5 GREAT BOUTIQUE HOTELS IN SAN FRAN, MILWAUKEE, NYC, MARFA, TX & HONOLULU
Every week we will reveal five new members of Tizm's 30 Great Boutique Hotels Under $150. Each is unique and very special to visit.
Good Hotel -- San Francisco
Good Hotel is intended to be the first hotel with a conscience. Our philanthropic and positive approach is designed to inspire the "good in us all". The eco-friendly hotel décor features reclaimed and recycled construction materials. Convenient and affordable on-site parking is available.
As fun as we are inventive, you'll find humorous touches like "Be Good" written on the walls of your room. An ideal location for tourist accommodations, our hotel is close to art galleries, the SFMOMA, the Yerba Buena Gardens, the Moscone Convention Center, shopping and theaters. The world famous Fishermen's Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge and Chinatown are all just minutes away.
The year-old Good Hotel promises a novel service: absolution. An orange phone in the lobby connects guests with volunteer activities like sorting cans at a local food bank. The 117 ecofriendly rooms are each done up with reclaimed-pine headboards and chandeliers.
Rates start at $99 on weekends and $109 on weeknights.
Good Hotel 112 7th Street San Francisco, CA 94103 (corner of Mission and 7th St.)
The Iron Horse Hotel is located in a fast neighborhood: right across the bridge from the Harley-DavidsonMuseum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Close by are the Midwest Airlines Center, Riverside Theater, and Bradley Center. Also nearby are the Milwaukee Art Museum and Discovery World.
This converted downtown warehouse, complete with black-leather headboards and chandeliers fashioned from motorcycle gears, is for travelers who get high off their hog. Room entryways have foyers with strong hooks for your biker gear, and all the leather and velvet lends the loft-like spaces a truly luxe vibe. Locals sip old-school cocktails in the Branded bar and work on their laptops in the Library café. The Smyth restaurant serves rustic American fare, a hearty welcome after a long day riding the highways (or doing business at the nearby convention center).
True motorcycle lovers will want to check out the early September bike rally, those just along for the ride would enjoy the temperate weather throughout the summer. The standard rooms start at $159 and feel like sprawling suites, so save yourself the cash and skip the upgrades.
The Iron Horse Hotel has been rated with 4-stars and features a fitness facility, massage and treatment rooms, body treatments, and facial treatments. Business amenities include a 24-hour business center, wireless Internet access, meeting rooms for small groups, and business services. The Iron Horse Hotel has a wonderful restaurant and a bar/lounge. A total renovation of this property was completed in September 2008.
Amenities featured in guestrooms include hypo-allergenic bedding, 48-inchplasma televisions with premium TV channels and pay movies. Business-friendly amenities include complimentary high-speed (wired) Internet access, complimentary wireless Internet access, and desks. All guestrooms provide refrigerators, bathrobes, designer toiletries, hair dryers, and pets are welcomed with a fee and advance notice.
The Aqua Bamboo offers the best of both worlds. It is just down the street from Oahu’s famous WaikikiBeach and the hot nightlife.
The Aqua also serves as a great getaway with a wonderful spa and feng-shui-ed rooms for the hip young professionals. The great year round weather and the comfy white beds draw the Japanese tourists who are seeking something special.
The best rates are in May and September. Year-round they start at $99. Book in advance so you can get a kitchenette because it makes Honolulu even more enjoyable.
This recently opened eclectic collection of restored Airstream trailers, teepees and yurts is in the middle of the southwest Texas desert on Highway 67, just outside the artists’ haven of Marfa, Texas, a town famous for its eccentric past and present.
El Cosmico was designed by a renowned architecture firm as well as with a creative team of artists, builders and students, to create a unique communal outpost in the West Texas desert.
Their evolving program of workshops and retreats ranges from sewing to cooking to art classes to writing workshops and more. In addition to the Trans-Pecos Festival of Love and Music held annually onsite, the May film festival and the Memorial Day weekend rodeo are just some of the annual event highlights in Marfa.
The accommodations are comfortable, relaxing and truly unique. Rates start at $60 a night. Certainly makes for an interesting break in the long drive across Texas.
802 North Highland Avenue Marfa, TX79843 432.729.1950 www.elcosmico.com
The Jane -- New York City
Choose from a Bunk Bed Cabin, a Standard Cabin or a Captain’s Cabin, all of which you would never expect in the Big Apple.This stylish historic hotel, which once housed survivors of the Titanic, has been smartly renovated by Sean McPherson and offers remarkably cozy accommodations starting with 50 square foot cabins for 1 or 2 and communal bathrooms on each floor and going on up to queen or king beds with private bathrooms.
Each room has free WiFi, an iPod deck, telephone and an in-room safe.The tiny rooms are reminiscent of a ship’s cabin and vintage traincars.The Captain’s Cabins have flat screen TVs, DVD players, rainfall showerheads, and either river views /terraces.
Rates start at $79.It is located in the WestVillage, between Chelsea and the Meatpacking District’s fascinating nightlife and eccentric restaurants.The hotel’s Café Gitane always draws an interesting mix in the seats and on the menu.
Tizm.com will reveal five more Great US Boutique Hotels next week. We hope you have enjoyed this.
Mr. B's Back as One of New Orleans' Top Restaurants
For almost 20 years I had the great fortune of working on the best street in the French Quarter--Royal Street. About 50 times I walked less than a block to one of New Orleans’ best restaurants—Mr. B’s. This gem made the Times-Picayune newspaper’s annual Top Ten Restaurants in New Orleans list for so many years in a row that I lost count at around 10.
Then in May 2005 I moved my office and a few months later Katrina struck. Unfortunately Mr. B’s had more damage than most of the businesses in the Quarter and it took them a long time to re-open. Recently I returned to Mr. B’s for the first time since Katrina and found that it definitely is back as one of New Orleans’s truly best restaurants.
The service was impeccable, the atmosphere was comfortable and the food was oh so delicious over and over again! We decided to order a bunch of old favorites as well as some new items. I was delighted to see that Mr. B’s Seafood Gumbo was still one of my three favorites in New Orleans, which of course also means one of the best in the world.
Our other appetizer was a very tough choice since they offered their delicious Catfish Fingers with a tomato tartar sauce; their tantalizing three Fried Oysters with jalapeno tartar sauce; and their always wonderful Coconut Beer Shrimp with a Creole marmalade. I had savored all of them for years; however, we ventured off our previous old favorites’ list and were so glad we did. The two Duck Springrolls filled with duck confit, shiitake mushrooms, spinach and goat cheese was a wonderful surprise to our taste buds, especially when served with their sweet ginger-garlic dipping sauce. A new favorite for me!
Now the tough choices were ahead with a strong list of entrees, however we gathered all our senses and painfully decided to bypass the always tasty Catfish Meuniere; the multi-faceted Pasta Jambalaya with Gulf shrimp, andouille sausage, oven roasted duck and chicken morsels while tossed with spinach fettuccine; and the very tempting Steak Paillard, which featured a pan seared petit tenderloin of beef topped with Maytag blue cheese butter.
Instead we choose two of my old favorites, Mr. B’s Barbequed Shrimp and the Grilled Mahi Mahi. New Orleanians who grew up here knew that Pascal Manale’s Barbequed Shrimp was the standard bearer as the best in the world—no exaggeration. But the first time I tried Mr. B’s version about 20 years ago I realized that it had become my new top choice. And after our recent visit, Mr. B’s reconfirmed that it is still my favorite Barbequed Shrimp with its peppery butter sauce and very tasty fresh Gulf shrimp, which still are the best in the world.
The first time I ever ate Grilled Mahi Mahi was at Mr. B’s, probably about 1995. At that time I thought it was among the best grilled fish I had ever had. In the last 20 years I have tried it in many top restaurants in Louisiana, California and many other places. I found over and over again that the first version at Mr. B's was certainly among the best versions. It was tender, delicious and well seasoned--it was almost impossible to beat anywhere.
Normally I would have passed on dessert because we already had satisfied our taste buds and hunger; however, after briefly studying their remarkably tempting dessert menu with a Brennan family Bread Pudding and their always nearly perfect Lemon Ice Box Pie, there was no way I was not going to have the Chocolate Molten Cup Cake with a fudgy center, topped with vanilla ice-cream and raspberry sauce. It was a true chocoholic’s delight!
A resounding yes! Mr. B’s is back among the best restaurants in New Orleans, which is good news for everyone who loves good food. I just cannot believe I took so long to go back. Congrats to owner Cindy Brennan, Executive Chef Michelle McRaney and their remarkable staff. Once again, I will have to tell my friends visiting New Orleans that you have to make sure you have one meal this weekend at Mr. B’s.
Tizm Rating: 4.5 Stars (out of 5)
Among Top 20 Restaurants in New Orleans (out of 854)
Good Hotel is intended to be the first hotel with a conscience. Our philanthropic and positive approach is designed to inspire the "good in us all". The eco-friendly hotel décor features reclaimed and recycled construction materials. Convenient and affordable on-site parking is available. 
The Aqua Bamboo offers the best of both worlds. It is just down the street from 
This recently opened eclectic collection of restored Airstream trailers, teepees and yurts is in the middle of the southwest 
