Il Bastardo

Il Bastardo is a Tuscan Grill, Raw Bar and Wine Bar in Chelsea located on 7th Ave, near 21st Street. It's perfect for people watching with it's floor to ceiling windows, mirrored walls and 40-foot bar. You might even get a glance of a celebrity. You may remember in Season 4 of The Hills Il Bastardo is where Whitney Port and Lauren Conrad first met Jay, see the clip from that episode here:


Even though it's a wine bar they have a great cocktail menu as well. Besides the regular menu there are also daily specials. The evening I went we ordered the special appetizer that was a twist on the traditional caprese. Instead of fresh tomatoes they used sundried tomatoes, mozzarella and avocado. For my entree I ordered the Organic Mista salad but there are a lot of other vegetarian options like the Rigatoni Eggplant with tomatoes, ricotta salata and fresh basil.
Apparently there are additional rooms in the restaurant including a VIP room and a lounge but when it's nice out I definitely recommend you sit near the open windows.

Tart

After an afternoon of shopping at The Grove in LA I met up with a group of friends for dinner at Tart- located at 115 S. Fairfax Ave, attached to The Farmer's Daughter Hotel. We sat in the courtyard section of the restaurant which was decorated with strung Christmas lights.
The restaurant serves freshly baked American Fusion dishes including Tart Fries- french fries made from French, Sweet, and Purple potatoes, served with a three different dipping sauces; Fried Green Tomatoes served with a toasted corn salsa; and amazing organic salads like the Roasted Beets Salad- red and gold beets, mixed greens, goat cheese, and a lemon vinaigrette; big entrees of fish, meat, sandwiches and more. (Tart is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.)
A couple weeks ago on The Hills Heidi Montag had lunch at Tart with her mom, which was included in YumSugar's Episode Eight The Hills Food Quiz- part of question number 5.

Lola's: Los Angeles

Last night I met a friend from college who now lives in LA at Lola's in West Hollywood. It is the perfect little after work place, tucked away on Fairfax Ave, between Melrose Ave. and Santa Monica Blvd. Their drink menu is jammed packed with different martini options including Red Caramel Apple Martini and the Star F*cker Martini, neither of which I had but they sounded pretty interesting. Instead I opted for a glass of Pinot Grigio and the cheese and fruit platter.
They also have live jazz on Wednesday nights starting at 8pm and happy hour Mon.-Fri. from 5:30-7:30pm
Side note worth mentioning: Scenes from The Hills have been filmed here!