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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.

Elvis at Graceland

I recently visited Memphis — you know, that other music town in Tennessee. It’s a little funkier, a little dirtier. But that’s why I like it so much!

Memphis is home to Elvis Presley’s Graceland, Stax Records Museum and Sun Studio, some of the most-storied spots in all American music history. Graceland is…well, Graceland. Stax, considered the Southern equivalent to Motown, produced some of the best in soul music, including Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and Booker T. and the MG’s. And Sun Studio was where Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison recorded. I’d say Memphis has more than enough of its share of street cred.

I visited all three, and all the tours are fun and totally worth the price of admission.

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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

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La Jolla Cove’s sea lions

To celebrate our first wedding anniversary, Rory and I took a weekend trip down to La Jolla, just north of downtown San Diego. La Jolla, an affluent beach community that’s home to UC San Diego, is just a couple hours’ drive from Los Angeles, so it’s easy to either make a day trip or weekend out of a visit there.

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Tom Gates‘ Wayward: Fetching Tales From a Year on the Road, a collection of travel stories from a music manager-turned-travel writer, is an enjoyable read full of quirky tales of the music business, travel triumphs and mishaps, and musings on all of these things. The vignettes are a little disjointed when strung together, but that’s because many of the stories were originally posts on Matador Network, an online travel magazine. The short stories actually make for a good read while on vacation, when you might just want something short, sweet and to-the-point, all the while being entertained by Gates’ awe at a fancy hotel room, horror at witnessing a child’s death, fascination with new cultures and disgust with himself after trying dog meat. Gates’ writing is funny and clever, to boot; let’s hope there’s more where that came from.

Lobster "Mac and Cheese" at Ra Pour

When I think of restaurants in the Inland Empire, chains come to mind. But Ra Pour, a high-end restaurant and bar in Rancho Cucamonga’s Victoria Gardens retail complex, has changed the way I think about dining in the I.E. (there are still a lot of chain restaurants, though).

Ra Pour, the jewel in restaurateur Karim Webb’s crown, is helmed by Executive Chef Greg Stillman, a French Laundry and Patina Restaurant Group alumnus, so right off you know you’re getting a quality meal. However, the combination of a high-end eatery with a club-like after-hours feel, including live music that makes conversation tough, is a bit strange. But given the area’s other options, Ra Pour is probably one of your best bets.

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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.

New Orleans

Last week I visited New Orleans for the first time. How an Honorable Kentucky Colonel like me hadn’t been to a city exuding so much Southern charm boggles the mind. Fortunately, I was able to redeem myself when the Tulane University Environmental Law Summit invited my documentary “Toxic Soup” to screen at its conference and flew me in to do a Q+A after the movie.

The first food I scarfed down was in Metairie at Radosta’s. Metairie is a 10- to 15- minute drive from New Orleans proper. Now, Radosta’s might seem like a random first stop, but I should explain that I was staying around the corner at my friend’s house, so it made plenty of sense, especially after I woke up with an empty belly following a red-eye flight.

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The view of Mt. Werner from downtown Steamboat Springs

Every winter, between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Rory and I travel to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to visit his family. Now, I’m not a cold weather sports fan — I don’t ski or snowboard, and when I’ve tried other things like snowmobiling or sledding, I’ve ended up hurt — so I tend to gravitate toward my shopping and eating standbys. Here are some of my favorite places to go in The Boat.

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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.