Best Lunch Spot for Industry Types?

[bixhenry]

My wife is entertaining a childhood friend who is now a model in Italy. She's back in Los Angeles for a few days, and my wife wants to take her to lunch tomorrow. Her friend wants to go a place where the 'beautiful people' (her words) hang out. Any suggestions? I suggested The Ivy on Robertson, but wondered if there are any other places. Thanks!

[ddyouandme]

I always tell out-of-towners, if you want to see a movie star, eat at Barney Greengrass on a weekday and then just stroll through Barney's for a good half hour... can't miss.

[mothrpoet]

What about more casual places where celebs hang out?

[ipsedixit]

"... places where celebs hang out?"

I'm always curious about this statement. What is it that makes people think celebs all sort of hang out at a few select spots?

Having lived and dined in LA for many, many years, I've seen celebs at all sorts of places ... e.g, Paul Newman at the Century City food court, Jennifer Aniston at Rubio's, Fabio (is he a "celeb"?) at Nozawa, Daphne Zuniga at La Terza, Mathew Broderick at Wolfe Burger, etc.

I'm not so sure it is easy to say there is one place that definitely attracts celebs, even the Hollywood hot spots like Republic or Social tend to attract more people who are interested in seeing celebs than actual celebs.

[SauceSupreme]

Agreed. Saturday night, I saw Magic Johnson at Al Gelato.

[SauceSupreme]

Toast tends to attract a lot of industry types also, as will BLD.

[tdo ca]

Sunset Plaza.

[Veggietales]

Le petit four is nicely situated to people watch. I like the food over Clafoutis.

[Frank_Santa_Monica]

Are you looking for celebs or entertainment industry execs?

Well, here are a few power lunch spots:

Barney's Greengrass (both UTA and Endeavor are right across the street)

The Grill in BH

Mr. Chow (although I avoid the place)

Chateau Marmont (on a nice day)

Kate's (the ICM comissary)

L.A. Farm

Peninsula Hotel

[slacker]

Newsroom Cafe on North Robertson, where the beautiful and self-styled cool people go.

[woojink]

Just saw two celebs at lunch today, at Sushi Nozawa. Russkar was the first... the other guy was Ray Romano. Fish was great as always.

[julietg]

How about the Fred Segal Cafe?

Great shopping afterwards...

[diningdivala]

The Ivy and Katsuya, yes.

Magnolia and Tiara, no. Not pretty enough.

The Ivy is perfect for lunch, especially if she wants to see celebrities. You might also think about The Blvd. in the Reg Bev Wil hotel; last time I had lunch there (much better than dinner btw), John Malkovich and Michael Eisner were in the room, dining separately. Plus it's at the end of Rodeo Drive, and if it's nice enough, sitting outside on the sidewalk is a treat for people watching.

[TracyS]

The Ivy also came to mind for me while reading your post.

They might also consider something like Katsu-ya in Brentwood or Magnolia in Hollywood.

The most recent LA Magazine restaurant issue listed Tiara Cafe near the sketchy Fashion District as one such place but I've never been there. Might be a good balance between good food and scene.