The 2020 Uproxx Travel Hot List

The Yukon — already on the Travel Hot List — probably doesn’t pop into many people’s minds when they think of food havens. That will change soon, or at least it should. The region, known for being vast and barren, actually has a lot going for it when it comes to food. There’s a deeply-seeded regenerative farming community. There are seemingly endless expanses of untouched wilderness — providing everything from wild fruits, roots, mushrooms, and vegetables to wild herbs and spices to wild seafood and abundant wild game. And the people, many Indigenous, feel a sense of purpose about making a life in a part of the world that spends four months of the year bone-chillingly cold.

The energy around the food, beer, and whiskey scenes feels somehow heightened in the Yukon. It’s also unarguably unique. Masterfully crafted beers get spiked with wildflowers plucked from the nearby mountains. Chefs plan summer residencies to experiment with the abundance of wild foods. Neighboring businesses cross-pollinate in the spirit of unity, a must for any population fighting the elements this fiercely.

One of the best ways to get a handle on the burgeoning and exciting food scene in the Yukon is to hit up Whitehorse during the Yukon Culinary Festival. The summer food festival draws chefs, bartenders, farmers, hunters, brewers, and food lovers from all corners of the world. The events highlight the wonders of Indigenous foodways alongside migrant foods and plenty of local brews. The whole community comes together to support the people who grow, forage, and serve their food throughout the year — from farmer’s markets to public cooking events to riverside cookouts. This year, the head of the fest, star Vancouver chef Eric Pateman has decided to run several micro-fests staring at the end of summer and running through the fall, adding to the excitement.

Keep an eye on the 2020 schedule and set your sights to the culinary wonders of the great, wild north.

A few years ago, Portland was at the epicenter of the notorious Kooks Burritos fiasco — a conversation that I was personally involved in. Though the whole situation spiraled out of control, the long-term takeaway, in Portland and around the nation, is that conversations about appropriation and cultural ownership are going to continue to bubble up as foodways grow and evolve. That’s okay. While we at UPROXX believe any chef can cook whatever they like, we are open to questioning whether they should.

It’s all situational, of course, but what I do know is that Eem PDX — which won just about every single award there was to win in the Portland culinary scene last year — is doing things right. The lauded restaurant is an example of true cultural fusion in an age when society often seems like its atomizing — with Chef Akkapong “Earl” Ninsom, of famed Portland restaurants Langbaan, PaaDee, and Hat Yai, teamed with one of the best and brightest of the Texas barbecue scene, Matt Vicedomini.

The result when these two culinary minds connecting is food of the rarest variety these days: Surprising. Pickled pineapple cuts through the fat of grilled pork belly and baby back ribs are balanced with grapefruit, cucumber, Thai herbs, and pickled shallots. The spicy jungle curry with brisket is what lesser chefs dream of when they attempt to fuse foodways: The dish is made better by its eastern and western influences.

Eem PDX offers a vision of our more egalitarian future, making it’s an absolute must-stop on any Portland culinary tour. That goes double for lovers of exciting, rum-heavy, Thai-inspired tiki drinks — of which the bar offers many.

Growing up in Dubai, I’d only ever get a chance to eat Emirati cuisine when visiting neighbors or getting invited to a local wedding. There really wasn’t a restaurant where you could go to get your Emirati food cravings satisfied. Today, however, the tides are turning. A wave of Emirati restaurants is slowly working its way toward prominence in Dubai’s diverse food scene, as gastronomically-inclined residents and travelers become more adventurous in their food experiences.

With a strategic geographic location, it’s not surprising to see how the cuisine was influenced by the ancient spice and silk trade routes. Indian spices like turmeric, saffron, cardamom, and cumin all make appearances in Emirati dishes, which also focus heavily on dates, rice, bread, seafood, and meat — camel and goat are traditional, though today you will find most dishes cooked with chicken, too.

Travelers interested in trying Emirati dishes can head to Al Fanar, one of the first Emirati restaurants to open in the city, which offers an Emirati breakfast spread of traditional bread such as rigag, khameer, and chebab, served with cheese, date syrup, and eggs. Seven Sands offers both classics like harees (a meat and wheat porridge) and chicken thareed (a traditional Bedouin stew with vegetables like potatoes and pumpkin), as well as contemporary takes on Emirati cuisine. While the Arabian Tea House and Cafe in Dubai’s historic Al Fahidi district serves up a fantastic Emirati menu, its key offering is dessert and, in particular, the luquaimat. An order of these tiny, sugary, deep-fried dough balls will meet your donut needs and go perfectly with a pot of freshly brewed karak chai (spiced tea).

The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas is one of the hottest properties on The Strip. It’s pool parties are the stuff of “What-Happens-Here-Stays-Here” legend. The rooms are famously sexy. The central location means you can stroll anywhere fairly easily. But the real ace up the property’s sleeve is its restaurants. The Cosmo features one of the most lovingly curated dining collections found anywhere on earth. New York’s Momofuku, Milk Bar, and Ghost Donkey, New Orlean’s District Doughnuts, Portland’s Lardo and Pok-Pok Wings, Nashville’s Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, Washington D.C.’s Jaleo, and L.A.’s Eggslut only scratch the surface of the food options at The Cosmopolitan. Seriously, the joint seems to be collecting outlets of beloved Instagram-friendly joints like jewels in a culinary crown.

Of course, Vegas properties have been trying this for a while now. But perhaps The Cosmopolitan deserves a little more recognition than it’s been getting. After all, food obsessives are known to travel far and wide for bespoke food experiences — and that elusive food ‘gram drop. And if you can pick up five or seven of your “bucket list” meals all in one place, you can save drastically in fossil fuels. We ran the numbers on the carbon footprint you’d leave if you traveled roundtrip from Seattle to New York, L.A., New Orleans, D.C., Portland, and Nashville to try these iconic food spots.

The carbon footprint is staggering. We’re talking 5.49 tons of carbon entering the atmosphere. The scientific consensus marks individual carbon footprints at three tons (yearly) if we want to slow climate change.

What’s the number if you hit Las Vegas and start ticking those places off your list at The Cosmopolitan? One roundtrip flight to Vegas (again from Seattle) will pump 0.532 tons of carbon into the atmosphere — literally one-tenth less. Add in that Las Vegas is one of the most efficient cities in the country when it comes to carbon use overall, and you’ve got one hell of a good eco-conscious reason to go to Vegas. Especially if you’re keen to try some of the restaurants that the culinary world is buzzing about right now.

A rainforest hike to visit the mountain gorillas of Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s equal parts other-worldly and deeply human. But, visitors only get an hour with these magnificent creatures — with whom we share 98.4 percent of our DNA — before returning to the lodge. Then the next safari begins, a coffee safari.

Uganda’s robust Arabica plays a pivotal role in keeping the gorillas and their habitat healthy. When guests extend their stays to participate in Coffee Safaris, farmers — often reformed poachers — provide insight into the local coffee culture, as they walk visitors through the process from growing to roasting, ending the experience with a tasting at the edge of the rainforest.

Doctor Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka’s non-profit Gorilla Conservation Coffee works with more than 500 coffee farmers around Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to harvest and export coffee around the world. The proceeds go back into her sister non-profit Conservation Through Public Health, dedicated to the health and wellness of the surrounding community.

It’s an ethical, important approach which you can witness in person or support by ordering imported beans. After all, a healthy community means healthy gorillas.

It’s hard to imagine a place that checks more boxes off the “peak Los Feliz” rubric than Pinky’s, a new cocktail bar tucked away in an alley behind Skylight Books on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles. Aside from boasting the coveted Suntory Whisky Highball Machine — a multi-faceted Japanese contraption that produces effervescent, highly-carbonated sparkling water, and keeps both the sparkling and the corresponding whisky very, very cold — the bar also has an expertly-crafted, extensive cocktail menu curated by wunderkind Jordan Young, who is a co-owner of Pinky’s and the beverage director at its nearby sister restaurant, Atrium.

Drinks aside, the interior of the bar hits like a glassy, tropical paradise — with turquoise tile, gold accents, glass bricks, and a magnificent ‘70s flair that just won’t quit. Finally, nightly music curation, from local DJs selected by Alex Rodriguez — a vinyl collector who also manages Glass House Records in Pomona, and curates the on-site record store for Coachella — means the soundtrack is unexpected, smart, and always entertaining. Come when Rodriguez himself is DJ-ing to get a heady dose of Italo disco, Brazilian music, and funk. Pair that playlist with an unbelievably fizzy whisky and the perfect, low-key weeknight hang is born.

Tel Aviv — with its continuous influx of new chefs and restaurants — has been at the forefront of innovative cuisine for decades and this year will be no different. With a huge emphasis on fresh farm-to-table dishes, the lively city is a hotbed for foodies who appreciate local high-quality ingredients and multicultural dining experiences. Aside from the fine-dining culture, there are plenty of open-air markets, hole-in-the-wall joints, and street stalls serving some of the best food you’ll ever taste. This year, Tel Aviv’s food scene (and tourism in general) is projected to be off the charts, especially in the vegan space.

Inbal Baum, the founder of Israel’s leading food tour provider Delicious Israel, predicts the trending restaurants that are sure to make every 2020 hot list. One being Burek, which she describes as a seven-course dinner party with a live DJ, changing seasonal menu, and an open studio kitchen so that guests can interact with the chef. Another local eatery to be on the lookout for is Opa, a culinary experience celebrating organic, plant-based eating.

“Though every product and dish is 100 percent vegan, this isn’t just another vegan restaurant,” says Baum. “It’s headed by Chef Shirel Berger, who just won Chef of the Year by Time Out Magazine, and is a totally unconventional must-try experience in 2020.”

Setting the stage for 2020 travel, the country is about to welcome 10 new properties from the Isrotel hotel chain while moving ahead with a $480-million expansion of Ben-Gurion Airport to accommodate an additional 30 million travelers a year. In line with this growth trend, Intrepid Travel has seen its global bookings to Israel increased by 84% in just the first half of last year, with that momentum sustaining through 2020. What’s that mean for food? More crowds, perhaps, but also lots of new innovation and big ideas.

For the past two decades, Dublin’s #1 beer-lover’s destination — the Guinness Storehouse — has been offering travelers a chance to indulge in all things connected to “The Black Stuff.” The Guinness Storehouse is a multi-floor, interactive experience that takes you through the history of Guinness and the process of making this famous stout. The whole experience ends at the iconic Gravity Bar, where you can get your “free” glass of stout and take in a 360-degree view of Dublin.

It has not, historically, included a tour of the actual brewery, much to the chagrin of many a beer-loving tourist. Until now.

On January 17th, Guinness opened a new tour program called “Behind the Gate,” which allows keen travelers the chance to actually walk the brewery floor, tasting a lot of beer (paired with food) along the way. The tour is guided by Guinness’s beer ambassadors — who’ve devoted their lives to loving all things Guinness and getting you to love it too. Their expertise gives the tour a depth that you just can’t get anywhere else. It’s also a commitment. You’re going to be walking, tasting beer, and eating for about two-and-half hours.

The $105 price tag looks steep on the surface. But that includes two tastings and one food pairing with Guinness and its experimental sub-brands that are only brewed and served at their Open Gate micro-brewery. The ticket also gives you access to the whole Storehouse and Gravity Bar, saving you €20 ($22). Be warned, you’ll need to book ahead to get on this tour. It’s already very popular and waiting until you get to Ireland may mean you don’t get a slot.

Set amidst the scenic heart of Italy’s 2019 Hot Listed Emilia-Romagna region, Parma is a veritable wonderland for gourmands. In the immediate area, you’ll find no less than 20 Michelin-starred eateries. Places like Ca’ Matilde and Parizzi are unassuming family-run enotecas (casual restaurants centered around local wine), offering fresh takes on the local fare, often studded with the city’s eponymous prosciutto and its most prized export: Parmigiano Reggiano.

Head just outside of town on the Parmesan Cheese trail and you can trace this sharp, nutty delicacy back to the dairies and farms from whence it came. Traditional techniques mark these 84-pound wheels of produce as wholly unique and among the first foods to receive protective status by the European Union. After tasting the goods, typically aged between one and three months, you can tour the Parmesan Cheese Museum. Because, yes, that is a real thing.

It’s not all about the food, either. Back in the center of town, you can sightsee among ruins dating back more than two millennia. And this year is a particularly auspicious one for the former Roman colony, as Parma will hold the title of Italian Capital of Culture. A panel of Italian tastemakers votes annually on one native region to wear the mantle. The city of approximately 197,000 won out thanks, in part, to its recently minted status as a UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy.

There’s perhaps never been a better time to say, “cheese.”

It’s no secret that Singaporeans take their food seriously. The city is iconic for its hawker centers and street eats and boasts the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred meal. But in recent years, the country has assumed a new national identity as a smoking hot drinking destination — thanks to an influx of creative and high-caliber cocktail bars, with an impressive five featured on the World’s 50 Best Bars 2019 list including the breathtaking ATLAS bar at Parkview Square (#8), ingredient-driven Native (#12), and Hemingway-influenced speakeasy The Old Man (#38).

Singapore’s most celebrated watering holes are mind-blowingly innovative, inspired, and provocative. And cocktail enthusiasts who drink their way through the city are in for a treat of epic proportions. In addition to the aforementioned spots, super hip 28 HongKong Street, retro airport-themed Idle Wild, and sexy NYC offshoot Employees Only should be on your list. If you’re into panoramic skyline views, hit up Smoke & Mirrors at the National Gallery, CÉ LA VI at Marina Bay Sands, and 1-Altitude (the highest-elevated alfresco bar in the world).

A tasting at Brass Lion Distillery (Singapore’s first micro-distillery) followed by a gin-based libation at their bar makes for another notable stop. And, of course, no trip to Singapore is complete without sipping an original Singapore Sling at the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel, where the famous pink cocktail was created in the early 1900s.

The common understanding might be that veganism is a restrictive diet, but traveling while giving up all animal products — from meat and fish to dairy and eggs — opens food-focused travelers to restaurants and dishes that veer far from the more basic, tourist-tested menu items. Plus, it’s a greener, low impact way to see the world.

On a recent trip to Buenos Aires, considered by many to be the steak capital of the world, I only dined at vegetarian restaurants (with a keen eye toward the vegan options). I came away with more insight into the city and the seasonal produce that it has access to than the average Francis Mallmann acolyte could ever get. I found Sacro, a fine-dining restaurant putting out exquisite small plates better than anything I’ve tasted in New York City; vegan eggs at Buenos Aires Verde; and simple-yet-refined vegetable-centric small plates.

Even if veganism isn’t in the cards for you, let this be a reminder: What makes a destination most famous is never the whole culinary story.

There’s always going to be something unique about the food in a city that has been at the crossroads of humanity for millennia. Food, spices, hashish, tea, and people have been moving through Tangier for eons. The Berbers, Phoenicians, Mauretanian, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, and Moroccans have all left their mark on the ancient city — even Hercules called the place home. This has created a cuisine that’s wholly unique, widely influenced, and naturally delicious.

On a personal level, Tangiers has long been one of my favorite food cities. I got into it after watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. I knew I had to go and retrace his steps. My first stop is always Restaurant Andalus, Bourdain’s favorite hole-in-the-wall haunt when he dropped into the city. The spot is a fish restaurant where you pick the fish of the day from a display and a method for cooking said fish and then sip your super strong mint tea while the chefs do their thing. There are five tables, an open kitchen, and the prices are crazy cheap for the middle of the Kasbah.

More recently, I’ve also tried my hand at cooking Tangier’s iconic dishes. On a recent trip with Windstar Cruises, I decided to take a cooking course with Blue Door Cuisine. We made beef and plum tagines. While they simmered, our local chef/ guide showed us the nuances of making local bread and then we went to a hundred-years-old communal bakery around the corner to have our flatbread baked. The tastes those centuries-old ovens imparted into the final product was undeniably unique and delicious. The tagine was extraordinary too.

If you’re in need of a more refined setting to dive into the local foods of Tangiers, hit up spots like El Morocco Club. This is a more white tablecloth experience, with stellar food that represents the blending of French and Berber cuisines and a wonderfully refined flair.

Not to wax all philosophic, but there’s a true sense of place in the streets of Tangier. You can wander through a maze of motley-tiled food markets in the Kasbah amongst butchers, spice dealers, farmers, and street cooks — all creating a chaotic scene and smells that are absolutely intoxicating. The openness of the vendors is undeniable, as free samples are always handed out with a smile and nod of appreciation. Language barriers are broken down easily with nods, shakes of the head, and gesticulating.

Are these important reminders of our connectivity through food in this new era of isolationism? You’d better believe it.

The vastness of the German beer scene can’t be overstated. Yet, for most, Munich’s lagers tend to dominate the conversation. 2020 should be the year beer lovers and travelers look beyond Munich and Oktoberfest when they dive into one of the world’s best beer scenes. And the best place to go beyond the throngs of beer-swilling revelers in Munich is to head to north Bavaria and the city of Bamberg.

Between April and October, the beer gardens of Bamberg are packed out with locals and beer lovers alike. There are lush gardens with excellent local Bavarian treats (beer cheese, pork shanks, braised stuffed onions) attached to the main breweries in the city. And, yes, there’s plenty of delicious lager from spots like Mahrs, Fässla, and Keesmann to name only a few. But it’s really the hilltop beer gardens with their picnic tables, shady trees, and affordable local brew (expect to pay three to four euros for a half-liter off the tap) that make the scene what it is. Wilde Rose Keller and Spezial-Keller are the spots where you can while away an entire day drinking the true specialty of the town: Smoked beer.

Bamberg is world-renowned for their smoked malts. A trip to Schenkerla Rauchbierbrauerei is a step back in time, with some of the best beer in the city coming out of old wooden kegs. Then hit up Spezial-Keller and try their more modern iterations of smoked beer, so that you can compare and contrast.

This is a super accessible spot in Germany that doesn’t get heavy tourist traffic, all wins in our book. It’s all too easy to strike up a convo with the locals, especially if you want to talk beer.

I’ve developed a somewhat dangerous habit this year: Eating at some of the best, and often most expensive, restaurants in the world. Boragó — ranked 26th on this year’s World’s 50 Best list (if you take stock in such subjective rankings) — is a fitting standard-bearer for the cadre of South American restaurant redefining the cuisine in the region.

The establishment is deeply unique, even in this rarified space (my girlfriend Jess and I have eaten at five of 2019’s top fifteen over the last eighteen months). Chef Rodolfo Guzman and his team have captured the service and most definitely the food quality of a Michelin starred restaurant, but have also achieved that unquantifiable, homey feel of food and time and place mixed together.

Boragó feels youthful. The people behind it serving and cooking, seem excited about what they’re doing. The experimentation with fermentation feels new and distinctly Chilean, though reminiscent of methods used at Noma and Central. One key ingredient that makes the operation worth an add-on to your South American agenda: Boragó won the 2018 World’s Best Latin American Restaurant Sustainability Award.

Yes, it’s expensive. But it’s also ecologically innovative, fiercely experimental, supremely comfortable, and one of the most deeply enjoyable dining experiences of my life. That should come at a cost.

You might not know it, but New Haven, Connecticut has one of the coolest Little Italy’s in America. I don’t say that lightly. I’m a big fan of that nation’s Little Italys, in general, and revel in any chance to walk the streets of Federal Hill in Providence, Grand Street in New York, The Hill in St. Louis, or Mayfield Road in Cleveland. What sets New Haven’s Wooster Street area apart is that it has some of the best pizzerias in the country, mostly crowded within a few blocks.

The 100-year Italian-American history of the city has spawned Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and Sally’s Apizza on Wooster Street and Modern Apizza up on State. All three are masterful representations of the local style of “apizza” with a thin crust, coal-fired pie heavy on the tomato unless it’s white and loaded with fresh clams. Each spot has its own vibe and has plenty of local craft beer and Italian wines to wash down these charcoal ripped pies.

Stepping into the more modern era, BAR — over on Crown Street, across the street from Louis’ Lunch (where the American version of the hamburger was conceived) — you’ll find a modern brewpub serving up inventive interpretations of New Haven’s apizza. Try their mashed potato and bacon pie for a meal that might change your whole definition of what pizza is and isn’t.

If you get tired of pizza (we’re not sure that’s even possible), you can hit the aforementioned Louis’ Lunch for a classic burger on white bread toast. Or head over to Ordinary tavern for some of the best and most inventive cocktails in the country — and, not for nothing, one of the best bar burgers on the planet. From there, bar hop around the city, eat more pizza, and enjoy one of the coolest food and drinking scenes in America in a city that always seems to be just off the mainstream’s radar.

All of this seem a little overwhelming? You can always book a tour with a local pizza historian who’s devoted his life to the wonders of New Haven’s apizza culture.

With the proliferation of distilleries across America, getting a good, local bottle of whiskey, rum, or vodka has never been easier. There are over 1,500 distilleries in the country right now, a dramatic increase over just ten years ago. That’s helped open up other regions of the U.S. to booze-inspired tourism. For instance, if you’re on the West Coast and can’t make it to Kentucky or Scotland to tour distilleries, there are local options that’ll sate your desire to blend travel and whiskey into one experience.

Washington State has nearly 50 distilleries. 27 of them are in and around the Seattle-Tacoma area alone (one of America’s biggest agricultural regions in its eastern reaches). That’s a lot of booze, folks. Using Seattle as a base of operations for a wider deep-dive into craft distilleries, you’ll be able to get an insight into the people and products that are trailblazing a new path in craft spirits. Spots like OOLA, Westland, and 2018’s distillery of year Copperworks are great places to start your whiskey-soaked journey.

Each one of WA’s distilleries offers an experience, with plenty of chances to learn more about the whole process from grain to glass. Plus, you’ll be in Seattle where you’ll never be out of great food options to counter all the whiskey you’re going to drink.

I could write an entire novel on how much I loved my time in Japan. My sister and I went on a whim last fall, with very little planning. Rather than trying to see everything, we decided to explore one thing: coffee. The rationale made perfect sense: Good coffee is like the traveler’s north star these days, guiding a path to all that is good and hip and energetic.

And so, we planned our days around scouting out and walking to find good coffee, and never once did it disappoint. Traveling with a singular goal for the day is the best kind of planning — you have a destination, but really the magic is what you find along the way. We wandered through the ultra-hip Harajuku neighborhood to reach The Roastery by Nosy Coffee and the Deus Ex Machina outpost. We traversed Kyoto in search of Wife and Husband, HERE, and % Arabica, all of which far exceed any expectation we had. The only thing rivaling their respective espresso iterations was the incredible aesthetic seen in each.

Let’s face it, Instagram has blown out the travel scene and just hitting all the “must go” spots while visiting some city or another just won’t cut it this year. We’re all about getting off the beaten path and finding little gems along the way. Which is exactly what this did for us. We found heaps of vintage boutiques and tiny local spots to pop in for lunch. We saw temples and shrines and took long, history-infused walks. All of this we never would have experienced if we weren’t in search of that single, perfect cup.