ShopEatSleep

O Hotel lobby. Photo from Orbitz.

O Hotel, a downtown L.A. boutique with 67 modernly styled rooms, recently celebrated its 5th anniversary. And with the addition of lauded barman Matt Biancaniello to its restaurant Bar | Kitchen, and a 6-month old day spa, O Hotel has lots to be happy about.

While I haven’t seen the hotel’s rooms, I have visited Bar | Kitchen and Oasis City Spa, both of which offer some pretty impressive amenities for such a small hotel. The spa has some St. Patrick’s Day weekend specials for those of you who partied too much (or for those getting ready to party): a signature organic facial with green herbal mask for $100, green tea mint scrub for $55, and a mani/pedi for $40. If you can’t make it this weekend, Oasis also offers a $25 mini facial and esthetician consultation, the cost of which can be applied toward a future facial or spa products. Prices are reasonable, and the facility is simple yet elegant.

Bar | Kitchen is no slouch, either. Chef Vahan Tokmadjian has created a well-executed, seasonally appointed menu with gems such as shrimp and grits with Spanish chorizo sauce (this is one of the better S&G dishes around town), mushroom bread pudding and pork cheek hash.

Shrimp and grits

Pork cheek hash with quail egg

And Biancaniello, whose moves have been closely watched since he left Library Bar last year, has brought some of his best-known cocktail recipes, including those for Last Tango in Modena (gin, muddled strawberries, balsamic vinegar and St. Germain foam) and Kentucky Bubble Bath (bourbon, Cynar, lavender simple syrup and lemon), which I could drink all day!

Kentucky Bubble Bath

Given the hotel’s combo of good food, drink, decor and spa amenities, I would recommend a stay here for those looking for a downtown hotel with some style.

Public Kitchen & Bar. Photo courtesy of Public Kitchen & Bar.

What’s the next best thing to actually attending the Academy Awards?

Watching a live telecast while enjoying a meal at Public Kitchen & Bar, located in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel — the site of the first Academy Awards in 1929 – of course!

On Sunday, Feb. 24, the Oscars ceremony will be shown on large televisions around Public’s main dining room, so you’ll be able to see all the glitz and glamour while noshing on Executive Chef Tim Goodell’s three-course prix-fixe menu. For $99 per person, you’ll get Wagyu beef tartare with crostini and quail eggs; Dover sole with cauliflower, brown butter, pine nuts, golden raisins and capers; and lemon Napoleon with honey ginger ice cream.

Or, choose from a selection of à la carte items, including the Oscars Ultimate Burger & Wine combo with the restaurant’s signature burger topped with four-year aged cheddar, bacon, and bread and butter pickles served with a side of black truffle Kennebec fries and a glass of Cain Cuvée cabernet for $39.

Want to take in the splendor without being tied down to a table? Then head over to the hotel’s main lobby, where you can watch the ceremony on a 15-foot screen while partaking in a selection of fresh oysters and sushi.

And since this is Hollywood and all, champagne and bottle service with the likes of Cristal, Dom Perignon, Grey Goose and Patron will also be available to toast the winners — or play some really expensive drinking games — throughout the evening.

Public Kitchen & Bar
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
7000 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 466-7000

Sunday, Feb. 24
5 p.m. – 12 a.m.

The Oaks at Ojai

Ojai, a sleepy agricultural town nestled in a valley in Ventura County, Calif., has become one of my favorite local getaways. There’s an overall feeling of community with an emphasis on small, local businesses that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. And no place does that better than The Oaks at Ojai, an all-inclusive wellness spa situated right in the middle of downtown.

The Oaks offers traditional spa amenities along with fitness classes, meals, wellness activities and overnight accommodations all for one incredibly reasonable price (rates start at $199 per person per night, but you may have to share a room). As the focus is on wellness here, your daily caloric intake is limited to 1,000 calories a day via three meals, snacks and beverages. Chef Christine Denney creates high-fiber, no-sugar and no-salt menus that will help you lose weight and generally feel better.

Keep Reading

I’ve been to Louisville before and have even been to the Kentucky Derby. But on this last trip, I tried a bunch of new food, some at old-but-new-to-me places and some at places that have opened since my last trip nearly eight years ago.

First off, I was told that I needed to go to Graeter’s, which specializes in French pot ice cream (dense, custard style). I had both the Bourbon Ball and Black Raspberry Chip flavors, and surprisingly, I liked the Black Raspberry Chip better. Perhaps the best part of this ice cream is the chocolate chips, which are created by pouring melted chocolate into the pot and letting the paddle break up the then-hardened candy into various sizes. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a big piece of chocolate in one of your bites. Since visiting this store, I’ve found Graeter’s ice cream at my local Ralphs, though not all flavors are carried there. They do carry Chocolate Coconut Almond Chip, my new favorite flavor. How can you go wrong with chocolate ice cream dotted with coconut and almond pieces surrounded by those special chocolate chips?

Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chip ice cream

Keep Reading

Clockwise from bottom left: Brandon’s Barbecue Pickled Salad, Minted Macadamia Nut Cole Slaw and Red Pepper Orzo at The Peninsula Beverly Hills’ Roof Garden

What’s better than lounging around outside on a warm summer’s evening? Lounging around on The Peninsula Beverly Hills‘ hotel rooftop while enjoying fancy barbecue and cocktails, obviously. And with the hotel’s Weekend Barbecue at the Roof Garden, you can do just that.

Grab a Speckled Jalapeño Margarita — it has just the right amount of kick — and nosh on some addictive roasted red pepper hummus and pita chips while you take in the view. Then move on to the mains: I liked the Giant Tiger Shrimp served “char siu,” or Chinese barbecue, style and the ribs best. And don’t forget the side dishes — purple Okinawa sweet potatoes; Red Pepper Orzo with roasted corn, cilantro and blue cheese; and Brandon’s Barbecue Pickled Salad are all standouts.

Speckled Jalapeno Margarita

Giant Tiger Shrimp

If you’re still hungry, order the Ahi Tuna Chop-Chop from the rooftop’s regular menu. Accompanied by avocado, crisp pineapple, baby coconut and roof garden-picked herbs, The Peninsula’s take on the ubiquitous ahi tuna-and-avocado starter is a revelation and by far one of my favorites.

Ahi Tuna Chop-Chop

You have until September 2 to enjoy the weekend barbecue, which happens Saturdays and Sundays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Note: This meal was hosted.

Further reading:

BBQ at the Roof Garden, Peninsula Hotel (Beverly Hills) by Gourmet Pigs

Peninsula Beverly Hills’ BBQ and Cocktails on the Roof Rock by Deathbed Food

Room at the Aloft Ontario-Rancho Cucamonga

Find yourself in the Rancho Cucamonga/Ontario area? You could do worse than to stay at the Aloft, a less-expensive division of the W hotel brand. While the Aloft Ontario-Rancho Cucamonga isn’t the fanciest of places, it is comfortable and pretty hip, especially for Cucamonga, land of the chain restaurant.

I recently stayed at this particular Aloft, and while I had a fine stay, I wasn’t wowed by the experience. The room was pretty basic, though it was nice enough with a flat-screen TV, work desk with plug-ins for an iPod or laptop to connect to the TV, and Kohler faucet and sink. There were Bliss bath and body products, a hair dryer, complimentary bottled water and free WiFi, but no mini bar (just sayin’). Also, I didn’t really like the pillows, which were flat by the time I woke up.

Cute bedside clock

What you see when you first walk in, opposite the sink

Sink, separate from the toilet and shower

Aloft hotels are pet-friendly, which I appreciate as a pet owner, but the drawback is hearing someone’s dog barking late at night. There is also a wide range of fast-prep foods and snacks available 24 hours a day in the lobby, but the prices are a bit high (you pay for the convenience, of course).

I used the fitness area, which was small but clean. There were complimentary ear buds to use, but the machines didn’t offer music or TV (and I forgot my iPod), so I wasn’t sure what the point was. Oh, well.

All in all, the Aloft is a good choice for a stay in Cucamonga, especially if you need a place close to the Ontario airport. The service is friendly, which is always welcome and can make or break an experience.

Note: This stay was hosted.

Tunapica at Asia de Cuba

The Mondrian hotel in West Hollywood is known for its sleekness, especially its ultra-stylish Skybar. What else would you expect from Sunset Boulevard? And its Asia de Cuba, a Philippe Starck-designed Latin-Asian fusion restaurant, is no exception. But this sleek eatery isn’t just all style; there’s substance behind that pretty face.

Asia de Cuba has always been a destination restaurant, but with a new cocktail menu and a revamped dinner menu by Chef Troy N. Thompson, there’s even more reason to visit.

Keep Reading

Caulfield’s, one in what seems like a growing string of literary-themed bars and eateries (Hemmingway’s, Writer’s Room), is the Catcher in the Rye-inspired restaurant that took over the Bond Street space inside the Thompson Beverly Hills hotel. Now, I’m not sure how you get a French bistro out of the Holden Caulfield character, but I guess that’s neither here nor there. What would be significant is the food and drink; unfortunately, some of the menu here misses the mark. While some dishes are really good, others are kind of boring. The good thing is, nothing I tried here recently was actually bad.

The good:

We started and ended well. The appetizers Toad in a Hole, with the traditional egg cooked into a piece of toast and as well as a side of smoked trout salad, and the Pan-Seared Crab Cakes served with planks of corn were mighty tasty. These dishes were seasoned well and prepared nicely. The Banana Terrine dessert, which was really more like a trifle with layers of banana, wafers, chocolate and rum custard, was a delightful way to end the meal.

The not-so-good:

Our first Frisée Bacon-Lardon salad arrived sans bacon and with an overcooked poached egg. Our second salad was better, though there wasn’t much in terms of seasoning on it. Same goes for our mains: the chicken pot pie and the beef short ribs lacked pizazz, and by that I mean salt and pepper. This was unfortunate as the dishes could have been much better, though I could have done with some kind of starch to go with my huge plate of short ribs.

As for the cocktails…I don’t remember much about them other than whatever whiskey-based drink I ordered was very strong. Obviously these didn’t make much of an impression.

If Caulfield’s would step it up a notch and make some small adjustments, this could be a great place for an upscale-yet-unpretentious meal, which I would find welcoming in shi-shi Beverly Hills.

Note: This meal was hosted.

Sage restaurant from Chef Shawn McClain at Las Vegas’ Aria Hotel is a gem. It was the most impressive meal of our stay. Maybe it was because I didn’t really know what to expect — what’s “new American,” anyway? — but Sage has turned into a place I highly recommend for any stay in Vegas. Everything that is placed in front of diners has been carefully considered — even the bread (crusty and fluffy) and butter (lavender, with a side of salt) are special.

We started our meal with cocktails, including a flaming absinthe demonstration. Check out the video:

My favorite drinks of the night were the Smoking Bulleit, with smoked peach-infused Bulleit bourbon, mint and lemon (the cocktail menu changes seasonally, so this one may no longer be available), and The Artful Margarita, made with Oro de Jalisco blanco tequila, Art in the Age root liqueur, Cointreau and lemon, which tastes like root beer.

The food at Sage was excellent. The Foie Gras Custard Brulée blew my mind, and the Wagyu Beef Tartare — topped with a gorgeous poached egg yolk and served with crispy chocolate chips — had made me reconsider the dish entirely. You know the food is good when something you normally don’t go for, in this case beef tartare, leaves you wanting more. The Slow-Poached Organic Farm Egg — all foamy, topped with shaved potato chips — was another delicious dish.

The Glazed Pork Belly, which is actually more sweet corn tortelloni than pork, is still a good choice; you’ll just want to know what you’re getting. The Main Dayboat Scallops were perfectly cooked, and the 48 Hour Beef Belly came so fork-tender that the meat practically fell apart just by looking at it.

We opted for the Signature Tasting Menu ($79 per person), which comes with optional wine or beer pairings ($39 each). This is a good value for four courses at this quality (by the time we got to the dessert course, I was stuffed, so please excuse me for not discussing it), so you’d be well-served making a stop here on your next trip to Vegas.

Further reading:

Las Vegas, NV: Sage is a Cocktailian’s Respite From Bottle Service by estarLA

Note: This meal was hosted.

Gingerbread house at Fairmont San Francisco

Looking for some holiday cheer? The historic Fairmont San Francisco hotel once again has its larger-than-life gingerbread house on display in its lobby. If you’re in SF sometime before Jan. 1, then this is a must-see. Just try not to eat the house, mmmkay?