Last weekend I joined my mom in L.A. for a day. She had reserved a hotel room at the Renaissance Hotel for 1 night as she had an early flight the next day to Maryland. Coincidentally, it was also the same trip that I was supposed to go on but, sadly I declined for work-related reasons. Sigh! On the contrary, I am partial about going on this trip anyway as the east coast was recently dumped with a bomb cyclone dropping the temperatures below 0. No thanks! I was perfectly happy to be in California where we had sun and warmer temperatures.

Anyway, much of our day was spent at The Grove. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this place, it is an outdoor mall lined with well-known chain stores (Zara, Apple, Anthropologie, Gap, etc.). At times, the mall will hold a few live show tapings such as Dancing with the Stars and celebrity appearances. It is quite a popular area to gather around for celebrity sightings, tourists, out of towners and locals. Thus, leaving the place crowded in the afternoon until the night.

Mom and I opted for a lunch at Bar Verde situated upstairs in Nordstrom. We chose the balcony setting where it overlooked the plaza. Our lunch plates consisted of two appetizers, one was a calamari and the other a mushroom pizza with cheese. Both turned out to be more than enough for both of us and darn delicious.

By noon, the crowd was in full-blown. Therefore, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. I certainly did not mind hanging around the hotel as it provided enough time for us to rest and then, later at night we had dinner at the restaurant downstairs.

I adored the cosmopolitan vibe interior of the hotel. The arts hung on the walls of a music room filled with vinyl records and a bar within reach perfectly set a loungy tone.

During dinner, I ordered the fish tacos while mom had a salad with salmon. Sadly, I thought the food was mediocre for the price we paid. Although the live singer near the bar slightly offset the food.

We didn’t end up staying long. Both of us became tired and headed to sleep for the night.