The LA dining scene merges Hollywood stalwarts with buzzy new openings. Our ever evolving list will keep you updated on the restaurants and bars that have a healthy sprinkling of stardust... Spago As one of LA’s most iconic restaurants Spago absolutely lives up to expectations. In the heart of Beverly Hills along Canon Drive, it is a flagship for celebrated chef Wolfgang Puck. This upscale establishment has been doing its thing since 1982 and is still as relevant and glamorous as ever. The service is fabulous and the team go out of their way to make you feel at home. They know their stuff too. The multi-course California Tasting Menu is a feast for the senses and is accompanied by excellent wine pairings. The Pizza with House Cured Smoked Salmon is a winning dish and the Handmade Agnolotti is a joy. An all-round exceptionally good restaurant where it is worth donning your finest dress and making a night of it. Celebrity spot: Kim & Kanye, Bradley … [Read more...] about Best restaurants in Los Angeles: Celebrity favourites from Downtown to Hollywood
Los angeles review of books
Where to stay in Los Angeles: hotels by district
A neighbourhood guide to the hippest areas to stay in Los Angeles, as chosen by our expert, including the best hotels in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice and Long Beach. BEVERLY HILLS Nowhere in Los Angeles are you more likely to spot an A-list celebrity than on the sidewalks of this posh city-within-a-city, its zip code (90120) a byword for wealth. Fabulous shopping and restaurants revolve around famous Rodeo Drive, but for sightseeing you'll have to drive (or be driven) to other neighbourhoods. Beverly Hills is midway between Hollywood and the beaches, not too far from the LA County Museum of Art. Mr. C Beverly Hills Inside an all-white, high-rise building, this boutique hotel exudes class. A baby grand piano, overstuffed sofas and marble floors adorn the lobby. Outside, rose bushes and California citrus trees bloom on landscaped grounds that are hidden from the street by a high wall, making it almost like a private retreat. Mr. C's 125 … [Read more...] about Where to stay in Los Angeles: hotels by district
Spend the night with… Elizabeth Day at Sunset Tower, a Los Angeles hotel of legend reborn
There are many words that have been used to describe Sunset Tower Hotel. Legendary, is one. Glamorous is another. Former resident Truman Capote called it “very posh”. But none of these adjectives quite captures just how fun it is too. The fun is obvious as soon as my guest and I check in. The receptionist is a striking woman with a resplendent Afro wearing a trouser-suit and rectangular framed spectacles and she looks as if she should be in a hit Netflix series. “Welcome, Miss Day,”’ she says and she speaks slowly, as if her words would prefer to be sprawled out horizontally on a chaise longue eating bonbons, rather than having to go to the bother of actually communicating. “Over there is the Tower Bar, where things tend to get a little” – her voice drops – “spicy.” She looks at me over the rim of her spectacles. I am putty in her hands. “And over there, is the Terrace Bar where you can get a drink,” the … [Read more...] about Spend the night with… Elizabeth Day at Sunset Tower, a Los Angeles hotel of legend reborn
A Bluffer’s Guide to the 2018 Man Booker Prize: How to shine at a dinner party without reading the… er… books
PUBLISHED: 18:10 20 September 2018 | UPDATED: 18:36 20 September 2018 Steve Russell Judges Jacqueline Rose, Leanne Shapton, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Leo Robson and Val McDermid. Picture: MAN BOOKER PRIZE Archant Six books on the shortlist. Here’s all the gen about who, what why, where, when and how Now we can all talk confidently and knowledgeably about the six Man Booker Prize contenders.... Picture: MAN BOOKER PRIZEBook: MilkmanBy: Anna BurnsWhat’s it about? In an unnamed city, to be interesting is dangerous. “Middle sister”, the protagonist, is busy trying to stop her mother discovering her maybe-boyfriend and trying to keep everyone in the dark about her encounter with Milkman. But when “first brother-in-law” sniffs it out, and rumours start to grow, middle sister becomes “interesting”. The last thing she ever wanted to be. To be interesting is to be noticed, and to be noticed is dangerous… Milkman is a tale of gossip and … [Read more...] about A Bluffer’s Guide to the 2018 Man Booker Prize: How to shine at a dinner party without reading the… er… books
Sex, dogs and Vanilla Ice: how Madonna’s X-rated photo book nearly destroyed the Queen of Pop
At the very beginning of 1993, Madonna made a public declaration that she wouldn’t take her clothes off for a whole year. “Except when I’m in the shower,” she cracked. Of course, we first had to get through her notorious gynecological thriller Body of Evidence, in which she cavorted on top of a parked car with Willem Dafoe, and the TV stations still playing the X-rated videos for her recent singles Erotica and Justify My Love. And all the TV stations talking about the fact that they weren’t going to play her X-rated videos, apparently on moral grounds. But after all of that, then we’d be blissfully free of Madonna’s naked body for at least a little while. Just a month before, Madonna had released one of the most provocative merchandising products of all time. Sex, her explicit, nudity-filled coffee table book, was the pièce de résistance of a six-year run of calculated controversy, one that grew progressively more boundary-pushing as … [Read more...] about Sex, dogs and Vanilla Ice: how Madonna’s X-rated photo book nearly destroyed the Queen of Pop