STAY
Spokane, Washington
Montvale Hotel finishes 10-month, $3 million renovation, offers billiards
The Montvale Hotel, located in the entertainment district on West First Avenue near the Big Easy nightclub, Ella’s Supper Club and the Historic Fox Theater, recently completed a 10-month renovation that left the 1899 hotel with a fresh new look. Visitors can dine at the Catacombs Pub, styled after German and Viennese pubs, with a German and Mediterranean menu, or play pool at FarWest Billiards. The hotel also features its own art gallery, Artesian Wares. Rates start at $119 per night for a standard double. Montvale Hotel, West 1005 First Ave., 86-MONTVALE, montvalehotel.com
PLAY
Memphis, Tennessee Barbecue World Championship pits pork cookers against each other in piggyfest
Tom Lee Park downtown turns into Hog Heaven May 18-20 when more than 90,000 pitmasters from around the globe convene to compete for $60,000 in prizes. Folks decorate their grills for prizes, too, as airplanes and piggy banks, and every possible permutation of pig is trotted out to be tasted and tested against other competitors, who come from as far as Thailand, Russia, Morocco, Japan, New Zealand and Australia to pit their sauces, rubs and ribs against the best. World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, memphisinmay.org
DINE
New York, New York
Morimoto is the second outpost of popular Philadelphia eatery owned by “Iron Chef”
“Iron Chef” star Masaharu Morimoto and restaurateur Stephen Starr opened a Manhattan outpost of their Philadelphia eatery, Morimoto, in January, and since then the 12,000-square-foot restaurant has been packing them in. They come for the Western-influenced traditional Japanese fare, in which Morimoto fuses concepts and ingredients in bizarre but appealing ways. For example, his innovative Duck, Duck, Duck dish: roasted duck leg and “duck sandwich” made with cucumber and foie gras-infused croissant served with a soft duck egg. Morimoto, 88 10th Ave., 212-989-8883, morimotorestaurant.com
SEE
Minneapolis, Minnesota
“Soviet Dis-Union”challenges assumptions about social-realist and underground art
The story of 20th-century Russian art under the communists is one of the overt and the covert. Visible for all to see were thousands of government-sanctioned, social-realist works that now are virtually forgotten. A small but determined group of underground artists also was producing work, often using any kind of art materials members could scrounge up. These two worlds collide in an exhibition through Aug. 19 at the Museum of Russian Art. “Soviet Dis-Union, Socialist Realist and Nonconformist Art” seeks to challenge assumptions about both bodies of work. Museum of Russian Art, 5500 Stevens Avenue South, 612-821-9045, tmora.org
– Denver Post staff and wire reports
