Miami-based Haute Living magazine bills itself as “the standard for the luxury lifestyle” and gets distributed aboard chartered planes, at five-star hotels, and through mailing lists of people with tony addresses. Why, then, in making a big web push of late, are they trying to sell their “ultra-affluent” and “acquisitive” consumers on some of the lamest and most average restaurants and bars in the country?
Haute Living’s multiple online editors in New York, San Francisco, L.A., Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dubai (obviously) have been deluging the internet with top five lists in various food categories like Top 5 Steakhouses and Top 5 Tapas Restaurants. Since it’s a glorified in-flight magazine, we should probably expect these best-of lists to be rife with glaring omissions and misguided picks, but isn’t it a little sad when even the rich can’t get good advice about where to get a decent cocktail in Chicago?
Given that the stated aim of the brand is to “provide editorial content that is as sophisticated as our readers,” who are defined as “power players and unstoppable business moguls,” we feel like Haute Living should either get to know their markets better or stick to telling readers where to service their yachts in Portofino.
If we’re being generous, we’d say that picks like Rub BBQ for Best New Restaurant in Chicago (What? They’ve never heard of Girl & the Goat?), and the tiki-tastic Hurricane Club as one of the Top 5 Tapas Restaurants in New York are way off-base. And the less said about the concept of “Top 5 Martini Menus” the better.
But having said all that, you should *definitely* click over here if you’re in the market for a $7 million estate in Marin County. Just don’t ask them where the best food is in Tiburon.
Top Five [Haute Living]
