Confessions of a Korean-American Man in New York City

I feel like singing that famous song from Otis Redding and downing a few Coronas.

Sitting in the morning sun
I'll be sitting when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
And I watch 'em roll away again

Sitting on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
I'm just sitting on the dock of the bay
Wasting time

I arrived in LA mid-yesterday and headed over to the hotel. I diverged this time and didn't stay at a Starwoods hotel. The boutique hotel I'm staying at is on Ocean Ave, not to far from the 3rd Street Promenade. I've got an Ocean view and the room is awesome. The bathroom is fairly large and feels very sterile. I do like the L'Occitane toiletries. The bed is awesome and there were no reports of bed bugs -- I found a web site that tracks bed bug troubles at hotels.

After working a bit, I got ready for my first meeting and then work dinner. We ended up at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel (in Beverly Hills) to eat at Cut, the new steakhouse by Wolfgang Puck. Remember the Beverly Wilshire? It's the central location of the movie Pretty Women with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. I think it was also in Bevery Hills Cop where Eddie Murphy stayed. Anyway, we drove up to the front of the Wilshire and it appeared there was no valet. We turned the corner and the valet/drive was in the middle of the block, splitting the building. Ahhhhhh. So we pulled up next to the Maseratis and Mercedes, valeted the car and went into the restaurant. The music was interesting upon entering: it was from Gloria Estefan. Doh! There was a reason. She was eating at Cut and I guess they changed the music for her. Then it changed to Pink Floyd music which isn't the typical dining music, but it did keep things stimulated. I ordered the Kobe like filet, which was a cross of the US Prime and Kobe style. The menu was pretty extravagant, unlike the typical steakhouse menus I'm used to in New York. I started off dinner with an extra dirty martini which was mixed very well. I hate badly mixed martinis. The waiter noted that we were sitting in the booth that Jeffrey Katzenberg uses; apparently he's a weekly visitor to Cut. Sitting two tables from us was the owner himself, Wolfgang Puck. The waiter offered his apologies for the wait service, but I felt that it was perfectly fine. He noted that Jean-Luc Naret, the Michelin Guide guy was sitting a few tables over and everyone was a bit tense to make sure they served him well. Y'know, the dining guide that gives out up to 3 stars. I felt that the service was perfectly fine and I said to our waiter, don't worry. When I looked over, it was like 6-7 waiters over at Jean-Luc's table. He did have a party of 8, and their service was non-stop. I guess Wolfgang is looking for the 3 stars, if not a single star. So I asked the waiter, who else dines at Cut and he said Tom Cruise is always there and Jessica Alba is a frequent eater of Cut. Alba is what got me perked up, not Tom Cruise. So we ended dinner late and I was on fumes because I was up from 4am to get on the flight to LAX. Which reminds me, Virgin America has some kinks to work out. It could be a good airline, but it's got kinks.