restaurants

Guests at any one of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts 60+ locations worldwide will no longer have to sacrifice flavor for health or vice versa as the chain just launched a new Lifestyle Cuisine Plus menu that accommodates special diets including those related to medical conditions, food allergies, and lifestyle choices like vegan, raw, or macrobiotic. And although nutritional guidelines are the same across the board the food is not: each Fairmont chef is able to design and personalize his or her own menu to reflect the unique flavors and seasonal offerings of their location, and guests are encouraged to speak with the chef directly regarding any special dining needs they may have during their stay.

Lifestyle Cuisine Plus menus are available as of January 1, 2011 in all Fairmont Hotel restaurants as well as on room service and banquet menus.

Ignazio and Maggio Cipriani, fourth generation of the famed Cipriani family internationally renowned for its restaurants, landmarked banquet spaces, clubs, and residences, have announced the debut of Mr. C, a chic new signature hotel brand opening its first property in Beverly Hlls this April. Mr. C is designed to be "a modern version of old-world simplicity and stylish European glamour, providing today's traveler with a comfortable, elegant and effortless experience blending contemporary amenities with discreet, personalized service." The 138-room property will feature 12 Signature Suites and Classic Suites, alongside spacious guest rooms ranging from 365–800 square feet, each with a private balcony and many with panoramic views of Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. The interior design aims to be "rich and welcoming" with dark hardwood floors, burgundy and gray color palettes, and crisp white accents. Vintage black and white photographs from films like La Dolce Vita bring iconic and historic cultural moments to life on the walls, and well-appointed bathrooms feature teak flooring, marble accents, and luxe amenities.

Additionally, the property will feature five multi-level, residential-sized bungalows averaging approximately 3,000 square feet, each with a private garden, gourmet kitchen, plunge pool and views of Beverly Hills. Renowned Californian architect Ray Kappe designed the bungalows, which will feature all the Mr. C amenities including spa treatments, housekeeping, and room service from the signature Mr. C restaurant. The restaurant will welcome guests and Angelenos alike with a menu featuring classics from Cipriani's famed kitchens alongside grilled specialties and pizzas from morning to night. The restaurant will offer indoor and outdoor seating, a separate entrance for non-hotel guests, and two private rooms for more intimate occasions. The hotel will also feature an outdoor swimming pool for hotel guests only and an indoor/outdoor private event space boasting 360-degree panoramic city views from the 12th floor of the hotel, with a private exterior glass elevator. Rates will run from $429 for a Deluxe City View room to $2,009 for a Specialty Suite.

The St. Regis New York has just launched an innovative new E-Butler application, allowing guests to interact with the famed luxury hotel's butlers and concierge as never before, and featuring exclusive content including an Insider's Guide to New York City curated by some of NYC's most celebrated personalities. The St. Regis New York E-Butler app is a modern twist on traditional butler service, providing guests with the world renowned St. Regis service at the touch of a button. The app will offer guests the ability to "chat" directly with The St. Regis E-Butler in real-time via their iPhone or iPad, arranging all of the important details of their visit to the city instantly. In true St. Regis style, the hotel has tapped some of New York's most celebrated personalities including Andre Leon Talley, Jason Wu, Alain Ducasse, Danny Meyer, Michel Musto and Peter Som to share their insider info. on favorite shops, restaurants and city landmarks. Through St. Regis E-Butler, guests will have the ability to book these favorite spots directly, and the app will also feature a curated calendar of events for the season's most interesting and anticipated happenings around the Big Apple.

I'm sure you'd love to believe that your concerns are being heard. At an airport, restaurant, hotel or any other place where you're parting with your hard-earned cash, you expect a certain level of service. When you don't get it, you expect management to give a damn. Shocking, I know, but sometimes even this second part doesn't happen.

Gone are the days when even the risk of a customer complaint struck horror in the eyes of a hospitality manager. Close to a decade ago, I emailed a gripe to Kelly's Roast Beef in Massachusetts. Within 24 hours, I had a call from the manager who as horrified, embarrassed and eager to make things right. I didn't care about the free meal offer – in fact, I turned it down twice before giving in – it was the attitude that made the difference. He was genuinely upset that he was losing a single customer, and the prospect of that didn't sit well with him. Now, so many years later, this remains my go-to story about customer service perfection.

Today, that seems to be gone – or at least scarcer. For some restaurants and other hospitality companies, even in the luxury space, it's the belief that a certain amount customer churn is to be expected. Or that brand is irrelevant. Or that intermediaries (such as online booking sites) have made price the motivator, obviating the need for a commitment to customer service excellence. In a recent case for me, at The Mercer Kitchen, in the Mercer Hotel, it was clear that brand was the problem – namely that a cool, upscale spot didn't need to worry about customer satisfaction.

Using this experience, let's take a look at five things you should be wary of when expressing your concerns to a hospitality manager; they indicate that your complaint isn't being handled properly:

Last spring we previewed the luxe private residences at the St. Regis' beautiful new Bahia Beach property in Puerto Rico. Now the accompanying exclusive resort, the prestigious brand's first Caribbean hotel, is officially open bringing world-class luxury to the island. The St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort, Puerto Rico brings St. Regis' signature bespoke services to the stunning 483-acre beachfront enclave, located on a former coconut plantation nestled between the majestic El Yunque rainforest and the Espiritu Santo River. The property's ultra-luxe amenities include St. Regis' legendary Butler Service, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's restaurant Fern, a 10,000 square foot Remède Spa, and an ocean-front golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. as well as the Caribbean's first certified Gold Audubon Signature Sanctuary.

Designed by acclaimed architecture firm Hill Glazier in a graceful plantation style that harmoniously blends in with the glorious landscape of towering palms and tropical flowers, the resort boasts 139 luxuriously appointed guest rooms including 35 suites with private terraces offering spectacular ocean views, as well as 25 private St. Regis Estate Homes. The elegant, inviting interiors feature custom-designed furniture and spacious marble baths in addition to Pratesi linens and high-tech amenities such as high-speed wireless internet, 40-inch LCD televisions, additional TVs ingeniously integrated into the bathroom mirrors and an iPod docking station. The resort's signature Butler and Private Dining services ensure you'll never want for anything. The beachside swimming pool compound features Seagrapes, a casual bar and restaurant, private cabanas and more incredible ocean views.

Restaurant Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas has unveiled a new white truffle menu, as well as a brand new menu featuring exquisite game, both of which are worth checking out if you find yourself in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas eatery, which opened in 2006, is chef Guy Savoy's only location in the U.S. The restaurant has two Michelin stars to its name as well as being recently featured as a nominee for a Luxist Awards' Readers Choice award in the best domestic fine dining category.

The restaurant, which is a sister restaurant to Restaurant Guy Savoy in Paris (winner of the Readers Choice Award for Best International Restaurant) is currently featuring a La Truffle Blanche D'Alba menu which begins with Scallop Carpaccio served with a cauliflower puree. The thinly sliced scallops are seasoned simply with fleur de sel, white pepper and olive oil and just warmed under the salamander. The dish is topped with a scallop juice made from reduced scallop fumet, butter and white truffle paste. Fresh white truffles are grated tableside. The next course features a Pumpkin and White Truffle Soup with poached Egg (see gallery below). The soup is cooked in one part chicken stock to one part heavy cream. It is seasoned with white truffle paste and served with a slowly poached egg and freshly shaved white truffle. The presentation is quite the spectacle as it is ladled out of a 25 pound Fairytale Pumpkin, also known as the Cinderella pumpkin.

Luxist had the opportunity to talk to rising star chef, Michael Hartnell, Executive Head Chef at Le Caprice, the fashionable Martin Brudnizki-designed restaurant in Manhattan's Pierre Hotel overlooking Central Park. The 28 year old wunderkind is known for his creative and modern European dishes.

Hartnell has worked for the Caprice Holdings Group for the past six years; prior to opening Le Caprice in New York, he was Head Chef at Daphne's in South Kensington, London.

Le Caprice, which opened in October 2009, is the American outpost of the famous London brasserie that shares the same name.

Luxist: Tell us about your background?

I was born in West London and grew up on the outskirts of London. My big opportunity came at the age of 15 when I did my work experience with my brother at The Ivy in London's West End. After finishing school, I completed my apprenticeship there and at other restaurants including Daphne's in South Kensington where I eventually became Head Chef at age 26 and Locande Locatelli, which is a One Star Michelin Italian Restaurant owned by Giorgio Locatelli.

Luxist: How does Le Caprice reflect your personality and vision as a chef?

Le Caprice embodies everything I love about food: its simple, well-produced and well executed. There is something on the menu for everyone's taste and that is a good reflection of myself. I'm not a complicated cook that likes to over elaborate on dishes, but what we do is done with a lot of passion. I aim to produce simple food using the best produce possible in sync with the seasons.

Luxist: Describe the menu offerings at Le Caprice in New York. What are the specialties? How often will the menu change? Describe your seasonal fare.

Chef Hartnell: We have Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Dinner and Bar menus. We have weekly changing specials and we also tweak the a la carte menu on a weekly basis to keep the menu as seasonal as possible. At the moment we are using fantastic fava beans, peas and artichokes. One of my favorite things right now is King Salmon, which we get from Washington State.

Sherri Eisenberg, an award-winning Brooklyn-based travel writer, has spent her career traveling all over the globe, writing articles about restaurants, cruises, and hotels for such notable publications as Travel and Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler and Brides. Eisenberg has seen, eaten and done it all--and has written about 370 cities in 33 countries.

Who better, then, to uncover and discover the very best that Brooklyn, New York has to offer?

Eisenberg's latest project is Food Lovers' Guide to Brooklyn (Glove Pequot Press, June 2010), a book that traces her search for the best restaurants, markets, and food producers in the borough. Eisenberg's research for the book included visiting nearly 600 establishments. She tasted the wide range of cuisines that Brooklyn has to offer and culled down her list to feature only the very best in each neighborhood.

Luxe publisher Assouline has come out with a passport to the prestigious Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts in the form of limited edition set of guidebooks. The Luxury Collection Destination Guides unlocks the charms of six destinations – Italy, Greece, Argentina, India, Spain, and the United States. The Luxury Collection's world-renowned concierges act as your personal guide, offering an insider view of each locale's most unique restaurants, boutiques, and cultural sites. Each book features a passage and recipe from a celebrated chef including Mario Batali for Italy, Francis Mallmann for Argentina, José Andrés for Spain, and Charlie Palmer for the U.S. Curated by Assouline, the collection is beautifully photographed by the Luxury Collection's Global Explorer Andréa Fazzari and packaged in a vintage inspired travel box. The guides will be exclusively offered as a complete set at Assouline Boutiques in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York, as well as www.shopassouline.com and other major retail stores for $140.

The world's first undersea restaurant opened 5 years ago this month at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, and to celebrate the anniversary the restaurant is offering guests the chance to not only eat under the sea but sleep under it as well. The 12-seat restaurant will be converted to a private bedroom suite for two, complete with private champagne dinner and breakfast in bed.

Ithaa sits five meters below the surface of the Indian Ocean, encased in plexiglass and reached by descending a spiral staircase. The restaurant offers breathtaking views and 'fusion Maldivian cuisine' (local cooking with a western twist), and rumor has it that over lunch the place is so bright that guests and staff have to wear sunglasses (they even keep spares on hand and offer a sunglasses cleaning service). Sounds wonderful, although I imagine seeing the sun rise while eating breakfast in bed is even better.

As a Tampa resident for over twenty years, I've had the gastronomical pleasure of experiencing these fine dining establishments. Trade those beach shorts for something more cosmopolitan, and come hungry.

Here's my rating scale: $$ - Comparatively Inexpensive. $$$ - More Expensive. $$$$ - Very Expensive. Upscale = dress nice. Chic = dress to kill.

Charley's Steakhouse
(813) 353-9706
4444 West Cypress Street, Tampa, 33607.
Upscale $$$$. Charley's has graced Tampa since 1974 with a quiet, sophisticated ambiance. The service is as upscale as the clothes. Everyone should be waited on like this at least once in their lives. Cozy and elegant, chandelier-decked setting. The specialties are mouth-watering cuts of steak and Surf & Turf.
Rated number 5 out of the Top 10 Steak Restaurants in the U.S. at Prime Top 10, a list of America's Finest USDA Prime Steakhouses & Restaurants.
Reservations not usually needed.

Mitchell's Fish Market
(813) 289-3663
204 Westshore Plaza, Tampa, 33609.
Upscale $$$. Mitchell's is reminiscent of the classy mid-nineteenth and twentieth century 'men only' dining clubs. But women are allowed, of course. All varnished wood and frosted glass with some miniature ships on display. Mitchell's hasn't been in Tampa that long (several years), but it's made a name for itself. The broiled tilapia is succulent, for one. The seafood-many varieties obtained from one coast to the other-is always fresh, never frozen. A relaxed, classy ambiance. Reservations not needed.

Travelers and those seeing off travelers have a new place to eat at the JFK airport in New York City. The Palm Bar & Grille has opened at JFK International Airport Terminal 4, marking the first airport location of the steakhouse. The Palm Bar & Grille is located in the pre-security, public area of Terminal 4. It will have a built-in clientele, around nine million travelers pass through the terminal each year and thousands of people work in and around the area. The restaurant will have a private dining room for meetings and events and offers private catering from breakfast to evening dining. The steakhouse was founded on Second Avenue in New York City by Pio Bozzi and John Ganzi in 1926 and is famous for prime cuts of meat and popular Italian and seafood dishes.

Many sports figures tend to get into the restaurant business. For some this can be a great investment but it doesn't always have a happy ending. Baseball player Steve Finley has filed bankruptcy on behalf of BRG Restaurant Group, the company that owned his upscale, San Diego area Flight Restaurant. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that last year, Finley ran into trouble, handing out paychecks that bounced. Finley has said he still wants to pay his former employees but that the business ran out of money because of the economy and management problems which left him as the restaurant manager at one point.

In January, Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation papers were filed but this week Finley canceled the bankruptcy because he is close to a deal to have someone else take over the restaurant and pay back wages. Finley is a World Series champion and five-time Gold Glove Award winner who opened the restaurant with a team of investors. It overlooks the polo fields at El Camino Real and Via de la Valle in Del Mar. The restaurant served pricey Italian fare but also had a bar with a nightclub atmosphere. It once featured dancing girls dressed as angels, a nod to one of Finley's former teams (he played a brief season for the Angels in 2005).

UPDATE: A picture of Chuck Finley was mistakenly used in an earlier version of this story, we regret the error.

I guess everyone has to eat, even in a recession. When the light appears at the end of the tunnel, though, appetites get bigger ... and more discriminating. In London, upscale eateries are seeing the investment banking crowd come back, and the wine is once again flowing. The cities top chefs are still worried about what will happen after Christmas, but for now, they're happy to see their creations gobbled up by the city's financial sector.

Marcus Wareing has had what he calls "a fabulous year." The waiting list keeps getting longer, and he says, "There's a good vibe." Tristan Welch's Launceston Place is seeing more wine flow, and demand is picking up. Pearl's Jun Tanaka remains cautious, "We'll really know in the first quarter 2010 if business has returned ... I don't know if it's a trend or a hiccup."

Across the city, there's a mix of optimism and trepidation. Le Gavroche, Wahaca and Le Café Anglais, for example, offer some variation of "Business is good" or "Business is booming, and Gordon Ramsay tells Bloomberg News, "There's an increasing air of confidence, which has been particularly apparent since the beginning of September." Michelle McGuire of The Palm said the restaurant had its busiest week three weeks ago since its opening in May, "with record takings." Sam Hart, of Fino, Barrafino and Quo Vadis, on the other hand, calls the improvement "fragile."

Nonetheless, this is a far cry from the angst that characterized the fine dining world a year ago. When people start to eat well, you know that things are turning for the better.

Today, Michelin released The Michelin Guide 2010 New York City Restaurants, with five establishments receiving three stars, its highest rating. The top rated restaurants include Daniel, Jean Georges (above), Le Bernardin, Masa and Per Se.

There were six restaurants earning two stars and 44 restaurants that earned one star. Three stars represents "exception cuisine, worth a special journey" while two stars is for "excellent cuisine, worth a detour". One star, which is still an excellent rating, is defined as "a very good restaurant in its category".

To rate restaurants and hotels around the world, Michelin employs a rigorous selection process that is applied independently and consistently. Indeed, in each of the 23 countries where it inspects restaurants and hotels, the selections are made by anonymous, professional inspectors who are Michelin employees. The inspectors pay all their bills in full.

While the Michelin Guide is known around the world for its famous stars, these restaurant account for just 10% of the selection in the New York City guide. The guide also includes a wide diversity of establishments, and includes small restaurants that offer a high-quality dining experience at an affordable price.

One useful section features "Inspectors' Favorites for Good Value", including a total of 85 affordable restaurants that offer two dishes, and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less. There is also a list of 109 restaurants selected by its experts that offer a meal under $25.

"The Michelin Guide has long been respected and the stars are what people love to talk about in the culinary world," says Jean-Luc Naret, director of the Michelin Guides. "But the Guide is so much more. It's filled with a year's worth of notes from the team of inspectors who set out to ensure the Michelin Guide provides an excellent mix of what readers truly want--a wonderful dining recommendation from trusted experts."

The Michelin Guide New York City 2010 is the fifth edition since Michelin began reviewing restaurants in New York. Its cover price is $17.95.