L.A. Story

(Getting rather drunk at Lola's)

We spent 4 days in L.A. Unfortunately, we did not have much sunshine while there -- we saw an overcast L.A. But we enjoyed our time there, and spent what free time we had seeing friends and eating well. We didn’t see many celebrities, other than Joey Fatone staying at our hotel (for Dancing with the Stars), and a few recognizable actors who auditioned for our show (we won’t say who here, but you can always ask us about them and we will tell you in person :).

A bit of musing on our first visit to Los Angeles --

THOUGHTS ON L.A.:
Because we spent most of our time casting, we did not see very much of L.A. outside of our commute between our hotel and the audition venue, and our experiences with various restaurants. The weird thing about L.A., on our first visit there, is that everything seems slightly on the dingy side. Unlike hotels in New York, posh hotels in L.A. like the Chateau Marmont or the Mondrian look dingy from the outside, almost motel-like. Perhaps it is the weather in L.A. that “weathers” the facade of buildings a certain way, but I found the dingy factor in L.A. strange. I expected Hollywood glitz and sparkle. Even our hotel, while nice on the inside -- spacious rooms with balconies and fireplaces -- felt slightly less glamorous than it might have, especially from the outside. The restaurant served lovely breakfast with gorgeously crisp bacon, but the atmosphere felt more like a hospital cafeteria than a hotel restaurant. It lacked a certain sexiness that I thought would be abundant in L.A. Bars seemed to be this way, too. We were told that there is a “dive bar” scene in L.A. -- bars that are shabby chic, as opposed to fabulous hotel bars. Couple of the bars recommended by the hotel and touted on Citysearch L.A. as “to be seen” bars simply looked like sports bars. There is also a general “extended strip mall” aspect to the city -- roads and roads lined with shops, bars, restaurants. Maybe it was the gray weather we had... Maybe when the sun is out, everything would look brighter. But my first impression of L.A. is that it is more shabby than chic.

Perhaps this is just my Manhattan snobbishness reacting.

ON FOOD IN L.A.:
On our first night in L.A. (Sunday), we went to Koi for dinner with Eleanor and Rachel, our casting director. As Koi is often mentioned in gossip magazines as a place frequented by celebrities, we thought it might be a fun place go for a scene-y L.A. dinner. We were prepared for mediocre food served amidst an over-hyped restaurant glitz (much like the disappointing Asia de Cuba in London), but the food at Koi turned out to be spectacular: gorgeous sashimi (hamachi with soy citrus truffle essence); spicy seared albacore topped with crispy red onions; perfectly steamed sea bass with ginger and shitake mushrooms; creamy, “miso-bronzed black cod”; seared duck breast sliced over roasted shishito peppers (which were so mild David thought were okra). We shared all this, and finished off the meal with a molten chocolate cake. Rachel, Eleanor and I had martinis to start while David ordered a bottle of sake, to which Rachel and I turned post-martini. The sake was fabulous. We saw no celebrities we recognized, but we had a brilliant dinner. We even made friends with our waiter, who was an Australian actor married to an American teacher.

On our second night in L.A., we met up with our friend Philip. After a few drinks at his beautiful and spacious apartment (we were very jealous), a game of golf and bowling on his Wii and a couple of magic tricks (Philip is an excellent magician), we went to Mozza, a newly opened Mario Batali restaurant. It is basically an L.A. counterpart to Batali’s New York restaurant, Otto -- an up-market pizzaria with a selection of antipasti, salads, and an appealing list of wines. While we had a wonderful time catching up with Philip, we were not too impressed with the food -- the pizzas were not as thin and crispy as the ones at Otto. Of all the Mario Batali restaurants we have eaten in, this was our least favorite.

On our third night in L.A., we went to a Thai restaurant called Natalie Thai with two girl friends from Princeton -- Devin and her boyfriend Brett, and Noelia and her boyfriend Victor. It was our first triple date experience, and the evening was full of laughter and merriment. The food was inexpensive but delicious, and the portions massive.

On our last night in L.A., David and I decided to go for a romantic dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago. Again, we did not see any celebrities, but we felt plenty glamorous on our own. We had a gorgeous bottle of Californian Viognier (a recent discovery). I had an appetizer of sizzling mussels, which were fabulous, and David had gnocchi with lamb ragu, also superb. We both had Catonese-style duck for our mains, which were less special than the appetizers. The portions were generous for both courses, so we had no room for dessert. We ordered pots of tea instead, and were served petits fours. The petits fours were gorgeous and varied (cakes, cookies, jellies - the largest petits fours selection we have seen), so we ended up asking to take them home as we could not eat them all but were loathe to part with them, too.

After Spago, carrying our take-away box of petits fours, we went to Lola’s, a martini lounge that claims to have concocted the very first apple martini. Despite an interior that looks more like a dive bar (with a doorman) than a martini lounge, Lola's offers an expansive variation on the martini -- 50 on the menu. David had a martini made of 42 Below Manuka honey vodka, pear juice, sweet and sour, and dash of black pepper, while I had a straight up martini made with 42 Below Manuka honey vodka. The martinis were massive (seems like a theme in L.A. -- food and drinks in generous portions). Drinking my martini was akin to drinking vodka out of a bucket. David loved his martini, and has proclaimed it his most favorite ever. We had a wonderful time at Lola’s, found ourselves completely hammered by one martini each, and barely made it back to our hotel.

RETURNING TO NEW YORK:
Our days in L.A. passed quickly, it seemed, and we were exhausted by the time we flew home to New York. We never quite got over our jet-lag, I think. I slept through most of the flight. David took some gorgeous photos of the Grand Canyon. We definitely want to return to L.A. and explore it properly, go shopping, sightseeing; next time we go out there, I'd also love for us to go down to San Diego. I think David liked L.A. better than I did. Maybe some of my East Coast instincts conflict with certain West Coast aspects. Or maybe it is simply because I cannot drive and don't really want to learn, and L.A. is not a non-driver-friendly city. I can't just put my hand up and hail a taxi like I can in New York, and this difference does put a strain on one's freedom to move around in a city. Within the 4 days in L.A., I didn't fall in love with it, as I have with some other cities I've been to, like Rome and Sydney. I know I haven't seen very much of L.A., and perhaps have not given it its fair chance, but my first impressions of L.A. is that it is not really for me. I loved seeing my L.A. friends, enjoyed the meals we ate, we had a lot of fun, but ultimately I missed New York and was happy to go home.

(Incidentally, I did not make a dent on the Pynchon. To David's chagrin, we carried it around the entire trip like a glorified paper weight.)

TM