Tables for two are a hot commodity on February 14. These five restaurants are especially enticing, with innovative Valentine’s Day menus that engage both the heart and the mind.
Aquavit, New York Red is the theme of the evening at this modern Nordic restaurant. The four-course menu includes Maine lobster with blood oranges and sea urchin, or smoked lamb tartare with bright watermelon radishes. Scottish salmon is cured with bull’s-blood beets, and seared diver scallops are paired with red sauerkraut. $430 per …

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Cire Trudon—the 370-year-old Parisian maker of opulent candles for the royal court at Versailles—hascreated a $160 box set ofthree of its top-selling scents (Prolétaire, Ernesto, and Abd El Kader), called Odeurs Révolutionnaires. The three 3.5-ounce candles have notes of rose, grapefruit, clove, and jasmine and are sold in an elegant red-and-gold gift box. The brand is known for creating amorous scents, including one called Mademoiselle de la Vallière—inspired by the chief mis…

Nancy Gonzalez—the Colombian handbag designer known for her wide selection of precious-skin bags and accessories—has devised a welcome Valentine’s Day alternative to traditional red roses. She has adorned this decadent red crocodile clutch with a bouquet of playful, hand-sewn crocodile bougainvillea bracts. The bag is available by special order for $3,150 at Bergdorf Goodman. (888.774.2424, www.bergdorfgoodman.com) 

Following the success of last year’s 805 Maserati Edition loudspeaker, the British audio company Bowers & Wilkins has again partnered with the Italian automaker. The P5 Maserati Edition Mobile Hi-Fi headphones ($400) feature a handsome blue-leather lining for the headband and ear pads, gold-plated connector, and the same drivers as in the original P5 headphones, which use neodymium magnets and Bowers & Wilkins’ Mylar diaphragms to faithfully reproduce audio. Additional touches include detachable ear pa…

Indura Beach and Golf Resort coaxes luxury travelers to add Honduras to their Central American itineraries. 
Why Go: Although the U.S. government’s travel warning for Honduras stands, the sleepy Caribbean beach town of Tela has reportedly had no incidence of crime against tourists in several years. The 1,800-acre gated development Indura is the first of its kind in the country, encompassing an 18-hole Gary Player–designed golf course, 83 residential homesites, a 60-key beachfront hotel, a spa, and five d…

The riverfront Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto, brings a new level of luxury hotel to Japan’s former capital.
Why Go: Kyoto has been called one of Japan’s most beautiful cities. Among the city center, immaculate walled parks and temple grounds are tucked away. World War II bombings bypassed the city, leaving 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and a landscape of prewar buildings intact. But a glaring lack of upscale hotels has long plagued Kyoto—until now. The contemporary Ritz-Carlton delivers the polish of a top five-star b…

The Chinese New Year, which is based on a lunar rather than a solar calendar, fell on January 31 this year, and Ulysse Nardin celebrated the occasion with the release of the Classico Horse, the third in a series of enamel-dial watches that pay tribute to the animals of the Chinese zodiac. The watch, which is priced at $42,300 and limited to just 88 pieces, is created entirely in-house thanks to Ulysse Nardin’s 2011 acquisition of the Swiss enameler Donzé Cadrans.
According to Chinese astrology, those born dur…

In 2008, the Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Féerie took home Robb Report’s Best of the Best award for Women’s Watches. Now Van Cleef & Arpels is back with the Féerie Rouge, a new version of the watch with a striking ruby-red enamel-on-guilloche dial, making it a perfect Valentine’s Day gift. Like the original watch, the Féerie Rouge displays time with retrograde hour and minute hands, meaning that rather than travel in a circle, the hands jump back to the beginning of their arc when they have reached t…

On the Thermal Club’s South Palm circuit, a 1.8-mile racetrack set amid the desert landscape of Southern California’s Coachella Valley, a Porsche Cayman blazes along at 120 mph as it nears the end of the track’s 2,500-foot straightaway. Just ahead lies Turn 7, a 180-degree bend. The car, operating in fully automatic mode, belongs to the club’s fleet of Caymans that serve as instructional vehicles. In another car up ahead is the track manager, Jeff Rodrigues, who is providing the Cayman’s driver, a visitor to…

The market for vintage pinup art changed dramatically in June 2007 when the fourth of five Gil Elvgren paintings crossed the block during a Heritage Auctions sale in Dallas. At that time, the record price for an Elvgren pinup at auction—$93,500—had stood for almost a decade, though that particular result seemed to be an outlier. During the first six years of the new millennium, original Elvgren oil paintings exchanged hands for much less, and based on the results of regular Heritage-hosted auctions, their valu…