The birthplace of skyscrapers, Chicago is one hell of a looker
Dear globetrotting hearts, in case you’ve been stuck under a rock and missed the memo, LUXE has partnered up with Singapore Airlines to bring you a monthly travel column on their brand new silverkris.com website as well as the inflight mag (which can also be viewed in full online), and share how to spend 24 LUXE hours in some of our favourite cities.
This month, we turn the spotlight on Chicago, the city of skyscrapers, culinary wizardry, Lloyd Wright, Obama, Capone, Pullman, The Cubs, The Bears, The Bulls, the blues, and much, much more. It may be called the Second City, but don’t be fooled, Chicago is a first-rate desti and everyone’s kind of town.
What’s more, silverkris.com readers get an exclusive promo code to score 15% off LUXE guides and box sets. Get ready, jet set, go!
Drool-worthy doughnuts
Whipping by the Windy City and wondering why everyone’s gone bonkers for doughnuts? If so (and even if not), pop by The Doughnut Vault, a brick-chic hole in a wall on Chicago’s North Side that sells hundreds of handmade doughnuts to hordes of busy locals every day. Obviously, this is not your neighbourhood Dunkin’ Donuts. Instead, you get home-style classics like buttermilk old fashioned and chocolate glazed, alongside knock-your-socks-off chestnut glazed, gingerbread, and daily specials. If you plan to pick up some hole-y goodness, we reckon you’d better follow @DoughnutVault on Twitter to be safe. Why? Because you’ll get up-to-the-minute updates like “Out of chocolate, out of vanilla, dozen chestnut left” and “70 people in line, red velvet is the special!”
Fillet de Sole Daumont from the first Next menu: Paris 1906
Missed your chance to try now-defunct El Bulli’s molecular marvels? Well, star Chicago chef Grant Achatz begins his tribute menu now until May 27 at Next. Yes, it sold out yonks ago, but up to 10 seats will be made available each day, on the day via their Facebook page, so good luck. For the rest of us, the teaser video is here. Drool…
Sole divine
Democracy can really suck at times. Case in point – Grant Achatz, of the three-Michelin-starred Alinea, opened Next Restaurant in Chicago just over a month ago, and with its first come first served ticketing-as-booking concept, it’s been just about impossible to get your knees under.
Say ciao to bella Londra
Calling all belloccios e belloccias!
Fasten your seat belts, LUXE has some molto exciting news for all the Italian-speaking leggy lovelies out there. We’ve teamed up with publishers Guido Tommasi Editore to bring you 20 Italian editions of our super-svelte concertina city guides. From Parigi to Pechino, we’ve got you covered with the best restaurants, shops, bars and spas and none of the faff, all in Italiano.
Get into some goat
Stephanie Izard, the girl behind Chicago‘s Girl and the Goat restaurant may have missed out on the stars that Michelin sprinkled in its just-launched inaugural red guide to the Windy City, but that hasn’t slowed down the ravenous hordes booking months ahead for a chance to get a taste of the former Top Chef’s juicy nuggets.
Read more…
What a viewtiful world we live in
A great hotel bar is a joy to behold, and even better with your poison of choice in hand. It’s a salve for weary travellers and an escape for local denizens, all tinged with the frisson of a chance international encounter. Of course, there are any number of factors which make a hotel bar great, not least of which are the cocktails, but to really make you feel like you’re connected to the city, it’s hard to beat a knockout view and setting. So, sorry Bar Hemingway, we love you, but sometimes a gal’s gotta give a little extra, and these babies really put the oh AND the aah into panorama…
This article was first published by The New York Times T Magazine Blog ‘The Moment’.
Become a merry old soul at the King Cole Bar in New York
One of the many jobs charged unto the staff and city resident LUXE editors is to search out the perfect pre-prandial perch to enjoy this liquid divinity in each city that we cover. New York, the home of The Beautiful Drink, is chokka-blocked with great places – personally we are fond of the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis despite being more famed for its Bloody Mary, we love it for its dark atmos and quiet, but upbeat murmuring. But let’s not forget Death & Co and the always excellent Pegu Club or Milk & Honey. But where else around the world should you partake? Here’s a whizzbang round-up of a few other personal faves around the globe…
Five cities, five faves, one theme.
Whatta deck at Spruce
Perhaps one of the reasons why we party hard on Saturdays is so we appreciate Sunday brunches more. When those creamy scrambled eggs or piquant coins of chorizo dance on your tastebuds, and you’re spread out under the sun, beside calm seas, lush greenery or beautiful art, all becomes right with the world. Just don’t mention the table dancing.
Here are five of our favourite places to just kick back and chillax. What are yours? Oh go on, tell us…
Le Whif - suck it in
Love chocolate, but it doesn’t love you, or your figure? Well, hope is in the air, literally, thanks to Le Whif. Created by Harvard biomedical engineering prof David Edwards in his Parisian ‘artscience’ centre Le Laboratoire, Le Whif is a tube of superfine, aerosolised chocolate powder in three flavours: raspberry, mint and plain. Just one puff from the lipstick-like tube coats your mouth and tongue with real choc flavour, yet contains barely a quarter of a calorie.
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