The restaurant owners from Bravo TV‘s Vanderpump Rules and The Valley gave me an experience I won’t forget. My husband and I woke up and hit the road from Las Vegas to West Hollywood. Specifically, our sites were set on eating at Something About Her, Ariana Madix and Katie Maloney‘s first restaurant venture, on its opening day.
Although the day didn’t go as planned, WeHo didn’t disappoint.
I'll go further in-depth in future articles regarding each establishment that I touch on here, so stay tuned!
Something About Her:
Seeing the prime location of Something About Her made it easy to understand why Ariana and Katie didn’t want to pass it up. The sandwich shop is steps away from both TomTom/Pump and The Abbey.
We arrived at SAH at 2pm and were greeted by a line that snaked around the restaurant and its neighboring businesses. Many restaurant goers had been waiting for up to four hours, but the vibes of the VPR fans were immaculate. Among the oodles of Bravoholics, I met Bren O’Brien. Not only does Bren have amazing taste in t-shirts, he makes music. Y’all … Bren wrote a Pump Rules inspired song, Something About Her that slaps. Iconic AF.
Unfortunately, the line was so long, we didn’t get to taste the highly anticipated sandwiches. Thankfully, The Abbey is only .2 miles away, so we sauntered a couple of doors down to avoid getting hangry.
The Abbey:
After explaining the significance of the bar/restaurant/club to my husband, we arrived to the scene of where suspicion of Scandoval began. The Abbey features multiple bars, an extensive food and beverage menu, and – of course – the infamous dance floor where Ally Lewber saw Tom Sandoval and Rachel Leviss dancing together at 1am.
The Abbey ended up being the unofficial over-flow venue for Something About Her. Consistent with the crowd at SAH, the VanderVerse were friendly and fun to chat with. My hubs and I shared three cocktails and an order of nachos. The drinks were crafted with care and the nachos are best described as elevated bar food. We’d definitely come back to explore more menu items!
Hotel Ziggy:
If you choose to venture on a VPR adventure, you have to stay at Hotel Ziggy. About one mile from SAH, The Abbey, and TomTom/Pump, the boutique hotel is across the street from The Comedy Store and next door to The Mondrian. The weather is gorgeous year round in LA, so a mile walk to the hotel is doable if desired.
Hotel Ziggy is rock and roll to its core. There is a music venue on site, a bar, a late night pizza shop, and a heated, sea salt swimming pool. Never forget, VPR fans were introduced to the popular WeHo hotel when the group supported James Kennedy at his pool-side DJ set in season 11.
We stayed on a Wednesday night and there was live music you could hear from the room, so I can’t recommend Hotel Ziggy for light sleepers. There were several seating areas around the hotel to enjoy the city and pool views.
Schwartz & Sandy’s:
Since I’ve been lucky enough to eat at all of Lisa Vanderpump‘s WeHo restaurants, I decided to give Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval’s restaurant a try. Located 4 miles from Hotel Ziggy, my Lyft cost $20. Schwartz & Sandy’s isn’t walking distance to any of the other VPR establishments. Instead, it is next door to a massive Church of Scientology.
After seeing Something About Her with a line down the street and The Abbey full from their overflow, it was alarming to see how few people were dining at Schwartz & Sandy’s. Though the neighborhood was not ideal and had bad vibes, my cocktail and meal were fantastic. My husband didn’t wake up from his disco nap, so I dined at the bar solo. Max Boyens from season 8 of VPR was behind the bar and gave me stellar food & drink recommendations and kept me company.
My drink was delicious, which didn’t surprise me after having stellar drinks at TomTom in the past. I was stunned at the quality of the butternut squash cacio e pepe entree. With one bite I was able to recognize the freshness of the pasta. Max told me that Greg Morris, the Toms’s restaurant partner, also owns the restaurant next door that makes the pasta by hand. Wow wow Bethenny wow it was out of this world!
A bar patron entered Schwartz & Sandy’s just as I was about to leave. He had just come from Jax’s Studio City where Jax Taylor was kicking off a Survivor finale watch party. I decided to take a detour there before going back to Hotel Ziggy.
Jax’s Studio City:
I have to admit I was incredibly curious about the logistics of Jax’s knowing it was connected to Rocco’s. That paired with the chance I’d run into The Valley star in his home away from home, I decided to take a Lyft to Jax’s Studio City.
Jax’s is 8 miles from Schwartz & Sandy’s and cost $18 to get there via Lyft. Stuffed with pasta, I didn’t have any room for Mamaw’s beer cheese. I did; however, have room for a Casamigos and soda. After I made a lap through the indoor/outdoor space coated with Jax-featured art and TV screens, I realized the hot-headed husband and father left for the night.
Survivor superfans enthusiastically filled the space to see how the season ended. In attendance were Survivor stars Jonny Fairplay and Jessica ‘Sugar’ Kiper. Although I never watched Survivor, Johnny explained that he and Jax became close friends while filming House of Villains, which I guess I need to binge now!
Calling it a night:
I threw in the towel after Jax’s. It was a 5.5 mile ride from Jax’s back to Hotel Ziggy, which cost $23 to use a ride share.
The highs of the day were meeting so many other Bravoholics, getting to say hi to Katie and Ariana, and the unforgettable pasta dish at Schwartz and Sandy’s. As much as I would have loved the opportunity to enjoy a Something About Her sandwich, I have an excuse to make another trip back to SoCal sooner than later!
