Temperatures were rumored to climb above the 110-degree mark yesterday in Los Angeles. As I found myself running around Beverly Hills, wishing I was at the beach or just chilling in an ice locker, I knew I needed a cool refreshing beverage and fast. But what? Soda seemed too sickly sweet and I’ve downed so many Arnold Palmer’s this month, I now have a pretty solid golf swing. I wanted something light and tropical that might at least, make me feel like I was lounging in Bali. And then it came to me: baby coconut juice.

I pulled my car around, headed east and careened into a parking spot just in front of V Café. V Café, which opened a few months ago, is West Hollywood’s latest hot spot sandwich shoppe and coffee klatch. In addition to traditional brunch and lunchtime fare, think croissants, Paninis and smoothies, V Café has daily farmer’s market fresh concoctions such as jicama and watermelon salad with mint dressing and figs, arugula, and manchego with a balsamic reduction. They also happen to have a few baby coconuts hiding out in the deli case.

I ordered my baby coconut with glee and watched with anticipation as a V Café staff member took a machete and sliced a whole in the top of the baby coconut (not a drink for the faint of heart). She handed me a straw so I could drink the juice straight from the shell. I posted up at the counter and enjoyed a break for the sweltering heat. When I finished the juice, they broke the shell in half for me so I could scrape out the coconut’s delicate flesh as an extra treat. Delish. On my way out, I picked up a few delectable spreads from V Café’s specialty goods selection. I grabbed some Bella Cucina pesto and small jar of La Favorita Artichoke and Garlic Cream. I left V Café, goodies in hand, thirst quenched, electrolytes replaced and finally ready to beat the heat.

V Café, 8164 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, 323.951.9577

One of the best things about the start of fall is that everyone is getting back into the swing of things. So long sweet summer and let’s welcome back Manhattan’s favorite weekend pastime of brunch. See the list of must-eat places to brunch at this fall, from trendy establishments to laid back restaurants — there is something for everyone’s taste buds. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for nice weather so that we can continue to enjoy outdoor seating and prime people watching on lazy New York City afternoons.

Kenmare

Joey Campanaro’s restaurant, Kenmare is an addition to the Nolita neighborhood. The dining room consists of marble tables in a cavernous atmosphere. While you brunch and converse about the weekend festivities you can feel the rumbling of the Lexington Avenue subway vibrating underneath the tables.

Kenmare is located at 98 Kenmare St., 212.74.9898.

Balthazar

Balthazar has been a favorite in the New York City brunch scene both to New Yorkers and star struck tourists. This restaurant has the ambiance of a French brasserie with decorated mirrors and red banquettes. It’s always busy here so while you wait for your table, check out the Balthazar bakery next door to indulge in a baguette or a croissant. It’s a perfect brunch destination for those spending an afternoon shopping in the heart of Soho as it’s in the vicinity of many great shops — especially the flagship Prada downtown store.

Balthazar is located at 80 Spring St., 212.965.1785.

Double Crown

What makes Double Crown stick out from all the other weekend brunch spots is the Do-it-Yourself Bloody Mary Bar. Get creative in mixing your Bloody Mary with many ingredients to satisfy including touches of ginger, black Chinese vinegar and jalapenos. Double Crown mixes Southeast Asian and 19th century British culinary influence.

Double Crown is located at 316 Bowery, 212.254.0350.

The Jane

The Jane is the sister restaurant to The Smith. A casual brunch spot in Soho featuring creative American cuisine with décor that seems to be reminiscent of a Williams Sonoma store. The menu features crispy sesame calamari, the Jane burger and your classic eggs Benedict.

The Jane is located at 113 Jane St., 212.924.6700.

Five Points

A very popular brunch spot in NoHo that is always packed but don’t let the crowd scare you away because the best part of eating here is the wait. You can grab a cocktail at the bar before grubbing on a delicious meal of baked eggs, French toast and Mexican hot chocolate.

Five Points is located at 31 Great Jones St., 212.253.5700.

To start off a dinner party while passing around hors d’oeuvres, I will select a fun wine—fresh and fruity. Our Fume Blanc Napa Valley is a perfect match, or try a sparkling wine. During the warmer days of summer, I might select a rosé and during the colder months, our Chardonnay Napa Valley.

During the course of a meal, I always offer two types of wines. The exploration of the senses is the fun part of the party. I start the meal with a sparkling wine or a white, and then move to the heavier entrée with the wine matching the richness of the dish. Often I like to let my guests select their own pleasure by offering our Chardonnay Reserve and our Pinot Noir Reserve for the entrée, two different vintages of the same winery, or two different wineries from the same varieties. If I have to choose one, I choose a medium-body pinot noir, which is adaptable to many different flavors and textures. And if ever in doubt, Champagne goes with everything!

My No. 1 rule of thumb for wine pairing is to keep flavors in balance. I usually select the wines and from that point create a menu. But if you prefer to set your menu first, ask yourself about the overall taste of your recipe. Is it mild or flavorful? Is it fatty or lean? Is it rich or acidic? It is important to match wine with foods of similar richness and texture. Also make sure you balance the acidity of the food to the wine; a bright Sancerre will go well with shrimp with lemon. If you have a very fatty dish, you’ll want to cleanse your palate with a robust, bold, tannic wine. A fruity off-dry wine will do well with spicy food.

For an exotic, evocative flavor trip, I love to match the wines with the country where the recipe is coming from. It works the best and is fun to pair. For example, a Chianti Classico will pair well with a tomato-based pasta with sharp cheese and basil. Dinner is an exploration of different flavors, so it is important that the entire dining experience be an enjoyment of all senses. And remember, pleasure at the table is very subjective!

Cheers,

Genevieve Janssens
Director of Winemaking at Robert Mondavi Winery, Oakville, CA

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At Westime, it’s hard to lose track of time, but you will want to anyway. With 50 brands of women’s and men’s classic and modern timepieces, like Urwerk, Longines, and Audemars Piguet, the luxury watch boutique is where even the most punctual has no concept of time. The store boasts watch names of all price points, such as Richard Mille, which had one of its first introductions into the U.S. market by Westime, and brands you wouldn’t find in many other places, such as California-based Nixon. With the company’s intuitive strongholds at the forefront of luxury watch retail, there are always new dials, movements, and complications to be encountered.

Not to mention the Westime stores serve as a hangout for many of its customers. President Greg Simonian welcomes the come-in-and-hang-out-with-no-pressure-to-buy vibe and ensures his clients are always comfortable and relaxed enough to want to prop their feet up while sitting across from him at his desk.

“I didn’t want to make the store this crazy luxury experience with VIP treatment,” Simonian says. “They get all that, but they get it in a very casual manner.” Where suits and ties are optional for the salespeople, Westime truly caters to the gentlemen and gentlewomen of leisure. “I don’t think our customers want to walk into a stuffy atmosphere,” Simonian says. “But we really will go the extra mile, like deliver watches to clients in Dubai, Italy, Russia, and Japan, because that’s what they want.”

This non-stiff customer service approach—call it California style—is just one of Simonian’s executive decisions as a recently appointed president of the company. The 25-year-old has taken over the entire retail operation of Westime from his father, CEO and founder John Simonian, a leader in the watch business who’s developed Westime into the most influential, powerful watch retail concept in the world. John’s son, however, isn’t shirking from the huge responsibilities of this title, which includes managing the two current locations on Pico Boulevard and Rodeo Drive as well as the forthcoming store on Sunset Boulevard. Simonian, who’s bringing in new energy and strategies to Westime, is indeed proving to be like Donald John Trump, Jr. and other successors who are triumphant as leaders in their family’s establishments.

And with Simonian in charge of retail, his father can concentrate solely on the distribution segment of the company. “After many years of retail, my dad was happy to see someone take over the day-to-day,” Simonian says. “I am fortunate to have a father who will give me the space to take the company in the direction I want.”

That direction is the first freestanding Westime store on the Sunset Strip. “The street is legendary in L.A.,” Simonian says. “Having a store like ours—a destination place—will bring the traffic back to the strip.” As for what we can expect at this new location, much is still confidential. “We haven’t finalized the future of the store, but we’re looking at all these different projects and venturing into luxury items beyond watches,” he says and provides an example with the $12,900 Roland Iten hi-precision mechanical belt holding up his pants, a piece that took six months to engineer.

Click here to continue reading, “Man of the Hour.”

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You have a head for fashion, and adorning your look with jewelry just isn’t cutting it today…What’s a girl to do? Keep a cool head with playful headbands from coveted accessories label ban.dō. Having recently marked the brand’s two-year anniversary in August, L.A. duo Jen Gotch and Jamie Coulter celebrated with an ice cream social. Fitting for two stylists inspired by confetti colors who started ban.dō on a whim. They took their fun-loving philosophy and established a serious business, turning out alluring, high-end hair accessories out of their Beverly Hills studio. With backgrounds in prop and fashion styling, the friends-turned-business partners have cultivated a modest empire in a short amount of time, representative of the sweeping influence of word-of-mouth marketing and social media, as much as the growing demand for unconventional accessories.

Showing how the power of one accessory can revolutionize a look with its dainty and eclectic hair accessories, ban.dō bears three signature labels, as well as an opulent bridal collection and custom corsages fashioned with crystal brooches and vintage feathers. The Black Label is ban.dō ‘s couture collection of one-of-a-kind or limited edition, handmade pieces. The fanciful couture collection features feathers, sequins, exotic florals, typical of the Garden of Eden, and the staples in any storybook princess’ wardrobe: silk, satin, tulle, and chiffon, all in regal jewel tones. The Black Label generates romantic statement pieces with rescued, oversized vintage bows, and rhinestone embellishment.

Ban.dō’s original collection blurs the line between seductive and proper, evocative of an avant-garde ballerina with a vintage-inspired array of Austrian crystals, satin, bows, French ribbon, and roses. For a fun and sexy take on hair accessories, heart by ban.dō is a cute, youthful line of easy-to-wear pieces under $50. Sequined hearts, silk and satin flowers, metallic lace halos, silk bows on satin headbands, and grosgrain are practical and flirty, perfect for everyday wear.

The bridal line is inclusive of elegant, at the same time eccentric, pieces for the classic bride looking for a modern take on the traditional veil. Flirty and innocent, ban.dō comingles crystal appliqué, Austrian crystal, giant silk roses, champagne beads, white velvet, leaves, white taffeta bows, to proffer ribbon-wrapped halos, decorative bobby pins and combs, and petite birdcage veiling. Carrie Underwood slipped on a ban.dō design following her walk down the aisle with Mike Fisher. Other celebs joining in on the ban.dō craze include Taylor Swift, Lea Michele, Maria Menounos, Ali Fedotowsky of The Bachelorette, and Zooey Deschanel who stunned on the red-carpet with a satin embellished headband by ban.dō at the Grammy Awards last year.

Gotch and Coulter have a twinkling head start with their enchanting collections, and the brand is set to stay on top with a new collaboration with Anthropologie, as well as upcoming partnerships with intriguing fashion designers. Get glamorous Gossip Girl style instantaneously and turn heads at your birthday, wedding, or all the time.

See all of the charming styles at www.shopbando.com.

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Pure Nightclub becomes part of Angel Management Group as Pure sells its assets.

Las Vegas-based nightlife and lifestyle company Angel Management Group announced today an agreement to acquire hospitality conglomerate Pure Management Group. Once the transaction is complete, Angel Management Group will assume operation of all nine Pure entities, including Pure Nightclub at Caesars Palace, LAX Nightclub at Luxor and Social House restaurant at Crystals at CityCenter.

“I’m extremely excited to be in a position to join together our collective assets and teams in order to create the largest nightlife company in Las Vegas, and along with it, an exciting future for everyone involved,” said Neil Moffitt, CEO of Angel Management Group. “Our first priority will be to expand upon the success of our current venues and develop our existing brands in other territories, followed by the launch of several new Las Vegas venues in 2011.”

Angel Management Group currently handles marketing, promotions, VIP services and event programming for more than half a dozen properties on the Las Vegas Strip including Wet Republic Ultra Pool, Tabu Ultra Lounge and Studio 54 at MGM Grand; Moorea Beach Club, miX Lounge and Eyecandy sound lounge and bar at Mandalay Bay; and ROK Vegas at New York-New York.

Angel Management Group is also the management company for the Hard Rock Beach Club, which includes Rehab, and handles all marketing and VIP services for Vanity Nightclub, both at Hard Rock Hotel.

Angel Management Group assumes operation of Pure Nightclub and Venus Pool Club at Caesars Palace, LAX Nightclub, Noir Bar and Company Lounge at Luxor, Social House at Crystals at CityCenter, Coyote Ugly Las Vegas at New York-New York, Dick’s Last Resort at Excalibur and Aura Nightclub at Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

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For the second year in a row, Tustin’s RA Sushi played host to Orange County’s own Anaheim Ducks, who rolled, sliced and diced to raise awareness for programs that produce positive change in families in Southern California. While it wasn’t your typical Iron Chef competition, the Sept. 13th event was full of fans and spirits were high all around. The competition was definitely fierce, and though these athletes are used to feeling the heat on the ice, it was the heat of the kitchen they weren’t prepared for.

Participating in this year’s “Get Your Anaheim Ducks in a Roll” Sushi-Rolling Contest were Corey Perry, Sheldon Brookbank, Troy Bodie and Ryan Getzlaf, who each created their own sushi rolls in hopes of gaining the title of “Top Chef.” Paired with a RA sushi chef, each player concocted original rolls, which were sampled by both guests and a panel of judges. Each roll was judged on creativity, ingredients, naming, presentation and taste and were available throughout the night for fans and diners.

Sheldon Brookbank’s “Bank” roll was named fan fave, but the “Bodie”licious roll came out on top with a combo of spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, avocado, jalapeno drizzled with poki sauce to earn the champion title of “Top Chef.”  The “Bodie”licious roll will continue to be available at all RA Sushi locations and all proceeds from its sales will benefit the foundation.  Working to provide educational opportunities, allowing children and families more access to the sport of hockey itself and addressing the community’s health and wellness programs, the foundation has been working closely with events like this to raise awareness and funds for families in need.

RA Sushi is located at 2401 Park Ave. in Tustin, 714.566.1700. For more information on the Ducks Foundation, visit their official web site.

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Our Haute 100 list details the accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets—Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These people continue to make moves, so rather than waiting for the next Haute 100 issue to come out, we thought we’d provide you with regular updates on those Haute 100 members who are making headlines. Check back daily for more info on the most powerful people in your city. Well-versed in philanthropy and the arts, Angeleno billionaire Eli Broad is part of a $3 million campaign to save L.A.’s ICEF Public Schools.

Eli & Edythe Broad

Category: Power Couples

Industry: Development/ Manufacturing

Company: Kaufman & Broad

What Makes Them Haute: Broad made his fortune with his real estate company, Kaufman & Broad, and then found financial company SunAmerica, where he served as CEO. He is actively involved in revitalizing L.A.’s downtown area and is an avid supporter of enriching the city’s cultural life. The Broads created a family foundation in the 1960s as a way to support their charitable interests and causes. The Broad Foundations, which include The Eli and Edy, the Broad Foundation and The Broad Art Foundation, have assets of $2.5 billion.

What Makes Them Haute Now: L.A.’s leading philanthropists are donating $700,000 in an effort to help ICEF Public Schools. Among them is Eli Broad who is contributing $500,000 to the cause. The billionaire, recently ranked No. 44 on the annual Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans, has been a longtime supporter of charters and his generous half-million dollar donation will aide one of the nation’s largest and most successful charter school companies, composed of 15 schools in low-income minority neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The initial $3 million campaign, funded by Broad, former mayor Richard Riordan and philanthropist Frank Baxter, is expected to bring ICEF away from the brink of financial insolvency.

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Our Haute 100 list details the accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets—Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These people continue to make moves, so rather than waiting for the next Haute 100 issue to come out, we thought we’d provide you with regular updates on those Haute 100 members who are making headlines. Check back daily for more info on the most powerful people in your city. Days away from the premiere of The Social Network, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg moves up in the power rankings and pledges to donate $100 million in support of Newark’s public school system through his charitable foundation, Startup: Education.

Mark Zuckerberg

Category: Billionaires

Company: Facebook

Industry: Technology

What Made Him Haute: Zuckerberg is the genius who invented Facebook in a Harvard dorm room in 2004 and became the youngest Forbes billionaire in 2008 after Microsoft bought a stake, valuing it at $15 billion.

What Makes Him Haute Now: From a college dorm room six years ago to a movie premiere today, Facebook has become a worldwide networking sensation, with more than half a billion users to date, and the tech prodigy behind the multi-billion dollar social media site is CEO Mark Zuckerberg. At only 26 years old, Zuckerberg is well on his way to becoming one of the richest men in the world, recently being bumped up to No. 35 on the “Forbes 400” list and making him one of the youngest billionaires. Vanity Fair released its New Establishment ranking in the magazine’s October issue, crowning Zuckerberg “our new Caesar” at the top of the list. The Social Network, depicting Facebook’s controversial beginnings opened the 48th New York Film Festival on September 24 and sees its box-office premiere on Oct. 1. But the Palo Alto resident with an estimated net worth of $6.9 billion is more interested in keeping up education than public appearance. His $100 million, five-year grant, announced on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Sept. 24, will give a much-needed boost to Newark’s troubled public school system and marks only the beginning for his new foundation Startup: Education.

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Key West Steampant – Luxury Key West Condominiums located in Key West, Florida

Extraordinary opulence rises above Key West, Fla., emerging as a modern oasis overlooking the harbor. The Key West Steamplant features only 19 luxury residences in one of the world’s most desirable destinations.

At the Key West Steamplant, privacy is standard and seclusion optional. Each of their homes has been designed to ensure maximum comfort and the most unique living experience available in the highest residential building in Old Town Key West. Whether you choose a multi-level town home or loft, you’ll find that they have anticipated your every wish and have included features that are extraordinarily more than standard.

Amenities include new construction from the ground up, spacious residences with large open ceilings and windows, state-of-the-art security with a private elevator in each residence, expansive balconies with a private rooftop pool and outdoor living terraces, stunning views of Historic Seaport and the Key West sunset and a private, covered and secure parking garage.

Key West Steamplant offers investors the opportunity of a lifetime — to own at the premier address in one of the country’s most resilient real estate markets. With luxury sales on the rise, there has never been a better time to buy.

Contact Key West Steamplant

Call 800.796.9793, or visit www.keyweststeamplant.com for details on all available residences. Or, send an email to info@keyweststeamplant.com.

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