January 2024 – ChiLuxe Travel

Boka Restaurant, Chicago, A Masterclass in Michelin-Starred Dining

January 30, 2024 Aukse Comments 0 Comment

Restaurant week 2024 is wrapping up here in Chicago and we were lucky enough to score a table at Boka for dinner. Boka offers a prix fixe four course menu during restaurant week for $59, and offered wine pairings for an additional $40 per person. This is a great value for Michelin-starred dining in Chicago! Boka just celebrated its 20 year anniversary last year, has maintained their one-Michelin-star status since 2011, and there are obvious reasons why they’ve been around…

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Le Tour, Evanston, Illinois, A Lovely French Bistro

January 23, 2024 Aukse Comments 0 Comment

My cousin Irene lives in Evanston, which is the first suburb just north of Chicago, so we find ourselves here for some holidays and hanging out relatively often. Most recently, on a frigid Saturday in January, we came to Le Tour for a delicious french meal. The service here was attentive, and they were very focused on making sure we were comfortable and well taken care of. I absolutely despise bistro chairs, so they brought me a different chair which…

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Top Five Chicago Restaurants

January 18, 2024 Aukse Comments 1 comment

Well, Restaurant Week Chicago is here, starting tomorrow, and we will be checking out a few places next week and I’ll be posting updates right here on ChiLuxe Travel! But for now, a lot of folks ask me where the best places to eat in Chicago are, or where to go if you are here only for a night or two. This list is mainly geared more towards tourists in order to get the best taste of what Chicago has…

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High Tea at The Allis, Chicago

January 16, 2024 Aukse Comments 0 Comment

My Mom started a tradition eons ago that we go have tea someplace festive around Christmastime. We would go with my great-aunt, who has since passed away and my cousins. When my Mom moved out to California, I continued the tradition with my cousins, and we’ve had tea pretty much everywhere in Chicago you can have tea by now. I definitely should do a top five list of teas in Chicago! Now that my Mom is back, we’re a foursome…

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Top Five Activities for 2023

January 11, 2024 Aukse Comments 0 Comment

Much like with my Top Five Restaurants for this year, choosing just five activities was pretty darn difficult. We did so much cool stuff, especially in Bali and Costa Rica, that it was tough to narrow down which ones were the absolute best. I was pushed outside of my comfort zone on the hanging bridges in Costa Rica, and had one of the best spa experiences of my life in Bali, but they didn’t even make the cut! Read on…

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Top Five Restaurants for 2023

January 9, 2024 Aukse Comments 0 Comment

It was incredibly difficult for me to choose only five restaurant experiences for my list this year. We ate at so many great restaurants, but we also had delicious and bespoke experiences at several resorts this year too. We ate really well on all of our trips, with rarely an exception. I have to make an honorable mention here for the restaurants and bars at Nayara Resorts in Costa Rica. While they didn’t make the Top 5, it was a…

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Top Five Hotels for 2023

January 4, 2024 Aukse Comments 0 Comment

We stayed at some very very large resorts this year, as well as one micro-boutique hotel. I really want to make a massive shift for this blog to cover and review boutique hotels. I love the charm and character of boutique hotels, and the service is almost always impeccable. Especially in Europe, the folks at a boutique hotel really make you feel like you’re family coming home, and they are always excited to show off their city and give you…

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Top Five Cities for 2023

January 2, 2024 Aukse Comments 0 Comment

Wow, we didn’t go to Europe AT ALL this year! Where on Earth did we go? We had one major trip outside of the states to Asia, and then mainly spent a lot of time here in the United States, jetting around to some big and some small cities. My top two cities of the year might surprise you! They definitely surprised me! 5. Singapore We were only in Singapore for an overnight layover, but no city has captured my…

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