One of our personal favorite beachside Santa Monica hotels has got a new look inside. Eater LA has the scoop on the renovations completed at the One Pico fine dining restaurant inside Shutters on the Beach.
The room will have a breezier look, lots of ocean blues (in this case teal tufted leather chairs), dark wood accents; the lovely beachside views remain.
Michael Reardon, who's now executive chef of all the ETC Hotel properties (Casa del Mar next door and Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara included), created a seasonal, Italian-inspired menu. Think: grilled octopus with potatoes and capers, homemade pastas, steak Fiorentina, John Dory with langoustines and farmer's market vegetables.
The restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner and should open officially sometime this week. For a more casual setting, hit up Coast on the bottom floor which also got a renovation fairly recently. The terrace and pool deck is still under construction and will reopen on April 25th.
Fun fact: the hotel will chauffeur you around in a Mercedes-Benz with the license plates 1PICO. That's so California!
While Tom Brady was having the worst game of the season in the biggest game of the year yesterday, Bridget Moynahan (his ex-girlfriend and baby momma) was cool as a cucumber while brunching at Shutters on the Beach Hotel in Santa Monica.
The "Recruit" actress was caught by the paparazzi over at the Shutters Hotel yesterday afternoon for a little pre-game grub. And the new mommy was looking comfy and casual in a striped sweater, overcoat, and a simple pulled-back hairdo. If she was feeling a little jealous of her ex, Tom Brady, it didn't last long.
Ok so technically if she was there before the game started she couldn't be rejoicing (yet) but maybe she was confident that her game jinxing tricks would work?
The other day when we were taking our tour of the Sheraton Delfina we came across this little sign on the desk in the guestroom.
Chill out to our signature sounds with the complimentary use of an iPod Nano for two hours, then $15 each additional hours
$15 for each additional two hours? It just seems outrageous, mostly because many other hotels offer you an iPod to use while you're a guest...for free. Like at Gramercy Park Hotel which comes fully loaded with original playlists. But if you happen to walk away with it after your stay, you will promptly be charged something like $800.
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
Here's a somewhat killer view from the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica. It's actually a good view when the coastal haze and fog burns off in the afternoons because you can see straight to the ocean. But we'll admit, this view from Room 434 can also be an anti-view.
Yesterday, we posted this picture of a hotel somewhere in California with the following hints:
· It's somewhere in California. · It's a big brand hotel, one you find pretty much everywhere, especially near airports. · This hotel is not next to an airport.
The mystery hotel is revealed, along with more photos and a video tourafter the jump.
Angelina Jolie in addition to being a Brad-lover, a Third World-children lover, an airplane-lover and a tattoo-lover, is without a doubt, a hotel-lover. Her latest act of devotion to hotels? Paying $700 for two hours at Shutters on the Beach, so Maddox and her could freshen up after a day at the beach. Star Magazine reports::
"Angelina said they only wanted the room for two hours -- time enough for them both to take a shower," says a source. "She was very sweet and seemed like a concerned mom. It was just very bizarre, when she and Brad own two houses here in Los Angeles, that she would need to spend that kind of money on a hotel room just so she and Maddox could shower."
Remember the good ole days when she used to stash sex toys in hotel rooms? Now she's probably stashing diapers and Wiggles videos.
Pam Anderson and Kid Rock had approximately four wedding celebrations for each of the four months they were married, before Anderson abruptly filed for divorce yesterday.
Page Six reports that it was Pammy's appearance in the Borat movie that set Kid Rock off.
Her friend tells Page Six, "Bob started screaming at Pam, saying she had humiliated herself and telling her, 'You're nothing but a whore! You're a slut! How could you do that movie?' - in front of everyone. It was very embarrassing.
Um, Kid? Have you seen the Pam and Tommy Lee sex tape?
Nevertheless, Anderson and her two sons left the couple's Malibu mansion, and fled to Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica for a few days while Kid Rock cleaned his stuff out. Which is what most celebs seem to do when in the midst of a divorce.
We're sure she'll make some good use of the hotel spa and who knows? Maybe she'll take a nostalgic run on the nearby beach a la Baywatch style.
Hotels aim to pamper their guests and the ones that do it best are the ones where you never have to step outside the hotel to get what you need or want.
One way of doing that is by offering great restaurants. This week, which is also Restaurant Week at select hotels, we are looking at some of the notable hotel restaurants that we've heard about. Of course, we welcome suggestions for new restaurants to try so let us know which hotel restaurants you've tried and loved or hated.
One Pico inside Santa Monica's Shutters on the Beach offers panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica pier. Bearing the same name as the hotel's address, the restaurant's menu is described as "modern American" and is updated seasonally by chef Andri Tscharner "to keep the flavor fresh." Naturally, the seafood dishes like seared ahi are not to be passed on. Although it's a pricey fare ($41-$80 is listed on CitySearch) the food, friendly service and beach views won't disappoint. Valet on the other hand is always a pain.
While watching the sunset during a dinner is a romantic scene, the hotel wins better raves for its Sunday brunches. And like everything in California don't let the formal dining room dictate what you should wear. Jeans and a nice shirt will always do.
Hotels aim to pamper their guests and the ones that do it best are the ones where you never have to step outside the hotel to get what you need or want.
