I have run an informal, not- for -profit concierge service for years.  I field calls weekly from various friends asking what restaurant to go to for certain occasions.  I like giving this advice, I love sharing information.  From very early on in life I have loved connecting people.

If I’m in a hotel, no matter where or when, I’m often found deep in conversation, in a hot tub, probably about food with strangers.  I once belonged to the Loews Hotel fitness club which was, and is, not terribly expensive and comes with the use of their pool, hot tub, steam room.  It was a great deal and I really love to swim and didn’t have a pool of my own at the time.  Most nights I could be found in the hot tub with random people telling them where to eat while they were in L.A. on vacation.  Great for THEM.

Years ago,  I remember sitting in a hot tub in the Berkshires, at a hotel I recommend by the way,  called Porches.  I told some of my new -found “friends for the next 20 minutes “that I would be spending a lot of time on the upper west side of New York.  They were my east coast counterparts.  They told me all these places I needed to go.  Did I listen? Well, I never forgot but I never really tried all, no make that any of their suggestions.  I am set in my ways and love my Magnolia cupcakes so much that I totally disregarded their recommendation of the “real” best cupcakes in the city.  They had said the name Mitchell London and it sounded like a salon and not a food place so I just ignored it.  The mental note was still there and sometimes I would pass a Mitchell London store as I was headed to a museum or somewhere to eat on the upper east side.  But I just kept ignorant.  And, it was maybe better that way. (more…)