Couture Central

Here is a list of celeb’s favorite hotels. Some celebs stay at these hotels to wind down and some enjoy the hotels while they are on business.

• Loews Miami Beach, FL – Blake Lively, Hillary Duff, Gwyneth Paltrow, Britney Spears
• The Royal Palm Miami Beach, FL- Nikki Hilton, Hillary Duff
• Las Ventanas (Los Cabos,Mexico)- Jennifer Lopez, Eva Longoria Parker, Ashley Olsen
• Bacara Resort & Spa (Santa Barbara, California) – Kate Beckinsale and Victoria Beckham.
• Tortuga Bay Resort(Dominican Republic)
• The Mansion on Turtle Creek (Dallas)
• The Four Seasons (Houston)
• The Fairmont Hotel (San Jose, California)
• The Ritz Carlton (Chicago, San Francisco, Half Moon Bay)
• The Mandarin Oriental (Miami, San Francisco, New York City)
• The Waverly Inn (New York City)- Jessica Alba & Cash Warren, Jennifer Aniston & John Mayer, Heidi Montag & Spencer Pratt, Brooke Hogan, and many more
• The James Boutique Hotel(Chicago)
• The Beverly Hills Hotel

The Wave Magazine, a local Silicon Valley weekly paper recently put out their 2008 Readers Choice Award. Here are a short list of top restaurants by readers.

• Best Seafood
  Hawg’s
  150 S Second St.
  San Jose, CA
• Best American
  Arcadia
  100 W San Carlos St.
  San Jose, CA
• Best Chinese
  Taiwan Restaurant
  1306 Lincoln Ave.
  San Jose, CA
• Best Japanese
  Kyoto Palace
  1875 S Bascom Ave.
  Campbell, CA
• Best Vietnamese
  Vung Tau
  535 E Santa Clara St.
  San Jose, CA
• Best Korean
  Korean Palace
  2297 Stevens Creek Blvd.
  San Jose, CA
• Best Dim Sum
  Sino
  377 Santana Row
  San Jose
• Best Mexican
  El Burro
  1875 S Bascom Ave.
  Campbell, CA
• Best Indian
  Royal Taj
  1350 Camben Ave.
  Campbell, CA
• Best Ethiopian
  Zeni
  1320 Saratoga Ave
  San Jose, CA
• Best French
  La Papillion
  410 Saratoga Ave.
  San Jose, CA
• Best Italian
  Original Joe’s
  301 S First St.
  San Jose, CA
• Best Malaysian
  Layang Layang
  1480 S. De Anza Blvd.
  San Jose, CA
• Best Tapas
  Cascal
  400 Castro St.
  Mountain View, CA
• Best BBQ
  Sam’s BBQ
  1110 S Bascom Ave.
  San Jose, CA
• Best Hawaiian
  Hukilau
  230 Jackson St.
  San Jose, CA
• Best Fondue
  La Fondue
  14510 Big Basin Way
  Saratoga, CA

What is the best restaurant in the world? According to Restaurant magazine, the best restaurant in the world is El Bulli. Located in the Mediterranean coast in Spain, El Bulli has taken the top spot since three consecutive years, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Under chef Ferran Adria, El Bulli has earned three Michelin stars. El Bulli books reservations only once a year, and it is often booked in a single day. The restaurant is only opened for dinner from April to September.

Chef Adria can be described as a mad culinary scientist that deconstructs classic plates down to its core elemental flavors. Instead of elements he deconstructs dishes to their core flavor, temperature, and texture and then reconstructs the dish at the molecular gastronomical level. Chef Adria can certainly be considered the Grand Chef of Haute Cuisine.

• El Bulli History
• Ferran Adria
• World’s Greatest Chef Ferran Adrià and the Food of El Bulli
• Top Cooking Tips from Ferran Adria
• Ferran Adrià, Molecular Gastronomist—Who, Me?
• Fast Times with Ferran Adria
• Welcome to the Labyrinth of the Catalan Chef
• If the world’s greatest chef cooked for a living, he’d starve
• Behind the Laboratory Door
• Adrià’s Audacity

Couture Central loves Haute Cusine.

I recently stumbled onto JW Yeung flicker account. JW has some of the most stunning hotel picture in some of the most luxurious rooms. His flickr profile does not say who JW is or what he does other than the following he is a hotel addict, architect, visiting lecturer and amateur photographer.

JW has a great set photos of his top ten hotels in Asia.

• Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong
• Park Hyatt Seoul
• Crown Towers Macau
• Park Hyatt Dubai
• The Peninsula Tokyo
• Grand Hyatt Shanghai
• Park Hyatt Sydney
• Mandarin Oriental Tokyo
• Park Hyatt Tokyo
• Hilton Sydney
• Four Seasons Hong Kong

Park Hyatt Seoul: Suite 1410

Grand Hyatt Shanghai: Room 6422

In the 80’s it was cool to walk like an Egyptian. This is the new millennium, walking is for scrubs and mummies. If you are going to travel with style you need to fly like oil rich sheiks. The folks of Telstar Logistics were given a unique opportunity to test fly the Emirates A380 from San Francisco (SFO). San Francisco will become Emirates’ newest destination on December 15, when nonstop service to Dubai begins. Dubai, like a mirage in the sands, has sprung up to be a jewel in the deserts, flushed with oil money it is becoming a major commercial center in the region.

The A380 goes far and beyond first and execute class. In first class you fly not in seats but in miniature skybox suites, pun definitely intended. The aircraft is even loaded with two showers. First class tickets are expected to cost somewhere above $10,000.

Feel free to take a look at some at the photo gallery provided by Telstar Logistics.

Emirates First Class Suite

Emirates First Class Suite

Chicago maybe best known for their famous deep dish pizzas but Chicago has more to offer than just pizzas. Chicago is like any other metropolitan area with different cultures are strongly infused in
cuisines. Here are some of the top restaurants in the in the “Windy City”.

• Aigre Doux-Contemporary American Cuisine
• Chiyo Japanese Restaurant
• Chalkboard- Contemporary American Cuisine
• De La Costa Nuevo- Latino Cuisine
• Blu Coral- Contemporary Japanese Cuisine

Recently, Barack Obama claimed his Democratic Presidential nomination. Given all of the publicity celebs have been offering their opinion of Barack. Recently in US Weekly they collected quotes from some from Barack’s most famous supporters.

• “He’s an extraordinary guy, but I also think his consistency on the war vote is most important to me.” Ben Afflek
• I just think he’s the right one. He really, truly represents the face of America.” Kate Walsh
• “He’s incredibly inspiring and intelligent and has great visions for where he wants to take this country.” Amy Smart
• “Obama is awesome.” Pete Wentz

The benefits of tea are well documented and a health nut city like San Francisco would be home to some great tea rooms in Northern California. If you find yourself in San Francisco on a cold and foggy day, you may want to stop by any of the tea rooms listed below.

• Lovejoy’s Tea Room
  1351 Church St.
  San Francisco, CA
• Secret Garden Tea House
  721 Lincoln Way
  San Francisco, CA
• Tal-y-Tara Tea and Polo Shoppe
  6439 California St.
  San Francisco, CA
• Samovar Tea Lounge
  498 Sanchez St.
  San Francisco, CA
• Imperial Tea Court
  1411 Powell St.
  San Francisco, CA

The Los Angeles downtown area has a ton of hot spots. When visiting downtown LA for business or pleasure you need to make a quick stop to some of the trendiest bars in town.

• Bordello
  901 E. 1st St.
  Los Angeles, CA
• Traxx Bar
  800 N. Alameda St.
  Los Angeles, CA
• J Restaurant & Lounge
  1119 S. Olive St.
  Los Angeles, CA
• O Bar & Kitchen at the Orchid Hotel
  819 S. Flower St.
  Los Angeles, CA
• Golden Gopher
  417 W. 8th St.
  Los Angeles, CA
• Redwood Bar & Grill
  316 W. 2nd St.
  Los Angeles, CA
• The Edison
  108 W. 2nd St.
  Los Angeles, CA
• Casey’s Irish Bar & Grill
  613 S. Grand Ave.
  Los Angeles, CA
• Weiland Brewery
  400 E. 1st St.
  Los Angeles, CA
• Broadway Bar
  830 S. Broadway
  Los Angeles, CA
• Bluevelvet
  750 S. Garland Ave.
  Los Angeles, CA
• Veranda Bar
  939 S. Figueroa St.
  Los Angeles, CA
• Seven Grand Whiskey Bar
  515 W. 7th St.
  Los Angeles, CA
• Rooftop Bar at the Standard Downtown
  550 S. Flower St.
  Los Angeles, CA
• Library Bar
  630 W. 6th St.
  Los Angeles, CA

Welcome to “This Week in Hollywood”.

• Brad Pitt is jetting off to Italy to see Radiohead.
• Britney Spears is working on a new album, there’s talk of her even having a Las Vegas show!
• Paula Abdul and her restaurateur boyfriend J.T. Torregiani have broken up.
• A tax warrant has been issued against Katie Couric for $210.
• Doctors have discovered that Amy Winehouse has emphysema.
• Comedian George Carlin passed away.