recent nip/tuck was so subtle, I can barely spot the differences. The biggest change at this East/West classic (where tuna tartare was supposedly invented)? Now when I call to reserve a table, I’m asked which menu I prefer: the tasting menu (three or five courses) or the à la carte? Continue reading 
Awesome news for Los Angeles! On Wednesday, Virgin America launched nonstop service from LAX to Cancún (and thus the beautiful Riviera Maya).
Flight VX 920 lifted off exactly on schedule at 11:55 Wednesday morning at LAX. The Goo Goo Dolls (remember them?) and a huge contingent from VH1 were onboard recording an inflight episode of Top 20 Countdown with host Jim Shearer. About two hours into the flight, The Goo Goo Dolls performed an acoustic version of the song Not Broken from their album Something for the Rest of Us. It was kind of funny to see the flight attendant stretching the intercom’s mouthpiece out like a microphone so that the song could be heard over the plane’s announcement system. (The Countdown episode will air January 29.)… (Enter to win a free trip after the jump.) Continue reading
Peking duck at WP24 (Photo by Peden + Munk)
I’m watching the night unfold from the 24th floor of the Ritz-Carlton—and Los Angeles looks remarkably like something out of Marvel Comics. Klieg lights search the sky, punching through low-hanging fog, bouncing off downtown skyscrapers. A parade of helicopters—some piloted by the police; others presumed to be private, launched from a helipad atop the U.S. Bank Tower—repeatedly whoosh past the windows in pursuit of who knows what, carrying who knows whom. Thousands of taillights on the freeways below create swirls that look like rivers of hot lava flowing through Metropolis.
Photos by Eduard Duarte
I’m not looking forward to it, but I plan to sit down and have a good cry when peach season ends. It’s been a few years since I’ve tasted peaches, or stone fruit of any kind—nectarines, cherries, apricots—as vibrant as what the farmers have given us this year. So until that dreaded deadline arrives, I’ll be holding court as often as possible at Ammo in Hollywood, desperately clinging to the last vestiges of summer, savoring freshly picked peaches and tree-ripened nectarines, appropriately tart apricots and cherries just sour enough to pucker my cheeks and make me smile at the same time—all of which Ammo’s chef tosses together with a few wispy greens, shaved speck and sometimes even a fig. And I’ll be reaching for another spoonful of nectarine and blackberry cobbler (technically, more of a crumble), so hot it scalds my lips but so good that I keep doing it over and over again…
