local luxury

Local Luxury: The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Boston

Filed under: Spas

When you step into the reception area of The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Boston, a 16,000-square-foot day spa four floors above busy Boylston Street, you can't help but leave your stress at the door. The soothing sound of the Asian-inspired wall fountain and the tantalizing aroma of the spa's signature scent, Quintessence, wafting gently through the air banish any thought of the mundane world below you. You're greeted and presented with a beverage specially selected for the season -- a warming cup of herbal tea for the winter, a cooling drink for warmer months -- and a pair of spa slippers replace your street shoes. Your treatment hasn't even begun, and already you're approaching Nirvana.

The spa asks that guests arrive 45 minutes before their scheduled treatments, and when you've slipped into one of the spa's plush robes in either the men's or women's dressing room, you see why. You're led into the spa's "thermal experiences" area where you're encouraged to relax on a surprisingly comfortable tile bench warmed by radiant heat, loosen your muscles in the vitality pool or the crystal steam room (a healing quartz crystal geode presides over the enclosed space), or refresh yourself with a splash from an ice fountain. Then you can recline and relax in a meditative lounge area until your therapist summons you for your treatment.

The treatment rooms, with their golden anegre wood walls, bamboo flooring, and a choice of natural lighting, inspire yet deeper levels of Zen-like calm. Every spa treatment begins with the ringing of tingsha, Tibetan cymbals that produce different sound frequencies that resonate with the body. A complimentary foot treatment blends Asian rituals with oils formulated with essences of New England herbs, like soothing calendula or invigorating mint. As for treatments, you can choose the services you want ahead of time -- an aroma stone massage, a detoxing body wrap -- or pick the treatment that suits your mood at the moment: most of the Mandarin Oriental's on-staff therapists are dual-licensed. Your treatment ends with a final ringing of the tingsha.

If you're looking for an even more luxurious day spa experience, there's the 700-square-foot Mandarin Suite, which spa director Sharon Holtz says is the choice of Boston's elite, visiting celebrities, and privacy-hungry guests with its separate entrance and "thermal experiences" area.

To book a treatment at The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Boston, call (617) 535-8820.

This post was contributed via Seed.com, AOL's new platform for freelance writers.

Tags: Bostondayspa, Bostonspa, dayspa, local luxury, luxuryspaBoston, spaBoston, TheSpaatMandarinOrientalBoston

Local Luxury: Top Luxury Day Spas in San Francisco, CA

by Keeley Mitchell (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spas

San Francisco has always done things its own way. Whether it was entertainment or politics, San Francisco always puts its own spin on things. The luxury day spas in San Francisco are no different. San Francisco's best luxury day spas are found off the beaten path and not in the ritzy hotels as one would expect.

International Orange Spa
Address: 2044 Fillmore Street, 2nd Floor (Pacific Heights)
Phone: 415-563-5000
Website: www.internationalorange.com
Hours: Monday thru Friday 11-9; Saturday and Sunday 9-7

Established by three Bay Area women, International Orange adds a twist to the archetypal spa. Customers can attend yoga classes before and after massages, facials and other treatments. The trendy spa offers ingenious services, such as rhythmic sequence of acupressure and holistic face lifts. The beautiful decor of milky white walls and cherry wood floors provides a serene ambiance that reinforces International Orange's therapeutic approach.

Kabuki Springs & Spa
Address: 1750 Geary Boulevard (Japantown)
Phone: 415-922-6000
Website: www.kabukisprings.com
Hours: Open Daily From 10am to 9:45pm

Located in San Francisco's vibrant Japantown, this Japanese paradise releases your inner empress through exotic rice exfoliations and massages. Along with a beautiful Japanese communal bath, customers can enjoy private candlelit baths while sipping on tea. Kabuki's focus is on nurturing harmony within the soul and relaxation through water and touch therapy.

Tags: bodywraps, dayspa, facials, local luxury, luxury, manicure, massages, pedicure, salon, sanfrancisco, spas

Continue reading “Local Luxury: Top Luxury Day Spas in San Francisco, CA”

Local Luxury: Garrison Confections in Providence, Rhode Island

by Donna Rodgers (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Providence, Rhode Island has many excellent chocolate shops. If you are looking for a chocolatier, however, there is really only one choice, Garrison Confections.

Chef Andrew Shotts, formerly a pastry chef at La Cote Basque, an iconic New York French restaurant that closed its doors in 2004, has opened his doors in Rhode Island. Previously associated with the Russian Tea Room (New York City) and Guittard Chocolate Company (San Francisco, California). Chef Shotts makes a large variety of chocolate, bonbons, tablets, truffles and more for every taste.

Finding such a treasure in Rhode Island is a treat. "A single truffle of the highest quality, like I buy at Garrison's, satisfies me in a way that a box of commercial chocolates never could," says Marcy Williams, a shopper from Central Falls, Rhode Island. "I love the crumble collection! You get apple, blackberry and stone fruit crumble chocolates in a box of six. Keeps me going almost a full week! My husband swears it's art. It's perfection!"

Unexpected spices, along with succulent fruit bits, caramel and chocolate, delights tastebuds. A box of six pieces about $12.00.

Carol Adams of Cumberland, Rhode Island agrees. "I have actually lost weight since I started buying fine chocolate," she laughs.

Bonbons are a specialty and Garrison makes twelve new flavors with each new season, according to the lunar calendar. Each is named for the season--Vernal Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumnal Equinox and Winter Solstice. With the passage of each season, new candies are presented as others are retired. The Valentine's Day special edition (new for each year), Legendary Lovers, is offered from February 8th-14th each year.

Tags: best chocolate providence, chocolate, garrison confections, local luxury

Continue reading “Local Luxury: Garrison Confections in Providence, Rhode Island”

Local Luxury, Easter Treats at Munson's Chocolates

by Kay Balbi (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Munson's Chocolates is a 3rd generation candy family, and "Connecticut's largest retail chocolate manufacturer." Munson's Chocolates has several "Best of Hartford's Area" Awards and has been recognized as "The Best" all over Connecticut, including "Best Candy" in Connecticut Magazine, to "Best Chocolate Shop" from the Hartford Magazine, to "Best Sweet Shop" by the Hartford Advocate, and "Best Candy" in a reader's poll in Fairfield Country Magazine.

The shop has a long history. In1946, Ben and Josephine Munson began their company, calling it the "Dandy Candy Company" and basing it out of Manchester, CT. It was right at the end of WWII; they began using their sugar rations to make batches of wafers and ribbon candy. Through three generations, the Munson family has become locally famous for their delicious chocolate candy and their attention to customer service.

The Munson's website includes a virtual tour of Munson's chocolate factory with pictures of the kitchen, enrobing, molding and packing departments. Munson's also helps out with fund raising ideas for businesses, community groups and schools looking for ways to make money. Custom items, party favors and premiums are also available.

Fans and family of the UCONN Huskies delight. There are special chocolate bars just for UCONN fans. Check it out at UCONN Bars at Munson's. Munson's also offers pre packaged party favor candy bars ranging in price from 1.75 to 4.35 a piece.

Some of Munson's best: Cordial Cherries, Route 6 Toffee Crunch, Gourmet Truffles, and the Almond Bark which is a heavenly rich dark chocolate combined with fresh roasted whole almonds. With Easter right around the corner, think of Munson's when you think chocolate Easter bunnies, too. The milk chocolate egg filled with mini jellybeans shown above sells for $4.98.

Stop by and see them at Munson's Chocolates Online or visit any of their 10 retail locations in the Hartford area at Munson's Chocolate Factory Store Locations Munson's is also on Facebook.

Tags: concept, deluxechocolate, easter chocolate, easter chocolates, hartfordctareasbestchocolate, hartfordsbestchocolate, local luxury, luxurychocolate, munsons chocolates

Local Luxury: Sucre-An Easter Hot Spot for Luxurious New Orleans' Chocolate

by Alisha Day Mustafa (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Sucre, located at 3025 Magazine Street in New Orleans' Garden District, boasts a modern trendy facade with an ice-cream parlor atmosphere, the exception being that macarons, truffles, real gelato, and sorbets can also be consumed at one's pleasure. Founded by Joel Dondis (owner of Joel Catering and Event Planning) in April of 2007, Sucre is a getaway to French desserts and may very well be the best place to stop for a sweeter than sweet tooth. Open from 9am-10pm daily, Sucre offers pastries for breakfast and can bea a perfect late night stop off for the final elegant touch to a whimsical date night.

Desserts are plated and garnished in the most fabulous manner as if you were dining at a five-star restaurant in Paris. "Sucre" means "sugar" in French, and plenty of sugar can be found in their French macarons filled with cream or mousseline. If you have never had the pleasure of experiencing a macaron, you might envision an upscale, fluffy cream-centered Oreo available in a rainbow of colors and a spectrum of exotic flavors.

Tags: chocolate shop, local luxury, new orleans, sucre

Continue reading “Local Luxury: Sucre-An Easter Hot Spot for Luxurious New Orleans' Chocolate”

Local Luxury: ChocoLee Chocolates Opens In Boston

by Donna Rodgers (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

If you are looking for the very best chocolate in Boston--designed and concocted in Boston--there is really only one choice. ChocoLee Chocolates (at the intersection of Montgomery and Dartmouth Streets) has just reopened in a new location!

Chef Lee Napoli, a pastry chef at such Boston-greats as Maison Robert, Anago, Metro, Bricco, The Buttery and Sandrine's Bistro, dreamed of her own line of handcrafted custom chocolates. Napoli has won many awards, including Yankee Magazine's Best Five Chocolate Makers in New England (2009), because her artisan chocolate is simply perfect.

At ChocoLee's grand reopening on March 20th, 2010, Madeleine Martino of Marblehead, Massachusetts, said "Nobody makes chocolate like Lee. When you walk into the store, you can see how passionately she loves chocolate! I absolutely crave the salted caramel!"

"Lee designs and makes the chocolate here," said Karen Jane of Boston. "She isn't buying someone else's designs, she isn't a global franchise, and she isn't collecting the world of other artisans. After I found this chocolate, I have never preferred another."

Tags: boston, chocolate shop, chocolates, chocolee, local luxury

Continue reading “Local Luxury: ChocoLee Chocolates Opens In Boston”

Seattle's Best Cheeses Are Ready to Take on the World

by Alex Kierstein (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Do you really, really, really love cheese? Seattle is home to some surprisingly great locally made cheeses, particularly the famously sharp Northwest cheddars.

Beecher's Handmade Cheeses

Beecher's is as famous for their hand-crafted cheeses as they are for the space they are made in. Located in the famous Pike Place Market near the Seattle waterfront, Beecher's makes all their cheeses in a glassed-in room visible from the street, allowing you to watch the cheese being made in front of your eyes. Beecher's Aged Flagship Cheddar was the 2009 American Cheese Society's 1st place for mature cheddars, and their famous mac 'n cheese is notably indulgent and a must-have.

WSU Creamery's Cougar Cheese

While not strictly from Seattle, Washington State's famous Cougar Cheese is likely to please your tastebuds just as much as it will irritate nearby Husky fans. Ignore the intercollegiate rivalry and pick some up from the Cougar Connections store in the Westlake Mall in downtown Seattle. Cougar Gold is their flagship cheese, a white cheddar that gets deliciously crumbly and sharper with age.

Tags: bestof, cheese, cheese shops, creamery, local luxury, milk, northwest, seattle, washingtonstate

Continue reading “Seattle's Best Cheeses Are Ready to Take on the World”

Local Luxury: Pastoral, Artisan Cheese, Bread and Wine In Chicago

by Benjamin Haas (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

cheese If you're looking for the best local and international cheeses in Chicago, then Pastoral is the place. In fact aside from just an artisanal neighborhood cheese shop, Pastoral is also an amazing wine store, with the layout of the wines in line with the cheeses they compliment, full body wines are across from the aged cheddars and parmesans, medium wines are across from the semi-soft cheeses and light body are across from the young fresh cheeses. On top of all this, add a genuine Midwestern friendliness that takes the snobbishness out of fine cheese, and Pastoral accomplishes what it set out to be, an artisanal neighborhood cheese shop. In November, Pastoral was recognized as a nominee for a Luxist Awards Readers' Choice Award for Best Gourmet Cheese shop.

As with any specialty cheese store, Pastoral has the staples in big name and international cheese, such as Cypress Grove's Humboldt Fog of Arcata, California, Neal's Yard Dairy Cheddars from Britain, and Bucheron from the Loire Valley, France. What truly sets Pastoral apart is the amazing selection of Midwestern cheese. Local farmstead cheese highlights include Prairie Fruit Farms' goat cheese in Champaign, Illinois, Capriole goat cheese from Southern Indiana, and Marieke's Gouda from Thorp, Wisconsin to name a few. Pastoral's relationship with some of these farms is so close that employees from the store will sometimes double as employees representing the farms at Chicago's Green City Market. Aside from selling to the public, Pastoral also supplies top Chicago restaurants such as, avec, Blackbird, The Publican and Perennial with their artisanal cheeses.

In addition to cultivating its strong Midwestern roots, Pastoral aims to educate Chicagoans by offering a comprehensive schedule of classes every season. Topics range from the basic "Cheese 101" to the more specific "Celtic in Spirit – Cheese, Beers and Spirits of the British Isles and Beyond" and "Bubbles and Cheese," a class focusing on pairing champagne, cava and prosecco with cheese. Although the staff is fully knowledgeable in both cheese and wine, the shop does have its own resident sommelier so you can be sure the wines, as well as the cheeses, are top notch.

More from Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine

Pastoral Locations:
Lakeview: 2945 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60657
Loop: 53 E Lake Street, Chicago, IL 60601Chicago French Market: 131 N Clinton, Chicago, IL 60661

This post was contributed via Seed.com, AOL's new platform for freelance writers.

Tags: bread, cheese, cheese shop, cheese shops, chicago, foodie, gourmet, local luxury, luxist-awards, pastoral, wine

local luxury

Featured Galleries

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular

Also on AOL