Cocktail prices are surging, the world’s best restaurant is in Copenhagen, and 630 acres are being transformed into a park in Indiana. All that and more in this week’s Five on Friday.
Geranium named the world’s best restaurant
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The World’s 50 Best List has released the rundown on the best restaurants worldwide, following a revamp of its rules and voting body, Eater reports. After five years in the top spot, Copenhagen culinary mecca Noma has been edged out by the only other Danish eatery with three Michelin stars: Geranium. The top five was rounded out by Central in Lima; Disfrutar in Barcelona; Diverxo in Madrid; and Pujol in Mexico City. Only three U.S. restaurants made the list, with Atomix in New York peaking in the 33rd spot. This editor is especially partial toward Quintonil in Mexico City, which sits in good company in ninth place.
Claes Oldenburg dies at 93
Pop artist and sculptural superstar Claes Oldenburg died on Monday July 18th in New York, according to The New York Times. He was 93. Oldenburg’s influence in the city’s art scene began in the late 1950s with Happenings, which employed audience participation and everyday materials from street signs to pieces of pie. The Street followed in 1960 along with The Store in 1961, which retailed plaster replicas of items, including shoes and cheeseburgers. The scope of his work soon boomed, and showstopping sculptures from Clothespin to Shuttlecocks to Spoonbridge and Cherry enhanced quotidian objects to an absurdly grand scale. Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks and Typewriter Eraser, Scale X are other key standouts in Oldenburg’s oeuvre. He is survived by two stepchildren and three grandchildren.
Tequila distillery proposed atop Mexican volcano
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Mexico City-based Esrawe Studio has partnered with architect Francisco Pardo on the design of the world’s first biodynamic tequila distillery. Part of the Biodynamic Community proposal, the concept would crown the top of an extinct volcano in Los Altos de Jalisco, Mexico. Designboom reports that the proposal would be one of several agro-tourism attractions in the plan, which includes natural hot springs, ranches, ethnobotany, homeopathic retail, workshops, and regional cuisine. The design positions the half-buried distillery experience within a quarry to showcase natural stone surfaces. A series of pillars and cylindrical structures, which will also blend with the large tanks, will be clad with locally produced brick.
Inflation comes for cocktail time
Are all the folks who cashed in on the espresso martini craze now feeling a bout of buyer’s remorse? The cocktail’s popularity didn’t come cheap and, according to Bon Appétit, most other drinks these days don’t come cheaply either. The National Restaurant Association reports that menu prices nationwide have been on a steady uptick, leaping 7.4 percent year over year in May 2022. Hospitality prices have trended upward in response to gargantuan inflation in the U.S. that renders a more costly happy hour a small price to pay to keep favorite dives above water as rents soar. With even the average price of a nutcracker from your friendly neighbor on the corner rising as well, one must ask: are we paying for a drink or a vibe when we venture out for happy hour?
Ambitious Origin Park project comes to Indiana
A 630-acre parcel of land on the southern Indiana shoreline is set to undergo a revitalization to become the new Origin Park. Just across the water from Louisville, the site will become a new engine for biodiversity, human health, and community engagement, thanks to a masterplan authored by Olin Studio. The design will emphasize the creation of new infrastructure, including boardwalks and activity centers, as well as rewilding many of the local habitats. According to DesignWell, reseeding of meadow uplands and oak savannahs will enhance 250 acres of preserved woodlands and create 150 acres of new meadows and 50 acres of new forest. The project will link the swath of land to existing Indiana park systems in Clarksville, Jeffersonville, and New Albany.
