Cuisine

Only 5-stars restaurant fans will be seated here. Imagine Lifestyle's will only highlight the best of the best restaurants and culinary designs around the world. What makes a 5-star restaurant a 5-star restaurant? Imagine will dissect the elite restaurants of the world and grade 5-star restaurants on their menus, locations and amenities. The world of culinary art is a constantly evolving area, blending the old with the new, the east with the west, and so on. But did you know that some of the best culinary inventions involve the blending of cultures? Nuevo Latino, Cuban-Asian and other hot new styles are topping the lists of celebs and high-profile diners worldwide. Is your luxurious restaurant up for the Imagine review?

Top 3 Miami Luxury Hotel Experiences: Biltmore, Setai and The Mondrian

The following Miami luxury hotels offer three distinctive experiences: Classic opulence, Zen elegance and modern boutique. Book a stay out of curiosity, return out of pure adoration! Choose your first hotel, then contact Imagine Lifestyles Luxury Rentals and mention this article for a $200 discount* on an exotic rental car in Miami to compliment your stay!

Biltmore Hotel Miami
Biltmore Hotel

New South Beach Hotspot: Pearl Restaurant & Champagne Lounge is Back!

The iconic Pearl Restaurant & Champagne Lounge will reopen after 6 years on December 10th, 2011! The former celebrity haunt will reopen its luxurious doors thanks to popular demand, which has to be a comfort to owners Jack and Lucia Penrod. This is an upscale dining tip not to be missed...unless you really hate orange. 

Pearl Restaurant & Champagne Lounge Miami

Pearl Restaurant & Champagne Lounge Miami

Savor the South Beach Wine & Food Festival

One of the best annual Miami events is fast approaching--the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. This event is popular for obvious reasons—wine and food! In case you didn’t know, Miami is one of the best locations on earth to experience exotic cuisines and wines with unique flavor fusions. This event is a luxury travel tip that is ideal for everyone.

South Beach Food & Wine Festival

Dark Dining Miami Style—Have You Been Blindfolded?

Chef Adrianne Calvo is a highly regarded culinary artist in the Miami Beach food & wine scene, and is continuing her popular ‘Dark Dining’ series in Miami this month. You can experience sensory deprivation and overload simultaneously at her Vineyard Restaurant and Wine Bar.

Dark Dining Miami

Dark dining in Miami

Pricier than an Exotic Car Rental: The Top Ten Most Expensive Foods on Earth

The following culinary creations wield price tags worthy of a luxury car rental or ownership of an exotic vehicle!  While many of these items do sound delicious, keep in mind that the brief interval spent with them is not likely to linger like the thrill of an exotic car rental!   

Here are the top 10 most expensive foods, in ascending order:

1.  Matsutake Mushrooms--$1000 per pound due to rarity

Matsutake Mushrooms

Matsutake Mushrooms

Top 5 Disney Musts if you are Used to Luxury


Traveling to the Magic Kingdom?  Here are some travel tips if you are going to Disney!

 

1.  Indulge in an exotic SUV rental to travel from park to park  Nothing trumps a sweet and roomy Range Rover rental Florida or Escalade rental Florida to relax between parks.  Disney is very big and it can wear you out, know that it can take up to 20 minutes to travel between parks.  A spacious luxury SUV rental can really help you recoup between excursions! 

Luxury SUV rental Florida

Also, Hire a limo service for the nighttime.  If you would like to park hop or go to Epcot for dinner each evening, a limo or chauffeured car service is the way to go.  You will already tired from a full day of walking around the park, so why not use a car service to save your energy for the parks?

Paris, France Via Chicago

Visit Paris, on Hubbard Street in Chicago

There may not be an Eiffel Tower anywhere near, but the Melman Brothers latest foray into cuisine in Chicago might make some feel as if they are very close.  The boys from Hub 51 are back at it again and this time are taking a little different approach with the menu, while keeping the ambience of the joint modern and upbeat.  Just because the menu screams of French influence doesn’t mean there won’t be a DJ spinning on the weekends nearby your table. Add a few Chicago luxury car rentals out front and you will feel like you hit the perfect mix of clubs, cuisine and cars.

Paris France

Public House Debuts in River North

Public House Set To Open Its’ Doors Downtown Chicago

The mastermind’s behind Bull & Bear are at it again with the Launch of Public House, located at 400 N. State.  About twice the size, the new beer-focused joint should allow for a little more mingling and a little less fighting for a place to stand than Bull & Bear, which will be a huge relief.  Look for the in-booth beer taps, American based menu, and Plasma TV’s to remind you of your past experiences at B & B.

Public House Chicago

My Waiter is a Star Wars Droid

Dalu Restaurant China

When patrons enter the dimly lit restaurant in Jinan, China they are greeted by a female robot batting her eyelashes and offering an electronic “welcome”.  Lined with futuristic lights, the fun continues when guests realize their waiter is not a human being, but a robot!  This may be the most awesome restaurant in China, worthy of pulling up in an exotic car rental for the full effect!

Christmas Eve Chicago Style

Christmas Eve in Chicago

Are you sick of your family already and looking for an escape?  If you are in Chicago this Christmas Eve then get ready for some time away to relax and have a great time.  Although many of your neighborhood bars, shops and restaurants might be closing early today, Chicago has a number of great Christmas Eve events happening all around the city tonight. 

Holiday Party

Eat Like A King This Week in Chicago

This Week in Chicago: December 21th – December 29th

Think back to the last time you visited one of Chicago’s many steakhouses.  In a city known for some of the best steakhouses in the United States, a new kid on the block recently opened its doors and has instantly gained a lot of praise from Chicagoans who have been lucky enough to dine there.   Head over to 520 N. Dearborn this week and check out Mastro’s Steakhouse, one of Chicago’s newest and best steakhouses.

Kick-Ass Celebrity Chef Anthony Bourdain Despises Celebrity Chefs

New York native Anthony Bourdain has certainly attainted an esteemed career, including author, TV persona and renowned celebrity chef, a series of awesomeness that began as a lowly dishwasher in New York! Yes, now a celebrity chef, Bourdain admits that he does see the irony in the fact that he has always loathed uh…celebrity chefs. 

What?  That is like driving a Lamborghini Gallardo rental NY but claiming to hate them.  Well, I suppose his unique take on the role allows him to express his true feelings.

Anthony Bourdain 'No Reservations'

Either way, I appreciate Bourdain’s complete lack of a filter and ability to marinate in every culture he encounters on his robust and intensely absorbing Travel Channel show, ‘No Reservations’.  Clever title, eh?  Well, when you ingest things like brains and blood sausage on television, I suppose you can't have too many reservations!

Chicago Dining Scene Scores With Michelin

Chicago Dining Scene Wins Praise   

Michelin recently released its latest red guide for Chicago and awarded 23 restaurants with at least 1 of its’ famed stars.  Michelin & Cie, the Paris based tire manufacturer, has been putting out this guide since the early 20th century.  Originally designed to encourage people to travel by car to eat at new restaurants, the guide is now recognized globally as one of the premier ways to judge the quality of top-notch dining. 

Chicago, along with New York and San Francisco, were the only U.S. cities to have a restaurant guide from Michelin.  The rankings are fairly basic, but keep in mind that 1 star from Michelin means you are better than over 99.9% of the restaurants that are also in each city.  To be awarded 1 star is no shame, and many highly acclaimed restaurants around the world will never obtain even a single star rank.  Now it is time for them to rank Imagine Lifestyles as the best of the best in Chicago luxury car rentals!!

Billionaire Pays $330,000 For Truffles, Matching His Own World Record

Billionaire entrepreneur Stanley Ho has matched his own previously held world record price paid for a truffle, indulging his sweet-tooth with two white truffles, 900 grams and 400 grams for the bargain rate of $330,000.  As you may have guessed, this was a luxury auction.  I am thinking that for that price, I would prefer a shiny new Lamborghini Gallardo, Ferrari F430, or a nice long run of exotic car rentals Miami style whenever I travel.  Well, Ho has owned a Rolls-Royce Silver Spur, so I suppose he can also afford the little things.  Sigh.

$330,000 White Truffles

Rolls Royce Silver Spur

The luxury auction was held in Macau, a former Portuguese colony returned to China in1999, where Ho is reigns as the wealthiest person.  Stanley Ho, also known as Ho Hung-sun and Stanley Ho Hung-sun, is nicknamed “The King of Gambling”, thanks to his impressive government-granted monopoly he held in the Macau gambling industry for 40 years.  I guess you could say it is good to be Stanley Ho, his daughter is pretty hot, too!

Top 5 Airport Foods that Are Surprisingly Awesome

As Thanksgiving looms in our path this week, note that those of us traveling may well find ourselves enduring commercial airline travel.  That translates to some of us are going to be waiting around for hours, and possibly stuck somewhere, hungry.  There is always a private aircraft charter, but for the rest, here are the top 5 best airport grub hubs in the event of your demise:

1.    The sushi at ‘One Flew South’ ATL
2.    The chili dog at ‘Pink’s’ LAX
3.    The chicken pesto at ‘Boudin Bakery’ SFO
4.    The ribs at ‘Corky’s Ribs & BBQ’ MEM
5.    The chowder at ‘Ivar’s Seafood’ SEA