Jamie Bertolini Reviews LVP’s SUR and Pump Lounges

by Jamie Bertolini

When my cousin and I entered SUR, of Vanderpump Rules fame, we were greeted before finding a spot at the front bar. Chad, our bartender that evening, spoke to us and served us promptly. Every drink was delicious. We tried all three signature LVP Sangrias  (the red was my favorite while the white was my cousin’s favorite.) I also tried the SUR signature drink, Lisa’s Big Pinky—Vanderpump Vodka, fresh lime, mint and a splash of cranberry. It was a little sweeter than what I usually go for but I did enjoy it. Overall, my experience at SUR was excellent and I’d go back in a heartbeat. The atmosphere, music and service all contributed to making it a great evening.

We didn’t spend much time at the Lisa’s other hot spot, PUMP, but we did have a few glasses of champagne and sat in the garden. It’s just as beautiful as SUR and has chandeliers EVERYWHERE. Truly, as a designer, both spaces did it for me.

We did walk by Lisa Vanderpump and Ken Todd’s, Villa Blanca restaurant on Sunday. It was very busy. The décor was just beautiful. Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fans should note that it’s right down the street from Kyle Richards’ boutique Kyle by Alene Too.

I hope you enjoyed my taste of the RHOBH!

Be sure to tune into Bravo for the premiere on Tuesday November 18th!

Check out our latest GIVEAWAY ! 

Jamie Bertolini Gets “Pumped”

By Jamie Bertolini

Oh, nothing…

Just, Lisa Vanderpump knows who I am. Like officially, thanks to Twitter.

I’ll give you some background. I was visiting my cousin in Southern California for the week and we went to LA for the weekend. We decided to stay in West Hollywood because we knew that we’d basically spend our entire evening out at SUR Lounge.

We took the WeHoPickup trolley to the beginning of West Hollywood which is where Lisa & Ken (Todd)’s newest bar/restaurant, PUMP is located. SUR is just a block or two away so we decided to drop into PUMP to see if perhaps we’d bump into Lisa; and then she’d adopt me, we’d drive into The Hills in her Bentley, andI’d  live happily ever after with Giggy and the swans. Well, that didn’t quite happen, instead we bumped in to this guy:

Ken was the best! Not only was he more than happy to take a picture with us, he embraced us, and thanked us for stopping in. We could have happily ended our evening there, but SUR was still calling our names so we pressed on in our hunt for the ultimate Real Housewife of Beverly Hills.

I had sent Lisa a tweet the previous night alerting her that I’d be at SUR. I casually stated that she should stop by as I knew she “couldn’t wait to see me.”

We arrived at SUR and got THE BEST standing spot at the front bar. No Jax Taylor, no Tom Sandoval, no Ariana Madix, no Scheana Shay, no Stassi Schroeder (we were bummed) BUT Chad, who I don’t think we’ve ever seen on the show was there and, show or not, he’s an awesome bartender. He kept us hydrated (HA!) while we enjoyed the music and the crowd around us.

 

We stood right in front of the large SUR letters that grace the bar and to the right of a huge, white lily flower arrangement that I couldn’t help but think Lisa had her hands in just hours prior. To the left of the front bar, near the DJ, we saw Lisa & Ken’s business partner, Guillermo Zapata. Later on in the evening, we met and talked with him but the guy who took our picture clearly had too many to use an iPhone camera properly because I had no picture on my phone. You win some you lose some, and later on we got a win when we saw Peter Madrigal. He was busy working, but more than happy to talk with us and pose for this picture:

 

After that we walked around the restaurant because we all know that Lisa’s interior design taste is impeccable so we had to explore. In my opinion, Vanderpump Rules does the space ZERO justice. Even at night, in dim lighting, it’s beautiful. Even the bathroom. And the garden? You know where Joyce Giraud’s husband yelled at Brandi Glanville? So nice. Anyway…

 

It was a little after midnight when we decided we’d walk down to Laurel Hardware to cap off our already pretty awesome evening. We walked by PUMP again and I said to my cousin, “let’s just go in one more time and see if maybe Lisa’s here.” She obliged and we went in. We knew since the Walk for Aids, which she and Ken were set to start, was the following day, chances were they had probably long gone home, but I just had this feeling… After my cousin sweet talked a server, he told us that Lisa was indeed there, sitting at a table in the garden, and as long as she wasn’t eating that we could go meet her. There was a girl crouched down next to her, I’m guessing so as not to make a scene, so we went to the back bar and ordered some champagne while we waited.

The girl walked away, we walked up to Lisa, I put my hand on her back… “Lisa?” Her name barely left my mouth when she jumped out of her chair and exclaimed: “James Bertolini!”

 I nearly died. Not only did my favorite Real Housewife just happen to be standing right in front of me –she knew exactly who I was before I even introduced myself! That right there proves that it is pays to be nice to people on Twitter.

Ken, who was across the table then mentioned that he had met us earlier. Lisa replied,  “Oh, you saw them earlier?!” Almost in a way that she couldn’t believe that he didn’t tell her that he saw us! She also said, “You have always supported me and especially when I needed it most so thank you.” I couldn’t even make this up. I told my cousin it was a good thing she was witness to this because no one would believe me. My cousin took our picture, which she mentioned she doesn’t normally do in the restaurant. After a hug and a double cheek kiss, we walked to a nearby table for some more champagne. Lisa and Ken left shortly after our meeting.

We ended up spending so much time at PUMP that Laurel Hardware wasn’t letting anyone else in by the time we ventured back there. We walked back to our room and settled in for the night. And what a night it was

The next morning I woke up to tweets from Lisa recapping the evening. She is truly the most gracious person and I really appreciated her making us feel so welcome. I also woke up to my Instagram and Facebook totally blowing up from my friends and family, who obviously knew just how much meeting Lisa Vanderpump meant to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we want you to get PUMPED! You can pump up the volume in our latest #GIVEAWAY ! If yo love music and style then click HERE! There will be not one, not two, but THREE lucky winners!! While you are there check out special holiday deals on great products just for reading TBB!

 

 

 

Reality Roundup: Housewife Wedding Bells, and Baby Bump Swells

Kandi ties the knot!
Credit: In Touch Weekly

By Lesley Rousso

Last weekend two Housewives tied the knot. Real Housewives of Atlanta Kandi Burruss, married TV producer boyfriend  Todd Tucker on April 4th. Burruss’s storyline has revolved a lot around her mother Joyce‘s lukewarm feelings toward Tucker, but it seems like all went well for the big day. The 37 year old singer/songwriter was thrilled telling In Touch, “This is one of the best days of my life. I never imagined that I would marry my best friend. Todd’s been that to me.” Earlier this year Burruss and her mother appeared together on the Bethenny show to tell the world they have made peace regarding the relationship. Burruss has one daughter, Riley, 11, who she brings to the union.

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Taylor Armstrong also married last weekend. Taylor whose former husband Russell committed suicide in 2011 after she filed for divorce, has an 8 year old daughter Kennedy. Taylor appeared on VH1’s Couples Therapy with new husband John Bluher. On the show Bluher had told Armstrong of his plans to adopt Kennedy to which she replied,“There could be no better father for (her)”. According to Radar Online, the lavish affair, which took place at the Pacific Palisades, CA Bel Air Bay Club cost the Bluher’s nada. The entire wedding and reception tab was picked up by WETV’s My Fair Wedding. Seems, even though she’s no longer a Housewife, Taylor just can’t keep off of Reality TV.

Last week, Joanna Krupa took to Instagram and Twitter to put to rest some long time rumors that have been swirling around.  “The rumors that I wanted to be transferred to RHOBH were always false,” she stated.  Joanna goes on to say that the rumors that RHOM has been axed or renewed are also false.  Too bad, because given Joanna’s history with RHOBH resident bitch Brandi Glanville, that would’ve been an intersting season.  As far as RHOM goes Bravo TV announced their returning shows last week and the Miami franchise was not on the list.  Considering Bravo beats to their own drum, this could mean anything. In our opinion, if they do bring it back, a cast shake-up is in order.

According to E! News, former RHOC star Lydia McLaughlin is pregnant with her third child.  Lydia announced on Friday that she’s due in November and couldn’t be happier.  She goes on to say that she was trying to have another baby and didn’t want that to be her storyline on the show.  Hence the reason she left.  Lydia says it was “bittersweet” to exit RHOC but she was ready to move on.

In RHONJ news, Lauren Manzo and fiancee Vito Scalia had a blowout engagement party at the Manzo family’s Brownstone catering hall.   According to Instagram and Twitter the only remaining cast members present at the  party were Melissa and Joe Gorga and Kathy and Rich Wakile.  If you remember the Manzo family left the show to focus on Manzo’d With Children.  Obviously former castmates the Laurita’s, Chris and Jacqueline being the bride to be’s uncle and aunt, were also there.

Manzo’d With Children  may have been the right move for Caroline and company. Last week Bravo announced their new lineup, and the RHONJ spinoff, along with two Atlanta spinoffs made the cut.  Kim Zolciak, husband Kroy and their six kids will be returning for another season of Don’t Be Tardy and  Kandi and new hubby Todd will appear in Kandi’s Wedding (working title).  The short term series will be similar to  NeNe Leakes’ spinoff I Dream Of NeNe and focus on the planning of their wedding.  Apparently the theme is Coming to America, which symbolizes the couple meeting in Africa. Bravo has also announced some scripted shows to their lineup including Odd Mom Out, which is a series produced by and starring novelist Jill Kargman as an Upper East Side mom who is trying to keep up with the proverbial Joneses.

Back to Atlanta, according to TMZ, Kenya Moore has threatened to have Porsha Williams fired after she attacked her at the taping of the reunion show.  The other Housewives are alledgedly on Porsha’s side, but no matter what happens, we cannot wait to see this reunion.  Hey Andy Cohen, at least no one attacked you this time.

TMZ also reports that  Real Housewives of Beverly Hills husband Ken Todd is being sued for allegedly attacking two construction workers outside of Sur, the couple’s West Hollywood restaurant.  Brothers Kevin and David Cazaref were using a concrete chipper when they accused Ken of complaining about their work and threatening and attacking them.  Apparently this is not the first lawsuit to come from the incident.  Ken sued the brothers in October 2013 saying he had been attacked and that the brothers tried to extort money from him.  The Cazaref bros are now suing for slander, and assault and battery.

Okay since I am guest Roundup blogging for Brent this week I cannot omit “The Killing Off of @TheBravoholic” from Twitter fiasco.  As a former Bravoholic I was saddened when Bravo decided to get rid of the handle.  In case you’re unfamiliar with it, @TheBravoholic was a contest in which @BravoTV chose a viewer (tweeter) to tweet as the Bravoholic for a week.  Long story short, Bravo chose someone to be the Bravoholic that final week, that people were up in arms over.  This woman, had made a very nasty comment to Carole Radziwill regarding her deceased husband while live tweeting RHONY the previous week.  Complaint tweets came flooding in along with lots of unfollowing and Twitter wars.  I tell you it was a show in itself.  Bravo blamed it on a security breach sending the former ‘holics an email telling us this-

“Due to questionable activity we’ve been experiencing with the account over the past few weeks we’ve decided to retire the Twitter handle and end the weekly contest.  We have evidence of multiple people accessing the account past their tenure as Bravoholic, and since we cannot pinpoint the source of this activity, we have no choice but to deactivate the account.”

Well, this set off another Twitter frenzy, with all mourning @TheBravoholic.  It spun off polls and fights and banding together as former Bravoholics with moments of tweet silence.  While I do feel bad the account is gone, and that TBB’s own Tara Cushing and Brent Osborne should’ve been chosen over some of theses clowns (collagegate, holicgate 13), the whole thing was super entertaining.  I wish that others could’ve had the chance but it is what it is. It was fun and I got to do it and that was pretty damn cool.  It’s over but there is a group of us who are now, the few, the proud, the Holics.