Michele Stueven
Welcome to the pleasure dome. Located in the heart of West Hollywood, PleasureMed will open three concepts under one 6,500 square roof today – an elevated design-forward dispensary patterned after a Cuban pharmacy; a California-inspired destination restaurant, Irie, with a comfy consumption lounge; and an al-fresco cocktail bar, Hind.
The hedonist complex dubbed the pleasure campus is designed to please all five senses, where the food is as good as the smoke. PleasureMed neighbors the Pleasure Chest, the legendary erotic boutique that has survived in the same West Hollywood spot since 1980.
The campus with interiors designed by Studio UNLTD is the brainchild of Brian Robinson, whose family has owned the Pleasure Chest franchise since it opened in 1971 in New York and then made its way out west. The first location was on LaCienega Boulevard and moved to its present home on Santa Monica Boulevard in 1980. Robinson has been eyeing the old single-story machine shop next door to the boutique for decades, and after six years, transformed it into a two-story gem that has a ground-level bar and dispensary, with a separate restaurant and consumption lounge upstairs. Even the bathrooms are naughty – be sure to check out the cucumber room.
Seasonal food menu items created by former Hatchell Hall chef Wes Whitsell include jerk fried quail in a tomato aioli, squash ravioli in brown butter, barramundi with rapini, lamb chops with chermoula and pea hummus alongside smashed butterball potatoes with black garlic, as well as a mind-blowing beef nduja pizza with spicy giardiniera.
Hind cocktail options include the Wake N’ Bake (Reposado, 43, espresso, banana, cereal whip, popcorn salt,) The Green Fairy (St. Germain, apple, cucumber, sparkling wine, and anise aromatics as well as the Pornstar Slush (Oaxacan rum, Bacardi, Aquavit, grapefruit, passionfruit, mango, coconut, vanilla bean and lime.)
The exterior of the property features a 67’ x 30’, 4-minute 3D video art experience that has been created by Optical Animal and Robinson to illuminate the side of the PleasureMed building. Titled The Jaguar’s Eye, the moving piece takes viewers on a journey from the microscopic to the cosmic, finding familiar forms among a diverse cast of characters, environments, flora, and fauna. The projection will feature new displays on a rotating basis from local artists.
Thanksgiving sausage in the wurst way (Courtesy Dog Haus)
As Halloween rounds the corner, it’s already time to start making Thanksgiving plans. If you want to make it easy on yourself, The Draycott will be offering a special holiday dining experience — at $100 per person for adults and $50 for kids age 12 and under prix fixe menu from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 23.
Highlights include pumpkin soup and delicata squash salad for starters, as well as roasted organic turkey, sweet potato ravioli and vegetable curry, with a pumpkin and pecan pie combo and roasted apples for dessert. The Draycott is also offering a $55 per person wine pairing. To book your Thanksgiving reservation, visit Resy or call 310-573-8938.
As part of its Absolute Würst Sausage series, Dog Haus is offering a new, one-of-a-kind Würst Thanksgiving Sausage — the perfect mix of turkey and all the trimmings in one bite. They also are introducing the Peach Maple Smash artisanal cocktail as part of the limited-time offer. Dog Haus will donate $1 from each purchase to No Kid Hungry, an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America.
As the Black Cake series is set to premiere on Hulu on Nov. 1, a special rum-soaked Caribbean dessert will pop up at Southern Girl Desserts on Martin Luther King Boulevard that day, as part of the larger initiative to stock Black Cakes on the shelves of multicultural-owned bakeries across the United States. These BIPOC bakeries will host a variety of “Black Cake” giveaways and in-store promotions.
Based on The New York Times-bestselling book by Charmaine Wilkerson, Black Cake is a family drama murder mystery that takes place in Jamaica, Italy, Scotland, England and Southern California in the late 1960s.
World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit founded by José Andrés to provide fresh meals to crisis zones, is bringing its Feeding Hope event series to Los Angeles as part of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) Cookbook Tour. The week kicks off at Smorgasburg LA with a WCK passport to the culinary journey that will feature some of LA’s best chefs and three intimate dinners that will showcase a crafted menu:
- Nov. 5 (10 a.m. – 4 p.m.) – WCK at Smorgasburg
- Nov. 7 (6 p.m. – 10 p.m.) – Feeding Hope Feast at Citizen News
- Featuring chefs Evan Funke, Giada De Laurentiss, Michael Voltaggio
- Nov. 8 (6 p.m. – 10 p.m.) – Feeding Hope Feast at NeueHouse Venice Beach
- Featuring chefs Stephanie Izard and Nyesha Arrington
- Nov. 9 (6 p.m. – 10 p.m.) – Feeding Hope Feast at The Line LA
- Featuring Chefs Ruffo Ibarra and Reem Assil
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