Lesley Rousso in front of SUR. Lesley lives in Miami, FL and is a Bravo fan and TBB correspondent.
By Lesley Rousso
My husband needed to go to LA for business and wanted me to go, which I of course jumped at because I love California. We had never been without the kids which made it the perfect opportunity to do things there we hadn’t done before, like a Bravo crawl. Darren needless to say, was thrilled at that prospect…not!
When we are with the kiddos we usually stay in Santa Monica but this time we booked right in the 90210. We got a great rate at the Beverly Wilshire, yes, that’s the Pretty Woman hotel. I warn you though, things look smaller than they actually appear on TV. But enough about Jax Taylor, I’ll get to him later.
On our first full day there, Darren went to Santa Barbara for business, so I was on my own for most of the day. I lounged in the room for quite a while, drinking my thirty, yes THIRTY, dollar pot of coffee for one and then decided to hit the pavement. Upon leaving Saks I was walking down Bedford Avenue and saw a Bentley coming towards me with a license plate that read “Pinky”. It was no other than, you guessed it, Lisa’s Vanderpump’s husband Ken Todd! Now thank god the street wasn’t crowded because I yelled out, ” Look, it’s Ken!” to no one in particular. I did get some very odd looks from a couple of window washers but what the hell, I just had my first celebrity sighting and it was a Bravoleb, I couldn’t have been more thrilled!
So I kept walking down the street in the land of Prada and plastic, and what did I come upon next? Kyle by Alene ,Kyle Richards‘ store! Who you ask, was working there? Kyle’s daughter Farrah! The store by the way, is to die for and I would’ve spent a mint in there if I hadn’t just had a couple hundred dollars worth of fun at Saks. Great stuff, great decor! Did Faye (Resnick) really decorate it? I wish we had one in Miami! On I travel making my way down Camden and next came upon, a mere few doors down, Villa Blanca! It was lunchtime and it was packed. I promised myself to go back the next day.
Later that day we took a drive to Venice to see a friend and got stuck in the worst, and I mean the worst traffic I have ever seen on the way back to town. We were not on the freeway either. This was right on Wilshire and it took us almost two hours to get back. I almost vomited from it, it was that bad, plus I was afraid we would miss our 8:45 Sur reservation. God forbid!
We made it, fashionably late, around 10 minutes, due to a shirt that was very difficult to put on. I swear it took me 15 minutes to figure out the sleeves! We entered on the lounge side and the hostess who was very nice, told us it would be a few minutes, so we headed to the bar for a drink while we waited. Well hello there Jax! Yes, Jax was tending bar and yes he is shorter than he appears, but ridiculously handsome. I told him what I wanted, a Patron Anjeo margarita on the rocks no salt. Darren started to tell him what he wanted and he basically ignored him and started to pour me the wrong tequila. Now I have a terrible reaction to silver tequila so there was no way in hell I was drinking this, I don’t care what show he’s on. So I corrected him. He then proceeded to tell me that nobody drinks the Anjeo. Well cutie pie, I drink it and I know plenty of people who drink it as well, and I’m from Miami trick, not the boon docks. No offense if you live in the boon docks though. He made my new drink, quite obviously annoyed which was super amusing to me. I do have to say, once he got it right, he did pour a good cocktail.
Next the hostess, who really couldn’t have been friendlier, took us to our table and we were greeted by our waiter Matt, also very friendly! I ordered the lobster bisque and a filet and both were delicious. Darren had the carrot soup and ahi tuna, also very good. The ambiance is fantastic but they use every bit of free space. You are literally on top of the next table. That doesn’t bother me in the slightest but if it bothers you, you may want to think twice. The whole place has a classy loungey feel.
We spotted Scheana (Marie) who is gorgeous and Stassi (Schroeder), Tom (Sandoval) and Kristen (Doute). Tom was at what I think was the service bar, I had no interaction with him. I did however overhear Stassi and Kristen, while I was waiting for the bathroom, telling some people “Haven’t you heard of Vanderpump Rules?”. I’m guessing they hadn’t, we can’t all be Bravoholics now can we?
We dined at Villa Blanca the following night, which was quite good and crowded. Our waiter was Dan and we did have an ex football player/sportscaster sitting at the table next to us. I honestly had no clue but my husband did. A 49ers player I think.
Now, as I finish this I’m going over last night’s finale in my head. Guess Jax, or shall we call him Jason, didn’t take a very long leave of absence. On another note, trying to get tickets now to The Blacks Annual Gala for all you RHOM fans. Stay tuned…
TBB Reality 