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William Li is one of those people who has spotless taste, in my opinion. Whether he’s telling you about a restaurant or a piece of art, he’s someone I trust on all things. He’s currently a contributing editor at “Town & Country” and “Elle Decor” and was a longtime Condé Nast veteran, serving as publisher of “Men’s Vogue” and “Condé Nast Portfolio” when they launched as well as working at “House & Garden,” “The New Yorker,” and “Condé Nast Traveler.” (He was also the global brand president of Ralph Lauren Home.) Today he’s the founder of Armature Projects, an art consultancy that connects the worlds of art and design. So I was curious to get his take on Savannah and Charleston, which he recently visited. I haven’t been back to either in years, and like New Orleans, these are two Southern cities that seem to keep growing and evolving. And I always like to get a New Yorker’s take on the South.
Savannah, GA
“I loved Hotel Bardo, with its large rooms facing Forsyth Park and an amazing spa where the staff truly understands the meaning of deep tissue, which I find to be quite rare. You can get an excellent club sandwich at the swimming pool. The Grey, a restaurant housed in a former segregated Greyhound bus terminal, is a living, breathing testament to the power of food as a vehicle for celebrating Black culture and history. Saint Bibiana, inside the Hotel Bardo, is an excellent Italian restaurant. The perfect order: grilled octopus, cavatelli with ’nduja (insane), porchetta, and olive-oil cake. So good. Housed in a former railway depot from 1853, SCAD Museum of Art punches above its weight. The Dan Flavin and George Clinton exhibits were excellent. The SCAD gift shop is not your typical museum gift shop: This eclectic store sells everything from design objects and apparel to paintings and sculpture from SCAD alums. PW Short Mercantile is a really well-curated shop of housewares, men’s clothing, barware, and fun odds and ends. Peaches is a super-adorable children’s clothing shop where I couldn’t resist spoiling my new great-niece with a few of their dresses.”
Charleston, SC
“The Dewberry hotel is a midcentury jewel centrally located within Charleston’s historic district. The rooms were well appointed, and the spa was another winner. Not to be missed: the pancakes with lemon curd and blueberry compote in The Living Room restaurant, and sunset cocktails on the rooftop.
What’s a trip to Charleston without a stop at Husk, one of the OGs of modern Southern cooking? The deviled eggs, shrimp dumplings, and rabbit roulade with cheddar grits were delicious, and the butternut bread pudding with bourbon ice cream was the perfect ending. I loved sitting in the antiques-filled back bar room at Lowland. It was warm, cozy, and beautifully decorated, and it felt like going back in time. They have a great menu of small plates, from an excellent steak tartare to biscuits with pepper jelly, courtesy of James Beard Award–winning chef Jason Stanhope. Probably the best meal we had in Charleston was at Leon’s Fine Poultry & Oyster Shop. I adored the grilled oysters, clam wraps, fried chicken, and Siam Salad. The room also had a buzzy, fun vibe. Chez Nous is tucked away on a little side street, but this tiny French-ish restaurant delivers big with market-driven cooking at its finest. Home Team BBQ was our first stop because I had heard from friends that the ribs and brisket were top-notch—and they were right. My friends and I loved it.
A carriage tour: Is it touristy? Yes. Was it fun? Hell yes. I highly recommend starting your Charleston visit with a carriage tour from Old South Carriage Company. It’s an excellent way of getting a lay of the land as well as learning about this city’s fascinating history. Wentworth is a beautifully curated shop for all things home-related; I especially loved the kitchenware and garden offerings. The shop Ibu Movement has so many amazing gifts, and it all supports women artisans around the world to lift them out of poverty.”
Where an Experienced Travel Editor Goes in London
I hadn’t been back to London since before the pandemic, which is a long spell for me, since it’s a city I typically visit several times a year. It’s a place I know well. I studied at Goldsmiths’ College just when the East End was becoming a thing. This trip, however, I stuck strictly to the West End and focused on Soho, Piccadilly, Mayfair, and Marylebone. I wanted to lean in to British traditions, whether it was visiting Paxton & Whitfield, royal cheesemongers since 1979, located on Jermyn Street, or Anderson & Sheppard, King Charles’ suit makers on Savile Row. (I also love the Drake’s shop on Savile Row, which started in East London in 1977 as a maker of scarves, shawls, and plaids.)
London starts the Christmas holidays early, so the Strand was lousy with tourists. (I didn’t even bother with Fortnum & Mason and bought all my biscuits and tea tins at the Heathrow outpost on the return home.) I did stop at Hatchards, my favorite bookstore in the world, which has been around since 1797. It’s perfectly curated whether you’re looking for an obscure book on gardening or a crowd-pleasing spy novel. There always seems to be a book about or by one of the Mitford sisters. Some bibliophiles swear by Daunt Books (you’ve seen the tote bag) and John Sandoe (too claustrophobic for me), but my spot is Hatchards.
I tried to avoid Bond Street because it just feels like Fifth Avenue—the Burlington Arcade now has a Gagosian gallery shop among all the old-timey chocolate shops and haberdasheries, which was a bummer. I made a quick visit to Sotheby’s to see the show “Radical Modernity,” a small but excellent exhibition about the art and literature of the Bloomsbury Group. I’ve never been to Charleston, but it’s on my list. By the time I left, there were lines of people waiting to get into the Jacquemus store, as well as Ralph’s Coffee at Ralph Lauren. (Hence the Fifth Avenue vibes.) I had to escape, and so I headed north to The Wallace Collection, a small museum that holds some great paintings from Rembrandt, Turner, and Velázquez. Unlike so many of the museums in the city, it was not packed.
Next I headed to Chiltern Street, which has really turned into a cool neighborhood. I stopped by Trunk, a tiny menswear shop that stocks Salvatore Piccolo, an excellent shirtmaker from Naples, and nautical sweaters from the Danish label Andersen-Andersen. Next up was John Simons, which offers a fun mix of British mod meets American preppy staples, including penny loafers, Fair Isle sweaters, and a Donegal herringbone tweed coat that I am still kicking myself for not buying. I wanted everything in the shop, and it makes sense that everyone from Paul Weller to Paul Smith are avid fans. I was excited to discover a tiny outpost of St. John (Fergus Henderson’s beloved nose-to-tail restaurant empire) in Marylebone. I stopped in for a Welsh rarebit and small plate of grilled mackerel. Fischer’s, a Viennese-style café from the owners of the always excellent Wolseley restaurant, is also in the neighborhood.
After lunch I meandered back into Soho, which is still my favorite neighborhood to roam about. Despite all the fancy gentrification—my beloved Kettner’s, where Oscar Wilde used to hold court, is now owned by Soho House—there’s still a punk-rock griminess, a loucheness to the area. People still smoke outside the loud pubs, there’s still a few sex shops, and there are hidden spots like Idea Books. Tucked away on a second floor on Wardour Street (where two of London’s best magazine shops used to be), the store sells everything from beloved titles like “The Face” to Japanese zines dedicated to Richard Gere to design books by Ashley Hicks. I could have spent the whole afternoon browsing, but I wanted to get to the nearby National Portrait Gallery to see the Francis Bacon exhibit. The show, which is up until January 19, features early portraits and large-scale painting of friends and lovers, as well as many photos of the Irish-born artist’s life in London, from his various studios to his drinking days around Soho. It was both an astonishing show and a fitting ending to my trip.
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