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The 200 miles of coastline that runs from Bahia de Banderas to San Blas is known as Riviera Nayarit. It’s often billed as “untouched” due to its relative lack of development. Riviera Nayarit is the 200-mile stretch of coastline that runs around Bahia de Banderas, north to San Blas, and is often referred to as “untouched” due to its relative lack development. That’s a misnomer as more visitors have been flocking to the area and new hotels, along with a modern highway, have been built to accommodate them. But the sentiment remains the same: Sipping mezcal while your toes are in the sand and enjoying the view, you Rosewood Mandarina, which opened in May 2025 and is located in the convergence of three different ecosystems in Riviera Nayarit (jungle-y plains, beach, mountains), was designed to blend in with the natural landscape. Suites are designed to blend into the surrounding environment. Local craftsmen provide furniture and art. While the resort’s dining and drinking spots are inspired by cuisines from around the world, they use ingredients from the local landscape. “The seafood is sourced locally from trusted regional suppliers, vegetables and coffee come from local, sustainable agriculture, and eggs are sourced from a nearby organic farm,” says Jose Mascaros, Rosewood Mandarina’s executive chef and head of food and beverage.Japanese-Peruvian restaurant Toppu is touted as the property’s fine-dining option, but for the biggest flavors and most exciting dishes, you’ll want a table at La Cocina, Mandarina’s Mexican spot. You can’t get fresher than the fruit grown on site, the tortillas made on a comal and ceviche from fish caught offshore. Ivan Torres Flores, the head mixologist at Rosewood Mandarina, spent an afternoon with me tasting agave spirits. What about the picture above, with mezcal, barefooted feet, and crashing seas? I experienced it. Flores served my husband and myself generous sips as he explained the process of making each drink and its significance for the locals.

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Ngon Vietnamese KitchenPhoto by Ngon Vietnamese KitchenLocated on the bustling restaurant row in Dallas’ Lower Greenville neighborhood is Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen, which serves elegant Vietnamese classics prepared in the Hanoi style. Ngon’s dishes draw inspiration from family recipes as well as a buzzing food culture. They are vibrant and full of flavor. The portions are generous, but not “Texas-sized”, so you won’t get a food coma after lunch. Ngon is a cornerstone in the area. It was a breakout success before it was awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand award in 2024. The dry or wet noodles are both delicious, but the mango salad is a must-try. The perfect balance between tangy, crunchy, green mango and gently poached shrimp, squid and a mouthwatering dressing of fish sauce, topped with fried peanuts and shallots. It’s sweet and salty with a pungent aroma. It’s no wonder that every table orders this dish. Just outside the city limits, in Richardson, TX, you can find the best Iraqi cuisine in the Metroplex. Salam Grill, Al Baghdadi’s restaurant, excels in family style dining. The sandwiches and small plates may be great but the family-style meals are what makes this place stand out. Order a platter of tender lamb tikka and shish tawook (marinated chicken with yogurt and spices), saffron-flavored rice, hummus and baskets of hot khubz. The food is cooked on charcoal-burning grills which give it a mouthwatering aroma and char that electric grills can never hope to replicate. After dinner, visit the bakery to satisfy your sweet tooth. Behind the counter, you can see spiral displays of z’labia (Texans may call it funnel cake). Baklava in diamond-shaped trays, adorned with pistachios, is fried behind the counter. Daheen, an aromatic, gooey cake soaked in cardamom-infused syrup, is cut into thick squares to order. These places bet big on Texas style dining. From chic, contemporary Western vibes, to classic steakhouse bluster. The high, rounded ceiling frames the horseshoe-shaped bar of local watering holes. It has a West Texas rustic-chic vibe with its intimate seating and terracotta bound cacti both inside and outside. Far Out is located near the state fair grounds, in an area that’s largely uninhabited just outside of Downtown. It feels like a refuge from the chaos of the city. The menu is a familiar one from chef Misti Orris (formerly of Petra and the Beast), and features ferments, pickles and preserves. The menu is playful, drawing from many different inspirations. Texas, however remains at the core of its universe. Try the duck confit salad on a warm summer evening: A trio cool herbs (mint basil cilantro) with red cabbage, crunchy jicama and a creamy chile dressing, topped with a juicy duck confit. Far Out’s Western-inspired decor (and even larger patio) creates a casual, cool environment that encourages more stories (and drinks) under the Texas skies.

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The first time I had Goop Kitchen, it was on a flight from LAX to JFK in economy middle seats. I had dinner delivered to me at my hotel. I then took it to the airport in the car and through security. (No, TSA did not take the carrot-ginger dressing). Then, a few hours after, ate it on the plane. It was not only good, but it held up well. Even though I didn’t admit it, as someone who works in restaurants, that mid-sky meal made wish Goop Kitchen was bicoastal. The upscale fast-casual temple of Gwyneth and Kim Floresca’s VP of Culinary debuted in Los Angeles, 2021. Goop Kitchen, which has 11 locations in Los Angeles, along with three recent openings, opened its first ghost-kitchen location in Manhattan. Seven more locations will debut by 2026, with a focus primarily on pickup and deliveries. The team waits for 45 minutes before testing new menu items to simulate realistic delivery times. Social media is flooded with images of whole rotisserie poultry, four different pastas and bone broth. There are also salads, bowls and rolls. You can also order most items a la carte, whether they are sauces or proteins. All items are gluten-free, free of refined sugars and peanuts and corn. There are some New York-exclusives like the chicken wrap, a riff of the traditional Waldorf in the brand’s cassava flour-wrapped version, but most La-La Land favorites still remain. The Hall of Fame OrderThe Best Salad Brentwood Chinese Chicken Salad (18.50)I really love her. The carrot-ginger dressing brings together organic chicken, shredded cabbage and bok choy, avocados (lots of them), and bright vegetables like snow peas and watermelon radish. This is the only Goop sauce I would ever use. It could have used a little more gingery kick if I were you.) The Goop Teriyaki Bowl ($18.95). The portion of grilled, well-seasoned chicken is generous, and the shiitake, brown rice, (no white rice option, sadly) holds the teriyaki nicely. The sesame-marinated, softened kale is my favorite. I also like the sliced avocado with furikake and steamed broccoli. It’s also the most filling bowl.

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What makes a good toaster

• Build quality: A toaster should feel sturdy, with no wobbling, flimsy levers, or loose buttons. Beyond the body itself, I paid attention to the lift lever and any knobs or dials. Thoughtful construction shows up in the details.
• Large item capacity: A good toaster should handle more than standard sandwich bread. The best ones can accommodate a variety of sizes and shapes, lowering each piece fully and toasting it evenly all the way through.
• Browning range: There should be a clear, consistent gradient from barely toasted to deeply browned, with a noticeable difference between each setting. If the lightest and darkest settings look the same, that’s a problem.
• Defrost without over-toasting: A defrost function is only useful if it works. Too many toasters spit out frozen waffles that are burnt on the outside, cold in the middle, or just soggy. The best ones thaw and toast in a single cycle, producing results that are warm, crisp, and cooked through.
• Intuitive settings: Toasters don’t need to be complicated. The best models keep controls straightforward, with clear knobs, simple buttons, and no unnecessary features getting in the way of good toast.

Other toasters we liked

Martha Stewart 2-Slice Toaster

This toaster from Martha Stewart’s brand-new line of countertop appliances performed well in my most recent round of testing. The sleek touchscreen interface includes a whopping 10 different browning settings, which is impressive (if perhaps a tad excessive) and means this toaster is a good option for anyone who wants ultra-precise control over exactly how golden their carbs are. I ultimately felt that the Beautiful toaster accomplished a similar look, feel, and performance quality at a lower price point, but I’d still recommend the Martha toaster if it appeals to you.

Smeg 2-Slice Toaster

Not only does the Smeg look nice, it’s also a dream to use—glossy cherry red exterior, chrome lever, and intuitive control knob that satisfyingly clicks into place as you select your toasting preferences. While it toasts evenly on all temperature settings, we did notice it runs a little hot and slices could come out darker than expected or even burnt. But we did like the generously sized slots, which could fit hunks of sourdough, and the slide out crumb tray that makes clean up a breeze. Overall it’s a great toaster, but an expensive one. We found other models to be better values. Still, we’d recommend this in a heartbeat to anyone who prioritizes style in their kitchen appliances.

Breville Die-Cast Toaster

The two-slice version of our favorite four-slice toaster, the Breville Die-Cast, looks sleek, works like a dream, and has the hefty price tag to go with it. Unlike some models, the Die-Cast has no lever, only buttons. You adjust your setting, press a button, and watch your slice get magically lowered away and pushed back up for your enjoyment when it’s done. The design is also friendly for small spaces—all the controls are on the short side of the toaster instead of the wide side. This makes it easier to nestle in a small spot in your kitchen. Still, the Die-Cast’s a good $60 more than the “A Bit More,” which might push it out of your price range.

Oster Jelly Bean

Don’t let the silhouette and your assumptions about the flimsiness of the plastic body fool you—the Oster Jelly Bean is actually a quality toaster. While the curvy, charcoal silhouette of the Oster sets it apart from some of its sleek stainless-steel contemporaries, the matte look actually makes it resistant to fingerprints or smudges. It also performed pretty well. It evenly toasted everything I put it up against, even on the higher settings—though the curved design does mean the bread doesn’t get fully submerged for toasting, leaving the tops of your bread bare.

Haden Dorset 2-Slice Toaster

I was charmed by the retro design of this toaster from Haden. Its simple interface is intuitive to use but has everything you need to get the job done: a dial for switching between the six browning levels, defrost and bagel settings, and cancel button. I didn’t feel it was able to achieve quite as evenly-browned results as our top pick, and thought the different shade settings lacked a bit of variety from each other (especially the middle ones). This toaster also struggled with thicker bread options—its slots were barely wide enough to fit a halved bagel, and the bagel got stuck instead of popping out after toasting. That said, if you’re drawn to this Haden aesthetically, it’s not a bad option.

Toasters we don’t recommend

For one reason or another, these toasters didn’t earn our seal of approval.

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We’ve waxed poetic about All-Clad’s cookware for years, so it’s no surprise that its appliances are also top-notch. If you’re in the market for the best waffle maker money can buy, look no further: In the words of food director Chris Morocco, “the All-Clad waffle maker is the last waffle maker you ever need to own. It is unimprovable, at the top of its class, yet so simple that you won’t need the instruction manual to use it.”

What we love: Indeed, the All-Clad Waffle Iron is intuitive to use. Upon plugging it in, you’ll see a power light go on. After turning the dial to your preferred toasting level (there are six total options), the iron heats up accordingly, and a green Ready light illuminates when it’s time to pour in the batter. You’ll know your batch is complete when the machine beeps.

I made two batches: one at a level two setting, another at a level four. The results were exactly as expected, with the former yielding a golden, fluffy (but not undercooked) waffle and the latter landing as darker and more crispy (but not burnt). Removing them from the grates using a fork was simple and mess-free thanks to the nonstick coating.

The All-Clad is also, frankly, chic. The gleaming, polished stainless-steel exterior will look upscale on any countertop, which is helpful considering its size and hulking weight might make you less inclined to move it after every use. But, if you do plan to stow it away, know that when locked in the vertical position, it actually doesn’t take up a ton of room. (It has a much smaller profile than the family-size box of Cheerios that lives in my pantry, for reference.)

When the time comes for cleanup, you can pop the removable trays in the dishwasher. However, I found that the nonstick coating worked so effectively that there was no need. A quick—and I mean less-than-a-minute—hand-wash felt much more efficient.

What we’d leave: There’s no way around it: This appliance is large and heavy. That’s great news if you’re looking to work more biceps reps into your daily routine. For everyone else, it makes the machine a bit of a chore to lug around. But, again, if you have the counter or storage space to spare—roughly 16 inches if stored upright—you’d be hard-pressed to find a better-looking waffle iron to display.