Yes, our week-long vacay to Cali has been spewed at you completely out of order. So where did Beverly Hills come in? After Pasadena, but before Temecula. We spent one night in a beautiful boutique hotel called Maison 140, which I found on TripAdvisor.

What we learned is that, apparently, Beverly Hills pretty much shuts down on Sunday. That was our day there. I picked our hotel based on its (walking) distance from various restaurants. A couple that we considered were the Crustacean {for the Garlic Noodles we saw on The Best Thing I Ever Ate} and La Dolce Vita for the Italian food and the ambiance.

But both were closed on Sunday.

#planningfail

But we did still have a great time. Our hotel was in walking distance of Rodeo Drive. Walking down that street felt foreign to me. Not just because of all the high end shops, but because we didn’t hear any English spoken. I couldn’t pick out any celebrities, but then again none of the well-dressed shoppers were speaking any English. I am not sure why that surprised me…

Every girl from my generation remembers the scene in Pretty Woman where Vivian’s friend writes “Reg Bev Wilsh” on a pizza box with a tube of lipstick to remember where her friend is staying. Well, we were instructed by our friend to just go there… And to have an exorbitantly priced $20 glass of wine and people-watch.

So we did.

The Beverly Wilshire {Note: It is now owned by Four Seasons} is located on the corner of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard, also walking distance from our hotel. We hoped to take a seat out on the patio, street-side, because it was a gorgeous day. However, there were no tables to be had. As we made our way toward the door to step inside, I heard Rob gasp. He saw this:

This Batventador Lamborghini was parked on the side of the road. I find the little cones quite amusing. I wonder who owns it! Were they inside the building watching everyone gawk at it? The funny thing is that we actually ended up seeing four different Lamborghinis that day. Now, Rob is a car guy, so this was quite fun for him. In BH, Porsches, especially the Carerra, are so common that we started calling them Ford Focuses. “Oh, look! There goes another Ford Focus!” we’d say to each other – every time we saw one.

When I was finally able to pull Rob off the street, we stepped inside. There was no worry about a dress-code, really. Rob was wearing shorts and a nice shirt. I was wearing capris and a nice shirt. Maybe if we had been wearing sweats or something, it would have been different; but I didn’t feel out of place at all.

We strolled up to the bar and had a look at the menu. After all that, Rob just ordered a House Cab…

She actually gave him a taste before she poured him a glass. He told me that it was the best House Cab that he’s ever had. Then she showed us the label – Iconoclast Stag’s Leap Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – Napa. Seriously? Who puts a wine from Napa on their menu as a “house” wine? Let alone, who puts one on their menu from a distinct vineyard? We were quite impressed. And while we were expecting it to be overly expensive, when we got the bill, it was “only” $15/glass. If only we had a glass of wine nearly this good for some of the $12 glasses we pay for back at home…

I went a little further into the menu book for my drink. The Pretty Woman cocktail caught my eye because it was made with St. Germain, which is probably my all-time favorite liqueur. But there was a pink version of the cocktail on the menu for Breast Cancer Awareness month that I chose instead:

Our total bill for those two drinks, with tip, came to about $40. But we enjoyed every sip. That is when we wandered around a bit to find a place to have a quick appetizer and perhaps another drink. We finally found a place open called Roni’s, which reminded me of a little neighborhood joint you might find in Europe. We each had a mediocre beer and some horrible poutine. They were probably the worst fries of my life. But we liked the vibe of the place and got to witness some strange interactions – including a request for $500 worth of twenty-dollar bills. The funny part is that it seemed like a regular occurrence.

I spent a lot of time on TripAdvisor and Yelp trying to find an open restaurant that would suit us for our dinner that evening. However, Rob was drawn to the menu of our hotel’s sister hotel that had a restaurant inside called Hush. We both just wanted a relaxing/lazy evening. It was close to our hotel and we didn’t have to think anymore about it, so I happily obliged.

But it turned out to be just a mediocre meal. We each ordered a cocktail that ran about $14 a piece. We started with the Mosaic Fries which sounded delicious. They were pretty good, as apparent by the photo of the remaining fries below…

I ordered a caprese salad because a salad just sounded soooo good. And with my love of tomatoes…

To be honest, the tomatoes weren’t that good, but I had no problem finishing this bad boy. Rob on the other hand, ordered something you’ll never believe he ordered – A BURGER! 😉

Again, a decent burger, but we weren’t wowed. Let’s just say that the menu looked more intriguing than the food was satisfying. And before we knew it, we spent $75 {before tip}.  At this point in the trip, we had already spent about twice as much money as we had planned. So we decided our best bet would be just to go back to the hotel room and relax.

I can’t ever remember a time when I just lounged in a hotel room and watched TV on vacation! It was so nice to do this for once! Rob was able to log some hours for work, too, because Internet was included in the room rate. The mini-bar provided us a half-bottle of wine and I sunk in to the most comfy-cozy bed and settled in for some mindless TV…

I adored this bed so much that I didn’t want to get out of it. It was sooo much better than the one we about to sleep in for three nights at South Coast. Seriously, I still dream of this bed. The room was cute in general. The funny thing is that I did not know this when I booked the hotel, but it is French-themed! {Yeah, Carrie, it’s called the Maison 140. Duh.} Check out this sculpture in the room:

My chip-fanatic husband wanted me to get the Doritos in the picture. He picked these up at Target in Pasadena because he’s never seen the Tapatio Hot Sauce flavored Doritos before.

I loved the adorable Frenchness of the entire place, including breakfast! Breakfast is not included with the room rate and parking is an extra 28 smackaroos. So when I saw online that I could get a package deal for parking plus breakfast for two people for just $24, I took it. The breakfast was continental, but included croissants and pain au chocolat!

Okay, so not the best pastries I’ve had… but still… There was strong, French Press coffee!!!

Needless to say, Carrie was a well-rested happy girl departing Beverly Hills that morning…

What else did I like about Maison 140? I loved that we were pretty much in a little, quiet residential neighborhood but still in walking distance of what we wanted to do that we needn’t drive anywhere. That was huge in Rob’s book, too.

How do you choose a hotel when you go on vacation?

Cheers~
Carrie