LAS VEGAS— Can’t get into 1OAK this weekend? Plan B, courtesy of sbe: Hyde at the Bellagio also opens tomorrow night. The 10,000 square foot indoor/outdoor space is full of comfy seating among the olive trees, overlooking the Bellagio fountains. Bespoke cocktails are prepared table side, and tapas are catered by Sirio Maccioni’s Circo . For NYE, they’re calling it an invite-only affair… and then offering tickets for $300 a pop. Starting on January 1, the cover will be $30 for women and $50 for men. [EaterWire] –DM DOWNTOWN— Grub Street reminds us that Ryan Sweeney’s Little Bear opens soon . With partner Andre Guerrero slinging smoked wild boar sausages and half a dozen different kinds of grilled cheese and Sweeney’s promises of impossible-to-find Belgian brews, Little Bear sounds like it will hold its own in the Industrial District along with Church & State, Le Pour Haus and Daily Dose. [Grub Street] WESTWOOD— Adam Fleischman’s 800 Degrees is still 5960 minutes away from opening next Tuesday. Fortunately, when it opens, each flame fired pizza pie only takes one minute to cook. With Italian flour and mozzarella, a build-your-own pizza style counter, and wine and beer to come, Westwood Village is about to have a happy start to its New Year. [EaterWire] Link: EaterWire: Hyde at the Bellagio, Little Bear, 800 Degrees En Route
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EaterWire: Hyde at the Bellagio, Little Bear, 800 Degrees En Route
LAS VEGAS— Can’t get into 1OAK this weekend? Plan B, courtesy of sbe: Hyde at the Bellagio also opens tomorrow night. The 10,000 square foot indoor/outdoor space is full of comfy seating among the olive trees, overlooking the Bellagio fountains. Bespoke cocktails are prepared table side, and tapas are catered by Sirio Maccioni’s Circo . For NYE, they’re calling it an invite-only affair… and then offering tickets for $300 a pop. Starting on January 1, the cover will be $30 for women and $50 for men. [EaterWire] –DM DOWNTOWN— Grub Street reminds us that Ryan Sweeney’s Little Bear opens soon . With partner Andre Guerrero slinging smoked wild boar sausages and half a dozen different kinds of grilled cheese and Sweeney’s promises of impossible-to-find Belgian brews, Little Bear sounds like it will hold its own in the Industrial District along with Church & State, Le Pour Haus and Daily Dose. [Grub Street] WESTWOOD— Adam Fleischman’s 800 Degrees is still 5960 minutes away from opening next Tuesday. Fortunately, when it opens, each flame fired pizza pie only takes one minute to cook. With Italian flour and mozzarella, a build-your-own pizza style counter, and wine and beer to come, Westwood Village is about to have a happy start to its New Year. [EaterWire] Link: EaterWire: Hyde at the Bellagio, Little Bear, 800 Degrees En Route
Year in Eater : Friends of Eater Recall Their Single Best Meals of 2011
As is the tradition at Eater, our closeout of the year is a survey of friends, industry types, bloggers, and readers. We’ve already covered Top Newcomers , Top Standbys , Best Dining Neighborhood , 2011 described in one word , and Biggest Dining Surprises . Now, Best Meals. Readers, please add your thoughts to the comments. [Scarpetta, Beverly Hills. Elizabeth Daniels ] Q: What was your single best meal of 2011? Lonny Pugh, LA editor, Urban Daddy : Scarpetta . It involved the spaghetti—one of those simple dishes that can’t possibly be as good as everybody says it is. But then it is. And then later you think it can’t possibly be as good as you remember. So you go back and have it again. And it still is. Stephane Bombet, owner, Picca: Gary Menes pop up dinner at Le Comptoir at Tiara Cafe. My favorite dish was his home made foie gras au torchon with balsamic vinegar and callery pears. Jonathan Gold, LA Weekly : A lovely three-hour lunch at Providence – Michael Cimarusti has quietly become the best chef in Los Angeles. Hadley Tomicki, LA editor, Grub Street : I’m still surprised I didn’t wake up at some point when Cimarusti, Ludo, Urasawa, and Zarate came together at Providence, but I’d have to say the kaiseki dinner I had at N/Naka , as I’ve rarely had such an emotional reaction to food. One side of the table was laughing in wonder, the other crying in joy. Lesley Barger Suter , dine editor, LAmag : I keep giving it love, but I’m going to have to say my first meal at Sotto : Bread with lardo, perfect pork meatballs, and that pizza, plus cannolis…all washed down with some amaro. Wolfgang Puck: I would say that my single best meal was at the Fat Duck outside of London if I exclude the meal that Tetsu made for me at Spago. Zach Brooks, Midtown Lunch : Do I have to choose between ink. and Son of a Gun … because I really don’t want to. Jeff Miller, LA editor, Thrillist : I was lucky enough to spend some major time in Las Vegas and got to eat at Bartolotta . Not only was it the best meal I ate all year, but that’s one of my favorite meals I’ve ever had. Every single bite was perfect. Yassmin Sarmadi, restaurant owner, Church & State: Chef’s Tasting Menu at Patina – I have always enjoyed Patina, but had not been for some time. Hands down this was one of my best dining experiences in 2011! George Abou-Daoud, restaurateur, Bowery Street Enterprises : Chicharron en Verde followed by Espinoza de Cerdo en Guajillo in Mexico City—-amazing. Lindsay William-Ross, LAist : This is probably the hardest for me to answer, because I can’t just say one thing! I did get to sit down to an amazing meal in the private dining room of Osteria Mozza for a dinner honoring Ruth Reichl where the guests were some amazing local chefs and food writers, which was made only more surreal by the fact that I was high on cold medicine. But a lot of my greatest dining pleasures came while traveling, like the half-dozen fresh oysters I had at Seattle’s Pike Place Market, or the epic meals at Julian Serrano and Sage at the Aria in Vegas with some of my food writing girlfriends. The donuts from The Doughnut Plant in NYC my boyfriend and I ate while walking around the Lower East Side one very cold Sunday morning in March after we flew in on a red eye. A White Spot burger in Vancouver. Anytime I got to share a table with a loved one, or experience something while I traveled, well, that’s my best meal! Daniela Galarza, associate editor, Eater LA: In LA – Picca . Outside of LA – Pok Pok. Maggie Nemser, founder, Blackboard Eats : At Joe’s in Venice with Walter Manzke as the guest chef serving an unforgettable Millbrook Venison with Sauce Poivrade. Josh Lurie, Food GPS : That’s a tough call. My meaty meal at Snow’s BBQ, about an hour outside of Austin, was pretty spectacular. Sooke Harbour House, situated right on the water in a spectacular Vancouver Island setting, was stunning for multiple reasons, including the hyper-local food. Still, since this is Eater LA, let’s go with something that’s actually in Los Angeles. One of my most recent blowout meals in L.A. was at Sushi Gen , where we let a friend take the lead, and he proceeded to order an onslaught of pristine seafood, including toro, uni, mirugai (giant clam) and amaebi (sweet shrimp). Seriously, how could that not taste good? And of course the people were fun, so that always helps. Kat Odell, editor, Eater LA: I would probably have to go with the epic Krug dinner I had earlier this year at Urasawa . Can’t compete with Hiro’s sushi and 15 bottles of vintage Krug divided between 10 diners… also had a surprisingly fun/flavorful dinner at Miss Lily’s recently in NYC. · Year in Eater 2011 [~ELA~] Go here to read the rest: Year in Eater : Friends of Eater Recall Their Single Best Meals of 2011
Oakland Mayor Warns Port Shutdowns Will Be Hard To Prevent
OAKLAND, Calif. — Oakland Mayor Jean Quan says the city would try to prevent future shutdowns at the port if port officials picked up the $1.5 million tab for the hundreds of police officers that would be needed. Quan also told the Chronicle that the city would probably not be able to prevent port closures anyway since a handful of protesters could sneak around police lines. Anti-Wall Street protesters blocked longshoremen from reporting to work for nearly 24 hours on Dec 12, shutting down much of the port. Police mostly stood back during the demonstration. Excerpt from: Oakland Mayor Warns Port Shutdowns Will Be Hard To Prevent
Police Chase Ends In Stabbing, Shooting
Lafayette police released video and audio showing Paul Spencer attacking officers before he was gunned down last month. All LPD officers were cleared of any wrongdoing by both a review board and the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor. Video from cameras mounted on the dashboard of the cruisers show what led up to their actions in the early morning hours of October 19. The camera on the dashboard reads 4:53 am when Officer Jeff Webb spots the car driven by Paul Spencer, 39. It all started with an Emergency 911 call minutes earlier. “There’s a fire,” the caller told dispatch. “Somebody jumped out of the window.” Later the operator asks what kind of car the suspect is driving. “A black Cadillac,” the caller responded. Light rain was falling in the early morning hours but Officer Webb reports road conditions are favorable. Spencer headed back downtown where Officer Ron Dombkowski picks up the pursuit in front of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse. As the pursuit continues, more and more officers are visible on side streets. Spencer is wanted for questioning on the arson as well as battery on a woman. “I tried to get her to walk back to you,” the dispatch operator told the officers on the scene of the arson call. “She is refusing. She’s scared for her life.” As Spencer heads south on 9th Street, away from downtown, speeds pick up to 60 mph Spencer crashed into an embankment at 9th and Potomac. His front tire still spins as he gets out and attacks Officer Dombkowski with a knife …
Vincent Herbert and Tamar Braxton Buy and List
SELLERS: Vincent Herbert and Tamar Braxton LOCATION: Encino, CA PRICE: $3,000,000 SIZE: 7,817 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It seems we’ve been stuck out in sub- and exurban Los Angeles, CA most of the week yimmer-yammering about celebrity real estate blah blah blah. Although we’re certain some of the children wish we would, rather than shift the geographic gears we’re going to stay put instead with a discussion on the Encino, CA mansion recently put on the market for $3,000,000 and owned, as per property records, by Vincent Herbert and Tamar Braxton. That’s pronounced Tay-mar, okay? She’s a sassy, smart-allecky and sometimes antagonizing R&B singer probably best known as the youngest sister of Grammy-winning songstress Toni Braxton. Missus Braxton-Herbert is, howevuh, does not live entirely in the shadow of her older sister, she’s a woman on her own showbiz trajectory who has made a record or two, sang some badass back up on Lady Gaga’s anthemic single Born This Way and currently stars–if that’s what one does–on the cacophonous Braxton Family Values reality program that was recently picked up for a 13-episode second season. He’s a rather rotund but baby-faced, award-winning music industry executive and producer whose worked over songs for chanteuses such as Toni Braxton, Destiny’s Child, Whitney Houston and JoJo. He currently presides over Streamline Records, a division of Interscope Records and the home label for the new Madonna Lady Gaga. A pulmonary embolism–the fancy name for a blood clot in the lung–recently landed Mister Herbert in a New York City hospital after he collapsed in mid-October. He has since returned to Los Angeles, l’chaim. Property records show Mister Herbert and Missus Braxton-Herbert only purchased their Encino mansion just over two years ago in September 2009 for $2,600,000. The pancake-flat .42-acre parcel, tucked into a leafy, not-glitzy neighborhood directly behind the Encino Commons business and entertainment district, hosts a gated mansion built in 2007 and described in current listing materials as an “Elegant & Sexy Spanish Hacienda meets Tuscan Villa.” The pastiche-y two-story pad measures in at a beefy 7,817 square feet and contains a total of 6 bedrooms and–depending on where in the listing one looks–either 5.75 or 6.5 bathrooms. A deep, paver-stone tile driveway stretches back from the street to a three-car attached garage with contemporary frosted glass and aluminum doors. The arched front door, set into an arched doorway set into a shallow courtyard, opens into an airy, double height entrance hall finished with a poo-poo platter of not entirely harmonious materials: mottled caramel-colored (and oddly shaped) Spanish tiles on the floor; buttery yellow stucco walls in the dining room; a long arched colonnade fashioned from used bricks; a swooping curved staircase with wrought iron banisters and vibrant orange tile accents on the risers. Formal living and dining rooms are available for guests, holidays and other moments when a person might want them but far more interior space was devoted to less formal family quarters that include a state-of-the-art 12-seat home theater/media room plus a family room with full-size wet bar that will make hooch hounds gasp with anticipation, French doors that connect to the outdoor entertainment areas, and a fireplace (unfortunately) flanked by arched and mirrored niches outfitted with matching library tables topped with sprays of white orchids. As if the all-too-ubiquitous orchids where not decoratively cliché enough, the person responsible for decorating this room visually multiplied the orchids with the massive mirrors placed where there more better be bookshelves filled with actual books and cherished mementos of the homeowner(s). Anyhoo, we digress. Archways join the family room to the eat-in kitchen with its semi-circular breakfast nook. We’re going to ignore the white orchids in the window behind the delicious copper farmhouse sink on the far wall and instead focus on the massive, multi-purpose center island with two-stool snack counter, vegetable sink, second dishwasher and coppery granite counter top that plays off the green granite counter top that extends out for some distance on either side of the delicious copper farmhouse sink. There’s also a walk-in pantry and temperature-controlled walk-in wine cellar. Listing information explains the “master retreat” includes two over-sized walk-in closets and a “Glamorous,” mostly brown and beige en suite complete with custom tile work, glass-lined steam shower that juts our like a peninsula into the the bathroom, and a separate sunken jetted soaking tub set into a window-lined semi-circular niche. The fully landscaped, wall/fenced, and secured grounds encompass meandering paver stone patios and walkways, a semi-permanent cabana that promotes outdoor living, a built-in barbecue center, a few free-form patches of grass, a built-in fire pit, and two waterfalls that tumble into an amoebic swimming pool with elevated circular spa. The children will note that with the touch of a remote control button a God damn rotating television pops up from a fake boulder at the water’s edge. It’s not much of a surprise really that Mister Herbert and Missus Braxton-Herbert have hoisted their Encino mansion on the market given that they’ve already purchased their next, much larger and far more expensive home (shown below). Property records reveal in early September (2011) Mister Herbert and Missus Braxton-Herbert coughed up a considerable $6,900,000 to obtain an 11,747 square foot French Country-style faux-chateau perched on a low rise in the guard-gated and star-studded equestrian community of Hidden Hills, CA. Listing information for the Herbert’s new home in Hidden Hills shows there are a total of 5 bedrooms and 6 full and 2 half bathrooms, a grand(iose) double-height entry with twin curved staircases and inlaid marble floor, formal living and dining rooms, a paneled library, colossal center island kitchen with a disturbing cornucopia of elaborately carved corbels, a wood-paneled home theater with 125-inch screen, pub/game room with hand-carved wet bar. The titanic second floor master suite encompasses a vast bedroom/sitting room with vaulted and wood-beamed ceiling, wood floors, fireplace and a wide bank of wood-framed glass doors that slide open to a private balcony. There’s als a custom-fitted walk-in closets/dressing room and a cavernous crapper with twin sinks, a plunge pool-sized jetted tub with fireplace, and a silly (and tacky), over-sized circular glass shower enclosure. Other amenities include an elevator, safe room, a total of at least 5 fireplaces (many with elaborate carved stone mantelpieces), direct-entry garage space for four luxury cars, a large fountain in the front yard and a somewhat slim but mostly flat back yard with a petite swimming pool with raised spa surrounded by an expanse of lush green lawn, various shaded porches and patios for escaping the scorching southern California summertime sunshine, and long views over the tree tops to the rugged mountains that encircle the San Fernando Valley. Some of Mister Herbert and Missus Braxton-Herberts’ new neighbors include Jennifer Lopez, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne who have their estate listed at $12,999,000, Melissa Etheridge, Charlie Sheen’s ex-wife and baby momma Denise Richards, former desperate housewife Nicolette Sheridan (who bought her house from Melissa Etheridge), Bruce Jenner and Kris Kardashian, and–for a few more days or weeks anyway–pop superstar Britney Spears who will soon move house from a elephantine leased mansion in Hidden Hills to a significantly smaller but still massive mansion in a guard-gated golf community in Thousand Oaks. listing photos (Encino): Re/Max Olson & Associates listing photos (Hidden Hills): Re/Max Olson & Associates Continue reading here: Vincent Herbert and Tamar Braxton Buy and List
Bridal accessory business focuses on custom headpieces
Nicole Buczek is a 24-year-old Upland High School graduate with a business degree from UC Davis who has has always believed in “happily ever after.” Last year, Nicole and her mother, Sandra Buczek of Upland, decided they wanted to be a part of as many fairytale weddings as possible and founded Sandra Nicole Designs, a bridal accessory business … (more) Go here to read the rest: Bridal accessory business focuses on custom headpieces
City, Police Agree to New Employment Contract
The City Council and the Beverly Hills Police Officers Association have reached an agreement for a new five-year employment contract. Months of negotiations were concluded with the two parties tentatively agreeing to a 1 percent overall increase in salary and a two-tiered retirement program. “The security of Beverly Hills citizens is the most important service the city provides,” Mayor Barry Brucker said in a statement. “We are delighted to have reached this important milestone and agreed on a fair compensation package for our police officers that also complements our goals for fiscal responsibility and sustainability for the city.” Some features of the tentative agreement include: Starting Jan. 1, 2014, all employees will begin paying a part of the employer contribution to their pensions. This contribution will be phased in over the contract period. Pension contributions will reach 4 percent by the end of the five-year contract. With phased-in, cost-of-living pay increases of 5 percent, the total increase in compensation over the five-year contract is 1 percent. Beginning Jan. 1, 2012, all employees will have available an array of benefits to choose from. If a medical plan exceeds a preset limit, the additional amount will be paid for by the employee. The two-tiered retiree benefit changes include: Employees hired after July 1, 2012, can retire at age 55 with a pension based on 3 percent of their salary for each year of service. Employees hired after July 1, 2012, will base their pension on the average of their three highest salary years, rather than the single highest year. Employees hired after March 1, 2012, will have a defined contribution toward a retiree medical health savings account. The Beverly Hills Police Officers Association currently represents 118 sworn police officers. “The members of the Beverly Hills Police Officers Association are excited that we have reached this tentative agreement with the city,” BHPOA President Sgt. Terry Nutall said in a statement. “Our members truly value the opportunity to serve in a community that supports its police department like no other.” Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . Continued here: City, Police Agree to New Employment Contract
Your Mama Hears Britney Spears…
…has ants in her real estate pants and plans to pack up the children and, once again, move mansions, this time to an exclusive, guard-gated golf community in the upscale and exurban outpost of Thousand Oaks, CA, about 35 miles northwest of Hollywood. We first caught wind of the famously peripatetic pop star’s’ upcoming move to suburbia to exurbia about two weeks ago when we received an unexpected covert communique from Anne Teak, a woman of few words who wondered if little ol’ we might be able to corroborate or squelch the latest neighborhood scuttlebutt about Miz Spears being the wealthy ‘hood’s newest celebrity resident. It took us a bit of time and a leg up from Our Fairy Godmother in Bel Air but we finally secured a confirmation from our always impeccably informed friend and snitch Lucy Spillerguts who told us with “110%” certainty the Britney Spears household has or will soon relocate to a big, beige stone and stucco mcmansion that overlooks one of the fairways (or greens or whatever) of the private Sherwood Country Club . According to Anne Teak the gossip goes that Miz Spears purchased a posh mansion in the Sherwood Country Club Estates and, indeed, the property in question was on the open market until sometime in September or October this year with an asking price of $8,900,000. However, charm bracelets, Miss Spillerguts told us Miz Spears has not bought but leased the property. We can’t say how how the rent check she writes will be because, well, we don’t know for sure. However, a little digging around in the murky depths of the interweb turned up multiple (expired) listings that reveal the 1.8-ish acre mini-estate was last but recently available for lease at $25,000 per month. Perhaps Miz Spears (or her people) negotiated a better price, perhaps not. A person who cares about such trivial celebrity real estate matters could not legitimately be institutionalized for wondering aloud why a woman and mother of means such as Miz Spears would opt to rent a damn mansion rather than buy one and make it a (semi-)permanent home for her, her children, her man-friend Jason Trawick, and their retinue. We have no wisdom to offer about the specifics of that particular matter, puppies, but we do know since fleeing–ahem–vacating her post-Kevin Federline mansion in the guard-gated Summit community in the Beverly Hill Post Office area–the luxurious scene of so much crazy for the global superstar in 2007 and 2008–Miz Spears has preferred to rent a short succession of rather large and expensive suburban mansions. She first settled, for a couple of short years, at the dorkily-named Chateau Sueños in Calabasas (CA) and since early 2011 she, the children, and etc. have shacked up in a 19,107 square foot mega-manse with 10 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms in the horse- and celebrity-friendly community of Hidden Hills (CA). Of course, Your Mama doesn’t know a blow hole from a microwave oven so we can’t very accurately speculate about the reason (or myriad of reasons) Miz Spears would choose to move again so soon after settling in to a rented mansion in Hidden Hills but maybe (or maybe not) it has to do with her recent turning of 30 , the December 10th finale in Puerto Rico of her international Femme Fatale tour and/or the rampant rumors running ’round the blogs and gossip glossies that Mister Trawick plans to very soon put a sparkly ring on Miz Spears finger. Mazel tov to all! Whatever the reason(s), listing information Your Mama squeezed like a pimple out of the interweb shows Miz Spears newest rented residence in somewhat-remote-to-the-Showbiz-World Thousand Oaks was built in 2004, stands two stories tall, and measures 10,567 square feet with a total of 5 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms, at leasst 4 fireplaces (3 indoors, 1 outside), garage space for 7 cars, and one craptastically swelegant 8-sided foyer with inlaid marble floor, arched display niches, an unholy cacophony of doorway styles, and a wrought iron railing-ringed oculus that exposes the lower level foyer to the hand-painted geometric mural that spans the ceiling of the upper level gallery. The main living areas include (but are not necessarily limited to) a formal dining room and a not-very-formal formal living room with lustrous random-width, honey-colored oak floors, a full wall of wood-framed glass sliders that peel open to a covered porch, an ornate and over-scaled carved stone fireplace at one end of the long room and what appears to be a built-in entertainment cabinet with exposed flat-screen tee-vee at the other. A more manly architectural and decorative vibe was applied to the medium-dark wood paneled library immediately off the foyer that presents a coffered ceiling overhead, wall-to-wall carpeting the color of wet sand underfoot, a quartet of over-sized windows with a grassy backyard view along one entire wall, and a carved wood and marble fireplace with flat screen television mounted above it where there might more appropriately be a $47 painting of canines smoking cigars and playing poker. The kitchen borders on colossal and includes a Suburu-sized center work island with veggie sink and under-counter booze fridge, many feet of custom milled raised panel cabinetry topped by swirly beige granite with double waterfall style edge detail, well-lit tumbled travertine back splashes, a full suite of high-grade appliances, and an adjoining breakfast area with backyard and swimming pool access through a bank of French doors. We’re just going to totally pretend we don’t see the dreadful swagged fabric valances and the hypertension-inducing items precariously set in to that slim and otherwise mostly useless space between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling because otherwise we’d have a serious conniption fit. Casual indoor entertainment areas include, as per listing and marketing materials, a home theater and a gigantic, partly wood-paneled second floor game room complete with fireplace, full-size wood and granite pub, poker nook, and at least three built-in flat-screen tee-vee because as if the sound of one tee-vee isn’t enough to disturb the peace then three tee-vees blaring three different programs at the same damn time is enough to make Your Mama need a nerve pill and nap. Nobody in their right minds smokes indoors anymore–particularly if there are small children, pets, and/or old people around–so draggers and puffers will appreciate the long row of wood-framed sliding glass doors that provide convenient access to a covered outdoor balcony that also has a wide flight of steps that descend to backyard and swimming pool areas. Miz Spears and Mister Trawick, both fit as fiddles with hard booties and firm stomachs, will no doubt make real and serious use of the home gym, located in the same neck of the mcmansion as the game room and equipped with a built-in flat-screen tee-vee mounted about a corner wet bar. We are, we must confess, a bit troubled by the wall-to-wall carpeting in the fitness room. Not only does it seem somehow counter-intuitive to work out–or “work out”–on semi-shag carpeting it seems downright unsanitary. Think about it for a moment. Iffin a person or persons actually uses and uses correctly all that exercise equipment–otherwise known by Your Mama as Self-Inflicting Body Torture Devices–that carpet could quickly become saturated with an upsetting amount of sweat. Anyhoo, a tightly curled carved wood and wrought iron staircase tucked into its own vestibule off the foyer leads to the second level living areas where Miz Spears’ (and presumably Mister Trawick’s) private quarters occupy a private wing that includes a fully-carpeted bedroom big enough for a sizable sitting area with a huge carved stone (or cast-concrete?) fireplace. Glass sliders open to a private covered balcony with chunky stone balustrade and not-so distant view of the mansion-dotted rolling hills that weave their way around the unnaturally green golf course. There isn’t a mention of it in the online listing we perused but we assume closet space in the master suite is both custom-fitted and commodiously celebrity-worthy but listing photographs do show a master bathroom dressed up in expensive but utterly banal and all-beige manner with double sinks, jetted soaking tub, glass-enclosed shower, and a dedicated hair and make-up station with the ugly sort of hydraulically-operated chair one might more reasonably expect to find in a beautician’s workspace. The house sits fairly hard up on the street with a small motor court wedged into the parcel at one end of the house and a soccer-pitch sized grassy space on the other where the current owners erected a jungle gym that we’d bet our long-bodied bitches Linda and Beverly cost more than a minimum wage domestic earns in an entire month. A long and wide free-form terrace extends off the back of the house and extends part way around the amoebic negative edge swimming pool and spa. At one end of the swimming pool an outdoor entertainment complex features an octagonal open air dining pavilion with massive outdoor fireplace and an adjacent conversation-friendly, horseshoe-shaped outdoor kitchen/barbecue center with a raised and umbrella-shaded snack & booze bar. A long, switchback stone staircase descends into a thickly wooded area below the house where Miz Spears boy children will no doubt
EaterWire : Ludo Does Paella, U-Sushi to Beverly Hills, MORE!
HOLLYWOOD— From foie to… paella? LAW reports that chef Ludo Lefebvre will prepare paella on December 11 from 5-8PM at Domaine LA . Two paellas and a flight of five wines selected by Spanish importer Jos