A boutique hotel; a lesson in dressing; a 5 star dinner

Yesterday was another unusual day. We drove back to Hollywood, where Suzanne was able to give an in-person reading to a new friend, Jeff, general manager of a boutique hotel on Sunset Boulevard who emailed her after his sister attended Suzanne's SOAR workshop. The Mondrian Hotel is exquisite, trendy, and chic. Suzanne had asked Jeff how people dressed; his answer was “hip and edgy”. I wasn’t sure what that meant; I mentioned to Suzanne that my interpretation was blue blazer, khakis and docksiders... she choked on something... 

Anyway, movie stars, musicians, sports figures, fashion models, entertainment lawyers and such stay here. We pulled into line for valet parking (non-optional in this neighborhood, just across the Street from The Comedy Store and House of Blues) behind two Mercedes, a BMW, an Audi and a Ferrari. I was glad that I had removed the kayaks and mountain bicycles from our Honda CR-V; I didn’t want anyone fondling my new bike. (Before leaving The Bus, I had Google Image Searched the hotel; not only good architecture, but were we going to run into the likes of Madonna, Lindsay Lohan, and Hugh Grant at the bar? Hmmmm.... "Wouldn't that be interesting?") 

After handing the car keys to the valet-in-charge, we unloaded Rudy, Gretchen, their water bowl, and two travel kennels. I left my recently-acquired 7-11 coffee in the car; I knew it would be inappropriate in this ritzy hotel lobby. Did I say “ritzy”? This lovely hotel defines ritzy. We were a bit early, and Jeff was still in a meeting, but the staff at the desk made us feel right at home. Would we like a nice bottle of chilled Fiji water? Yes, that would be very nice, thank you. The young women behind the desk wore very stylish, $2,000 designer dresses, and the guys all looked like young actors or lawyers. 

Jeff arrived to greet us and set us up in a room on the same floor as his office. The room was amazing; not just luxurious, palatial, and beautifully decorated... but really cool! (I would suggest you take a look at this page http://www.mondrianhotel.com/en-us/#/home/ for more information (note: the blonde model does not come standard with the room). The flat screen TV was embedded in a 360 degree rotating sculpture, invisible behind a tinted mirror until you turned it on. We set up the puppies in their kennels, and I went down to take a walk while Suzanne gave Jeff a reading. After the long drive, it was nice to stretch my legs for a couple of blocks, until the local panhandlers found me and thought they had an easy mark. Back to the hotel, much nicer there... while checking email on my iPad, I had ample opportunity to people-watch the guests coming and going. Suzanne had commented on the short... very short... extremely short... skirts worn by women here in Hollywood. The scenery here was definitely easy on the eyes... the lobby was nicely decorated, too. Actually, the lobby lighting gave you the impression you had just arrived on a beach, complete with suggestions of waves lapping on the sand. Very cool!

After Jeff’s reading, we went down to the hotel restaurant, Asia de Cuba, as Jeff's guests for dinner. While studying the menu, Suzanne and I had a Brazilian caipirinha cocktail. Jeff gave us information on the hotel and its sister hotels in London, South Beach, New York, and other locations. He also told us about the lesson in California men’s fashion he received from the hotel’s experts when he became General Manager... first of all, brown suits, even Armani brown suits, are a no-no; jeans are good, tucking your shirt into your jeans is not good.  If you do wear jeans, wear dress shoes, not sneakers. .. I was glad that I fit in so well with the Hollywood crowd... in fact, Suzanne remarked, "Yeah, you blend...".  ;-) 

 I have to tell you in no uncertain words, this was one of the best meals of our lives. Like its name implies, the restaurant’s cuisine is Asian-Cuban fusion; we had four types of ceviche (grouper, salmon, swordfish, and shrimp) and a calamari salad for starters; entrees were miso-cured Alaskan black cod, Cuban coffee-encrusted rib eye steak, and giant prawns with red Thai curry, rum and coconut cream. Suzanne wants me to point out that in the picture below, I may be hip but my shirt is still tucked in.

As if that wasn’t enough, Jeff convinced us that we could not possibly leave Hollywood without trying the hotel’s world famous carrot cake and chocolate ganache. All in all, it had been a culinary adventure of the first order. If you come to Hollywood/Los Angeles/anywhere in California, we highly recommend the Mondrian Hotel and the Asia de Cuba restaurant. You will not be disappointed.  Be advised, there are five (count ‘em, five) dollar signs on most websites reviewing Asia de Cuba. Thank you Jeff, for treating us; this was the most expensive and delicious meal we have ever enjoyed. We could get used to this!