I love Las Vegas! I remember coming here for the first time in the early 1980s as a small kid and the biggest thing there, was Circus Circus. Fast forward a few years and well Las Vegas has evolved into an adult Disneyland. I love the hotels here, they are out of this world. I'm not sure what is hotter, the hotels or the temperature. On this particular weekend it was over 107 degrees. The Bellagio is one of my favorite hotels on the strip, and it is just beautiful.
The lobby itself is gorgeous. The glass flowers on the ceilings are just breathtaking, another thing that takes your breath away are the fountains outside. I flew into Las Vegas on this particular weekend to celebrate my Dad's 69th birthday with the family. Thanks to Jetblue I arrived safe and sound. With a few hours to chill out we headed to the Bellagio for his birthday dinner. We had no reservations anywhere, and at a Saturday night in the summer, that may have been a bad idea. But Lady Luck was on our side tonight and we got to Cafe Bellagio and they accommodated us with a fabulous table for eight right next to their amazing garden. The service was on point and the food, just amazing. We had a few appetizers, crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, and lettuce raps. I ordered a mojito which was pretty good. And the whole family ordered dishes from Pasta Alfredo to Burgers to Sea Bass. Everything was good, but I vividly remember the birthday dessert my Dad got, it was this absolutely amazing cheesecake. It was better than any cheesecake I've had at the Cheesecake Factory. It was a great night with family, and such a nice change to spend Las Vegas with family.
After dinner we decided to walk around the hotel and just appreciate the lobby, the music, and the people watching. The food is good here and moderately priced. It is really nice in the eating area, but you can find the attire vary from ties and dresses to flip flops and shorts.
Bellagio Las Vegas 3600 Las Vegas Blvd. Las Vegas, NV. 89109 Phone: 888.987.6667 www.bellagio.com
Mizu 212 is one of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles! The reason? There's a few. But I first came here when I first moved to Los Angeles, and my friend Pei Min introduced me to this place, and I've been a fan since. I love that it is so hands on. You cook the food yourself. Then I went through a period where I didn't come here because I just wanted to eat at other restaurants in L.A. And then one night I got food poisoning from some pasta at an italian restaurant. I felt like death, I felt like I had one of those face huggers in the movie "Alien" implant an egg in me, and I was ready to burst with it out of my chest as I screamed "kill me!"
And so I went through a period of cooking my own food. And that's when Mizu 212 came back into my life. Ever since that night of food poisoning which knocked me out for a good day or two, I started to come to Mizu 212 a lot. So much to the point where I have become one of their regulars. I know the owner, and the servers by name. They know my order right when I walk in.
I always order the Vintage beef, with brown rice, harusami noodles, and a cup of hot green tea. The service here is consistent, and the food is always fresh and good, and best of all healthy. Now with every meat, and you have a choice of beef, chicken, pork, or seafood, you get some vegetables on the side.
These vegetables consist of bok choy, broccoli, asparagus, sprouts, mushrooms, carrots, napa cabbage, noodles, and tofu. You also get two tasty dipping sauces, ponzu and their sesame sauce...so good.
And although that night of food poisoning sucked, I must say I am glad it happened. The reason is because it's made me more aware of food preparation, and made me aware of healthy eating. From that night, I started to come here more, I eat more vegetables now, I eat brown rice as opposed to white, and I've been introduced to beef that comes from cows that are raised eating grain and grass and hormone free. With that said, you have to come to Mizu 212 to experience the art of shabu shabu. Oh and for those of you who don't know, the word shabu shabu roughly translates to swirl swirl. This is not only a tasty place to eat, but it makes for a cool experience for those new couples on dates, or if you're single and you just want to escape the chaos of L.A. traffic and have a Zen meal.
Mizu 212 2000 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA. 90025 Phone: 310.478.8979 www.japaneserestaurantinfo.com/mizu212
This place is too cool to have vowels in its name. But just add an E and an A to STK and you spell, you guessed it... STEAK.
So let me first say, that I didn't really know what to expect from STK, but I did know that it is one of the new hot spot restaurants in L.A. And being a new hot spot, I expected to see valet parkers, a man with a list, velvet ropes, crowds, paparazzi, and celebrities. As I looked around for parking, I realized how busy La Cienega had gotten since I moved here in 2001.
Once I parked on the corner of Santa Monica and La Cienega I walked down the slight hill and noticed there was a crowd in front of STK. It was a Wednesday night! Obviously people were ready to eat. As I got to the front of STK I noticed the valet parkers, a man with a list, the velvet rope, the crowds, the paparazzi, and the celebrities. As I waited for my friend Nikki to arrive, I noticed Taye Diggs walk out. I've really enjoyed his work throughout the years, especially in the film "Go" and the musical "Rent." I had to say hello, I tapped him on the shoulder and complimented him. He was very nice and gracious.
Let me first say the only reason I came out tonight was because my good friend Amanda bartends here, and I wanted to pay her a visit. As I walked in, I was impressed by the interior design, it was dark and sexy and edgy. It was packed, I worked my way through the crowd to say hello to Amanda, it was poppin. Nikki grabbed a section of the lounge area and ordered some appetizers. Coming from a production of "Waiting for Lefty" we were pretty hungry. So we had two items. The Hearts of Romaine, which is basically a fancy way of calling a Caesar Salad. And we had the Foie Gras French Toast. This dish was fantastic, topped with green apple, almond brioche, and sherry gastrique. Now this french toast was amazing. But it's not as good as Norma's Foie Gras French Toast in New York, but it's definitely up there. Amanda made me a fantastic Strawberry Cobbler martini, and the service was great. Praise Jesus! There's nothing more annoying than going to a bougie restaurant and getting terrible service. STK had great service and great food. And as we looked around the crowd we noticed soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo and his entourage. Apparently he is "the new" David Beckham. After a nice night of food and ambience, we decided to leave. I would definitely come back.
STK 755 North La Cienega Los Angeles, CA. 90069 Phone: 310.659.3535 www.stkhouse.com
I first became a fan of Moby when his hit album "Play" came out in 1999. Since then, I've been jammin to his tunes ever since. I first met him during his promotion of his last album "Hotel" at the W Hotel in West Los Angeles. It was put together by the W and Paper magazine. That night, he was so cool and humble. Flash forward about three years later, thanks to the magic of myspace. I found out about this event called Nissan Live Sets. If you all don't know what that is, it's basically a small intimate, oh and did I mention free?! Yes it was free! It's a free concert, brought to you by the people at Nissan and Yahoo, for the fans of the featured musician. For some cool reason, I answered a bulletin that Moby posted on the myspace. A few days later, I got an email and was chosen to go to the concert with a friend.
Talk about laws of attraction. I just bought his new cd "Last Night" which is a dance driven album. The album is great, and my favorite track on the album is a song called "Disco Lies." I was thinking that day that I really wanted to see Moby live again. One cool thing about life is that it is unpredictable. I was just finishing up my last year at college at UC Santa Barbara, Moby's popularity was at it's peak, and I bought a ticket for myself to see him live at the Santa Barbara Bowl, I was in the last row, no kidding, hundreds upon hundreds of feet away, but I still had the greatest time dancing and jamming out. Then I move to L.A. and my friend Jonathan had a "plus one" to see Moby play at the W Hotel, there I was within 20 feet of him. Then flash forward a few years later, and I am in the front row of Nissan Sets Live. Not only that, but one of the directors wanted me to be a part of the fan Question & Answer segment of the show. I was so stoked to do this. Not only was I seeing him live for free, front row, but I get to interview him, and we got VIP treatment. I felt really blessed.
Here is the Q & A segment of the Moby show. They edited me to be the first question but in reality I was the last. And just to let you all know, they gave me the question to ask him, so in a way it was scripted, but I feel like I got the best and most humorous question of them all. I hope you enjoy it!
There's one word to describe this restaurant... yellow! Luckily I like the color yellow, if I didn't I'd probably find this place really nauseating to eat. You can count on the cold attitude of the Sunset Blvd. mentality that poisons L.A. creeping into this Downtown establishment. But is it really any surprise coming from a place that calls itself the Standard? Like my good friend Johnny put it, "the Standard needs to up up their Standard." I found this statement to be true, when it came to the host stand. We waited a good 5 minutes, no host came, actually the person that either looked like a hostess or a manager was talking behind the walls of the server station. Now I'm not one to bitch but after working in numerous hospitality establishments, they get a failing grade when it comes to the host/greeter department. I got frustrated and grabbed two menus and sat our selves at a booth.
It took a while to even get acknowledged, but we were lucky enough to be greeted and waited on by Art, an aspiring fashion student. Thank goodness he was cool, otherwise I would have left and ate somewhere else. With a happy spirit about him, we continued to have a good customer/ patron experience. We ordered two mojitos, a Downtown Benedict and a Chop Salad with Rock Shrimp. Both tasted great and came out in good time.
The decor was cool, yellow of course, but I really dug the ceilings and the hanging white lighting fixtures.
The seats were comfortable, wrapped in yellow leather. The staff was fairly attractive, a few hits and a few misses, but I had to compliment their uniforms, a nice multi-colored striped button up shirt and blue jeans, now I haven't seen a cooler wait staff uniform since eating at Downtown in Berkeley.
The mojitos were so so, pretty weak, and coming from me, a total light weight, that is pretty damn weak, and at $11, I deserve some kind of a buzz. The prices here are moderate, but the food is pretty much glamorized diner food. But nothing to the caliber of New York City's Cafeteria, which is one of my personal favorite eateries of all time. Overall it was a good experience, our server was cool, the food was good. But just like a comment in any reality T.V. based competition, "it was good, but will I remember it at the end of the night? Not really." So with that said, it was good, but forgettable. And someone please tell them to get their host staff on point!
The Standard Downtown LA 550 South Flower @ Sixth St. Los Angeles, CA. 90071 Phone: 213.892.8080 www.standardhotels.com
I'm a sucker for photo booths. Especially old school photo booths from the 1980s. Every time I see one of these classic photobooths I have to take a picture. I've gone to this photobooth at the Standard Downtown several times. Just like the manitees of the ocean, photobooths are an endangered species. Other places where these fine specimens can be located are: Luckystrike Lanes at Hollywood and Highland, Fubar in West Hollywood, and the Shortstop Bar in Silverlake.
From the moment you take that first step inside the legendary Millenium Biltmore Hotel you are whisked back in time to classic old Hollywood. Right when I walked in I was overwhelmed by the ornate beauty that the Biltmore possessed. This was a grand and elegant hotel. A true historical Hollywood landmark. The Biltmore has been around for 85 years and in the 1930s and 40s it hosted eight Academy Award Ceremonies. Everything about this hotel was gorgeous. Beauty was in the details, and there was a lot of attention paid to the details. From the lobby to the hallways to the corridors, this hotel was beautifully luxurious.
I stayed here for one night for two reasons. My friend Jonathan was coming into town and we wanted to go on vacation in Los Angeles, and the second reason was that my good friends Jennifer and Michael Paul were getting married the next day at Union Station which was five minutes away. Staying here for a night was probably one of the cooler things I have done since moving to L.A. 7 years ago. I always dreamed of staying in a hotel while living in a L.A., I just never imagined it would be this nice one.
After getting stuck in downtown gridlock, it was a relief to finally get my car parked and walk in the hotel. The service at the front desk was top notch, although I was a tad disappointed when the room with the two beds that I reserved was no longer available, and that they only had rooms with a king bed.
So luckily I wasn't one of those high maintenance a-holes, and I accepted their offer of a rollaway bed. Which was a weird thing considering I was a paying guest in one of the nicest hotels in L.A. A hotel of this magnitude, and a rollaway bed, just didn't go hand in hand. Anyhow, we get to our room, room 829 to be precise. And it was cute, old, but really nice.
After setting up, we chilled a bit, and then I was thirsty for a drink. So I proceeded to take the elevator down to the Gallery Bar. Here I settled on a table, with my Travel & Leisure magazine in hand and waited for some service. Immediately I was greeted by cocktail server Candy. She was upbeat and efficient, and offered great service. She gave me a small fancy bowl of nuts, macadamia, cashew, peanuts, almonds, etc. I ordered myself a Lemon Drop Martini, which was big, tart, and sweet, but be ready to spend money, it was $16. But having a vacation mentality, I just didn't care and focused on appreciating the moment. After 3 sips, I was buzzed. The crowd was eclectic and wordly, a tad older than me, and definitely a tad more established than me, or at least they appeared to be.
My favorite experience of the hotel, was the pool. In 2002, Los Angeles Magazine voted this the best indoor pool in all of Los Angeles. I remember reading that article 6 years ago, and I was in such admiration of the pool and the picture that was in front of me in that article, never did I imagine that one day I was going to be swimming in that pool. And it dawned on me as I was slowly swimming on my back, "you just never ever know what life has in store for you." On the way back from the pool I walked the hall ways and was smitten with all the old black and white pictures of the 1939 Academy Awards with Walt Disney and Shirley Temple. Overall, I had a wonderful experience at the Biltmore, I would definitely recommend it. Of all the hotels in Downtown L.A., check in to this place, there is history, the service is top notch, and the price was extremely reasonable.
Here are some helpful hints: 1. If you are strapped for cash and you want to save a little money, park in the lot across the street. It's $5 a day, and compared to the $40 that the hotel charges a day, you can save yourself $35, which is worth it, especially if you want to buy some drinks in the Gallery Bar. 2. If you are sharing a room with a friend, and its your name that reserved the room, be sure to put their name on the reservation so that they aren't waiting in the lobby til you get there. 3. Take advantage of the fine facilities. Every time I stay at a hotel, I HAVE to use the facilities especially the pool and the workout rooms. This really makes me feel like I am on a "vacation." The pool rocks, it's peaceful and private, and there is a great steam room and jacuzzi just steps away. 4. Be nice to everybody, especially the front desk, they hold the key... literally. But they also conduct the value of your stay. If you want a late check out, just ask nicely. We were able to move our 12 noon check out to 12:30. 5. Internet is not free, they charge $10, which I think is a rip off, and I feel like that should be a required amenity. I would much rather have free internet than their complimentary L.A. Times in the morning.
Millenium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles 506 South Grand Ave. Los Angeles, CA. 90071-2607 Phone: 213.624.1011 www.milleniumhotels.com
When I think of good old American cuisine, I can't help but think of a burger and fries. I have lived in Los Angeles for a few years now, and I am always on the hunt for the best burger. Growing up I became a fan of the ever so popular In N Out Burger. And let's not overlook the Carl's Jr. Western bacon cheeseburger. If you are in Washington D.C., Five Guys Burger chain is pretty damn great as well. It wasn't until I visited Father's Office 6 years ago where I became aware that the burger can become bougie. You don't necessarily have to have cheddar as your only choice of cheese, in fact you can get gruyere cheese. And your meat can be dry aged. For years I have been such a fan of the Father's Office burger. And although the service can be rude at times, you cannot beat the taste of that burger. It wasn't until I ventured out of my comfort zone (which is always a great thing to do) that I discovered The Counter!
I dropped by here the other day at their Ocean Park location and I was greeted right away and sat at the counter within a matter of 3 seconds. In less than one minute I made my choices and my order was immediately taken. Now that is service.
I loved the decor, it is simple modern and clean. They have some cool funky urban inspired paintings, the music was cool, and I love the Philippe Stark chairs. And knowing how much those chairs cost (roughly $400 a chair), I realized they spent some good money to seat their customers!
Another thing I like about The Counter is that you can custom build your own burger. They hand you there signature clipboard and pencil, and here you can check off what you want. There are tons to choose from, they've got beef, turkey, chicken, and veggie burger options. And if you are on one of those "no carb diets," which half of L.A. is on, you can get your burger minus the bun and on top of a bed of mixed greens or lettuce. For appetizers I chose the fried onion strings and sweet potato fries, it came with two dipping sauces, barbecue and ranch...yum! And for my burger, okay I admit, I am one of those Angelenos that got no bun, but I ain't on that diet...I swear! I just had a hip hop dance class in one hour, and I couldn't be dancing to hip hop beats with all that in my stomach.
My burger was on a bed of lettuce with grilled caramelized onions, a grilled pineapple (aloha), gruyere cheese, and it came with a side of garlic aioli. It was awesome! So if you are looking for a great burger, custom built to your liking, and better service than F.O. (Santa Monica) come check out The Counter. Hey if it's good enough for me and Oprah, it'll be good enough for you!
The Counter 2901 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA. 90405 Phone: 310.399.8383 www.thecounterburger.com
"We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
