A restaurant (most definitely) worth the trip: Duck Soup Inn

By Rachel Levin, Sunset senior editor

Confession: It’s been almost a year since I ate dinner at the Duck Soup Inn on Washington’s San Juan Island—and, okay, I’m still thinking about it. (And, believe me, I've had many fabulous meals since.)

The anchovy-garlic spread served with just-baked bread… the fresh-cut linguine tossed with duck, blue cheese, and Chinese broccoli, red onion, and basil plucked from the farmers market down the road…the roasted pacilla chili-stuffed with “Mr. Sundstrom’s” lamb, with a kick from spices our server just brought back from Turkey…

And, my—and everyone else’s— very favorite dish: Applewood-smoked oysters pulled from Wescott Bay and topped with a fresh fig and tarragon vinaigrette and parmesan, then baked and adorned in edible flowers from the garden of chef-owner Gretchen Allison. She's the homegrown genius behind this 32 year-old country-cabin of a restaurant that still fills nightly with regulars and swooning first-timers alike.

It’s a few hours and a ferry ride from Seattle, but only four winding miles from the Friday Harbor terminal, and tucked in the woods, overlooking a pond—and, just to clear up any confusion, not an inn at all.

Luckily, though, the Lakedale Resort & Campground is within easy walking distance. I just wrote about their new tent cabins in the current May issue of Sunset, but word count only allowed for a quick mention of Duck Soup Inn—which killed me. (You know, word counts. It’s a magazine thing; nothing like the free-wheeling, wordy World Wide Web.)

So, I could go on and on…. But I won’t. Instead, I’ll say, just go.  And please give Duck Soup a hug for me.

Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA; $$; reservations highly recommended; 360/378-4878

(Photo credit: Madeleine Hanley)

My Virgin voyage

By Rachel Levin, Sunset senior editor

Why do I love Virgin America? You know, Richard Branson’s new low-cost airline aimed to “make flying good again.”

Oh, let me count the ways:

1. They roll out the red carpet. Literally. When I first walked into the sprawling San Francisco International Terminal, I had no clue where to find the Virgin America ticket counter. Late for my flight to New York City (I’m always late), I searched frantically, feeling like a 4-yr-old lost in Grand Central Station. And then, I caught sight of a true oasis among the chaos: a cushy red carpet and a hotel-lobby-like-table topped with an oversized vase of white orchids. (Okay, they're fake, but, still...) There were plenty of open kiosks, plus a friendly woman there to help walk me through the touch-screen. How pleasant!

2. They set the mood. No piercing lights in this Airbus. Instead, a purplish glow and comfy black leather seats (white leather—plus massage—in first class), create a calm, lounge-like atmosphere never before experienced at 39,000 feet. (The bathroom isn't bad either; they've got Method products and everything.)

3. They look good. Flight attendants aren’t dressed in some stiff, navy polyester throwback outfit with stockings, scarves, and nursing sneakers. Men wear black button downs (Johnny Cash-style); women wear white.

4. They keep you entertained. Not with a mandatory viewing of “Everybody Loves Raymond” or a grainy VHS version of “Astronaut Farmer”—but with essentially anything you want. Thanks to "Red"— your very own iMac-of-an-entertainment center. “The Office!” “30 Rock!” First-run movies on demand! (for a fee, of course, but who cares.) Video games! Seat-to-seat chat. (If you don’t like the guy drooling next to you, make a new friend.) And, best of all, a library of 3,000 songs—from Bjork to Beethoven to female folkies like Patty Griffin (my fave); listening to a crystal-clear recording of Patty’s “Trapeze” at lift-off, normally a kind of a tense time, I couldn’t have been happier.

5. And well-fed. Whenever you’re hungry, not when the stinky cart clunks by. Instead, just scroll through the touchstone menu for fresh, organic fare: yogurt parfait... caprese sandwich...fruit and cheese plate (gouda, manchego, Brie)...Swipe your credit card and food arrives within minutes. (First-class gets tapas like marinated bocconcini with peppadew peppers; Italian salametti with artichoke and roasted tomato; Louisiana crab salad.) Thirsty? Just grab as many mini-bottles of water as you want, from the always-stocked cubby hole in the back.

6. Best of all, they have the best safety video of all time. My favorite line? “For that .001 % of you who don’t know how to buckle a seatbelt...” Can’t wait to see it? Click here to watch now.

Virgin America currently flies to 7 cities with daily flights from: San Francisco (SFO) to Los Angeles (LAX), SFO to New York City (JFK), SFO to San Diego (SAD), SFO to Washington, D.C. (IAD), SFO to Las Vegas (LAS), LAX to JFK, LAX to IAD— and, this spring, they launched flights from San Francisco to Seattle and Los Angeles to Seattle. With more on the way!

Our staff photographer's favorite places

By Christine Richard, Sunset senior editor

This morning in an editorial meeting, staff photographer Tom Story sat next to me. He hadn’t been in the offices much lately because he’s been on the road. Because he travels constantly and looks at landscapes in a different light, I asked him what some of his favorite destinations are. Here’s what he said:

Eastern Sierras — beautiful — I'm looking at getting a little piece of land out there to build an A-frame … The Salton Sea is another one of my favorite-est places in the West — the beautiful decay, crazy surreal light and people, the fact that John Waters narrated a documentary about it, tons of bird watching… Orcas Island. Amazing.

When I asked him to explain amazing, he had already hit the road again (but I found a couple of his Orcas photos on the server, above). Executive editor Irene Edwards would back him on that: She has an Orcas Island license plate holder. (She's got a mild obsession with it).