Los Angeles, California

December 2012

The week after returning from my Taiwan/Thailand adventure I was off to Los Angeles, California for a conference.  It was a quick trip - fly in Wednesday evening and head out Thursday but it was fun none the less.  My roommate from college, my bff, my wifey, my eastcoast/westcoast partner in crime was also in LA during this time.  She was saving lives and being awesome as a travel nurse in the area.  So we took this time to catch up - I was staying at the Sheraton Downtown Los Angeles and she was going to come stay with me for the night and we would head out for a night on the town with dinner and drinks.

The Sheraton Downtown was sub-par for a Starwood Hotel.  The rooms were old and dated, the decor was blah and the bathrooms were cramped.  The only good part of the room was the bed - it was heavenly.  The worst part of the stay was as Alana was coming up from the lobby, her elevator got stuck!   She and 2 other people were trapped inside for over an hour and the LAPD and the LAFD had to come get them out.  After the whole ordeal - not once did the hotel staff try to compensate them!  Not even a free drink at the bar!

Once she was finally out of the elevators - we decided to go out and eat.  The Sheraton is in a good location - as there were many restaurant options near by.  We ended up at Bottega Louie and it just so happened my coworkers were there as well.  The inside of Bottega Louie is a site to be seen.  It is classic and modern at the same time, it is clean with minimal decor on the walls yet it is elegant.  When you first walk in there is a dessert counter - with macarons all the colors of the rainbow.  YUM!  After a minor wait (because my coworker had already put his name in), we sat down and ordered a glass of champagne and an artichoke pizza to share.  The pizza was thin crust and very light but so good.  I would def recommend the pizza!  For our next course Alana and I order two salads to split - one was the Caesar salad and the other was the Modena which is butter lettuce, candied walnuts, goat cheese and a creamy balsamic vinaigrette.  Wow was the Modena good - it might be one of the best salads I have had and I still crave it months later!  For our main entree we shared the Fettucine Belmondo - which had cherry tomatoes, roasted garlic, and parmesan.  The pasta was good - not the best I have ever had and I tried some of the Lasagna my coworker got and that to me was a little more flavorful.  For dessert with second glass of champagne we had Beignets - hot and with an amazing raspberry compote - as well as a selection of 4 macarons - the strawberry macaron with strawberry buttercream and candied strawberries was out of this world.  I would highly recommend going to this restaurant!  I just wish there was one closer to me!!!

Bottega Louie.

Macarons upon walking in.  

Alana and myself <3

Dessert!

After dinner we walked around the area - and found our selves on the set of a TV show.  It turns out the Mindy project was filming the inside of a local building on South Grand Street.

Mindy Project film set. 

Our next stop was Seven Grand - a whiskey bar downtown.  The bar is similar to a speakeasy.  The drinks are well manicured and made from fresh ingredients.  The atmosphere is dark and stylish.  The bartenders put alot of love into the drinks - so of course they taste amazing!  It was a great place to sit back and relax.

Drinks at Seven Grand.

Unfortunately that was the end of our night and the next day it was off to a conference for me - but I cant wait to go back and explore the area more...and maybe stay in a better hotel.  :)

Highlight of my trip:
- Seeing Alana (love her)
- Bottega Louie