Restaurants – Page 2 – ChiLuxe Travel

Quintonil Restaurant, A Grand and Memorable Dining Experience

May 9, 2024 Aukse Comments 1 comment

We travelled to Mexico City this winter for the primary purpose of diving into its food and cocktail culture. I chose several dining and drinking spots based on recommendations from friends, travel books, World’s Best lists, and my own research. I chose Quintonil for our eighth anniversary dinner on February 23, 2024. Quintonil is located in the chic Polanco neighborhood of sprawling Mexico City, an area full of gorgeous restaurants, bars, shopping, and architecture. The space here is modern, minimalist,…

Read More Read More

A Love Letter to Jose Andres from Chicago

April 24, 2024 Aukse Comments 1 comment

Dear Jose (can I call you Jose?): Thank you so much for opening such brilliant restaurants in our fair city. Bazaar Meat and Bar Mar are delightfully fresh, and a much needed addition to not only pre-theater and pre-opera dining, but to the loop neighborhood in general. A while ago, I wrote a short little article singing the praises of Bar Mar after a nice three course lunch I enjoyed there. Since then, I’ve been back to Bar Mar for…

Read More Read More

The Ramova Grill – Feels Like Home

February 20, 2024 Aukse Comments 0 Comment

We’ve been living in Bridgeport, Chicago, for almost nine years, not a long time according to Bridgeport standards. This neighborhood in Chicago has a ton of history, and for me, as a Lithuanian-American, is an important place for my own personal, ethnic, and family history, which are some of the reasons I decided to move here. Since we’ve been living here, and long before that, the Ramova Theater, and its adjacent Grill, have been empty, vacant, and an eyesore on…

Read More Read More

Indienne Restaurant – Gorgeous Elevated Indian Cuisine

February 13, 2024 Aukse Comments 0 Comment

Indienne is one of Chicago’s newest one-star Michelin Restaurants, and they focus on vegetarian and vegan preparations, although they have a non-vegetarian tasting as well. We came here on a Thursday evening in February, and we tried all three tasting menus on offer here, since we came with one of our vegan friends. I opted for vegetarian, and Brian got the non-vegetarian. The space is beautiful with soft hues of pink, taupe and gray. Everything is modern, clean, and fresh,…

Read More Read More

Girl and the Goat Restaurant, Still Popular, Still Average

February 6, 2024 Aukse Comments 0 Comment

The Girl and the Goat has been one of the most popular restaurants in Chicago for almost 15 years, and I had always thought it was pretty average, and not super impressive, so I hadn’t been in a very, very long time. I thought I’d give this restaurant that continues its extreme popularity another shot during restaurant week, and I still think this place is pretty mid for the hype. The food and service are not bad, though nothing super…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More