I’ve done a few reviews of high tea around Chicago and around the world on the blog, as it’s a great way to spend an afternoon while traveling and enjoying local culture. Additionally, my cousins, my mom, and I go to tea in Chicago during the holidays as a tradition that has been going for over 20 years. This year, we decided to try out the Festive Tea at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago in mid-December for a lovely holiday…
2024 was the year of big, big cities. We tackled three of the world’s biggest cities and one of the major goals in each place was to eat really incredible, hyper-local food. I think we succeeded in our quest this year, and it was tough to narrow down the top five best restaurants of the year. While the Chicago list had very few Michelin stars attached to it, our world list has a total of nine stars. I loved each…
This year, since we’ve eaten so much amazing food, I’ve decided to do two Top Five Restaurant lists – one for Chicago, and one for around the world. This year, the Top Five list for Chicago is going to be really steak heavy, but it’s all leading up to my Top Five Chicago Steakhouses list, which I hope to publish sometime in 2025. We ate really well here in Chicago this year, and I’m looking forward to another year of…
Our annual outing for Brian’s birthday usually brings us to a steakhouse in Chicago, and with seemingly zillions to choose from, there’s always something different to try. Also, I’m really trying to hone and curate my top five Chicago steakhouse list before publishing, so they are top of mind right now. We visited RPM Steak in Chicago on November 30, 2024, and were pleased with a lot of the nice, celebratory touches they added to our meal to make it…
Did you know that there’s a two-star Michelin restaurant in the Eiffel Tower? Typically, such a huge tourist location (one might even say tourist trap!) will only offer the most basic, mass-produced food to cater to the gobs of tourists moving through. But, here in Paris, you can find one of the city’s most elegant dining rooms occupying the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. Le Jules Verne is a very special place, and we ate here on our last…
When you dine at a Three-Star Michelin restaurant, you expect perfection both with the food and the service, and, spoiler alert, Arpege was perfect with food and service. Choosing restaurants in Paris, especially ones with coveted stars, is an extraordinarily daunting task, but I decided to book at Arpege for a couple reasons. First, they allowed bookings relatively far out (over 3 months) which, as a planner, I love. Second, Chef Alain Passard has been serving exclusively a vegetarian tasting…
Did you know there is a French-American Brasserie with an actual working carousel bar in the middle of Chicago’s Loop Theater District? Well, now you do! I’ve enjoyed Francois Frankie a few times in the summer/fall of 2024, and I’m here to give it a resounding recommendation for drinks and dining in Chicago! Francois Frankie opened in Chicago in 2019, but has garnered more attention this year, when Matt Ayala became the Executive Chef. Bringing back his signature “Cochon Volant…
This is a review of Bavette’s Steakhouse in Chicago. If you are looking for Bavette’s in Las Vegas, you can check out that review here! It had been a while since we checked out Bavette’s in Chicago, probably before COVID, but I was really looking for a nice date night after weeks on end of constant school stuff: games, races, concerts, practices, you name it! Bavette’s is a tough reservation to get in Chicago – they only open up 21…
Just, wow! Pulling up to the RH Gallery in Indianapolis, you get an absolute sense of awe, and you actually forget that you are right smack in the middle of America. As you drive into the Dehaan Estate, a 151 acre property containing a beautiful lake, stunning outdoor sculptures, and even a peep of an obliging pheasant poking around, you can’t help but think that you might actually be in Europe. The driveway is designed to take you all around…
Luca was our last meal in London, and one of the best! As I mentioned in my review of the Clerk & Well, where we stayed on our recent trip in July, 2024, the Clerkenwell neighborhood is chock full of delicious eateries, so we rarely had to go far to eat really well near our home base. We were delighted with Luca, a one-star Michelin restaurant, and apart from a bit of a communication snafu at the end of the…