When attending fashion design school, one can't help but be immersed and being ahead of the curve. A new classmate exclaimed this school is a Puma school. Sure was...and is.
Madison's Beverly Hills continued the celebrating Fenty X Puma that ignited at New York Fashion Week then continued here.
It's one thing to have models strut and march down a traditional catwalk. It's another to have real-life, flesh and bones die-hard fans groove in the collection.
This pop-up in the parking lot was Beverly Hills' hottest and most exclusive party of the night. Anyone wearing their Fenty x Puma, was flying it proudly.
The current collection everyone was wearing is this Fall/Winter 2017 varsity-prep inspired College collection. Of course, sporty for both the street and the courts. Athleisure for the hippest and the hottest.
There's nothing like a hip hop singer and her back-up dancers putting an outfit through it's paces, best to fully show what it can do, in luxurious weave and better tailoring yet comfortable enough to get your groove. Isn't that the goal of athleisure as the new wave of daily style, currently representing what this decade wants.
The DJ and fans fully grooving in this color block track jacket or in...
Can't never beat a classic black and white combo, it makes the most audacious tailoring wearable, even for a Gen-Xer.
These are Rihanna Fenty's Fenty x Puma's hard core fans, cheering her on in her Puma clothing.
Feminine and sporty and oh so functional, zippered Maxi Sweater Dress.
Most likely to break the rules, Rihanna returns as PUMA Creative Director for her third season. The latest FENTY PUMA by Rihanna collection takes classic school uniforms and dismantles them. Varsity jackets are reimagined with exaggerated dimensions. Sneakers meet stiletto heels. Preppy meets provocative. Unexpected cutlines, premium materials, and chenille patches abound.
Continuing where Juicy Couture left off, athletic track suits jazzed and sauced up in better tailoring in luxurious fabric weaves and knits, Rihanna Fenty as Puma's Creative Director makes working out in the Winter hot in Fenty x Puma's collegiate Varsity Fall/Winter 2017 collection. Not just kids.
To perfectly time a Fall launch with emphasis on a healthy, fit lifestyle for the greater good for all, Kate Hudson threw a launch for her athleisure line with a Fall collection specifically designed for Council of Fashion Designers of America's Targeting Breast Cancer, which according to Kate Hudson, "Affects everyone."
Kate only opened a few Fabletic stores of her own in growing, emerging towns with limited shopping options, out of the crowded retail frying pan.
So far, she only has two Fabletics stores of her own, one in Topanga Mall on the Ventura County/Los Angeles County border line and another one, long the way down in Torrance's Del Amo Mall, pretty darn close to Orange County/Los Angeles county line.
It was at her Del Amo Mall store-which is massive-that she decided to throw a Breast Cancer Collection launch party where she autographed, posed, and party-ed with legions of admiring fans, who happily snapped up her Fall collection.
20% of each Fabletic Target Breast Cancer outfit profit will be donated to CFDA's Target Breast Cancer research.
The New 88.5FM - marking the largest coverage expansion in public radio history?
When on air morning host Nic Harcourt flipped the switch, both KCSN and KSBR teaming up to become The New 88.5FMsignals became one - broadcasting in unison to a potential audience of 11.5 million.
Listeners in Orange County will now be able to hear the magic that's been coming out of Northridge. As Sheryl Crow told Billboard last week, "“There’s something magical on the dial at 88.5 FM. The station’s passionate dedication to supporting artists, providing them a home on the airwaves and introducing listeners to the best of new local talent, is unmatched. It’s wonderful that listeners all over Southern California will now have a chance to hear what they’re doing.” Sheryl will play a special fundraiser show at the Fonda on October 23rd.
To christen this expansion, Gary Clark Jr. threw a mini concert to celebrate this. They call this, "Come Together" then Gary Clark Jr. did a rocking version of The Beatles' "Come Together."
Only in during the weekday mornings between 9am until 12 noon then during the night after 8pm and during weekend afternoons, KCRW does air the freshest cut of music.
The merger of KCSN and KSBR will be a alternative music powerhouse, straight-thru. Since they were already on the same radio channel of 88.5 in two different towns, playing the same alternative music format, why not team up?
Frida's Mexican Restaurant represents what today's Mexicans are noshing and dining on, right now, in major Mexican cities right now.
With each restaurant expansion and opening, it represents the newest and latest in real Mexican cuisine, as modern Mexican society progresses, dispelling myths and clichés along the way.
Leave the Taco Bell to the kids and the uninitiated as a gateway, at least. Save Chipotle to the indifferent to those who think they're above Taco Bell yet don't care about the quality or the authenticity of current real contemporary Mexican cuisine. As far as those are concerned, they just want a filler.
Frida Mexican Restaurant chain (yes, it is a chain) is a contemporary equivalent to more Americanized-European/Asian contemporary chains, such as Cheesecake Factory and Chin Chin, specialized cuisine catering to today's tastes and lifestyle. The modernization and expansion doesn't dampen the quality and innovation of Frida Mexican Cuisine. The exact opposite, with each growth brings new riffs on real Mexican dishes that aren't fusion. Frida still stays with its Mexican roots, without being a stereotype. Again, it's authentic Mexican upscale fine dining that still have fun, that's accessible to everyone. Can't think of a more fun way to better educate palates.
Frida Mexican Cuisine food tour started at the original Frida Mexican Cuisine on 236 S Beverly Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, directly below Wilshire Blvd., where Beverly Hills real residents reside and shop, directly below Beverly Hills' swanky, fantasy-driven tourist hub buzz.
Proving real Mexican cuisine is chic, the appetizers are shrimps and ahi tuna resting on crunchy mini Tostadas crackers...
Mini chicken sopes and...
Black Bean mini sopes are Mexican mini tartes, where small rounds of corn masa balls are flatten then fried into sturdy crunchy tarts or crackers holding shredded chicken draped in creamy crema sauce or filled with black beans into fried masa tarts.
Frida Mexican Cuisine's party-worthy hors d'oeuvre are pop-able for any event. They do catering too.
Since Frida Mexican Cuisine's appetizers are samplers, they're also offer a $15 mini margarita sampler special of Jalapeno, Skinny, and Watermelon Margarita cocktails and tequila-free mocktails. They can all straight-through alcohols or pure virgin or a combo to help you get through the day.
If you want to impress on the cheap, Frida Mexican Cuisine can do and does do freshly made guacamole tableside, made from scratch for your entertainment.
Now let's go straight to the Main Event, the entrees...
ARRACHERA STEAK
Tender marinated charbroiled skirt steak. Served with a chicken enchilada tapatia, guacamole, rice, refried beans, and fresh handmade corn tortillas.
Get the party started with large enough to be sharable...
MOLCAJETE FRIDA Arrachera, chicken, chorizo, queso fresco, avocado, nopal asado, and cilantro in a boiling roasted tomatillo salsa. Served with rice, refried beans, and handmade corn tortillas. Enough for 2.
This scribe's favorite is actually protein-rich, flavor and texture-rich yet so low fat, their brand new,...
Portion-controlled white rice is enough carbs to keep you full, if this is your only meal.
But the tequila orange-sauce (especially for those raised on fine dining Chinese) is what keeps it sweet and thick without the sugar or the corn syrup. That orange juice reduction enhance the shrimp and...
Resplandor De Mango Spring mix, grapes, chopped mango, caramelized walnuts and goat cheese, tossed in a passion fruit dressing.
This romaine salad generously dotted with caramelized walnuts and fresh diced mangoes, pairs well CAMARONES AL TEQUILA's sweet orange reduction sauce and a mere cup of white rice.
The perfectly filling, protein-rich, antioxidant-rich girlfriend "Sex and the City" well-rounded low-fat meal.
This is why these are this scribe's fave, that keeps on coming back for more.
Can't forget or ignore Frida Mexican's latest offering, full-tequila and virgin Tamarind Margaritas.
Sick of fries? Tired of tortilla chips?
Believe it or not, Caramelized Plantains are considered side dishes,...best served with vanilla ice cream.
Can't forget dessert, dessert!!...
Frida Mexican Cuisine's vanilla-cream filled churros (Mexican doughnut sticks) should double as Mexican doughnut breakfast stick treats...
Delicious or delicioso with Carajillo, liquor combining 43 spices with a shot of espresso over ice or with CAFE DE OLLA, delicious and authentic coffee blend with cinnamon, piloncillo, and a hint of citrus flavor.
You can replicate Café de Olla with simply substituting molasses for sugar in your black coffee.
TheirPastel de 3 Leches, sponge cake soaked in 3 different milks is their refined take on the traditional Tres Leches Cake. Their version feels like a non-chocolate version of a Mexican Tiramisu, not runny yet so moist sans chocolate yet not caramel. Very vanilla.
Their flan is the most traditional item on their menu. Flan is the Latin/Spanish version of Crème Brulee. Instead of crystalizing into a crunchy toffee crust, they simply pour liquid caramel over the vanilla custard.
This East Coast scribe misses and shocked by the lack of the decadent, crunchy Fried Ice Cream, the Mexican Baked Alaska, a ball of layered ice cream flavors dip in cornflake cereal tempura batter then fried, where the cereal tempura batter insulates the frozen ball of ice cream, here in Mexican-domineering Los Angeles culture. Miss it!
This scribe guesses thatFrida Mexican Cuisine's Bolsa Especial, the pared-down yet elegant take on that delicious bomb of ice cream, well have to do.
Their Bolsa Especial is tiny golf ball of vanilla ice cream molded inside a cup of chocolate mousse then freeze formed into an elegant ball of frozen chocolate mousse hiding a contrasting vanilla ice cream inside.
Yes, it's the simpler but more elegant and lower calorie version of Fried Ice Cream but with way more dark chocolate antioxidants.
No offense to "home-cooking" or "mama's cooking," but Frida Mexican Cuisine is chef-driven, fine high cuisine chef-technique, and authentic but upscale Mexican cooking with high standards and demands to keep the level up and innovative, under the watchful eyes of...
Executive Chef Vicenti del Rio at...
Their second newest but largest Frida Mexican Cuisine Restaurant at the massive Del Amo Mall, huge enough to have an indoor stretching out into the outdoor patio area, where massive flat-screen TVs dot at every indoor booth and bar, but airy enough for the California breeze to cool off everyone inside and outside.
At each location, each Frida Mexican Cuisine restaurant has it's own head chef working under Chef del Rio. Under those head chefs, they have a team of sous and mise en place prep chefs, just like any other upscale restaurant, French or Mexican, and unfortunately, still very much majority male.
This ain't no Taco Bell or even Chipotle. This is a real life, safe, sanitary Frida Mexican Cuisine walk-in refrigerator where fresh whole herbs, spices, meats, and produce are kept fresh and safe and clean.
How high the quality?
Frida Mexican Cuisine has a tortilla chef dedicated only to making and frying tortillas, where each, every, and all tortilla chips are made from scratch, by hand. No wonder their tortilla chips are addictive.
Nothing prepackaged or stale.
Don't let that Frida Mexican Cuisine is now growing, selectively, as a chain restaurant dissuade you. It only proves that they're that good and going where the friendly but upscale diner is going and moving.
