After having done a list for Haute Living, I decided to do my own "Global" List - taking some of the best places I've been to and finally putting it into some sort of readable format.

Insider’s Guide to the World

NAME: George Zaharoff

Where were you born:  Holy Cross Hospital, Chicago

Residence:  Lived in London, Paris, Milan, Athens, New York and Chicago.

Education:  DePaul University, Chicago USA

Occupation:   Creative Director for Zaharoff – I like this word because I’ve literally created from concept to product everything from shoes, suits, shirts, neckwear, fragrance bottles, labels.  

Something odd about me:  I find chimpanzees fascinating.

My best list: Global

Favorite restaurant:  Bagutta, Milano

Best steakhouse:  647 Dinner Club, Buenos Aires

Best sushi:  Daiwa Sushi, Tokyo

Best ethnic food:  The Hermitage Restaurant, St. Petersburg, Russia

Best Italian:  Grotto, off Broome Street, New York

Best pizza:  So many places all over the world, but Chicago has great pizza: Lou Malnati’s

Best lunch: Four Seasons Istanbul

Best place for late night dining:  Taco Bell (seriously)

Best dessert:  Paciugo, Chicago, best gelato I’ve ever come across.  Europe has some great desert places. I love Greek baklava.

Best place for a romantic date:  The restaurant of Musèe de l’Homme, Paris

Best Sunday brunch:  Motif at the St. Regis in Monarch Beach, CA

Hautest club and/or lounge:  When you say lounge I think of the Emirates First Class lounge in Dubai.  As for “Haute Clubs” it’s been a long time for me, I’m not the loung-y or club type.

Best place for a power business meeting:  The Zaharoff Studio, of course!

If you have out of town guests in Chicago, which hotel would you recommend?  I love the Westin River North.  It’s quiet, great location, and has a Westin Heavenly Bed (which I have at home).  The Four Seasons for those guests who want to take it up a notch.

Favorite shopping venue/boutique: I make almost every single item in my closet; otherwise Bergdorf Goodman is my favourite place, Nordstrom for everyday essentials.

Best place to buy jewelry/watches:  Cartier

Best spa: Les Termes Marins Monte Carlo

Best gym/athletic facility:  LA Fitness

Best massage: Kabuki Spa, San Francisco

Best limousine/driving services: I haven’t used a service in ten years, I prefer my own driver.

Favorite charity event: Chimp Haven in Louisiana

Favorite cultural event (anything from Fashion Week to Opening Night of the Met): Opening of the ABT, New York.  Love the ballet.

Best Broadway show:  Billy Elliot (I cry every time) 

Favorite cultural institution (a sample list can be seen here:  I could live in the British Museum; I’ve been there about fifty times and never tire.  The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, is very close second

Best museum/exhibit:  The Glory of Byzantium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Favorite historic/legendary place to see or explore: I’ve been to just about every part of the world, tie between the Serengeti and Ulaan Batar, Mongolia

All-around favorite locale, whether a neighborhood, restaurant, venue, or other:   I have walked in the middle of the night alone in so many cities.  The list is truly endless, the more I think of, the more comes to mind: Haute Ville in Antananarivo (Madagascar); Le Marais, Paris; Navigli, Milan; Soho, London; SoHo, New York; Recoleta, Buenos Aires; Downtown Auckland; Hong Kong; Kuala Lumpur; and the craziest place on earth, I think, Roppongi, Tokyo.

Favourite City in the World:  Chicago. Absolutely positively the beautiful people.  We are down-to-earth but worldly.  Of the top 100 cities in the world I’ve been to, Chicago is by far, my favourite city in the world.