Ben Platt/San Laurel

Okeydokey, back to last Sunday and before Christmas.  Before Christmas, wow.  It's always weird to be after Christmas and realize it's going to be another year now until the next one.

Sigh.

Happy thoughts.  Ben Platt! 

Dinner out!  Let's blog about that instead.

I've now seen Ben Platt live three times, which, up until a few years ago, I would not have imagined.  I remember seeing the Dear Evan Hansen movie and not caring for it one bit.  I really didn't care for how he played the character, one he had won the Tony for on Broadway.  But I knew he had a good voice, and Van was a fan, and then the Honeymind album came out in 2024 and completely won me over.  We saw him twice last year, and it was fantastic each time.  When he announced a ten-show residency at the Ahmanson, we jumped at the chance to get tickets.  Happily, we got great seats,

and - even better, I think - the one matinee show.  Yes, sorry, I'm old.  I like not getting out of a concert at 11 or later and then having to get home and being too wired for sleep.  A matinee that allows us to get to dinner afterward and get home at a decent time?  Heck, yes, please!

Ben did not disappoint. 

The show had a narrative running through it that allowed him to include some of his original works (and hooray for him singing "Andrew", my favourite song of 2024) as well as some covers (I loved his rendition of ABBA's "The Winner Takes It All"), and even, in a nod to the season, a Christmas song.  That song - "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" - is not one of the Christmas greats in my opinion.  On the other hand, it was fun that he brought out Jeff Goldblum

to duet with him. 

Yes, throughout the residency, Ben has had a different guest each concert, random and unrevealed until the moment happens.  Jeff Goldblum is not a terrific singer,

but he's charming and goofy and there was a nice rapport between the two.

We enjoyed the show immensely.  A terrific time.  As a bonus, it wasn't too loud.  My gosh, we've had our eardrums blasted at some concerts.  But no.  Ben sang clearly, he bantered well, his band and back-up singers were excellent, and we could hear it all at a comfortable level.  Nice!

After the show, we had a little time to saunter over to The Conrad Hotel nearby. 

It was late afternoon on what I think was the winter solstice, and we took many photos of the Disney Hall in the soft light. 

Sorry, only one to post here!  And then the three of us

took ourselves up into the hotel, checked in early for our dinner reservation, then headed to the bar to have a drink before dinner.

How bananas is this?  The Foggy Hill, essentially a negroni but with a citrus fog (using dry ice to get the effect) to replace a twist in the glass. 

The whole production was quite a show at the bar,

and at least one person watching it ordered their own.  And it was a tasty cocktail, too.  If only this blog took video clips properly.  Ah well.  Just imagine it in action.

Dinner was at San Laurel, a place we've been to a few times now.  It's not cheap, alas, and so it's not a place we go to often, but we have liked it when we've gone in the past.  We were seated in a corner of the banquette seating behind the bar, at the back of the restaurant versus where the bar and windows and patio were.  Close to the kitchen.  And you know, it was a great spot for us because it was a little quieter and Conrad could hear more effectively.  We continued with our drinks and ordered dinner, opting for two vegetable dishes - I LOVE that roasted eggplant dish,

and the heirloom tomato dish

which was fine but was a concession to the others.  For a change, though, we opted for the pricey steak and potato dish.  We reasoned that it would be sufficient for three of us to share and wouldn't be much more per person than the other entrees.  It was a great choice.  They presented the cooked rib-eye to us,

then took it back to the kitchen to carve for us before serving it. 

We all enjoyed that steak.  And I realize, I eat a lot more steak now than I used to!

Our friends Jennifer and Sanders had been at the same restaurant for lunch before going to a show at the Disney Hall, and Jennifer texted us, raving about the Basque cheesecake.  I didn't want to be ungracious and tell her we'd had it before, and yes, it is good.  But we did order it again, and Van swears that it's the best cheesecake he's ever had. 

The kitchen sent out a flan to us as well,

which was a nice gift.  Conrad and I shared a bottle of wine, and I had some Fernet Branca as a digestif.  The meal done, we headed back to the Music Center where we'd left our car.

It was a lovely night out.  Not too late, some people still out and around the Disney Hall,

the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Mark Taper Forum.  We took photos

of the plaza,

the holiday decorations,

nearby LA City Hall,

of ourselves. 

It was just such an easy, happy end to a fantastic afternoon and evening of concert and meal.

dinner and a concert in DTLA

We had a lovely night last night, through and through.  It's great that we've not only stacked up our social calendars through this holiday season, but also that the things we're doing are so enjoyable.  Hooray for that!

Last night it was dinner first, then a show.  We headed to downtown LA, parked the car, then walked past the Disney Hall

and the Broad,

past other buildings in the downtown/Bunker Hill area,

past the library,

and ended up at Drago Centro. 

We haven't been there in ages - I think it was my birthday a couple of years ago - so it was nice to be back.  A Caesar salad for me,

then a tasty pork osso bucco with saffron risotto. 

The others had pasta dishes for their main courses, and I tasted them, finding them very good.  I'd like to go back again, have a leisurely meal, splurge on a good wine, and just enjoy it all.  Oh, and we had dessert, shared.  An eggnog creme brulee. 

It was fine, more eggy, like my Mum's baked custard, than silky and boozy.

And then it was back uphill to the Disney Hall.  I don't have photos from the performance since they weren't permitted.  But I will say we had terrific seats in the second row (the rows curve, and as we were on the end, we were almost up against one end of the stage). 

Chanticleer were in performance - I'm listening to their new Christmas album now - and they were terrific once again.  Some familiar faces, some new members.  A mix of older and newer songs.  They seemed looser and happier this year than when I've seen them in the past.  All in all, just so good.

Home after that, and some reading before bed.  I have things planned this evening and tomorrow, but then it's a couple of days off - hooray!  But how fortunate we are to have these wonderful opportunities. 

Friday night concert downtown

For a year that started out with us going to very few concerts, we sure are ending it with a bang.  Three Fridays in a row this month with concerts, three concerts again in the space of 8 or 9 days in December.  I sit here listening to some Samara Joy Christmas music knowing we have tickets to see her in the New Year as well as Dan Mangan.  Lots of shows to go see.  Yay!

Last Friday Van and I left Olive in the care of Conrad (and both of them were very very fine with that)

and headed into DTLA, first to Joyce, a restaurant I had been to before and liked.  Joyce was already in the holiday spirit what with Christmas decorations up, and their drinks menu

was themed to tie in with that.  I opted for the Sketches on Christmas and liked it. 

Van and I shared the food, and it came out fairly quickly.  The cornbread was great,

the watermelon salad also (and different than what we expected - that was fun to see set down on the table). 

I didn't photograph the shrimp and grits, and I did like then, but I think the real star was the fried Cornish game hen. 

Three pieces plus biscuits, it was a nice play on what you would get at a fast food chicken restaurant.  Rather than get dessert, I opted to go not-sweet and ordered the Mother of Pearl Martini. 

It was interesting, and a generous pour, but at a certain point it tipped over into too funky, and I didn't finish it.  And that was fine!  Just enough food and beverage, and with that dinner done, we headed through DTLA

and over to The Novo on foot.

I liked the venue.  Van had got us VIP seats, which meant a lounge upstairs and great seating at the front of the balcony.  It was odd to me, though, that they didn't monitor the experience well.  Anyone could come up to the lounge, no gatekeeping of that.  Moreover, the ushers didn't monitor seats and tickets, and so there were folks who were squatting in prime seats who had to leave as more people with the correct tickets came along.  Like us.  It was strange that that happened, but not a real bother otherwise.

Van and I stayed in the lounge through the opening act, Bay Ledges. 

There were screens set up, and we could watch it there.  We didn't know him or his music, and honestly, it was a little dismal.  One guy on stage singing along to his canned music - he was doing what he loved, and I admired that, but I wasn't into what I heard.  I gave it a listen the next morning on a walk, and no, it didn't grab me.

The main act was what we were there for, or Van certainly was.  Leisure, a collective from New Zealand who have put out a handful of albums.  I'm not sure how Van stumbled on them, but he seemed to know a bunch of the songs.  I messaged Dion and Minna in NZ after the show, and they had never heard of Leisure.  Anyway, I have to say that they were tight.  I mean, they were playing so well together, there were no lags, no fumbling around.  They had coordinated outfits, they swapped lead on the songs, and it all went together so well.  I was impressed by them as a band.

But...

The sound!  It's not a big venue.  Not tiny, but not big.  That sound was so so loud.  And I swear it got louder by the end.  I was plugging my ears with my fingers during the last song.  I could feel the bass hitting my chest.  It was too much.  And it meant that the singing got lost in the mix.  A lot of the singing - and singing duties were shared - was softer and higher than I would have guessed from five men, and ultimately, I could hear the singing but not understand a lot of it.  And that meant that a lot of the music started to sound the same to me.

How would I classify the group?  Retro-soul/funk/pop?  In recordings, they sound kind of chill-out and lounge-y, sort of dance-y.  In live performance?  They came across as 90s white funk and made me think of Jamiroquai very vaguely.  I didn't have a better point of comparison.  Anyway, as the set went on, I continued to admire the group, but I was enjoying myself a little less.  A shame.  I think that better sound would have gone a long way toward me having more fun.

The show over, Van and I had the walk back to where the car was parked, a thick fog settling over the city as we made our way there and then on to home. 

One concert for November done.  Bring on the next!