Playing With Polyvore - Spring Evening On Mulholland Drive

This Spring by belle de ville featuring sandal heels

Around Town - Deck The Hills with SNOW!

Having recently seen the photos of the snowy streets of Paris,
including this image from the blog God, I Love Paris

I was thinking how nice it would be to have a little real winter weather in Beverly Hills

Well, apparently the weather gods (or the Rodeo Drive Committee) are granting me my wish

WEATHER FORECAST:

100% CHANCE OF SNOW FOR BEVERLY HILLS ON THURSDAY, DEC. 9

Mark your calendar for Thursday, Dec. 9 from 6-9 p.m. as Rodeo Drive and the City of Beverly Hills celebrate the Holiday Season with SNOW 90210 and a 100% chance of snow.

The tony city, that averages a 70 degree high temperature, a 73% chance of sunshine and a chilly low temperature of 52 degrees in early December, is guaranteeing a blizzard over 3 blocks of famed shopping street Rodeo Drive and also on Brighton Way.
The brainchild of the Rodeo Drive Committee, SNOW 90210 is based on the highly successful Fashion’s Night Out

I've been in a bah humbug mood all month, probably because there is so much to do and I can't seem to catch up. But I think that a stroll around the neighborhood tonight might be just the thing to put me in the proper Christmas spirit.

Rodeo Drive - There Goes The Neighborhood

Look who's moving in next door...or actually a couple of doors down.

Solange Azagury Partridge
They've been setting up for the big opening night party for days now...and borrowing our parking spaces.  The parking lot behind the store is fully tented and decorated with a giant disco ball.
I'm trying to action an invitation to this little shindig...somehow I don't think that I'm on the VIP list.

Now, at almost 7:30 pm the party is in full on happening mode with disco music wafting into our office.
Any minute now I sure that I'm going to hear Donna Summer's "Love To Love You Baby".

A Simple September Weekend - Fashion, Football, Flowers and Family

Last Friday night I strolled up and down Rodeo Drive for Fashion's Night Out and this is what I saw

The Prada store photographed from my office with a modicum of people in the street.  There was certainly more than the average daily pedestrian traffic but nothing looked overcrowded. Cool the way that Prada could project images on the panel above the storefront.

The Ferris wheel which was carefully constructed on the first block of Rodeo Drive between Tiffany & Co. and Bvlgari.

And my favorite image of the evening, a Beverly Hills police officer on a segway parked on the street between Chanel and De Beers because this is how our cops roll in BH.
What I did not see was any actual shopping and nor people carrying shopping bags. Still, it was well attended and a good event for the city of Beverly Hills. I think that there is certain amount of pent up demand and that street will have action when the holiday$ arrive. We shall see.
Saturday I headed off to the Eastside of Los Angeles, you know the place where the sun actually shines.  And shine it did at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.  Being the sports enthusiast that I am (not) I was at the UCLA-Stanford foot ball game where UCLA got thoroughly trounced.
In deference to the Stanford people around me, I wore a little red on my cuffs.

(Yes, I wore a white button down french cuffed shirt to a football game, doesn't everyone?)
Stanford had a great defensive game and a good running game and UCLA, well what can I say, they were an embarrassment. And speaking of embarrassments

What is up with Stanford's pathetic excuse of a marching band?  Seriously, they are so bad that they've lost their funding.  Thankfully, we fled at the end of the 3rd quarter, because really how much college football can anyone take.

Sunday morning on the Westside of town, where the sun hasn't deigned to come out I've been arranging  flowers.  Here's the result.

 and the close up shot

Pretty aren't they?
Now, it's off to the OC to take my father and stepmother out to lunch to celebrate my father's birthday.
Hopefully the fog will lift and we will find some sun in Dana Point Harbor.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Around Town - Fashion's Night Out on Rodeo Drive

Beverly Hills certainly isn't leaving all the Fashion's Night Out fun for New York
Rodeo Drive has big things planned too

The Ferris Wheel and Fashion's Night Out on Rodeo Drive September 10, 2010  

More than 60 retailers on Rodeo Drive will participate in Fashion’s Night Out on Friday, September 10, as Rodeo Drive leads the West Coast effort with glamorous in-store events, cocktail parties, DJs, complimentary manicures and extended shopping hours for all guests. As part of the global shopping event and for the first time ever, Rodeo Drive will erect a four-story Ferris wheel on the street. The conversation piece will be a replica of the George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. invention which made its debut at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Guests simply show a receipt confirming their purchase from a participating Rodeo Drive merchant that evening and receive a complimentary ride on this amazing wheel. Guests will also have front row seats for Fashion Rules, a unique, fast-paced trivia game pairing celebrities and designers in a life size version of a board game that challenges participants to answer fashion and style-related questions. 

I will be attending a Kevin Hall fashion show and party for Genlux magazine and some other events.
Are you doing anything for Fashion's Night Out? 

Around Town - Champagne Cocktails at Christofle's Haute Couture Workshop

On my quickly growing list of events to attend in September
The Master Silversmiths of Christofle's Haute Couture Workshop, located in Normandy, France, use traditional metalworking techniques to produce all of Christofle's handmade pieces. Such works include limited editions, museum recreations, and one-of-a-kind designs that range from petite salt cellars to palace doors.
I love to learn about the creative process behind all fine craftsmanship, including sterling silver and gold metal work and where better to learn about this than Christofle.

BTW, Beladora has been on a jewelry buying rampage over the last couple of months, as to be expected,
but did you know that Beladora also buys sterling silver and gold boxes and objects d'art.  
So if you are getting bored with that old set of Tiffany sterling silverware or that gold Cartier cigarette box, you know who to call.

Around Town - The Taste of Beverly Hills

So many restaurants....so little time...

The event schedule
The restaurants
The wineries

Since I tweaked my back in Mexico (don't ask) and have now had to cancel my weekly training sessions at the gym, there will be no superfluous wining and dining for me.
But for everyone else
Bon Appetit!

Around Town - Beverly Hills Summer - Bring A Blanket

Seriously, where else would you find movies projected poolside where you can relax in a chaise lounge and sip mai tais from Trader Vics.

Dive-In Movies

Tue & Thu through Sep 2, 8:15 - The Beverly Hilton, 9876 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills
Dive into family classics and romantic comedies projected on a 60 foot diagonal backdrop all the while lounging in barefoot elegance. Admission is free and seating is on a first come, first serve basis. . So, choose a chaise lounge before the sun sets in the west and after the reel rolls, simply go with the flow, while cabana servers cater to movie concession cravings which are available for purchase.
and if movies and mai tais aren't for you
maybe this is your cup of tea

Afternoon tea on the terrace of Greystone
Sat, Aug 14, 4 pm - Historic Greystone Estate, 905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills
Enjoy delicious assorted teas, tea sandwiches, petit desserts and more while viewing the Los Angeles basin from the Mansion's Terrace. Each Tea includes musical entertainment and the rare opportunity to tour the Mansion's first floor. Ticket Information: BH Residents: $40 / Non-Residents: $50

Admittedly, you will not find me at any outdoor event because the weather is too damn cold!
Weekend Forecast for Beverly Hills Area

~ Friday - Partly Cloudy - 77°/60°
~ Saturday - AM Clouds/PM Sun - 77°/62°
~ Sunday - Partly Cloudy - 80°/64°
~ Monday - AM Clouds/PM Sun - 81°/65°
~ Tuesday - AM Clouds/PM Sun - 80°/65°

Around Town - The VRG Patron Gala

Every year I always try to attend the VRG patron gala at the Virginia Robinson estate in Beverly Hills because it is one of the most beautiful events in Los Angeles. This year's "Jewels and All That Jazz" gala was stepped up a notch because the "Spirit of Beverly Hills" award was presented to the Kazanjian family for their years of philanthropy through their Kazanjian Family Foundation and their "Jewels for Charity" program.

So in addition to the usual cocktails and silent auction prior to the dinner, the Kazanjian group had set up a special display in the pool house of some of the pieces from Foundation Collection as well as some stunning estate jewelry that was being offered for sale with the proceeds going to benefit the VRG group.

After drinks on the sunken tennis court at the back of the estate, the dinner was served in a huge tent on the lawn. The party was elegant, especially given the well heeled patrician patrons of the group. The tables were lovely with centerpieces with yes...even more jewelry....because you can never have enough.
And that wasn't all. During dinner there were gorgeous models traipsing around the room in couture evening gowns by designer David Tupaz and bedecked with estate jewels from Kazanjian.
After dinner there was a live auction by Ryan Kavanaugh
who could easily go into the auction business if he ever decided to give up his day job.
Finally, there was dancing...with a band that gave us some seriously bad cover music. Really, there's like nothing more pathetic than seeing a group of middle aged white people, clad in their black tie best, dancing to "Play That Funky Music White Boy"...and yes, I was one of those pathetic people.
So what did I wear...I thought you'd never ask.
Well primarily I wore big hair...thanks to Miguel at the Lab Salon in BH who put so much product and spray in my hair that if I had been anywhere near an open flame there would have been spontaneous combustion on my head.

And, I wore a few simple diamond pieces, including a big diamond brooch in my big hair.

The outfit was a larkspur blue BCBG silk gown ($325) with simple black mules with crystal accents and my vintage Martin van Schaack evening bag. Oh, and a borrowed black mink jacket because it is cold at night at this time of the year. Hey, I figured that if I wore $300,000 in diamond jewelry, I could pull off a $300 dress!

So here's the post party, after midnight, still a little tipsy, photo...big hair and all.

The organizing for this event has been going on for weeks by Kazanjian, which of course is our partner business. Liz, Renee and Stephanie, from team Beladora, stepped up to help at the party with the baubles, and they did an amazing job. Nice work team!

Around Town - Denali Quartet At Greystone

So many choices, so little time
with the Denali Quartet performing at the beautiful Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills on Sunday at 2:00 or the weekly hike in the hills above Brentwood
With the start of Spring this weekend, I'm opting for the hike
Perhaps I will listen to progressive chamber music on my ipod while I hike...

Around Town - Another Week Of Dine LA

Bad economic news, continued recession, growing unemployment
how does the restaurant business in Los Angeles deal with all of this?
Dine La restaurant week, of course.

What's the idea behind dineLA Restaurant Week?
dineLA and dineLA Restaurant Week were created with two goals in mind-driving business for our local restaurant community; and building awareness for Los Angeles as one of the premier dining cities in the world.

and

What are restaurants offering during dineLA Restaurant Week?
Participating restaurants will opt into one of three dining categories and present a specially priced three-course meal for lunch and/or dinner. Diners will be able to choose from three choices for each course including appetizer, entrée and dessert.

So last week's dine LA event, with special prices, was an opportunity for me to try two new restaurants, and so I did.
Both were full, obviously the dineLA concept was working.

Wolfgang's Steakhouse in Beverly Hills

I liked both my dinner and the ambiance at Wolfgang's steakhouse, with no nonsense food and a chi-chi Beverly Hills crowd....was that Mickey Rourke in the hat? Perhaps the best thing about Wolfgang's was the fact that it was on Canon Drive, an easy 2 block walk from my office.

Upstairs 2 in West Los Angeles

Upstairs 2, was the opposite of the platinum triangle located Wolfgang's.

A wine bar situated above a warehouse wine business, The Wine House, located in an industrial area next to the 405 freeway, it was a foodie retreat with delicious food and an incredible wine by the glass menu. It may just become my new favorite hang out.

The restaurant business is huge in Los Angeles, and it employs a lot of people...yes, many of them wanna be actors. I'm very glad to see that DineLA is having a positive influence on local business.

This city has weathered the recession fairly well in spite of the real estate meltdown and all of the economic problems with the State of California. It makes me happy to know that LA isn't going the way of Detroit.

Around Town - Dinner Al Fresco In January

So last night at about 7:30 I closed up my office and headed down Rodeo Drive to have dinner with friends at Two Rodeo And just when I was crossing Dayton I asked this young man who was wearing shorts, probably a tourist from Alabama who was here for the football game, if I could take his picture.

Then I proceeded to have dinner at a table outside, wearing just a cashmere sweater on a January evening.

With apologies to my fellow bloggers, Miss Cavendish, K-Line, Sher, and all the others who are dealing with snow!

Around Town - Sabrage At Christofle

If you are in Beverly Hills
Thursday December 17th
the CEO of Christofle demonstrating the Art of Sabrage

Yeah...I bet you CEO can't do this!
History of Sabrage:
This technique became popular in France when the army of Napoleon visited many of the aristocrat domains. It was just after the French revolution and the saber was the weapon of choice of Napoleon's fearsome cavalry (the Hussar). Napoleon's spectacular victories across all Europe gave them plenty of reason to celebrate. During these parties the cavalry would open the Champagne with their sabers. Napoleon probably encouraged this and is known to have said: "Champagne! In victory one deserves it; in defeat one needs it."

Around Town - Bouchon Bistro in Beverly Hills

One of the things that I had been looking forward to in the upcoming week after Christmas, when I will get a little break from the 10-9 schedule
would have been dinner at Thomas Keller's new Beverly Hills Restaurant
Bouchon Bistro
After all Keller is the real "top chef" in the US
and I really like bistro food
and the restaurant is conveniently located about a block and a half away from my office

and food blogger Kevin has written a glowing review about it here

Then...in an email from a friend

I received this very un-glowing review

First the 30 day reservation policy

When we heard through the grapevine that Thomas Keller was coming to town,we agreed that Bouchon would be the location for my birthday dinner in December. As it turned out, the food was good but not memorable and the attitude was bad and quite memorable. It began inauspiciously with the reservation attempt. My first call was deflected because I had called more than 30 days out. The brasserie is following a strict 30-day advance booking rule. So, exactly 30 days out I called at 10:02 am, two minutes past the posted time that reservations line opens and, of course, our desired time – 7:30 on a Monday night – was no longer available. But 7:45was available. This sort of thing is usually not a good sign, because it suggests that the restaurant and the patron will have to jockey for who is serving whom. Nonetheless, the 15-minute difference was certainly no big deal to us and requested a very nice table since this was a birthday dinner. A day out, I received a pleasant reminder call to reconfirm, did so and reiterated the birthday occasion. There was no mistaking not only that we wanted a nice table but why.

then the table wars

Sadly, it took three levels of well-coiffed but inflexible personnel and four tours of the cavernous dining room before table negotiations finally ended, with the restaurant clearly winning the “who serves whom” issue. The first table was a cramped banquette table near the large serving station that takes up the middle of the acoustically-challenged room. The second table was adjacent to the ear-splitting bar area, an unpopular part of the dining room that was empty save for the hustler and his mark, who were stuck up against a pillar under the palm tree and able to eye the action and be eyed as the action. The third table – another banquette - was in restaurant purgatory, which here seems to begin about 2/3 of the way back past the side pillars. There are about four prime four-top tables well spaced against the broad half-curtained windows that look onto the illuminated courtyard. But despite the fact that two of these tables were occupied by couples, this couple was not to be offered the remaining table along the windows despite repeated efforts as we worked our way up the chain of command to the maitre d’. He was polite but firm – we were not getting that table. But a previously unseen window-side table just inside purgatory was finally made available when my wife pulled out her cell phone in front of the maitre d’, called a nearby legendary restaurant and secured a prime table on no notice. Faced with this upping of the ante – our ability to score on the away team’s turf - we were persuaded to stay and took the window – the privacy – and purgatory.

then the good but not earth shattering cuisine

For our inconvenience, we were offered two coupes of champagne and the“best server I have”, who introduced himself and then disappeared for ten minutes. With the pecking order now re-established by management, we were finally able to turn to the meal itself. To begin, we share a nice thick slice of flavorful pate de campagne, with appropriate garnishments. My wife’s main dish was flavorful off-the-bone beef short ribs and I had the crispy skin sea bass, which was an evening special. Both dishes were solid and enjoyable, although my fish dish was perhaps slightly overcooked and yet warm rather than hot. Even though it did not go with either main course, we ordered a side of obligatory pommes frites. Oh, how we miss Benita’s on Third Street Promenade - those were pommes frites. These were tepid – and uninspired - French fries. The eponymous side dish can definitely be skipped without missing anything. On the other hand, both the Vouvray with the fish and the Burgundy with the short ribs paired well. Desert (also shared) was a return to the obvious at Bouchon –bouchons. Again, good but not great, but presented in a portion that was sufficient for us to share.

then does the hype justify the hassle

This is a meal that one can get in any number of brasseries in Paris –Bofinger, Brasserie Flo and Brasserie Lipp come immediately to mind – to say nothing of countless other undiscovered local gems in out lying arrondisements and throughout Alsace. But alas, on a wet and cold early winter night, we were in Beverly Hills and not Paris. The prices here are at least comparable to France – with the aperitifs (had we paid for them), and had we had bigger appetites for two appetizers and two deserts, what is supposed to be a casual dinner would have soared well past $200 a couple. But the memory of those authentic brasserie experiences in their natural settings – the good, the bad and the indifferent – was triggered at Bouchon and, for us, that was enough to make this a pleasant birthday dinner. But next time, we'll wait until we are in France and go for the real thing.

This is what happens when chefs become superstars. Maybe after the restaurant has been around for a year or so and the novelty has worn off, I will venture over to test the snappy wait staff and good but not great food.