The Jeremy at night |
First, we stayed at The Jeremy, a new hotel in West Hollywood, which I really liked and recommend if you're going to be heading out there. The location--on Sunset Boulevard at La Cienega--was fantastic. You can walk to lots of great shopping, restaurants, bars, and it's a short $5 Uber ride to other cool areas like Melrose or 3rd street. They have a rooftop pool (FYI, it's gorgeous, but small--not very many chairs), and a great casual coffee shop/restaurant off the lobby. (I recommend the Hollywood Market salad if you eat there. So fresh, healthy, and delish!)
At The Eveleigh, from left: Gwen Flamberg of Us Weekly, April Long of Glamour, Erica Metzger of Better Homes and Gardens, and moi |
Our spread at Tocaya Organica |
Day two, we ate lunch at Tocaya Organica, which I am now obsessed with. (In particular, I'm obsessed with trying to find a way to bring one of these to NYC! We have nothing like it.) It's a chain of beautiful "fast casual" Mexican restaurants with incredible tacos, salads, sides, etc, all made with organic, very fresh ingredients. It's surprisingly affordable ($10 gets you two tacos, two huge sides, and one of their fun homemade drinks like watermelon limeade). My favorites were the chips and salsa, the carne asada Cali Green taco, and the Mexican street corn. But it was all amazing.
The spicy fusilli at Jon & Vinny's. (Disclosure: This is actually the only photo here that's not mine. I'm not kidding when I say that we were so busy stuffing our faces there that I completely forgot to take pictures. This one's by @racheldeckerr.) |
Day three dinner was the very best of the whole trip. We ate at Jon and Vinny's, a tiny Italian hotspot in the Fairfax district. Truth be told, I wasn't that excited about doing Italian (it didn't seem very "Cali" and we certainly have no shortage of great Italian in NYC and Hoboken), but it ended up blowing me away. Once again, we ordered like crazy people and got way too much, but it was all out of this world. Truly some of the best Italian food I have ever eaten!
It feels impossible to pick favorite dishes here, but if I had to, I'm going to say the bruschetta with ricotta and orange honey (drool), the caprese salad (there were like five different types of tomatoes in it--heaven!), the gem lettuce salad (this was possibly the second best salad I have ever eaten in my life), the shaved zucchini and arugula salad (and this might have been the very best one!), Little Nats pepperoni pizza (yep. again, one of the best pepperoni pizzas I've ever had), the spicy fusilli with vodka sauce (this is amazing and is one of their most famous dishes, but just FYI: it's not at all spicy!), and the polenta with six-hour bolognese. And to top it all off, they have soft serve ice cream for dessert! I got the chocolate-vanilla twist and it was sooo good. Honestly, this restaurant was absolutely incredible. If you are in L.A., GO.
It feels impossible to pick favorite dishes here, but if I had to, I'm going to say the bruschetta with ricotta and orange honey (drool), the caprese salad (there were like five different types of tomatoes in it--heaven!), the gem lettuce salad (this was possibly the second best salad I have ever eaten in my life), the shaved zucchini and arugula salad (and this might have been the very best one!), Little Nats pepperoni pizza (yep. again, one of the best pepperoni pizzas I've ever had), the spicy fusilli with vodka sauce (this is amazing and is one of their most famous dishes, but just FYI: it's not at all spicy!), and the polenta with six-hour bolognese. And to top it all off, they have soft serve ice cream for dessert! I got the chocolate-vanilla twist and it was sooo good. Honestly, this restaurant was absolutely incredible. If you are in L.A., GO.
With superstar facialist Shani Darden |
And while the food was great, the absolute highlight of my trip was my facial with Shani Darden. I'm honestly not typically a facial person (basically I rarely feel like they do anything and if I'm going to a spa, I'd always rather get a massage), but this one completely changed my mind--and my skin! Shani typically (literally) only sees celebrities (think Chrissy Teigen, Rosie Huntington Whiteley, her actual BFF Jessica Alba, and Emmy Rossum, who walked in right after I left!). She works out of this adorable, very private Spanish-style bungalow on an unassuming street in Hollywood. The living room is the waiting room, what would have been the master bedroom is the treatment room--it was the cutest.
And the facial itself was incredible! Shani customizes every treatment for the individual client with a bunch of machines (for me it was vibration therapy, microcurrent, and red and blue LED lights), thorough extractions, masks, and more. My skin was blindingly glowing when I left, and it felt plumper and more hydrated than it ever has in my life. (I've been wondering ever since if I've been walking around in a perpetual state of dehydration, because my skin just does not feel that plump and juicy and good normally!). Shani even texted me the next day to check up on my skin and offer a few product recommendations. I wish I could see her again, but unfortunately, I'm probably going to have to become an A-list star to make that happen! (Shani only sees her existing group of celeb clients. The other editors and I were very lucky, temporary exceptions!)
And the facial itself was incredible! Shani customizes every treatment for the individual client with a bunch of machines (for me it was vibration therapy, microcurrent, and red and blue LED lights), thorough extractions, masks, and more. My skin was blindingly glowing when I left, and it felt plumper and more hydrated than it ever has in my life. (I've been wondering ever since if I've been walking around in a perpetual state of dehydration, because my skin just does not feel that plump and juicy and good normally!). Shani even texted me the next day to check up on my skin and offer a few product recommendations. I wish I could see her again, but unfortunately, I'm probably going to have to become an A-list star to make that happen! (Shani only sees her existing group of celeb clients. The other editors and I were very lucky, temporary exceptions!)
The nail polish display at Miniluxe |
Oh well. Guess I'll just have to go back soon. ;)
This trip was short, but seriously amazing. Big thanks to Garnier (Kylie, Donna, and Ali--mwah!) and Shani for having me. Little something you might not know about me: I have a long history/love affair with Los Angeles. My dad grew up there, so when I was a kid, we would go every year to visit my grandparents. And I always dreamt of living there! I finally moved to L.A. in my early 20s and lived there for two years. I left to go to grad school, always intending to come back, but then I moved to New York, met my husband, and the rest is history. But this trip rekindled my love for L.A. I truly love and miss it so much, so it was almost emotional to be back there. I'd move there in a second if we could!
The good news: I'm actually heading back to L.A. in about two weeks with my family! More on that soon. ;)
8 comments:
Such an awesome trip! Makes me want to go back to Cali!
Cheers!
This looks like such an awesome trip! The food, the places, all of it. Great post! I feel like I was with you and want to visit all at once haha!
Looks like an amazing girls trip. We need time away to get recharged. So fun.
I have never been to the west coast but it is on my list! This looks like a great trip and the food and drinks look spectacular.
Amazing places! This is an amazing article.
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