golf. This property is part of the Starwood family of hotels who seem to have suburban luxury down pretty well—lots of recently planted trees, over manicured lawns, the whole shebang. It is a gorgeous day.
Coffee and water pod
We are assigned cubicle 424. Which means we have the usual hamster cage design but with a much better bathroom pod than usual, and enough room to work (and to eat it turns out, but more about that in a minute). I arrived in a huge rush 4 minutes before a critical phone call. The room key failed to work. So back down to get that fixed, and back up with 30 seconds to spare and no net authenticated yet. Argh!
424 bed land
424 working and eating penensula
Style = generic
With the call over, it was time for a very late lunch (after 2), but strangely you can’t get any food at the compound between 2 and 5 unless you are in your room? That’s just weird. So anyway, you can eat in 424.
Seems pretty silly that in order to get food @BallantyneHotel at 2:22pm my only option is room service.
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) November 2, 2016
The bathroom is very nice if not a bit rococo. Lots of marble.
With a huge tub.
And a glass shower, which we must absolutely approve.
The porch outside by one of the golf holes (replete with Canadian geese) is a great place for writing blog entries.
Dinner at Baku was very nice indeed. Reasonable cocktails, outstanding sushi and wagyu beef cooked at the table.
Anyway, that’s about it. Once you know what real luxury is, it is hard to experience the suburban kind and be all tail waggy. But this hotel beats the heck out of a Courtyard by Marriott or a Springhill Suites. Four showerheads and a free golf cart ride for the Ballantyne Hotel.
The Umstead: NC Strives for Perfection
April 4, 2015
So close and yet so not close. We’ve been to the umstead many times, but they don’t seem to know that. Hey guys, maybe a computer??
As predicted, in the Spring it is just gorgeous here.
But all is not perfection. Arrival after midnight should pay attention to reservation constraints. Like: 2 beds (actually made), the fact that we have been here multiple times (?!), the fact that we like sparkling water, and so on. The umstead has slipped management-wise over the last few years. Who is the general manager? Great property, but not managed very tightly at all. Get it together, umstead, if you want to be world class and not just the best property in NC.
Hmmm
Room 107 is beautiful as all of the rooms here are.
107 Umstead
We’re in it for the bathrooms
The shower is to write home about. Really. Bench. 4 shower heads. Plenty of pressure. World class.
Unbelievably great shower
It’s Spring
Are there sheets under there? Maybe not.
Note that the patio is a superior place to have a leisurely dinner on a fine Spring evening. Delicious. The company was the best part of course. Oh, and there is real mixology here now too, mostly stolen wholesale from NY. Nothing if not good mimics here.
However, we’re looking for perfection. Four point five showerheads for the Umstead. Time for management to wake up and figure out that being great means serious attention to detail and a history on your guests.
During college and the arts, there was a visit to Duke and UNC. Both schools are to be avoided for different reasons. Duke thinks it is Stanford (uh, nope). UNC thinks it is a sports franchise. Ouch.
The only interesting thing about Duke
The only interesting thing about UNC
UNC: Centered around a stadium, or is that a prison?
Hey look what North Carolina collected when you weren’t watching. ART.
genius
Back in Wilmington, NC at the Hilton
June 13, 2014
What happens when you drive down to the Stick? You have to stay at the crappy Hilton in Wilmington, NC. Um, yay? Here we are again. But we must say that this room 829 is better than the junior suite from years past. Only three of us crammed in here this time.
Nice view on the river side. If you like WWII battleships especially.
Boat.
The hamster cage persists at the Hilton. Nice to finance Paris’ nonsense.
Please pick a cage. They are all the same. This one is 829.
Two tiny beds.
Please make yourself small and comfortable in this bed.
The other half of the room.
Of course the shower is plastic. And the sink is curvy.
Yuck.
Anyway, screw this Hilton and its awfulness. On to the rest of Wilmington (which is a delightful little town for the most part.
First we stopped by Circa 1922 for some average cocktails. They make a mean French 75, but their ice needs work. We made the most watery Corpse Reviver #2 ever and followed that with a drink w/o ice.
French 75
1 oz gin (London dry)
brown sugar cube
.5 oz lemon juice
champagne to top
Mix the first three ingredients and add champagne in a flute. Lemon twist.
Dinner was at the not so cleverly named “The Little Dipper” fondue restaurant. Meh. My parents made way better fondue in the ’70s.
Never fear, though, there is a cover band called the “Breakfast Club.” They played Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” Ah. What more does Wilmington need?
No stars whatsoever for the Hilton. They should burn this place down and start over. But tomorrow is the Stick.
The Gorgeous Umstead Hotel in Cary, NC
November 20, 2013
Yes, we all know that CARY is an acronym for “containment area for relocated Yankees,” but I guess the northern invaders needed a nice place to stay?! Or maybe it was the SAS corporation?! Whatever the cause, the Umstead Hotel is world class.
Umstead autumn morning
Super courteous and warm welcome. Amenity arrival within minutes. Southern hospitality and laughter. Light and grace.
Chocolate? Well some people like that.
Chocolates made in house.
A bottle of wine and a note balance things out.
Amenity table. Wine and chocolate.
Auto upgrade to a lake view room (216) with a balcony. Too bad it gets dark so early these days!
Balcony in the morning. Nice place to read the WSJ.
The room is nicely appointed and the design, though a rectangle, is well done.
From the bathroom.
The shower is not plastic in the least.
Not a plastic shower.
Huge tub for no apparent reason.
All told, we’re at five shower heads. Stay here.
Dinner at the nearby An restaurant was delightful. Very good seafood and an excellent and quirky wine list.
Mixology at the Umstead is OK. Very good for a hotel bar, but nothing to write down. The Sazarac experiment was a wash—literally. But the service is excellent if not obsequious. Great place to unwind.
Incredibly great dinner after a long day with students (and two talks, one of which was a surprise) at Poole’s Diner. Wow. Best dinner in NC ever. Simple, but supremely well constructed. And the bar made a fantastic Sazerac. The Sazerac is a difficult drink to make properly:
Ice down a tumbler. In a second glass mix:
1 t simple syrup
3 oz cask strength Rye (Sazarac 18 is a good bet, or Rittenhouse 100)
7 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters
Stir down. Empty first glass and rinse with absinthe. Strain mixture into first glass. Express generous lemon slice over glass. See? Easy, but NOT easy at all to do well.
Southern Hospitality at the Siena Hotel, Raleigh, NC
March 27, 2011
Upon my arrival fresh from RDU, checkin at the Siena Hotel was facilitated by Nate Plant. Mr Plant reminds me of an old time proprietor from the Old West. He was as earnest, friendly, and courteous as you would expect, and when queried about the possibility of an interesting bathroom immediately offered up the recently-renovated room 402. The TV in 402 may remain bulbous, but who cares when you have a cool glass shower like this?
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The rest of the hotel is about as upscale as I have come across in the Research Triangle area of NC (well until this trip…see below). Apparently it has been here for 26 years, but I only just discovered it. The lobby has beautiful marble and rococo “Italian” furniture marred only by the omnipresent TV.
If my room is any indication, things are on the upswing at the Siena and almost at a world class level with sort of a fractal sense of taste that almost works. (As an example, the refrigerator unit in my room sits forlorn in the corner all by itself, definitely in need of an enclosure. So…marble desk: check, refrigerator in corner: not so much, bulbous TV: not so much, nice big bed with decent linens: check, marble lobby: check, TV noise: no so much.) All of the minor issues are made up for by the excellent, responsive staff. Friendly and warm and properly North Carolinian.
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The restaurant, Il Palio, is very good with fresh pasta, an extensive wine list, and a very nice ambiance.
All in all, the Siena earns top grades—five showerheads. I’ll be back.
Of course leave it to Michael, one of my most esteemed hosts, to completely outclass the Siena by hosting a dinner at the Umstead hotel, a place that reminds me in many ways of the Bellevue Club in Washington state. Looks like there is super high end luxury in the Triangle area after all. The restaurant at the Umstead (called Herons) presented a superb meal with the best service I have experienced in quite some time.
All we need now is some mixology in NC. Any suggestions out there?
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