La Vida Local
Your Exclusive First Look at La Vida

Occasionally, you simply require something... unprecedented.

Sometimes that's on Valentine's Day. Sometimes that's just how you end your week.

Here to help on both fronts is Hollywood's sprawling new Mediterranean wonderland—La Vida is now taking reservations for a hush-hush Valentine's preview and their official February 16 debut.

The new spot from Sunset Entertainment Group (Green Door) beckons starting at lunchtime, when you'll settle in under the arches of an expansive enclosed courtyard for a Sonoma Lamb Burger With Cucumber-Yogurt Dressing. Or go for the "box lunch"—soup, entrée, two salads, bottled water and dessert for 15 bucks. (Show your studio badge and lunch or happy hour is 20% off until February's end.)

For your more delicate Hollywood discussions, you may prefer a fireside table in the intimate dining room under 78 lanterns. At dinner, your Black Bean Brushed Quail will arrive on a miniature wood-burning grill, thus staying warm until your Champagne-Braised Branzino arrives.

And when evening turns to night, those dinner tables will be swapped out for dancing- and drinking-friendlier tables with drawers for jacket and purse storage. And at the back, beyond a pale blue bar, golden curtains will part to reveal a firelit dance floor complete with a dark, discreet VIP area stashed in the corner.

Where all dark, discreet VIP areas should be stashed.