Auberge du Soleil, the iconic Michelin-starred restaurant (and winner of the Luxist Readers' Choice Award for Most Romantic Restaurant) and premier luxury resort is celebrating its 25th anniversary as a resort (30 years for the restaurant). Auberge du Soleil, which is Napa Valley's first fine-dining venue, helped transform the area into the must-see destination it is today for food, wine, and the beauty of wine country. In honor of this milestone, Auberge du Soleil will celebrate with a year of culinary offerings and experiences in addition to a fresh new look unveiled this month.

The first culinary offering features a "30-Year Journey Through Wine" list featuring 30 consecutive vintages from around the world as well as from the Napa Valley that was compiled by Wine Director Kris Margerum. This special list will be available through 2011 in addition to the more than 1,300 selections that are featured on Auberge du Soleil's standard comprehensive wine list.

Gallery: Auberge du Soleil

Macy's Culinary Council, which includes some of the best known chefs in the world from Wolfgang Puck (above) to Nancy Silverton, have offered us some of their favorite recipes for celebrating Valentine's Day. From a goat cheese fondue to a butterscotch budino with caramel sauce, these recipes are bound to make your Valentine's Day entertaining a special one.

Chef Rick Bayless suggests serving his famous "Red Hot Margaritas". The recipe calls for Ferrara Red Hots, which provide the kick. The chef's recipe for the limeade can be used for other types of margaritas as well. "We were trying to come up with a margarita for our winter bar menu at Frontera Grill," says Bayless. "So we were thinking mulling spices...bright red color... and then someone said it: 'The drink should taste like a liquid version of those Red Hot candies.' Bingo."

Chef Takashi Yagihashi, proprietor of Takashi Restaurant in Chicago, suggests making his intensely flavorful Curry Kaffir Lime Soup recipe, which is best served to guests in little cupfuls. It can be passed as an appetizer, with colorful garnishes on toothpicks for a complete dipping and sipping experience. Kaffir lime leaves gives this soup its floral aroma and flavor.

Everyone knows that dining at the Maccioni family's Le Cirque, the legendary restaurant on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is an experience to savor. Not only is its atmosphere striking and spacious, but everything, from the impeccable service offered by its staff to its beautifully presented food is beyond compare.

For the next two days, however, customers can enjoy all the greatness that Le Cirque has to offer while also experiencing the impressive talents of Executive Chef Andrea Mattei. The 31-year-old Mattei leads the Magnolia Restaurant at the Hotel Byron in Forte Dei Marmi on the Tuscan seacoast of Italy. Mattei has created a prix fixe menu for the restaurant and will serve as its guest chef through Saturday, February 5. Mattei is seen in the photo above with Le Cirque's founder Sirio Maccioni.

Mattei was discovered by one of Sirio's sons who visited Hotel Byron last summer. "My brother, Marco, had dinner with his wife at the Magnolia Restaurant at the Hotel Byron just before they left on their honeymoon," Mauro Maccioni told Luxist. "Hotel Byron is very polished and caters to an affluent crowd. Marco liked it so much he asked my father and me if we would like to bring the chef to New York."

Gallery: Le Cirque Features Guest Chef from Italy's Hotel Byron

Celebrate Valentine's Day at Alain Ducasse's traditional French bistro Benoit New York, the highly acclaimed French bistro and you just may end up winning a two-night stay at L'Andana, Ducasse's country hotel in Tuscany, Italy.

Indeed, Valentine's Day guests will be given a candied apple to take away, which will reveal the lucky winner of the giveaway. L'Andana represents Chef Alain Ducasse's passion for Italy and his interpretation of "l'art de vivre," the art of living. Formerly the Duke of Tuscany's hunting lodge, L'Andana is situated on the 1,240 acre Tenuta La Badiola estate. Ducasse envisioned L'Andana as a comfortable countryside inn with the spirit and atmosphere of a guesthouse, while also providing the finest hotel amenities and services to its guests.

On Sunday, February 13th, Benoit Executive Chef Philippe Bertineau will be offering the regular à la carte menu and a $65 prix-fixe menu. On Valentine's Day, Monday, February 14th, a limited à la carte menu will be served, along with the special $65 prix-fixe menu (with choice of appetizer, entrée and dessert).

Gallery: Alain Ducasse's Benoit New York

Benoit New York, the highly acclaimed French bistro that is part of the Alain Ducasse restaurant empire, is offering fresh black Périgord truffles throughout the month of February. The truffles can be shaved over any dish offered on the menu that features classic French bistro cuisine for a supplemental cost of $9 for 5 grams, which is the actual cost to the restaurant. The truffle pairing will be available through the end of February.

Benoit Executive Chef Philippe Bertineau suggests enjoying the truffle garnish atop a selection of dishes. In addition to the Maine Lobster Salad and Tarte Flambée, the truffle shavings work well with the Filet Mignon and Hand-chopped Beef Tartare.

"One of the dishes I recommended serving with truffles is our Seasonal Local Vegetable Cookpot," says Chef Philippe Bertineau told Luxist. "The Cookpot is an oven-to-table porcelain dish that Alain Ducasse created with designer Pierre Tachon specifically for cooking and serving vegetables. It's a modern adaptation of the traditional cooking pot used in France's rural regions, and all of Chef Ducasse's restaurants around the world offer a seasonal vegetable Cookpot dish that's composed of local vegetables."

"For the Cookpot at Benoit, we wanted to create a vegetarian dish using root vegetables---our version includes parsnips, carrots, potatoes, sunchokes, rutabaga, celery root, butternut squash and chestnuts layered over a mushroom duxelles and finished with fresh black truffle," adds Chef Bertineau, the former Executive Chef of Balthazar who joined Benoit in October. "All of the vegetables are cooked together and served in the Cookpot, and it's a wonderful dish for the wintertime."

41 years ago this month Four Seasons opened the Inn on the Park in London's Mayfair, its first European property and one that would come to help define the brand as it expanded around the world. Now after a more than two-year hiatus during which time an entire new hotel was constructed on the existing site, the storied property has just been reborn as the Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane. The stylish new hotel, designed by Eric Parry, features larger rooms, more suites, a new restaurant / lounge concept, and meeting spaces. The hotel, which now has 192 rooms, including 45 one, two and three bedroom suites – the most lavish of which, the Presidential Suite, costs about $14,000 per night – is designed to feature every luxury amenity whilst retaining the intimate feel of a private residence.

The restaurant / lounge, Amaranto, is a series of three flow-through spaces wherein guests can choose when and where they want to dine, without restriction on seating times or particular menus. With its own entrance in Hamilton Place as well as direct lobby access, Amaranto offers an airy conservatory space and private garden for outdoor seating, a more clubby lounge area including an innovative peek-through wine wall that allows guests to follow sommeliers in action, and a soaring atrium highlighted by a hand-moulded sculpture wall with motifs inspired by nearby Hyde Park. In the next phase of the project the hotel plans to open a spa, fitness and lounge area on the top floor, with sweeping views across London.

Gallery: Four Seasons London at Park Lane