This is one of those cases where a term is used so often that it loses its meaning: "luxury travel." Almost anything today can be "luxury": travel, cars, apartments, food, spirits, clothes, Jacuzzis, rehab centers, and on Airbnb I found a listing described as a "luxury church." Thomas Aquinas is spinning in his grave on that one.

There are restaurants that flash in the pan, trending like a summer pop song that wears like white after Labor Day, and then there are fixtures of the culinary landscape; establishments you can set your watch to.

With this summer's smoldering temps, we'll take a simple hot fudge-drenched cup of soft-serve from Dairy Queen any chance we'll get. But it's far more satisfying digging a metal spoon into a real sundae as reward for wading through the oppressive humidity.