Originally designed by architect Elmer Gray and expanded (and an additional wing) in the 1940s by Paul Revere Williams, the hotel features a distinctive pink and green exterior and interior banana leaf wallpaper. , as recognizable as the celebrities who made this hotel famous. So is the Polo Lounge, a microcosm of Hollywood’s seen culture. (At one of my most memorable Easter brunches, I watched from afar as Beyoncé and Jay-Z introduced toddler Blue Ivy Carter to the Easter Bunny.) It was either that restaurant or downstairs at the Fountain. It’s the coffee room. You should take the plunge and get a taste of Tinseltown. It won’t cost you an arm and a leg (rates start at $1,425 per night).
Of the former, nothing is more typical than the McCarthy salad (two types of lettuce, diced grilled chicken, cheddar cheese, bacon, beets, hard-boiled eggs, tomato, and avocado with a creamy balsamic dressing). A signature dish named after a billionaire polo player. The latter is a great place to enjoy an unremarkable but million-dollar breakfast, and you can’t go wrong with the Silver Dollar buttermilk pancakes. A stack of nine small flapjacks, each about the size of a canning jar lid, dotted with three perfectly round butter marbles, garnished with sliced strawberries, and two small bottles of Vermont maple syrup. It is attached.
Whatever your visit to the Pink Palace entails, you’ll come and go under a white and green striped awning along a red carpet that ranges from honest to good. This experience is one that can’t help but connect you, even if only temporarily. A set of celebrities who put their place on the pop culture map.
