From the creator of Mr. Chow (in Beverly Hills), comes Philippe Restaurant. If you’ve driven down Melrose between La Cienega and Crescent Heights in the past few months, then you’ve seen the ugly building that housed Dolce transform in to the long awaited Philippe. The now gorgeous restaurant is open and ready to impress you.
As fantastic as the food is, let’s start with the drinks — they just might be what keeps you going back for more. Phillipe’s signature cocktail, the Philipptini, blends lychee and fresh squeezed pineapple juice with vodka, triple sec, and Chambord… simply amazing. The drink menu is full of fun and fruity cocktail creations including Pear Fection, Midnight Mojito, and Bangkok Banana (we’ll leave that one to the imagination).
The sexy black and white interior, complete with shiny red leather banquettes, creates the perfect ambiance to sip a dirty martini and people watch. This works out well, since the restaurant has been welcomed by Hollywood elite and has quickly become a celebrity hot spot, just like its New York and Miami counterparts.
Owner Philippe Chow has become famous for his hand pulled noodles and if you’re lucky you’ll get a show while a live demonstration is performed in the main dining room. The chicken satays are served covered in Chow’s infamous cream sauce and are so good you might find yourself ordering seconds.
Phillipe, located on the corner of Melrose and Sweetzer, is worth it, but be ready to throw down the AmEx because the $15 cocktails and $40 entrees add up quickly.
View the entire menu and make reservations at www.philippechow.com.
We’ve all been there — you kiss an uggo, and the next day you wake up and regret it. After a few too many drinks it happens. We’re not advocating making out with randoms, but if it happens, you can do it with a little extra protection. The answer is LaRocca Skincare’s Shield Multi-Active Lip Balm. It protects against herpes.
This new lip balm contains amino acids and anti-microbials. We’re not really sure that those are, but apparently they help strengthen your immune system, maintain gums and skin, and protects against herpes. Yes, herpes. Who doesn’t want to help prevent the spread of disease while looking pretty at this same time?
LaRocca’s Lip Balm contains ingredients including Amazonian fruit and 24-karet colloidal gold. But who really cares? The important thing is that it keeps your lips looking young with antioxidants and is loaded with vitamins that your skin craves. Oh yeah, and it helps you not get herpes.
Find LaRocca’s at both Fred Segal locations and online at www.laroccaskincare.com. But who wants to shop online when you have an excuse to go to Fred Segal.
The idea is simple: you’ve driven to a club, a party, an AA meeting, whatever, and you’ve wound up too drunk to drive back. You give a call to Y Drive, and they send a cutie on a scooter (which folds and goes in your trunk) to drive you home in your own car. You wake up the next day with a headache, but not a DUI!
The Y crew can be summoned on the spot 24-7 with a quick slurred phone call (888-401-3847). All the drivers are dispatched from Hollywood, so be sure to give them enough notice. But unlike that trick from last weekend, Y Drivers won’t consider you geographically undesirable if you meet at a Weho club but you live in Calabasas. They’ll go the distance.
And just how much is this life-saving service? It’s a flat fee of $38 if you are in their core zone (within a few miles of Hollywood) and then a bit more depending on how far away you may live.
For more info cruise over to http://www.ydrivela.com.
Someone once said “men don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses.” To which we say: what the hell do they know.
When you’re spotted in a pair of frames by Indivijual Custom Eyewear, you’ll probably be adored, propositioned, and asked directions by the locals. The new Texas-based company, is the first eyewear manufacturer in the world to make custom-made eyeglasses for you. So instead of donning the latest trend du jour like everyone else – 80s wayfarers, we’re looking at you – you’ll be wearing something as unique as your thumbprint.
At Indivijual, they give you the best fit possible by taking at least nine facial photos, measuring temple and eye width, and making a clay mould of your nose. There’s also a questionnaire about your personality and tastes. They take into account your hair, skin and eye color, so you won’t be sent out into the world wearing Kanye shades when you’re more of a Lady Gaga
Randy Barnett, CEO of Indivijual, was inspired to make custom eyewear after noticing that glasses are designed for either a square or round face, while most faces are shaped somewhere in between. He also saw that the fit left something to be desired. Mass-produced frames are made in small, medium and large, while the average person isn’t quite one or the other.
The glasses take about six weeks and cost $595. Not cheap, but also about what you’d pay for some designer specs. But with Indivijual, if you’re ever asked “who are you wearing?” you can simply answer, “Me.”
He’s back!
Mika, the Beirut-born, London-raised 26 year old will be sashaying back onto the airwaves once again with his new album, The Boy Who Knew Too Much , which drops tomorrow.
They don’t make ‘em much more pop-friendly than Mika, who made his first big bang in 2006 with his debut album Life in Cartoon Motion and the international hit “Grace Kelly.” Mika is a first rate performer and pop star. The Boy is pure, loud, bracing, exuberance from start to finish. Music snobs may roll their eyes at Mika’s shameless plundering of pop history: Queen, David Bowie, and Elton John pop up here and the “ooooo-wee-oooh” vocals on “Good Gone Girl” are pure Beach Boys. Too bad for them, because Mika’s mix –and-match reassembling of pop history is irresistible. Thankfully, Mika switches it up for some of his songs and actually puts the disco ball in storage for “I See You,” a beautiful ballad that could be the last song of the night at a prom in 1983.
Not only does Mika have a powerful voice, which could very well be the reincarnation of Freddie Mercury, but his lithe, doe-eyed prettiness makes the girls and the boys swoon. In interviews for his first album, Mika declined to identify his sexuality. But in a recent interview, Mika went on record as “bisexual, if you need a term for me.”
The CD will be available at all major retail outlets or i-tunes has the exclusive on the deluxe edition.
Kathy Griffin’s Holiday Show at Gibson Amphitheatre, Nov. 27 & 28
Taking into account the name of her latest live album, Suckin’ It for the Holidays, we imagine you couldn’t find a better host than Kathy Griffin to spice up any ho-hum holiday gathering. But, let’s face it, no matter how many of your Facebook friends you can get to gather around your turkey platter, this Bravo superstar is no longer D-List enough to show up just for the spiked eggnog. Instead, the two-time Emmy winner is taking the party to the less intimate but more deserving arena of the Gibson Amphitheatre, where she’s taking center stage for two shows on November 27 and 28.
Although you never know what’s going to come out of her mouth– we suspect that Kathy’s foul-mouthed festivities will touch on tales from her NY Times bestselling memoir, Official Book Club Selection, and Suckin’ It for the Holidays, which features cover art of the sassy redhead flashing Santa and unapologetically letting you know how she feels about tradition. But the main dish will almost certainly be focus on some of the My Life on the D-List star’s most recent run ins with celebrity curiosities like Playgirl-posing Levi Johnston and reality TV’s Kate Gosslin. And, set in the safety of a live concert stage, you can expect her stories to be much more deliciously detailed, and a lot naughtier, than her scathing but sanitized prime-time tales.
For show details and tickets, check out http://kathygriffin.net.
November 27 & 28, 8:15 PM
Tickets: $20-$77
Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, California