celebrity restaurants – Page 3

February 9, 2011February 8, 2011

Aroma Coffee & Tea Company in Studio City

As I mentioned in Monday’s post, despite my drama-filled day on Friday, this past weekend actually turned out to be pretty darn nice. It all started with a Saturday morning stalking trip out to Studio City’s Aroma Coffee & Tea Company, which I had read about the previous week while doing some online research on the similarly-named Aroma Bakery & Café on Sunset Boulevard. As it turns out, Aroma Coffee & Tea Company is a big-time celebrity hotspot and since I love all things having to do with coffee and celebrities, I was absolutely DYING to stalk the place! So, bright and early Saturday morning I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there. And let me tell you, I pretty much fell in love with the place immediately upon walking through its front doors. The full-service café is actually a former residence which owner Mark Gunsky transformed into a restaurant just about fifteen years ago. And I have to say that the result of his work is quite possibly the most charming little café I have ever visited.

[ad]

The quaint little Aroma Coffee & Tea Company is tucked away on Studio City’s bustling Tujunga Avenue and one could easily walk right by it without even realizing it was there.

But that has apparently not been a problem because, as you can see in the above photographs, the place was absolutely JAM-PACKED when we showed up to stalk it. We could hardly get in the door! It is not very hard to see why the shop has become so popular over the years, though.

There literally wasn’t one thing about the café that I didn’t absolutely LOVE – from the adorable little French bistro tables situated on the front sidewalk;

to the charming living room area complete with working fireplace and built-in bookshelves;

to the front porch;

to the quaint backyard;

to Portrait of a Bookstore, the teeny tiny little bookstore/gift shop tucked into the back of the Aroma space, which Yelp recently named “pound for pound, the coolest bookstore in L.A., if not the entire world”. Every aspect of Aroma Coffee & Tea Company was warm and welcoming and I absolutely cannot wait to go back there for a re-stalk! Oh and the coffee was FABULOUS, too! It was just as good as Starbucks and while some people might consider that a jab, in my eyes there is no higher compliment when it comes to coffee!

Just a few of the stars who have been spotted at Aroma Coffee & Tea Company in recent months include Ashley Tisdale, Vanessa Hudgens, Rachel Bilson, Zac Efron, AnnaLynne McCord, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Vanessa Minnillo, Heather Morris (aka Glee’s Brittany Pierce), and William Shatner. In fact, the place is such a celebrity hotspot that back in November of 2007 TMZ conducted a video feed of the premises which it streamed live on its site! LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Aroma Coffee & Tea Company is located at 4360 Tujunga Avenue in Studio City. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

December 22, 2010December 21, 2010

The Smoke House Restaurant – Where Jim and Pam Held Their Rehearsal Dinner on “The Office”

This past weekend, while out doing some Christmas shopping with the Grim Cheaper, the two of us found ourselves in the Burbank area absolutely ravenous. For whatever reason, though, I could not think of a good place to eat, so the GC suggested we grab a bite at that “old Burbank restaurant across from Warner Brothers Studios”. Because my blondness was in full force that day, I had no idea what on earth he was talking about and just about died when he pulled into the parking lot of the Smoke House Restaurant – the very spot where Jim Halpert (aka John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer) hosted the rehearsal dinner for their wedding in the Season 6 episode of fave show The Office titled “Niagara”. And although I have actually stalked this location once before and have even blogged about it, because it was long before The Office had shot there and long before I was even a fan of the show, I decided the restaurant was worthy of a repost.

The original 46-seat Smoke House restaurant first opened in 1946 at the corner of Pass and Riverside Avenues in Burbank. The eatery was a hit with the Hollywood set from the very start, with such stars as Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra (who even has a steak named after him on the Smoke House menu), Judy Garland, Milton Berle, Jack Parr, James Dean, Burl Ives, Walt Disney, and Errol Flynn stopping in regularly to grab a bite to eat. Due to its promise of serving up “fine food at fair prices”, the restaurant became such a Burbank staple that its owners were quickly forced to expand. They started looking for a larger building to move into and, as fate would have it, found one in actor Danny Kaye’s recently constructed Red Coach Inn. Due to city regulations and the Up In Arms actor’s busy filming schedule, Kaye was unable to open the restaurant/night club and in 1949 he sold the never-been-used property to the owners of the Smoke House. The establishment is still located in that very building to this day. And, six decades later, the place is still going strong. In more recent years, such stars as Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Megan Fox, Andy Garcia, Miley Cyrus, Tish Cyrus, and the entire cast of Friends (who used to stop by regularly after filming) have all been spotted dining there.

George Clooney is such a fan of the place that he named his production company “Smokehouse Pictures” in honor of the legendary restaurant. The actor also did a photo shoot at the eatery in the booth pictured above.

One look at the Smoke House interior and it’s not very hard to see why it has succeeded for over sixty years. With it’s dim lights, dark red booths, and wood-paneled walls, stepping inside the eatery definitely brings one back to a forgotten era. It’s exactly the type of place I’d imagine Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. hanging out at back in the heyday of Hollywood.

Oh, and did I mention the food? During this particular visit I ordered the restaurant’s Cobb Salad and it was easily the biggest salad I’ve ever seen in my entire life! I didn’t even get through one third of it and I was literally STARVING when we showed up at the restaurant. On our previous visit, the GC and I ordered up the eatery’s famous “World’s Greatest Garlic Bread” and I can honestly say that the restaurant wasn’t being arrogant when they conceived that name. It literally was the best garlic bread I’ve ever had in my life! Smile Truth be told, though, all of the Smoke House food is FABULOUS, but be forewarned, their portions are ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS! The restaurant’s staff is also INCREDIBLY nice and, even though the place was pretty packed at the time, everyone I spoke with took the time to answer all of my silly questions about the filming that has taken place there over the years.

[ad]

In the “Niagara” episode of The Office, the Smoke House stood in for the supposed Niagara Falls-area restaurant where Jim and Pam held the rehearsal dinner for their wedding. The majority of that scene was filmed in the restaurant’s back room, which, luckily enough, was being set up for a private party while we were there, so I was able to snap a bunch of photographs while the room was empty!

Some filming also took place in the restaurant’s bar area.

The Smoke House’s side room was used in the scene in which Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) and Dwight Schrute (aka Rainn Wilson) are shown eating breakfast the morning following the rehearsal dinner.

The Smoke House was also featured in the Season 1 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Move On”, in the scene in which Susan Mayer (aka Teri Hatcher) sings a deeply personal rendition of the song “New York, New York” to her ex-husband Karl (aka Richard Burgi) while at a local karaoke bar.

The Desperate Housewives scene was filmed on the stage located in the restaurant’s bar area.

You can watch Susan’s karaoke scene by clicking above.

The eatery has also appeared in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Cold Case, and in a Season 2 episode of the reality series The Two Coreys, but I cannot for the life of me figure out which episode and it is driving me absolutely crazy! Does anyone out there know?

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Smoke House Restaurant, where Jim and Pam hosted their rehearsal dinner in the “Niagara” episode of The Office, is located at 4420 West Lakeside Drive in Burbank. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

December 10, 2010March 3, 2011

Our Rehearsal Dinner at POP Champagne & Dessert Bar

As I’ve mentioned many times before on this blog, POP Champagne & Dessert Bar in Old Town Pasadena is my very favorite restaurant and, even though I wasn’t even engaged at the time, when I first walked through its front doors over a year and a half ago, I immediately knew it was the place where I wanted to hold the rehearsal dinner for my wedding. The only problem was that the Grim Cheaper and I had long been planning on getting married in Malibu and having a rehearsal dinner at a restaurant located over fifty miles away from the wedding venue wasn’t exactly the most viable of options. After the GC finally proposed, though, and we sat down to begin our wedding planning, my mom suggested that we hold the actual wedding rehearsal in the backyard of my parent’s Pasadena home, which is located just about two miles from POP, and an idea was born – our nuptials would be a two-city celebration! Much to the GC’s chagrin, I had long before decided that all of our wedding guests would be invited to our rehearsal dinner. Because weddings seem to go by in such a blur and because the vast majority of our guests were from out of town, I did not want the time spent with our closest loved ones to be limited to one short evening. I was a little worried, though, that our family and friends might be upset over the fact that each night’s festivities would be held in a different city, which would entail everyone having to rent a car AND moving hotel rooms from one night to the other. As it turned out, though, people absolutely LOVED the idea! Because most of our family and friends were not from the area, many of them told me afterwards that they loved getting to experience two very different parts of Southern California over the course of our wedding weekend. YAY!

Holding the rehearsal in my parents’ backyard actually turned out to be very memorable for my family, because just two weeks after the wedding my mom and dad put their beloved house up for sale – the same house they had lived in for the better part of a decade. So, it was nice to make one last and very significant memory there before we had to say good-bye. And yes, as you can see in the above photographs, during the rehearsal I did wear the Carrie Bradshaw veil that my best friend, Kylee, made for my Sex and the City-themed bachelorette party.

[ad]

Because fifty people would be attending, I did not want our rehearsal dinner to be a formal, sit-down event. I wanted our friends and family to be able to mingle and get to know each other and a formal sit-down dinner would not have been very conducive to that. So, we asked Kristin and Matt, the owners of POP Champagne Bar, if they could create a cocktail party-type atmosphere for us and they ended up pulling it off beautifully! In fact, they couldn’t have facilitated it better had I given them a roadmap! They wound up giving us the entire front portion of the restaurant and had several different groupings of tables and chairs set up for people if they wanted to sit down, while servers walked around with tray-passed food. There was also a buffet table set up with wine and champagne and a sampling of the food so that guests could also help themselves. The evening turned out perfect! Not only did the GC and I get to walk around and talk to all of our closest friends, but most of our guests also spent the evening mingling and speaking with different groups of people, so, by the time the wedding rolled around, everyone had really gotten know each other, which was so incredibly cool! And while I realize that it is a (large) added expense, if you can swing it, I honestly cannot more highly recommend inviting all of your guests to the rehearsal dinner. Doing so made our special day that much more memorable.

Not to mention the food was ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE – and almost unbelievably reasonably priced. There are several different special events menu choices available at POP and we chose the most expensive one, which was only $12 per person! Included in that price were seven different menu items of our choosing. We ended up picking the deviled eggs with chive truffle, bacon onion, and blue cheese flavoring (my favorite), POPcorn chicken (pictured above to the right), chorizo and Anaheim chili meatballs, sliders with three different toppings including bacon-gorgonzola mayonnaise, Pasilla chili-chorizo, and goat cheese & date (the GC’s favorite), the flatbread pizza du jour, wild mushroom and goat cheese bruschetta, and olive, mushroom, and sun-dried tomato flavored tapenade crostini (pictured above to the left). And there was no shortage of food! Amazingly enough, after two and a half hours of being there, Matt informed us that we hadn’t even eaten fifty percent of the food we had paid for! LOL For dessert we picked the three-item menu at $6 per person which included chocolate-covered strawberries, a trio of homemade cookies, and the house-made churros served with three different dipping sauces – spiced warm chocolate, Dulce de leche, and creamy strawberry. Because the bottles of wine and champagne offered at POP are all on the pricier side, Matt offered to special order some lower-priced options for our rehearsal dinner. We told him the amount we wanted to spend per bottle and gave him free reign to choose the brands he thought best and he ended up picking out some spectacular options for us. So not only was the party absolutely fabulous – all of our guests were raving about both the atmosphere and the food – but it was also completely affordable! And while not yet a filming location (although it was almost chosen to be in the soon-to-be released No Strings Attached movie, which would have been just about the coolest thing ever!), POP has become something of a celebrity hangout as of late. Such stars as Mila Kunis, Denzel Washington, Marc Curry, and The Bachelor’s Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney have all been spotted there and ’80s pop star Tiffany even threw herself a birthday party at the restaurant! Love it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: POP Champagne & Dessert Bar is located at 33 East Union Street in Old Town Pasadena. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

November 23, 2010November 23, 2010

The Whisper Lounge – One of Michael Buble’s Favorite L.A. Restaurants

Last week, Michael Buble’s tour marketing manager, Tory Class, who I follow on Twitter (@ToryonTour), sent out a link to a recent interview the cutie crooner had done with The Hollywood Reporter during which he named his five favorite places to hang out in Los Angeles. I, of course, watched the video immediately and just about died when he mentioned the Whisper Restaurant and Lounge at The Grove as one of his favorite area restaurants, being that the Grim Cheaper and I had just dined there a few months prior. I, unfortunately, did not take any photographs of the place at that time, though, so I promptly added the eatery to my ever-growing “To Stalk” list and informed the GC that we would be dining there that very weekend. And we, indeed, did, this past Saturday night. Ironically enough, Michael actually mistakenly referred to the place as the “Viper Lounge” in his interview, but being that there is no such restaurant at The Grove and being that there is only one spot there that has the word “lounge” in its name, I was able to figure out which establishment he was talking about.

The Whisper Restaurant and Lounge, which first opened in January of 2004, is owned and operated by billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso (no relation to actor David Caruso), the man who was the brains behind both The Grove shopping center and the more recent Americana at Brand in Glendale. The eatery was modeled after the private supper clubs that thrived during the heyday of Hollywood and was designed to resemble a 1940’s speakeasy (hence the “whisper” in the name), with dim lighting, dark wood-paneled walls, large leather booths, an indoor/outdoor canopied patio, and Rat Pack music on the stereo. It’s a very quiet, intimate spot and both the GC and I fell in love with the place immediately. Being that it is on the pricier side, though, I almost fell right off my bar stool when the GC announced that he couldn’t wait to bring my parents back there as he knew that they would also love it and suggested that we do so this upcoming weekend!

In The Hollywood Reporter interview, Michael mentioned that the restaurant serves “the best flat crust pizza ever” and I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. The GC and I opted for the Wild Mushroom and Truffle version and it was nothing short of A-MA-ZING! The couple dining next to us ordered the Pizza Margherita with prosciutto added to it and, holy schmoley, did it look good. I am going to have to sample that myself on my next visit there. The Grilled Baby Broccoli with Garlic Butter side dish that I ordered was also spectacular – easily the BEST broccoli I have ever eaten in my entire life. I was seriously tempted to lick my plate clean. Winking smile

The service was also impeccable and lacked any sort of the typical L.A. snootiness that is usually found in upscale Hollywood-area restaurants. The bartender was INCREDIBLY nice and, because she had only worked at the Lounge for two months, was not sure if Michael Buble had ever frequented the place, so she sought out a few of the more veteran servers to find out for me, and, sure enough, they confirmed that the singer is a regular patron. So incredibly cool! While we were dining, we also had the pleasure of meeting the Assistant General Manager, a SUPER nice man named Eric Todd, who was very excited to hear that Michael had mentioned the eatery in a recent interview and did not think I was at all weird for stalking the place because of it.

[ad]

Apparently, Michael Buble is not the restaurant’s only famous fan. In fact, the place seems to be a veritable celebrity haven. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there recently include Halle Berry, Kim Kardashian, Kris Kardashian, Bruce Jenner, Spencer Pratt, Heidi Montag, Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Leah Rimini, Lauren Conrad, Jessica Simpson, Lara Flynn Boyle, Vivica A. Fox, Nick Lachey, David Spade, Sam Worthington, former Bachelor- contestant Jerry Ferris, and Antonio Sabato, Jr. And while we, unfortunately, did not spot any celebs while dining at the restaurant, we did see actress and former Real World-er Jacinda Barrett and her husband, actor Gabriel Macht, and comic book legend Stan Lee, who was doing a signing at Barnes & Noble, while walking around The Grove earlier in the day.

Michael Buble’s Five Favorite Places in L.A.

You can watch Michael Buble’s Hollywood Reporter interview by clicking above. And for those who are not able to watch, his five favorite Hollywood haunts are as follows: 1. Koi Restaurant, 2. The Chateau Marmont hotel, 3. His house in West Hollywood, 4. The Grove and the Whisper Lounge, and 5. Disneyland! Because I am an absolute Disney freak, I was incredibly excited to hear that last one. Of the park, Michael says, “When I walk in there now and I go through the gates, I’m seven years old. I go right back. I just, I can’t get enough of it.” Love it! And congratulations are also in order here as MB won his very first American Music Award this past Sunday night for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist! Whoo-hoo!

Justin Bieber’s AMA Speech

On an AMA side note – I just have to say that I absolutely LOVED Justin Bieber’s speech after winning Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, in which he acknowledged the King of Pop, saying, “I want to thank Michael Jackson because without Michael Jackson, none of us would be here.” Love it! Then when he called Usher up on stage after winning the Artist of the Year award, I literally got tears in my eyes! (You can watch his Artist of the Year award speech by clicking above). What can I say? I love me some Biebs!

New Kids on the Block and Back Street Boys 2010 AMA’s Performance

I also absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED the NKOTB/BSB performance! It was – dare I say it – the best performance of the night and, because I’ve had New Kids on the Blocks songs on my iPod for as long as I can remember, so think I am going to have to get myself some tickets for that tour!

On another side note – While doing some stalking in Hollywood this past Saturday morning, the Grim Cheaper and I spotted the above-pictured Tom Cruise look alike in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and I just about died from excitement! The guy looked SO much like the movie star that it was absolutely UNCANNY. The GC and I both did a double take and for a few brief moments I actually believed he was the real Tom Cruise doing some sort of a press appearance at the legendary Hollywood theatre.

The guy was being absolutely MOBBED by people wanting to take a photograph with him and I have to admit that in the ten-plus years that I have lived in Los Angeles, never once have I paid – or been tempted to pay – to have my picture taken with the faux celebrities or superheroes who make their living on the Boulevard, but I HAD HAD HAD to get my picture taken with Tom. Smile There was absolutely NO way I was going to let that opportunity pass me by.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Whisper Lounge is located inside of The Grove shopping center, near where Farmers Market Place meets Gilmore Lane, across the street from the Wonderland Bakery, in Los Angeles. The restaurant’s exact location is marked with a pink arrow in the above aerial view. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here, its Facebook page here, and you can follow the Lounge on Twitter here. The Whisper Lounge is currently hosting a “Blues Beats, Exquisite Eats” event each Sunday night, with live jazz music and a five-course tasting menu. You can find out more information about “Blues Beats, Exquisite Eats” here.

November 16, 2010November 16, 2010

Little Dom’s Restaurant from “90210”

This past Saturday night, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to Los Feliz to stalk Little Dom’s – an Italian eatery owned by Warner Ebbink and Brandon Boudet of the Eat Heavy Restaurant Group, the very same team that was responsible for founding the 101 Coffee Shop that I blogged about yesterday. The GC and I had actually breakfasted at the Los Feliz-area establishment once before a couple of years ago, but at the time I had no idea the place was a filming location or a celebrity hotspot, so I, unfortunately, did not take any photographs while there. Well, imagine my surprise when just a few months later the restaurant was featured in a Season 2 episode of fave show 90210. I recognized the place immediately, and, let me tell you, just about fell out of my chair. And then this past September, I just about had a heart attack when the eatery appeared on 90210 yet again. And then, last week, when I came across these November 4th paparazzi photos of the cast of Glee – including Lea Michele, Dianna Agron, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Harry Shum Jr., Kevin McHale, Jenna Ushkowitz, Naya Rivera, and Chord Overstreet – dining at the restaurant, I just about died and immediately informed the GC that Little Dom’s was where the two of us would be spending our upcoming Saturday night.

Little Dom’s first opened in January of 2008 on the corner of Hillhurst Avenue and Avocado Street in the heart of Downtown Los Feliz in the space that previously housed the French bistro La Belle Epoque. Warner Ebbink, who so ingeniously designed the 101 Coffee Shop interior, completely gutted the former Epoque property and created the Manhattan-esque decor of his new Italian eatery from scratch. The interior designer/restaurateur searched far and wide, and I mean that literally, for the items that now make up his eclectic establishment. He purchased and then transported the wooden bar, which dates back to the 1930’s, from a former saloon in Eaton, Pennsylvania; he found the authentic leaded-glass windows, which now make up some of the restaurant’s interior walls, at an about-to-be-demolished building in New York City, and the picture of Yosemite National Park which hangs above the bar area was requisitioned from none other than Warner Brothers Studios. As the Eater website so aptly stated in their January 2008 review of the restaurant, “Warner Ebbink is an ace at making an entirely new space feel like it’s been there forever.” I couldn’t agree more! Sitting at the antique bar and looking around at the dimly-lit, tin-ceilinged space, I found it very hard to believe that the place had not been around during the heyday of Hollywood catering to members of the Rat Pack.

Besides the spectacular ambiance, Little Dom’s also serves up some fabulous food! I absolutely gorged myself on the Brussels Sprouts with Shaved Parmesan side dish and the Truffled Chicken Salad with Arugula Sandwich entrée – both of which were divine! And I just about died from excitement when I saw that they featured my very favorite dessert, Affogato – vanilla gelato with a shot of espresso (pictured above) – on the menu! I never actually knew that my favorite dessert had a name, nor had I ever actually seen it featured on a restaurant menu before, but I have been ordering a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a shot of espresso on the side as dessert for just about as long as I can remember. So, the fact that Little Dom’s had it named on their menu was simply amazing to me! The restaurant also breaks down their wine list into three sections – ”Tried and True”, “Your New Best Friend”, and “Go Out on a Limb” – which I thought was just about the cutest thing ever. The eatery’s prices were also extremely, extremely reasonable, which, needless to say, the Grim Cheaper was thrilled about. We both absolutely LOVED the place and cannot wait to go back there for another stalking/culinary adventure.

It should come as no surprise that, in the three short years that it has been in operation, Little Dom’s has become a big time celebrity hot spot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there recently include Drew Barrymore, Jason Segel, Katherine Heigl, Josh Kelly, Rachel Bilson, Joe Jonas, Pixie Lott, Conan O’Brien, Ryan Reynolds, Megan Fox, Kate Walsh, Zachary Quinto, Michelle Williams, Spike Jonze, Vince Vaughn, Gisele Bundchen, Ron Livingston and, as I mentioned above, most of the cast of Glee. And while the GC and I, unfortunately, did not spot anyone famous on this most recent trip to the restaurant, we did see actor Michael Cera, who played Paulie Bleeker in the 2007 movie Juno, during our first visit there.

And the place is also a filming location! Little Dom’s appeared in the Season 2 episode of 90210 titled “Women’s Intuition”, in the scene in which Debbie Wilson (aka Lori Loughlin) confronts Sasha (aka Mekia Cox) about what she suspects is her fake pregnancy. That scene was filmed in the booth located closest to the restaurant’s front door.

Little Dom’s was also used in the Season 3 episode of 90210 titled “2021 Vision”, in the scene in which Mr. Cannon (aka Hal Ozsan) “accidentally” bumps into Erin Silver (aka Jessica Stroup).

In the scene, Silver sat in the booth located third in from the restaurant’s front door. That particular booth was, sadly, occupied while I was stalking the place, so I had to settle for taking a photograph in the one directly next to it.

[ad]

Silver’s Vespa was parked just outside of the restaurant, on Avocado Street, in the scene. And I just have to say here that I am absolutely hooked on 90210 this year. The series started getting pretty good last season, but I think it is just now finally beginning to hit its stride and I absolutely love it, love it, love it. Especially the brewing romance between Liam Court (aka my latest celebrity crush Matt Lanter) and Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes). Those two are SO darn cute together!!!

Little Dom’s also appeared in the 2010 movie The Kids Are All Right, in the scene in which Nic (aka Annette Bening) and Jules (aka Julianne Moore) discuss the fact that their children’s biological father Paul (aka Mark Ruffalo) is now a part of their lives.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Little Dom’s restaurant from 90210 is located at 2128 Hillhurst Avenue in Los Feliz. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

November 15, 2010June 16, 2011

The 101 Coffee Shop from “Swingers”

One location that I have wanted to stalk ever since moving to Los Angeles over a decade ago, but didn’t because there were numerous erroneous reports floating around online which stated that the place had since closed down, was the 101 Coffee Shop which appeared in the 1996 movie Swingers. It wasn’t until Mike, from MovieShotsLA, pointed out the restaurant to me while driving by it after we finished our tour of Paramount Studios back in September that I realized the location was, indeed, still open for business. I added the cafe to the top of my “To Stalk” list that very day and when fellow stalkers Lavonna, Beth, Debbie, and Connie came out from Ohio for a Hollywood stalking trip a few weeks later, we all hit the place up for a quick bite to eat.

Apparently, there is quite a bit of confusion surrounding this particular location, so I thought I’d put all the mystery to rest with today’s post. The diner, which is located on the first floor of the Best Western Hollywood Hills Hotel, originally opened in the 1930’s and was named the “Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop”. In 1994, the restaurant, which was faltering at the time, was taken over by a French chef named Susan Fine Moore and her husband, Michael, who revamped the property’s interior and updated its menu to include an array of standard comfort foods along with some Mexican dishes. Of the new menu, which vacillated greatly from L.A.’s typical low-fat fare, Fine said, “We kind of pride ourselves on being an oasis from all that craziness. There’s a new diet, a new fad every week, but actually people seem a little bit less obsessed than they used to be about diets. Otherwise we wouldn’t be so busy. Generation X is lovely – they’ll eat anything. And the older generation is figuring, I suppose, who wants to live to 108 if you can’t put butter on your potato?” Love it! The Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop really started to take off under the helm of Susan and Michael and it was at that point that the place, thanks to its high-quality food and laid-back attitude, started attracting celebrities. A few stars who were known to frequent the diner include Brad Pitt, my girl Jen Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Johnny Depp, Andy Garcia, Minnie Driver, Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, and Kevin Spacey. After losing their lease in July of 2001, Susan and Michael moved their restaurant two miles east to a new location at 1745 North Vermont Avenue, but the place, sadly, closed down shortly thereafter. In the meantime the former Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop space was leased to new owners – Warner Ebbink and Brandon Boudet of the Eat Heavy Restaurant Group – who opened a new eatery in its place.

That new restaurant is named the 101 Coffee Shop and, let me tell you, it is a VERY cool place. Ebbink, who has a passion for architecture as well as food, redesigned the property’s interior himself, modeling it after the old-time cafes of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Boudet serves as the head chef and, under his tutelage, the eatery still serves up high-quality comfort food, including macaroni and cheese, meatloaf and gravy, and tuna melts. For the foodies in your group, more highbrow offerings, like the Grilled Tandoori Salmon Sandwich, the Kale “Greek” Salad, and the Grilled Albacore Tuna Burger, are also on the menu. And, despite the change in ownership, the restaurant is still a big time celebrity hotspot. Fellow stalker Chas ran into both Nicolas Cage and Matt LeBlanc on two separate occasions while dining at the cafe. So, while the Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop is no longer in operation, the 101 Coffee Shop is alive and well, and, despite the remodel, is still very recognizable from Swingers.

[ad]

Then out-of-work actors Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau actually wrote the screenplay for Swingers over several meals at the Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop. (The restaurant seems to be something of a lucky charm for writers as the pilot episode of the extremely successful CBS comedy series Everybody Loves Raymond was also penned in one of the cafe’s back rooms.) According to a November 1998 New York Times article, Favreau and his good friend Vaughn used to frequent the diner regularly. Of the restaurant, Favreau said, “It was like a family atmosphere. We didn’t have a lot of money, and I lived in a tiny apartment up the block. I loved the people who ran the place, who made you feel like a big shot, even if you weren’t. Very good portions – you never left hungry.” Once the screenplay was sold, Favreau decided to use the restaurant as a filming location for no less than three scenes in the movie! The Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop first appears in the opening scene in which Mike (aka Favreau) talks to Rob (aka Sex and the City’s Ron Livingston) about how to get his girlfriend back.

That scene was filmed in the second booth to the left of the restaurant’s main door, which, despite the remodel, still looks very much the same today as it did in the movie.

The scene in which Trent (aka Vince Vaughn) tells Mike that he is “all growns up” was also filmed at the cafe. The booth where that scene was filmed is, sadly, no longer there. It looks as if the restaurant also had some sort of a grocery section at the time the movie was filmed, but it no longer does today.

The movie’s ending scene, in which Trent thinks a fellow diner is making goo-goo eyes at him, also took place at the former Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop.

In more recent years the coffee shop stood in for Winkie’s, the diner where Lorelai (aka Lauren Graham), Rory (aka Alexis Bledel), and Emily Gilmore (aka Kelly Bishop) stopped to grab a bite to eat while on their way to North Carolina to attend Mia’s wedding in the Season 7 episode of Gilmore Girls titled “Gilmore Girls Only”.

Randomly enough, Gilmore Girls filmed in pretty much the exact same spot where Lavonna, Debbie, Connie, Beth, and I ate lunch! 🙂 So cool!

In the Season 1 episode of Entourage titled “Date Night”, Vincent Chase (aka Adrian Grenier), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) grab some breakfast at the cafe on the morning of Vince’s big movie premiere.

Some filming for that episode also took place outside of the coffee shop.

The Entourage boys returned to the cafe to film the Season 7 episode of the show titled “Buzzed”, in which Turtle’s credit card is rejected after he tries to pick up the gang’s lunch tab.

The coffee shop was also featured twice in the 2007 movie In the Land of Women. It was first seen in the opening scene in which Sofia Bunuel (aka Elena Anaya) breaks up with Carter Webb (aka Adam Brody).

ScreenShot6184

And it was used in the ending scene in which Carter meets Janey (aka fave actress Ginnifer Goodwin).

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The 101 Coffee Shop, aka the former Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop from Swingers, is located at 6145 Franklin Avenue, on the first floor of the Best Western Hollywood Hills Hotel, in Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

November 8, 2010November 8, 2010

Villa Sorriso – The Restaurant Where Michael Jackson’s “Celebration of Life” Reception Was Held

One location that I stalked quite a while back, but, for whatever reason, have yet to blog about is Villa Sorriso Ristorante – the Italian eatery where the Jackson family hosted the September 3, 2009 “Celebration of Life” reception for pop star Michael Jackson following his burial at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. I dragged my good friend Nat, who was in town visiting from the San Francisco-area, and the Grim Cheaper out to the Old Town Pasadena restaurant this past June to celebrate my 33rd birthday after the place had been high up on my “To Stalk” list for close to a year. And I have to say that the restaurant was definitely worth the wait! I absolutely fell in love with the place immediately upon entering.

[ad]

Villa Sorriso is absolutely HUGE and is composed of two formerly separate spaces that originally housed the restaurants Clearwater Seafood and Old Town Bakery. The 12,000-square foot property currently consists of a central outdoor courtyard that encircles a large silver fountain, a side patio with private cabanas that are available for rent, a martini bar and lounge complete with a separate VIP section, a private upstairs lounge named Zebra, and several indoor dining areas. Sorriso, as it was originally known, first opened back in 1991 and at the time was located at 46 East Colorado Boulevard, across the street from its current location, and was, ironically enough, the very first Pasadena restaurant my family and I ate at upon moving to the City of Roses a little over a decade ago. The eatery moved to its current location in early 2004, whereupon “Villa” was added to its name. Ironically enough, the Italian restaurant is actually owned by a Taiwanese-born aerospace engineer/investment baker named Jack Huang. After working in the aerospace industry for over a decade, Huang had a short stint heading up the worker’s compensation department of the popular Panda Express Chinese food chain, during which he became interested in opening a restaurant of his own. In 1994, Jack, along with his wife, Karen, founded his first eatery, Wok ‘N’ Roll Sushi, which was also coincidentally Old Town Pasadena’s very first sushi bar. In 2000, he purchased the already established Sorriso Ristorante from its original owner, Varo Angeletti, and set about revamping and updating the property which, at the time, was floundering. The restaurant became a hit and a few years later he moved it to its current, larger home. Instead of subletting the lease on the former Sorriso space, Jack decided to open up a tapas bar named Bar Celona in its place. And in November of 2009, he bought out the owners of the now-defunct Fred’s Mexican Cafe and opened up ix-Tapa Cantina, a spot which just so happens to be my very favorite Mexican restaurant in Pasadena.

Villa Sorriso is an absolutely beautiful place that serves up some fabulous food and I honestly can’t recommend stalking the place enough. I ordered the crusted rosemary chicken entree while I was there and it was simply delicious!! My favorite part about the restaurant, though, had to be the fact that old black-and-white movies are projected onto the walls of the courtyard each night, as you can see in the above photograph. So incredibly cool!

For Michael Jackson’s “Celebration of Life”, the Jackson family rented out the entire restaurant to host 250 of the King of Pop’s closest family and friends. Guests included Macaulay Culkin, Mila Kunis, Corey Feldman, Al Sharpton, and Gladys Knight. The entire Jackson family – most notably Jermaine – has apparently been frequenting the restaurant since it first opened back in 1991, which is how they decided upon holding the gathering there. Quite a few industry parties have been held there over the years as well, including the January 2010 FOX Broadcasting Company’s UpFront after-party, at which Lisa Edelstein, Jesse Spencer, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Dianna Agron, Jane Lynch, Cory Monteith, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Jenna Ushkowitz, Emily Deschanel, Olivia Wilde, and Seth Green were all in attendance. You can see photographs of that party here. My girl Shannen Doherty has also been spotted at the restaurant in the past.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Villa Sorriso is located at 168 West Colorado Boulevard in Old Town Pasadena. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

October 12, 2010October 11, 2010

Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe

Two Mondays ago, after Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I finished our tour of Paramount Studios in Hollywood (which I still have yet to blog about), the two of us headed across the street to grab a bite to eat at a little restaurant that has been at the top of my To-Stalk list for close to a decade now – Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe. I hadn’t actually heard much about Lucy’s before our recent trip there, but had passed by it countless times and figured it had to be something of a celebrity hot spot due to its close proximity to three different Hollywood studios – Paramount, Raleigh, and the now defunct KCAL/KHJ. As it turns out, my hunch could not have been more spot on! Lucy’s was originally founded over four decades ago and has been attracting film, television, and music stars and well-known politicians pretty much ever since. Not only that, but Mike and I discovered that the restaurant is also a filming location! And the food there is absolutely AMAZING, to boot. As Mike said to me upon leaving the restaurant, “This place is a hidden jewel!”

Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe was first founded in 1964 by Los Angeles native Frank Casado, who named the eatery in honor of his beloved wife Lucy. Frank managed and worked at the restaurant, along with members of his family, for over two and a half decades until he passed away in 1990, upon which Lucy took over. She still owns and runs the place along with their daughter, Patricia, to this day. Amazingly enough, most of Lucy’s employees have also been there since the day the place opened, including our extremely nice waiter Ricardo, whom Lucy calls a “Juan-of-all-Trades”. 🙂 The Cafe originally consisted of only one single storefront – a tiny room lined with brown leather booths – but thanks to its immense popularity, the place has since expanded to include both the storefronts to the left and to the right of it.

[ad]

Ricardo was so incredibly proud of the restaurant’s history and excited that Mike and I were so very interested in hearing about it that he ended up taking us on our very own thirty minute private tour of the property and told us countless stories about the many stars who have dined there over the years. Included in our tour was Lucy’s large VIP/Private Party room, where most of their celebrity patrons dine.

The VIP room also just so happens to be the spot where the restaurant displays the piano that was gifted to them by musician Phil Collins, who is a regular patron! SO INCREDIBLY COOL! There is even a picture displayed on the restaurant’s walls of Phil tickling the piano’s ivories. LOVE IT!

Ricardo also showed us the restaurant’s ultra-cool looking front patio area, which he says gets extremely crowded each Friday and Saturday night. I am so going to have to take the Grim Cheaper back there to grab a drink in the near future.

My favorite part of the tour, though, had to be when Ricardo showed us Lucy’s extensive wall of autographed celebrity photos, accompanied by quite a few of his personal anecdotes from his various dealings with them.

It would be impossible for me to name all of the celebs who have dined at the restaurant over the years, but a partial list includes celebrity siblings Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal (who ate there quite often as children), Lyle Lovett (who often thanks the restaurant in the liner notes of his albums), Ugly Betty’s Ana Ortiz (who first met husband Noah Lebenzon while at the Cafe), the cast of Family Ties (who were regulars during the series’ seven year run), Ronald Regan, Dolly Parton, Tom Selleck, Harland David Sanders (aka “Colonel Sanders”), Bernadette Peters, Magic Johnson, and all of the members of the Eagles rock group. One of the restaurant’s most loyal patrons is former California governor Jerry Brown who has been eating at Lucy’s since the early 1970s and considers Lucy, Frank, and Patricia to be part of his extended family. He even used the restaurant as an unofficial office during his tenure as governor. And it was at Lucy’s that Jerry first met singer Linda Ronstadt. The Cafe now has an entree named after the former governor – the Jerry Brown Special, which consists of chicken and rice.

Most amazing of all, though, is the fact that the Dalai Lama himself is a regular! He has been eating at the restaurant at least once each year for well over a decade!

Lucy’s is considered something of a lucky charm among celebrities, as many now-famous stars were regular patrons there long before becoming household names – the most notable of whom is Drew Barrymore who has been dining at Lucy’s since before she could talk. In fact, Ricardo still remembers the day a young Drew told him that she had just been cast in Steven Spielberg’s latest movie. 😉

The actress continued to dine at Lucy’s long after becoming famous and even held one of her childhood birthday parties at the Mexican restaurant (pictured above).

And I just had to take a pic sitting in Drew’s favorite booth (which is the very first booth located on the right-hand side of Lucy’s main room) for fellow stalker and Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, from the Drewseum website. 🙂

Then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy once dined at Lucy’s back in June of 1968, just a few short days before he was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel. The above photographs were taken as the senator was leaving the restaurant through Lucy’s rear door.

Lucy’s restaurant also appeared in the 2010 flick Greenberg, which was directed by Noah Baumbach, husband of Jennifer Jason Leigh. According to this Los Angeles Times article from March of 2010, Jennifer has been a patron of Lucy’s ever since childhood, which is why Noah decided to feature the restaurant in his movie.

Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe has become such a Hollywood landmark that in 2007 the Los Angeles City Council voted to name the intersection of Melrose Avenue and North Plymouth Boulevard as “I Love Lucy Square” in honor of both Lucy Casada, the restaurant’s owner, and Lucille Ball, who owned a portion of the Paramount lot back when it was known as Desilu Studios. So amazingly cool!

[ad]

As I mentioned above – and despite what many Yelp reviews may state – both Mike and I thought the food at Lucy’s was absolutely spectacular! I opted for the ground beef tacos, which were AMAZING, and Mike ordered the cheese quesadillas, which he said were fabulous. I honestly can’t recommend stalking this place enough!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe is located at 5536 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, directly across the street from Paramount Studios.

September 21, 2010September 21, 2010

The Restaurant Where Brenda and Donna Ate Veal Brains on “Beverly Hills, 90210”

One location that I have been on the lookout for for over eighteen years now is the Paris restaurant where Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) and Brenda Walsh (aka Shannen Doherty) ate veal brains in the Season 3 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Too Little, Too Late/Paris, 75001”. Because almost two decades have passed since filming took place, though, and because there were virtually no clues visible in the background of the veal-brains-eating scene, this one proved to be a VERY tough find. So, a few weeks back I finally decided to call in the team – Mike, from MovieShotsLA, Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, and fellow stalker Owen – and, amazingly enough, Owen found the restaurant in record time – in less than an hour, in fact! Not joking! I really need to start taking lessons from Owen, as he always comes up with extremely innovative ways of tracking locations down. In this particular case, he decided to contact a few of the guest star actors who appeared in the episode, one of them being a girl named Lindsey Rosin. Now, to someone like Owen who has never in his life watched an episode of 90210, the name Lindsey Rosin doesn’t mean a whole lot, but to all of us diehard fans out there, the girl is a celebrity! For those who are not in the know, Lindsey just happens to be the daughter of 90210’s longtime executive producer Charles Rosin and, as a child, she appeared in several episodes of the series, including the “Too Little, Too Late/Paris, 75001” episode. When Owen told me he had contacted her, let me tell you, I just about died from excitement! Even more exciting, though, was the fact that not only did she write him back almost immediately, but she also knew exactly where the filming of the veal brains scene had taken place. YAY!

As it turns out, Brenda and Donna’s Paris restaurant was named Le Chardonnay and it used to be located on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. Sadly, though, the eatery closed its doors for good just about a decade ago. Since that time, the property has undergone several renovations and has re-opened as a few different restaurants, including the now-defunct French bistro Carafe and the Danny Masterson/Wilmer Valderrama/Ashton Kutcher-owned eatery Dolce. Today, the space which once housed Le Chardonnay is an upscale Chinese food restaurant named Philippe Chow and even though it no longer looks anything like it did when it appeared on 90210, I just HAD to stalk the place. So, this past Friday afternoon, since we were in the area running some errands, I dragged my dad there to grab some lunch.

Philippe Chow is a SUPER cute little restaurant that serves up some FABULOUS food! Especially the chicken satay in cream sauce, which the restaurant is famous for. The food is pricey, though – a bottle of sparkling water cost me a whopping $10!!!!!!!! – but, as they say, you get what you pay for, and the grub at Philippe Chow is EXTREMELY good! The service was also fabulous and definitely lacking in the typical hoity-toity attitude one comes to expect from upscale L.A. eateries. I honestly can’t recommend the place enough!

In the “Too Little, Too Late/Paris, 75001” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, Brenda and Donna go out for dinner on one of their very first nights in Paris, France. Neither one can speak the language very well and they end up ordering the one item on the menu that contains a word they recognize, Cerveaux de Veau – “veau” meaning veal. As it turns out, though, Cerveaux de Veau actually translates to veal brains – something they don’t discover until after they have already sampled the dish. The scene is absolutely hilarious, mostly due to the comedic antics of Tori Spelling, who spits a bite of the brains out onto her plate and then proceeds to gargle with a glass of water. And they say Tori Spelling can’t act! In my never-to-be-humble opinion, I think she was FABULOUS in that particular scene –

– which can watch by clicking above.

And while there is absolutely no trace of Le Chardonnay left on the Philippe Chow premises, there is some good news about this location. After doing some research online, I discovered that Le Chardonnay was actually an almost-exact replica of the famous Restaurant Vagenende in Paris, France, which is still open, and as you can see in the above photographs, looks VERY similar to the restaurant which appeared on 90210. So, while Le Chardonnay is no longer stalk-able, Vagenende thankfully is! And, believe you me, if I ever go back to Paris, I am FOR SURE going to stalk the place!

Beverly Hills, 90210 is not the only production to have filmed on the Le Chardonnay premises. Back when the restaurant had first been purchased by Wilmer Valderrama, Ashton Kutcher, and Danny Masterson, it was used in the Punk’d episode in which Ashton plays a prank on Wilmer by having a jealous boyfriend pretend to destroy his beloved Escalade – which you can watch by clicking above.

At the time Punk’d was filmed, Dolce had yet to open and was undergoing an extensive renovation process, and, as you can see in the above screen capture, the walls had yet to be painted and were still the same color pink that they were on 90210. Love it!

[ad]

Philippe Chow also recently appeared in the Season 5 episode of The Hills titled “Can’t Always Get What You Want” as the spot where Kristin Cavallari and Brody Jenner meet up and discuss his wanting to get back together with ex-girlfriend Jayde Nicole.

Philippe Chow is also something of a celebrity magnet. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Charlize Theron, Rihanna, Nick Nolte, Matt Kemp, Stephanie Pratt, Kelly Osbourne, Paris and Nicky Hilton, Lauren Conrad, Lindsay Lohan, Nick Jonas, Sofia Vergara, Selena Gomez, Lamar Odom, Kobe Bryant, and Kim and Khloe Kardashian. Unfortunately, we didn’t spot any celebs while we were there, though.

Big THANK YOU to Owen – and to Lindsey Rosin! – for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Philippe Chow, the former Le Chardonnay restaurant where Brenda and Donna ate veal brains on Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 8284 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. You can visit the Philippe Chow website here. Vagenende, the restaurant that Le Chardonnay was modeled after, is located at 142, boulevard Saint-Germain, in Paris, France. You can visit the Vagenende website here.

August 18, 2010July 26, 2010

Nate ‘n Al’s Delicatessen

One location that I have been wanting to stalk for quite some time now is the historic Nate ‘n Al Delicatessen in Beverly Hills, but because I don’t get out to that area very often, the restaurant had remained an unchecked item on my extremely long “To-Stalk” list for over a year. Until a couple of weeks ago, that is, when I finally dragged my fiancé to grab a bite to eat there after we had stalked Will Rogers Memorial Park from 90210, which is located nearby. And I have to say that the place was definitely worth the wait! Although rather pricey (despite what some online reviews might state), the landmark restaurant serves up some FABULOUS food. And thanks to its huge deli counter, brown leather booths, and pastrami sandwiches stacked as high as the eye can see, eating there was like visiting a little slice of New York City right here in Southern California.

[ad]

Nate ‘n Al’s has been a veritable institution in Beverly Hills ever since it first opened way back on May 24, 1945. The deli was founded by Al Mendelson and Nate Reimer, who originally met while working at Boesky’s Deli in Chicago. The two entrepreneurs eventually decided to open their very own deli-style restaurant a few years later and figured LaLaLand was just the place to do so. At the time of its founding, the restaurant was Beverly Hills’ sole delicatessen and could only accommodate a scant 30 patrons. It became such an immediate success, though, that it was later expanded to its current, larger size which can hold up to 120 diners. Nate retired just a few years after the restaurant’s opening, but Al stayed on to helm the place and it is his ancestors who are still running it today. And I am happy to report that the restaurant is still going strong. According to this 2005 Daily News article, each year Nate ‘n Al’s serves up 130,000 matzo balls, 16,000 gallons of chicken noodle soup, and 80,000 pounds of corned beef! As I stated above, the food is phenomenal, but it’s also fairly expensive, so be prepared.

Because of its fabulous food and laid-back attitude, Nate ‘n Al’s has long been a celebrity magnet. You won’t find any autographed pictures decorating the establishment’s walls, though, because as founder Al Mendelson advised: “If you want them in the booths, keep them off the walls.” 😉 Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there over the years include Max Mutchnick (one of the co-creators of Will & Grace), Lew Wasserman, Suzanne Pleshette, Tom Poston, Robert Wagner, Neil Diamond, Jon Voight, Doris Day, Nicollette Sheridan, Jay Leno, Roseanne Bar, Adam Sandler, Dick Van Dyke, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Jodie Foster, Nancy Sinatra, Courteney Cox, Rodney Dangerfield, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Tony Curtis, Sharon Osbourne, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Television host Larry King loves the place so much that he not only dines there every single morning (not kidding!), but he also purchased his house in Beverly Hills for the sole reason that it was within walking distance of the deli! Love it!

And while we didn’t spot any celebs while dining there, fellow stalker Karen was lucky enough to be seated next to Jason Reitman on a recent visit to the deli. Her daughter snapped the above photo of the Juno director on the down-low during their meal. Love it! Jason wasn’t the only celeb that Karen and her daughter spotted at Nate ‘n Al’s that day, though – Larry King and Clint Howard were also dining at the time. Lucky girls! As Karen said, talk about “hitting a trifecta”! From what I’ve heard, the best time to spot celebs at Nate ‘n Al’s is in the morning, which means I’ve gotta go back there sometime soon to grab some breakfast!

ScreenShot5107

And the place is also a filming location! In the Season 5 episode of Entourage titled “The All Out Fall Out”, Nate ‘n Al’s is the spot where Vinnie Chase (aka Adrian Grenier) finds out from his business manager that he may need to file for bankruptcy. The 1957 flick Pal Joey, which starred Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth, was also filmed at the historic restaurant.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Nate ‘n Al Delicatessen, from Entourage, is located at 414 North Beverly Boulevard in Beverly Hills. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.