What it’s like to eat at all the ‘Vanderpump Rules’ restaurants post-#Scandoval
I don’t watch reality television. I’ve never been pulled into an episode of “The Kardashians,” “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” or “Selling Sunset.” But I couldn’t escape the social media hurricane that was #Scandoval, the cheating scandal between three cast members on the “RHOBH” spinoff show “Vanderpump Rules.”
For the uninitiated, the show follows the shenanigans of the employees of “RHOBH” star Lisa Vanderpump’s West Hollywood restaurants: Pump, Sur and TomTom.
Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz, two former restaurant employees, are junior partners in TomTom and recently opened Schwartz & Sandy’s, their own restaurant and bar in Franklin Village.
Explosive revelations about ‘Vanderpump Rules’ stars Tom Sandoval, Ariana Madix and Raquel Leviss have reality fans rapt — and conflicted.
The CliffsNotes version of #Scandoval involves Sandoval cheating on Ariana Madix, his partner of nine years, with Raquel Leviss, one of Ariana’s close friends. The two admitted to an affair that lasted seven months. Fans are upset with both Toms: Sandoval for cheating and Schwartz for allegedly knowing whatever he knew when he knew it. (He also made out with Leviss after his soon-to-be ex-wife, Katie Maloney, asked him not to.) If you need a more detailed explanation, my talented colleague Yvonne Villarreal has you covered.
Needless to say, people are upset with the Toms. After angry viewers flooded the Yelp pages for TomTom and Schwartz & Sandy’s, the site had to turn off comments for both restaurants.
On the heels of #Scandoval, I visited all four restaurants to talk about the one thing no one is talking about: what it’s like to have an actual meal at these restaurants. And, yes, if there’s any hope of a cast member sighting.
Sur Restaurant & Lounge
I’m not expecting to see anyone from the show at the restaurant, whose name is an acronym for “sexy unique restaurant,” during brunch on a cloudy Sunday. But there’s Peter Madrigal, his hair in a low ponytail, chatting with a table of young women. According to IMDb, he has appeared in 91 episodes of the show.
“We didn’t expect to actually see you here,” one woman says, beaming up at him. “Would it be cool to get a picture? We don’t want to bother you.”
“Of course,” he replies.
I ask the host if this happens all the time.
“If he’s here, yes,” she says. “But he likes it. He’s like the mascot.”
As she walks us to our table, through no less than five different seating areas, I marvel at how huge the restaurant is — not in a sprawling way exactly, but in a never-ending maze sort of way. Like you’re walking through the Winchester house. There are dozens of nooks where you can pull someone aside for a chat. If you’re worried your boyfriend is cheating on you with your best friend and you want your ex’s new girlfriend’s opinion on the matter, there’s no shortage of places to have that conversation.
It was a short list that ignored a swath of cuisines and neighborhoods. No tacos, Chinese, Thai, Ethiopian, Vietnamese, Japanese or anything beyond sandwiches and fried chicken.
Sur, like all the restaurants from the show, has become a tourist destination for fans craving proximity to the drama. Diners seem to be looking around for someone, their phones out, waiting to spot their favorite cast member.
And the dish on everyone’s table is the fried goat cheese balls.
“The goat cheese balls became extremely popular after being featured in the show ‘Vanderpump Rules,’” executive chef Nicolas Medina later wrote in an email to The Times. He uses Laura Chenel goat cheese to make the golden orbs and serves them atop rounds of toasted white bread with dollops of mango chutney.
Medina, who started in the restaurant industry as a dishwasher and has cooked at the Andaz and Four Seasons hotels in Los Angeles, was initially hired at Sur to completely revamp the menu. The cheese balls were the only item that stayed.
Now, he estimates that he makes around 1,000 orders per month.
If you find yourself at Sur with friends who watch the show, these are what you should be eating while you attempt to follow the conversation.
The drinks on the surrounding tables are various shades of pink. I order the Gitana, which arrives a deep coral-pink. It’s a vodka martini sweetened with strawberry puree and a sugar rim. A single sliver of Fresno chile floats in the glass. Candy-sweet, it’s like drinking a boozy pink lemonade. A few minutes in and I’m tipsy from all the sugar.
In between sips of their own martinis, the table next to me asks their server if anyone from the show is there that day. They let out a collective sigh when he says, “Just Peter.”
Pump Restaurant
At the risk of sounding like someone twice my age, the music at Pump is loud. It’s loud in a way that’s uncomfortable if you’re not pre-gaming for a night out. So loud that on a recent visit, the host can’t help but sway her hips and shuffle from foot to foot behind the host stand. She dance-walks us to the table.
Pump is not a restaurant or a bar. It is a party. From the second you walk through the door, you are in party land. By the time we order our drinks, I’m bobbing my head too.
I remember interviewing Vanderpump in 2014, just before she opened the restaurant.
“I want everything to be sexy,” she told me.
Vanderpump recently announced that after nearly 10 years, she plans to close Pump in July, citing a proposed increase in rent. For now, the dining room, under a canopy of 100-year-old olive trees, is full.
This week’s recommendations include savory cheesecakes in Pasadena and Pico-Robertson.
It’s a party, but with a full dinner menu. Chicken Milanese is fried well, crisp and juicy. On the side is a scoop of “Lisa’s homemade potato salad.” Like something you might find at a neighborhood backyard barbecue, it’s chunky, the potatoes skin-on and studded with chopped turkey bacon and scallions.
Kale salad, called “Kales on a Date,” is better than the one at Erewhon, crowded with grilled asparagus, cucumber, pine nuts, goat cheese and dates and dressed in a Champagne vinaigrette.
To drink, there are Pump-Tinis (pink, vodka, muddled fruit, sugar rim), Vanderpump Rose wine (no better or worse than Whispering Angel) and Vanderpump sangria.
It’s spa food you won’t mind eating while you dance in your seat. While I don’t spot any cast members during dinner, a few regulars tell me that Vanderpump stops in from time to time, and might encourage you to get up from your seat and dance too.
TomTom Restaurant & Bar
I’m surprised to find an actual line to check in at the host stand just before 6 p.m. on a Sunday. But the patio is full of large parties sipping martinis. The table next to us includes four women, three of them wearing leopard-print bustiers.
TomTom is a bar more than it is a restaurant. And the most important thing to remember here is that the deep fryer works and it works well.
I order the fried goat cheese balls, expecting a repeat of the appetizer at Sur. They’re similar, but these arrive with a petite green salad decorated with pomegranate seeds and a white balsamic vinaigrette. Artichoke green chile dip is hot and gooey, served alongside toasted “paprika naan chips” that taste like the fried pita chips from that vendor at the farmers market. Spicy cauliflower wings are nuggets of breaded and fried cauliflower tossed in a General Tso’s copycat sauce. One is so sticky, we can’t seem to dislodge it from the plate. Fried shrimp is nestled into discs of cold jicama and drizzled with a spicy pink aioli to make tacos.
It’s more interesting than the stuff at Barney’s Beanery, or the other sports bar down the street. And slightly better too.
While the women in the leopard bustiers are memorable, there aren’t any actual cast members from the show around.
Schwartz & Sandy’s Lounge
“You ask.”
“No, you do it.”
“Stop. You do it. Please. He’s right there!”
The two young women at the table next to me at Sandoval and Schwartz’s new restaurant, Schwartz & Sandy’s, are arguing over who should ask Schwartz, who is actually there, for a photo. They rise from the table, bicker and squeal, only to sit back down moments later. Finally, they muster the courage to approach him. He happily obliges and poses for photos with each of the women.
Another table tells Schwartz they are from Fort Worth, Texas. Can they trouble him for a photo? Yes, of course they’ll take a shot with him.
The restaurant is like stepping into a Miami housewife’s version of a bachelor pad in the ’90s. The sign out front is neon, there’s no shortage of plush chartreuse and azure blue velvet seating, and the animal-print wallpaper is a vibe all its own. Is the mirror in the bathroom ideal for selfies? It sure is.
If you’re at Schwartz & Sandy’s, you’re not crying over #Scandoval. You’re not one of the viewers who felt compelled to express your anger at Tom or Tom on the internet. You’re there to see Schwartz and hopefully get a photo (or take a shot with him).
If you order a cocktail, know that they lean sweet, with names like Baby Shark and Wendy Peppercorn. My Neon Negroni replaces Campari with Suze and sweet red vermouth with Nonino L’Aperitivo, giving the drink a mustard-yellow hue that matches my seat.
Most of the tables around me seem to have a drink or two and then leave. We stick around and order the Juicy Lucy sliders, which are indeed juicy. With melted cheese, grilled onions and a familiar pink burger sauce, they taste like America. The fries are thin and crisp, dusted with “Cajun” seasoning and served with black cherry ketchup. We mindlessly shove them into our mouths while we watch Schwartz take shots with various groups of diners.
My favorite new burger is served on an English muffin. Plus my go-to veggie burger, no fake meat included.
The lobster corn dog is the best thing we try, with a fluffy golden shell wrapped around a cylinder of plump lobster sausage.
After dinner, I reached out to the restaurant with a request to speak with the chef about the food. Operating partner Brett Bakman responded initially, wanting to know the focus of the column. I replied but have yet to hear back from any representative for the restaurant.
This is not intended as an endorsement of the venue, the food or anyone’s behavior. If you’re curious about the food, or hoping to catch a glimpse of Tom or Tom, by all means, make a reservation.
And at the very least, stop with the fake Yelp reviews. There are about 20 employees who didn’t sign up for a TV show or publicly cheat on their partners. They, too, need to pay rent.
And if you need to know, #TeamAriana.
The 'Vanderpump Rules' restaurants
Sur, 606-614 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 289-2824, surrestaurant.com
Pump, 8948 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 657-7867, pumprestaurant.com
TomTom, 8932 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, (424) 245-4498, tomtombar.la
Schwartz & Sandy’s, 1917 N. Bronson Ave., Los Angeles, schwartzandsandys.com
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