How to Drink Wine When Flying Solo on Business Travel
On Fridays, Deb Harkness of Good Wine Under $20 drops by with Serious Grape. This week, she discusses the scenario of drinking wine alone while traveling for business—minus the hotel room's plastic tumblers.
The McCormick & Shmick's bar at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Photograph from Paul Keleher on Flickr
If you are a business traveler like me, dining alone on the road can be more than a bit depressing. This is especially true if, like me, you drink a glass of wine with dinner each night. Room service might be able to produce competent hamburgers and fries, but I can't face an industrial-strength "wine glass" full of warm red wine with a piece of plastic wrap on top and a paper "coaster" keeping it all in place.
Buying a bottle of wine and drinking it over several days in the hotel's plastic water tumblers while sitting on the bed and watching CNN doesn't cut it, either.
So what's a wine-and-food-loving business traveler to do?
When I'm on the road, I often eat at the bar. But I almost never eat at the hotel bar, or at a local watering hole. Instead, I head for one of the national chain restaurants that have full bar menus (like McCormick & Schmick's) or for a local restaurant known for excellent bar service (like Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in Napa).
What I'm looking for: a bright, warm, and welcoming space with good service that's not too loud and treats solo diners right. Because sitting alone at a table often makes me feel isolated, I find the bar is the perfect place to sit, read the paper, strike up conversations with the staff, and—most importantly—get good food with a great glass of wine.
Take last weekend. I was in Cincinnati for a conference and had reached my limit of room service, meals with colleagues, and hotel food. I crossed the street to McCormick & Schmick's and got a seat at the bar. The three bartenders behind the counter made me feel welcome, put out sourdough bread, linens, and silverware and asked me what I needed. All three of them took care of me throughout the evening.
First the female bartender took my wine and food order. I ordered a split of Domaine Chandon Brut Rosé ($15), half a dozen Blue Point oysters, and a salad. I got a proper champagne flute (no plastic wrap!) and the wine was perfectly chilled. Once I made progress on the first glass, she came by and topped up the glass, emptying the partial bottle of sparkling wine. She gave me excellent advice about the different oysters that were brought in fresh that day, and steered me towards the Blue Points (which were excellent).
My food came up from the kitchen relatively quickly even though it was a Saturday night, and one of the other bartenders served me, asked how the food was and if I needed anything else. While I was eating dinner I was already eying their selection of ports behind the bar, and asked the third bartender to walk me through the selections.
By the time I slurped down the last oyster I'd decided to get some Warre's Otima Tawny Port (per his advice) and a warm apple pie served with ice cream. He even insisted that the hostess bring the dessert tray to the bar, just so I could make sure I was picking the right option. While I waited for dessert I read the Wall Street Journal, kept my eye on the college football scores on television, and chatted with the bartenders about the pros and cons of cinnamon and vanilla ice cream with respect to warm apple pie (opinion was divided).
When I left, after enjoying a leisurely, relaxing dinner with good company, great food, and great wine, I felt like I could survive another day of travel and meetings. The total cost of my somewhat extravagant meal (including a large tip) was $55, which was well inside my expense account ceiling. But the best part: I felt entirely comfortable dining alone in public, and didn't have to eat by myself in my bedroom with a tray on my knees.
How do you cope with dining alone while on business travel, especially if you're someone who takes food and wine seriously? Share any tips and tricks below—because business travel is too hard to drink bad wine and eat bad food.
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12 Comments:
I have never had a problem dining alone. A table is fine, and if I am feeling a little sociable the bar is good too. In general I find that I eat better if I get out of the hotel, but this is not a hard and fast rule. To the extent possible I avoid chains. Most business travel feels like it is taking place in a gigantic mall, or in an airport lounge-- it is not like you are in a different place at all. In order to overcome this I do several things. I try to go out for a run in the morning (instead of using the treadmill at the hotel gym), and I try to find something local to eat. (If I can drink local too so much the better.) Most hotel rooms have a copy of the local city magazine in the room-- scanning that is a good way to find out where the people who live in a place go, and what they eat and drink. A copy of the local newspaper is always good too.
outsidecounsel at 12:15PM on 10/10/08
As someone who used to travel for work almost every other week, and loves to eat out, but also had a more limited expense account for it (though I often went over and paid the cost myself, since getting an $80 meal for $40 is still pretty good), my usual habits would be:
- Bring food for breakfast (granola), and buy some yogurt, to not waste money on breakfast, and to eat a little healthier.
- Use Chowhound before you go, as it led me to a few places I wouldn't have found otherwise.
- I'd research lots of Cheap Eats as well. As someone that loves a good cheeseburger more than anything, I'd go get one at least once a week on the road, and that meal would save enough that I could splurge on the next meal.
- Sitting at the bar was great as I didn't need a reservation, my service would often be faster, and if I didn't want to talk to someone (since on the road you're often dealing with people all day long and need a break) they would have something on TV to watch usually.
- If I could find a good Happy Hour (McCormick and Schmicks has a really great one), I'd do that quite often as well.
- If I was dining on my own at somewhere really nice, I'd almost always get exceptional service from the wait staff, and the people sitting next to me were far more likely to be friendly than if I was eating at a generic chain restaurant, which made for a much better atmosphere. I had many experiences in NYC where I'd wind up sharing entrees with the person next to me at the bar so we could both sample more as there's usually quite a few other business travelers there as well.
smackrabbit at 12:17PM on 10/10/08
Used to travel a lot, and always tried to hit the local spots if possible. I did research on ChowHound.com, and others, and totally avoided the hotel bar/restaurant, and chains (yes, I consider McCormick and Shmucks a chain). Why would you want to go somewhere different, and eat at the same place you have in your town..? I never understood this about Americans and their love of chain restaurants...
GingerSnap at 12:25PM on 10/10/08
"Eat at the bar" was the advice I gave to all my friends who had to travel for work. My girlfriends were a little taken aback bc I think when I said the word "bar," visions of college happy hours, drunken frat boys, beer-tub girls, and beer-schmeg on the floor ran through their minds. I did clarify that they needed to go to NICE restaurants that offered full menu service at the bar.
The hotel's concierge staff is usually well versed in the nearby dining options. Most restaurants of the caliber that you seek have made a point of forming relationships with hotels that cater to the business traveller.
Another point you touch on is the "warm red wine." Sad to say, but many of the nicer restaurants serve their red wine too warm. Particularly the wines by the glass. While the bottles of red wine might be stored in wine rooms, I've been dismayed to see opened bottles for "by the glass" service sitting on the back bar, near the lights. So here's my recommendation: find a Fleming's...100 wines by the glass, the reds are served at 60 F, the menu is a la carte, I can go big and get the bone-in ribeye and caesar and creamed spinach, or I can go with the spinach salad and the carpaccio. Oh and they have flights of wine, three smaller servings of the wines of your choice priced accordingly. Usually I meet other diners at the bar, those who are travelling for business or locals, all of whom are excellent resources for finding other places to dine.
wookie at 12:29PM on 10/10/08
Thank you, wookie, for your pointing ou tthe too-warm red wine, which is a particular peeve of mine. I was single the second time foralost 20 years before I married Mr. Meatloaf, so women eating alone is something I'm really conscious of.
For those visiting St. Louis on business, one of my faves with a good list of by-the-glass wines (or actually, small carafes) is Riddle's Penultimate, www.riddlescafe.com, very casual, live music every night. Can we get some other suggestions in other cities?
lemons at 12:41PM on 10/10/08
First thing I do when I get into town is find a grocery store or a decent deli. If I'm near a Whole Foods then I am in solid shape. This rarely happens. Then I buy a bottle of wine, some coffee, snacks, breakfast (I tend to skip breakfast the most when I travel for work), and whatever catches my eye. Once that's set my room doesn't feel as lonesome. Then y'know eat at the bar is the best advice. I try to make sure I have at least one night to myself to eat where I want and not get stuck going out for too many drinks or something like that and, honestly, just indulge in a nice meal. It's too easy to eat junk on these trips.
aargh at 1:39PM on 10/10/08
I spent the past two years doing a lot of traveling, often for a week or two at a stretch, and when I first hit town I would find a grocery store or Wal-Mart to grab a few odds and ends (healthy snacks, fresh fruit, a quart of buttermilk), and I would usually pick up a cheap wine glass for under $2. That way I could enjoy a glass of wine in the hotel room while unwinding, and would typically leave the glass behind when I departed.
Like the above commenter, a good Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Fresh Market, or Trader Joe's nearby always made a trip more enjoyable.
Benitowine at 2:03PM on 10/10/08
Benitowine: a quart of buttermilk?! really?
Emsev333 at 4:44PM on 10/10/08
Emsev333: buttermilk is good for you and tastes great! It also aids digestion, helpful with all of the sleep and eating changes you deal with on the road.
Benitowine at 5:06PM on 10/10/08
Great idea! I always seek out a good wine list. Fast food and big chains don't serve me too well. But I'll have to try these.
I'm hungry now!
JR Moreau at 5:53PM on 10/10/08
When I traveled for work I *always* had a travel wine opener in my always-ready-to-travel-kit; that and a wine glass. They don't take up much room but if you fly, be sure to put the wine opener in the check-thru bag. Also, if I'm not mistaken, there is an ice bucket in the room usually which makes it easy for a bottle of wine and ice cubes to co-mingle in a nice, friendly cool manner. I am well past the 'travel for work' and retired real early but I still carry that wine opener with me.
Back in the 80s and early 90s a woman had a problem with men trying to pick them up so this was my way of enjoying the wine before dinner routine.
CarolQ at 4:25PM on 10/14/08
Thanks to all for the great discussion of these issues. As a woman traveling alone, I'm worried about safety, too, which is one reason I go for chains in central locations and/or local favorites with established reputations for well-lit, friendly bars with good food. I lug so much crap with me already that the idea of glasses and corkscrews is out of the question, but I would imagine for some they would work!
Deb Harkness at 12:18PM on 10/27/08