Plugs — Lauren Sherman

L.A. food, drink, and leisure recs from the fashion journalist + LINKS

Plugs is The Angel’s recs column. Every week, you’ll get six picks—a restaurant, a bar, a shop, an ingredient, a person, and a treat—from someone in Los Angeles who knows what they’re talking about, plus a selection of Angel-curated links. (Plugs are for paid subscribers of The Angel only; upgrade your subscription to receive all six!)

#93 is Lauren Sherman, a fashion journalist at Puck, where she anchors the newsletter Line Sheet and hosts the podcast Fashion People. Lauren’s coverage is a must-read for everyone working in fashion, obsessed with fashion, or curious about fashion. She regularly breaks major industry news, and her voicey approach to storytelling is a blast to read. Prior to joining Puck, she was an exec at Business of Fashion, an editor at large at Fashionista, and an executive digital editor at Lucky. She’s also the co-author of Selling Sexy: Victoria’s Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon alongside Chantal Fernandez, which was published last year. Lauren lives in Eagle Rock with her husband, Dan, and their son Fritz. As you’d expect, she has excellent taste. Here she is with her Plugs.

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Restaurant — Osteria Mozza

As an ex-New Yorker who wishes to maintain a certain New York energy, Nancy Silverton’s white tablecloth mozzarella bar is comparable in quality, service, and execution to any top Manhattan operation. Like Balthazar and Union Square Cafe, it’s the right mix of comfortable, delicious food, and a real scene: we’ve eaten holiday meals there; we’ve spotted Beck at the table across the way. My go-tos are the fett’unta (the garlic bread from which all others are derived), the baby kale salad (far better than it needs to be), and the steak Tagliata. The gluten-free pastas are rather good. (This is coming from a person who never chooses pasta and whose husband is celiac.) Also, Elyssa Phillips, their longtime superstar server, who is obviously also a standup comedian, is exactly the person I thought I’d meet in Los Angeles when I moved here five years ago—and she doesn’t disappoint. My advice: show up around 5:30 without a reservation, sit at the bar, and gulp unlimited ice water. I know this is a repeat Plug, but it’s my No. 1, sorry. I would seriously consider moving back to New York if it ever closed. Never leave us, Nancy!

Photo by Lauren Sherman: Eating at the bar at Osteria Mozza, wearing blue eyeliner, husband looking at phone.