Briefs

Books reveal cities’ secrets in ‘Where the Locals Eat’

Brentwood, Tenn. —- An updated look at Nashville’s restaurant scene is just out from “Where the Locals Eat,” a series of dining guides.

The second edition of the series’ Nashville guide is one of a dozen city dining books from “Where the Locals Eat,” published by Magellan Press, which is based in Brentwood, Tenn. The others are guidebooks to New York City; Memphis; Buffalo, N.Y.; Charlotte; Columbus, Ohio; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Louisville, Ky.; Pittsburgh; Minneapolis; and Raleigh/Durham.

You can also get recommendations for many other top U.S. metro areas at www.wherethelocalseat.com or in the series’ national guide, published in 2007, “Where the Locals Eat: The 100 Best Restaurants in the Top 50 Cities.” An iPhone application is available as well, called LocalEats, for 99 cents.

The books look at restaurants by neighborhood, price range and category. The listings are based on ratings from readers whom the publisher calls “certified foodies,” and supplemented by input from the series’ writers and researchers.

Napa Valley honors harvest with Mustard Festival

Napa, Calif. —- When the wild mustard blooms in Napa Valley, it’s festival time.

The Napa Valley Mustard Festival, entering its 16th season, takes place Jan. 31-March 28 in the region about an hour north of San Francisco. Events celebrate Napa Valley’s culinary and agricultural bounties and range from art shows to tastings and high-end dinners and, of course, mustard and mustard recipe contests.

The festival kicks off Jan. 31 with Mustard Magic at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. The evening will include a visual art competition, silent auction, teaching kitchen and performance art in which famous European paintings will come to life.

The Marketplace will be held March 14-15 at the Robert Mondavi Winery. The schedule includes a juried art show, music, radio broadcasts and celebrity chef demonstrations.

Details and ticket information for these and other events are at www.mustardfestival.org.

Outlook magazine recommends best lodges for winter

New York —- Time to go outside and play in the snow —- even if you’re a grown-up.

Outside magazine’s January issue lists lodges for winter adventures around the country. They include:

> Flagstaff Lake Hut in Maine’s Carrabassett Valley, with a frozen lake, miles of ski trails and a lodge that the magazine says is more like a “swanky retreat than a backwoods shack.”

> Norway Basin Camp, in Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains, which offers backcountry skiing, no crowds, new double-decker yurt lodging and good food.

> Nita Lake Lodge in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, with lake and mountain views, easily accessible by the three-hour Whistler Mountaineer train from Vancouver.

> Lumiere in Telluride, Colo., a new luxury hotel at 9,500 feet that offers ski valets to “carry your gear off the slopes at the end of the day for overnight tuning.”

> Sportsman’s Lodge on Minnesota’s Lake of the Woods, where you can go ice-fishing for walleye.