Grilled Cheese Nirvana: Meltkraft

A grilled cheese seems like a simple matter, but it is possible, even easy, to screw up. My mother managed to ruin many a grilled cheese, either through neglect (too burned, er, toasted, for my tender palate) or too fancified, with plastic sliced tomatoes.

Meltkraft masters the genre. This artisanal grilled cheese restaurant, which opened right around the corner from me in Park Slope, Brooklyn, is a sibling of the Valley Shepherd Creamery, a gourmet food shop a few blocks away.

There is also an outlet in Philadelphia.

Valley Shepherd Creamery, a sheep farm in New Jersey, makes outstanding cheese, which is one key to amazing grilled cheese. Another is the bread. The outstanding bread is good enough on its own, and simply ethereal when smothered in melted cheese.

For the purist, the Shepherd classic is the way to go. There is just the right amount of crust and crunch, and oozing full fat cheese.  You can customize your sammy with truffle oil, bacon, duck fat or bacon fat for the non-vegetarians, or, if you must, tomato.

There is also a ‘melter skelter’ with pickled green tomatoes, jalapenos, BBQ potato chips and watercress, a messy nirvana that will leave you craving more.

For those who like their cheese cold, the Goat & Beets is a fantastic combo of goat cheese, fennel beets, arugula, honey and walnuts.

The café has a great selection of craft beers on tap, and you can take home a growler. For more kid-friendly fare, organic chocolate milk in a mason jar is the way to go.

But ymmy as the food is (there are also cookies, pastries and soups) the service is sorely lacking. We went on a Saturday just after the place opened, and our sandwiches took 45 minutes to get melted under the industrial toaster. But we gave the place another shot.

This time, one register wasn’t working and no one who placed orders there got their food started. Guess which line we were on? Then we were told that the salad or chip option that comes with the sandwich had turned into a $1 surcharge for the salad. We ordered salads, paid for the upcharge, got chips.

Brooklyn Heights Luxury Gym: Equinox

Many NYC gyms with Brooklyn branches treat their outer-borough siblings as poor relations. Not so Equinox, which has a luxury gym in Brooklyn Heights.

The 5 story fitness emporium includes a spa, a juice bar, coat check and kids' club.

The impeccably clean locker rooms have Kiehl's products, beautiful tile and large, soft towels.

There are also early morning, mid-day and evening classes, with a Pilates studio, spin room and yoga studio.

I was impressed with the number of weight benches, free wights and bosu balls scattered throughout, with trainers who actually returned equipment so you could easily find what you needed.

My only gripe with Equinox is that the cardio equiment only has a few overhead monitors, instead of individual screens. If you like to channel hop, you are limited by the choices, which on the day I exercised, were CNN, CNN and soaps. Doesn't anyone watch here E!?

But the gym also has great music pumping through, so you can remove your ear plugs and be more social.

Kosher Cooking for All

In New York, it sometimes seems that everyone is Jewish – or knows someone who is. The homeless man in my neighborhood wished me a good yom tov (good day) on Rosh Hashanah and local stores have special Passover and Hanukkah menus each year.

If you are looking to cook for a Jewish holiday, a Shabbat meal, or just everyday Kosher, you could do worse than Joy of Kosher: Fast, Fresh Family Recipes.

Written by Jamie Geller, the book has recipes that you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a Kosher cookbook – smashed red potato nachos or miso-glazed salmon. These are easy to make, delicious dishes whatever your religious persuasion.

I particularly liked the tips for making the recipes simpler for everyday, or dressed up for entertaining.  There are also suggested wine pairings throughout.

While many of the dishes are meat – my grandparents didn’t think it was a meal unless there was a huge hunk of animal protein – there are quite a few vegetarian choices. The faux chopped liver, with mushrooms and walnuts, yielded such a look and feel of chopped liver that I was transported back to my grandmother’s kitchen.

And if you are trying to cut down on saturated fats, the olive oil dark chocolate mousse or gooey chocolate cherry cake are wonderful desserts for anyone.

For those without a Bubbie (Jewish grandmother), there are holiday menus, and a Hebrew/Yiddish glossary. And for anyone who has been invited to a seder and doesn’t know what to make, there are Passover ‘adjustments’ to many recipes.

So nu, what are you waiting for?

Hotel Palomar: San Diego Kimpton

Kimpton Hotels strike the right note between hip and family friendly. This chain of boutique hotels offers great value, with free bikes and coffee in the morning.

Unfortunately, the Hotel Palomar in San Diego was not up to the brand standard. There were only 2 bicycles for guest use, and both times we tried to use them, they were out.

Our room was slightly shabby, with stained cushions and scuffed, dusty floors. But the morning coffee was delicious and in the evening, there is free wine.

The fitness center was so cramped that there was no place to roll out a mat – the hula hoops would likely not get much use.

The Palomar does have a beautiful pool, with comfy lounges and a child-friendly zero entry. On the expansive pool deck, there are free yoga classes one day a week.

We ate at the nearby Jsix restaurant, in another Kimpton property, the Hotel Solamar. This hotel reminded me of the Kimpton in Portland, OR, with wine, craft beer AND cocktails at its evening happy hour; not sure how many bicycles that hotel has.

But the seasonal American restaurant was wonderful. We were greeted with sparkling wine and an amuse bouche, then had excellent salads and delicious fish and pasta.

Getting around Town: Friendly Rides with Lyft

If you are not familiar with a city, taking a cab can be fraught with anxiety. Will I have to wait long? Is the driver going to rip me off? Will he know where he’s going?

With Lyft, you get a ride and a friendly face. Download the app on your smartphone and you're good to go.

I recently tried Lyft in San Diego, and if you live in, or are traveling there, or to any of these cities: DC, Atlanta, St. Paul, Phoenix, Indianapolis, Dallas, Seattle, Chicago or Charlotte, you can check out this new ride sharing app – and save money.

Lyft rides are the same price or less than a cab, and with the promo code RIDE20, you get $20 in free Lyft credits.

The whole experience was seamless. We landed and I opened the app, a red balloon (the cars are distinguished by the furry pink moustaches on the front). You have to allow the app to access your location; then you are told how soon a driver will arrive.

By the time we got off the plane and walked outside, we got a text that our friendly Lyft driver was there. He greeted us with a fist bump and dropped us off at our hotel. On the way, he told us what local beers to check out.

We requested another Lyft driver when we switched hotels (the Hotel Palomar, with the bikes pictured above), and this one, an art student, told us about a great exhibit at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. It was like having access to insider info.

You pay for the Lyft ride through the credit card stored on the app – there is a suggested donation, and you can add a tip. And both the passenger and the driver rate each other – a handy tool so the company can keep tabs on drivers and weed out obnoxious passengers.

Lyft touches down in Baltimore soon as well.

Note: I did receive a free ride from Lyft, but all views here are my own.

Running and Biking: Staying Fit Outside at the Manchester Grand Hyatt

The Manchester Grand Hyatt, in San Diego, takes advantage of the wonderful southern California climate, with a jogging/biking map supplied by the concierge. Steps form the hotel, you can run along the sea wall, and though you can't bike through the adjacent Seaport, Village, you can cycle on traffic-free bicycle paths, or take the ferry over to Coronado for miles of bicycle paths.

The Grand Hyatt offers bicycle rentals for $10 an hour - $30 for a full day. These are bicycles for flat, leisurely biking, which is what you'll find along the water, whether in San Diego or Coronado.

And even riding one of these bikes, you can burn enough calories to make up for the Tower 10 IPA you might have had the night before. San Diego has so many craft brewers that it is hard to imagine staying sober long here.

But you will want to go easy on the beer. You have miles to run, bike, or power walk.

Manchester Grand Hyatt: Fitness Challenge

San Diego is one of those cities where everyone is always in a good mood. Any why not? The picture perfect weather, with crystal clear blue skies and a temperate range make everyone happy.

In this kind of weather, you almost have to run, but if you are staying at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, right on the San Diego Bay, you will also want to check out the excellent fitness center.

The large gym has a ton of elliptical machines and treadmills, with individual screens, and a ton of free weights and weight machines.

Oddly, someone has absconded with weights below 8 pounds; perhaps visitors to southern California are known for their incredible biceps and shoulders? I do a routine on a bosu ball (there were 3!) that is almost impossible do do with anything over 5 pounds.

But apart from that snafu (do people really swipe weights from hotel gyms?) you can get a great workout here.  There are resistance bands, a stability balls, weighted balls and mats.  There are body bars and weight benches.

And, right outside, there are running and biking paths.