Beekman Arms and Delamater Inn
6387 Mill St.
Mid-range to expensive

"The oldest running inn in America."

Some historians may quibble over whether the Beek (as it's called here) is really America's oldest operating inn, but you'll be a convert when you walk up to that forbidding front door—it really looks like it's seen 250 New York winters. The fireplace in the lobby also seems authentically small and there's an endless line of men with muttonchops hanging on the wall for company. But to get that real gentry flavor, spend an afternoon with the cigar smokers among the pillars outside Henry Beekman's old house and watch the tourists traipse up the lawn. They say the revolutionary American army drilled on this patch of grass, although presumably it was larger back then.

An older crowd frequents the Beek, and while the common areas and restaurant really do have an Amish-like charm, the rooms themselves tend to slip into kitsch. You might be better off sleeping at the newer and cheaper Delamater Inn just a block away, with its rolling lawns and cottages, and hanging out at the old building when the mood strikes. Not that you'll need the Beek's lobby fireplace—half of the Delamater's rooms have their own.

AUTHOR'S EXPERIENCE Most of Rhinebeck has been designated a historic site, and strolling among the oaky streets lined with pre-Revolutionary houses is a must. Better yet, put together a day trip among the nine fabulously opulent fin de siecle riverside mansions built here by the likes of the Vanderbilts and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Most are open to the public.

FACTOID Little Rhinebeck is home to the only aerodrome in the nation that regularly flies the world's first airplanes, as well as a collection of ancient aircraft second only to the Smithsonian.

(In San Francisco Guardian, 1/22/00)

Momofuku Ssäm Bar
East Village, 207 2nd Ave., 212.254.3500

Cheap Chic

David Chang of Momofuku Noodle Bar fame heads this one, so you know Berkshire pork reigns supreme. The emphasis is on the Korean ssäm: pork (or tofu), accessorized with adzuki beans and kim chee puree, wrapped in a rice-flour tortilla ($6). Burritos for the chic, clean and light, served in a darkly modern cave with a glowing wood bar. Good wine list and pricier delights like whole Epoisee cheeses. Given the cash-flow rumors, you should get there before it goes belly up. Pork belly up, that is.