Stay at Palomar Hotel

Dinner at BLVD. 16 – Oct. 5, 2013

This hotel is nestled amongst all of the very fashionable high rises in the Wilshire Corridor. It is the perfect location to be close to the Westside but still be in an urban sprawl. It has all of the amenities you would need from a small boutique hotel, with just a little bit more. They situated me on the 14th floor, with a West facing view. The lovely song “On a Clear day” was my theme song while I stayed at The Palomar. The views were so clear, you could see the pacific ocean and even 29 miles across the sea, Catalina, the island of romance, was very visible.

The pool is so peaceful; it does not have as much sun as a sun worshipper would want. You need to hit the pool at around 3:00 PM for maximum sun exposure. They keep their pool at the perfect temperature, not to cold, not too hot, just right. There are adjacent mirrors on either side of the pool; so you can be like Esther Williams and watch yourself do water ballet, very entertaining.

The rooms are well appointed; the drawers have snakeskin on the outside. The sheets are very soft; you can tell they are expensive, just ready for a well deserved good night sleep. The hotel is a Kimpton, which prides itself on being an affordably elegant boutique hotel.

They do a nice wine tasting social every night at 5:00 PM for an hour; the wine’s they served were a very nice California label. This is a fun way to meet other folks staying at the hotel, and start your adventurous evening off with a smile.

Dinner at BLVD 16 Restaurant and Lounge:

The chef started me with a great large scampi sauté.

Farmers Market:

Chicken Soup, market inspired. I like this version of high-end chicken soup; great subtle chicken flavors and nice noodles filled this great tradition.

Charred Little Gems “Caesar” with creamy anchovy dressing, olive oil croutons, manchego, preserved lemon. Not to sure about this salad, I just did not understand what they were trying to do here.

Chicken Chop Salad with, butter lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, gorgonzola vinaigrette, hardboiled egg, and avocado. More like a Cobb salad, but delightful either way.

Flat Breads:

Chef’s Favorite with rapini, spicy chorizo, cracked pepper, lemon crème fraîche. I like this version of their flatbread. It is done crispy and the crust is very thin, the spicy chorizo is just that, hot, hot, hot!

Shareable:

Oysters, market selection, seasonal mignonette.
For me they were kind of fishy, but the mignonette solved that problem and I went on to thoroughly enjoy these little jewels of the sea.

S&P Calamari with fresh herbs, lemon cayenne aioli. Very light and fried up just right, I enjoyed this dish.

Mussels with Frites with tank 7 farmhouse ale, shallots, garlic, chili flakes, grilled bread. This was done very delicately; the mussels were little and did not over power the sauce. I really could not decipher the garlic and the beer flavors.

Large Plates:

Risotto with sweet corn, English peas, toy box tomatoes, with great flavor and my 2 favorite vegetables, corn and peas, risotto is cooked al dente, but pops in your mouth.

Sea bass with sautéed beans, tomato shallot ragout, capers, basil, lemon zest. This fish just did not appeal to me at all, just something about the seasoning that I did not really like.

Cedar river ribeye steak frites with thick cut paprika fries, parsley salsa verde. Now this steak is by far the best thing I tasted. It was so tender and just dripping with nice charred goodness. I would skip all the rest and just order this, make it a glorious steak night and come to Blvd. 16 just for that! And did I mention how fantastic the paprika fries were. Honestly, I would just order very minimal food, and then really pig out on the steak.

BLVD 16 Burger, medium rare with natural beef, cheddar, crispy bacon, avocado, s&p brioche bun. This burger was very good; it had my attention, lots of very good ground beef with nice texture and aromas.

Hand crafted specialty cocktails:

Velvet Slippers with floating egg white,
corralejo reposado, vida mezeal, velvet falernum, rosemary, smoked paprika, fresh lime, egg white, and orange bitters. Served in a gimlet glass, which gives it an old speakeasy cocktail feel.

Sweet Baby Jay with buzz button, grey goose vodka, canton ginger liqueur, fresh lime & orange. The buzz button floats in the glass and you have to be careful not too eat before your meal, because it makes your mouth numb, and gives you a very strange feeling.

Pumpkin Patch with kraken rum, Jim beam bourbon, Frangelico, pumpkin puree, fresh lime. Great cocktail for the Halloween season.

Layla’s Margarita with espolon reposado, solerno blood orange liqueur, cilantro, and fresh lime. Too much lime juice and just not sweet enough.
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Here is the wine that I tried:

Tangent Sauvignon Blanc, Edna Valley, this wine was elegant with the mussels.

Lucien Albrecht Reserve, Gewürztraminer Alsace, great combination with the calamari.

Thomas Gogarty, Chardonnay, Santa Cruz, nice creamy consistency, paired great with the charred Caesar salad.

Murrieta’s Well, The Whip, White Blend, Livermore Valley, this wine went great with the chef’s treat; scampi sauté.

Napa Cellars, Zinfandel, Napa, rich, cherry, chocolate flavors, give this wine the best possible characteristics. I am so infatuated with a great Zinfandel; you just can never go wrong.

Septima, Malbec, Mendoza, OMG got to go with the steak with this one.

Joseph Carr, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa, a real winner with the steak as well.
Blvd 16
Www.blvd16.com/‎

Room Service Breakfast:

This has got to be on of my most favorite things to do at a hotel, it is so decadent. Ordering room service breakfast is one of life’s guilty pleasures.

Here’s what I tried:

Florentine eggs benedict, the engish muffin that this lovely breakfast item sits on is very buttery and crunchy. The egg is cooked so that the yolks just subtly drizzles onto the ham, spinach and muffin. Delightfully fantastic.

Buttermilk pancakes, these pancakes are so light, fluffy, you really feel like you are eating air.
Turkey Sausages, wonderful little smoked gods in my mouth.
Amazing coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice.

LA is enormous and has a rich, fast-paced, cross-cultural landscape; The Palomar Hotel is very close to UCLA in Westwood, a quiet little pocket neighborhood. West Hollywood and Beverly Hills are just a very short cab ride away. The Palomar Hotel gives you a great homey experience in the heart of the city’s Westside. These are the elements that make a stay at Kimpton’s Hotel Palomar so exceptional.

Boasting spacious and stylish private living rooms, their suites are not the traditional corporate type. They are wired for media interviews or press junkets with multi-room capabilities. All Hotel Palomar guestrooms and suites feature: complimentary in-room wireless high-speed Internet access for Kimpton InTouch members, complimentary morning newspaper, complimentary morning coffee and tea bar in our boutique hotel’s living room lobby, 42″ LCD flat-screen TV with cable access, iHome docking station with alarm clock, fully-stocked honor bars with gourmet and organic options, ETRO bath amenities. Earthy to eccentric textures and fabrics in each room adds the LA boutique chic feel.

Based in San Francisco, Kimpton Hotels is the first and leading collection of boutique style hotels throughout the U.S, founded in 1981, by Bill Kimpton. There are a 2 Kimpton Hotels in Los Angeles, the other being Hotel Wilshire, but the Palomar is pretty swanky. You will be in the lap of luxury, every thing your heart should desire, and you would be in excellent hands. Instead of trying some over the top glamorous Los Angeles hotel, try this one instead, lots of happiness under one roof.