Just a little more than a week after our annual Wines on the Wing Survey in New York City, we are in Los Angeles for our Leisure Lifestyle Awards. Hosted again this year at the Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, celebration season is still in full swing as we get ready for the presentation and party tonight.

In the meantime, we had a chance to enjoy a company dinner at the hotel’s Cattle and Claw restaurant, something new for us, as the restaurant just celebrated its first-year anniversary in April.

Our team was escorted to a private dining room and found our seats for our family-style meal. The menu was decided before we arrived, so the service was efficient and seamless. Before long, two seafood towers arrived with a mix of lobster tails, lobster rolls, hamburgers, chickpea burgers (which turned out to be one of my new favorite veggie burgers), side salads and fries. Side dishes of lobster pizza, salads and more fries followed, along with an impressive lobster paella — noticing a theme here with Cattle and Claw?

The meal was the perfect mix of samplings but also an impressive showing and offered more than enough to go around twice. After a long day of travel, it’s always nice to get a chance to get together with our team and relax before a fun work event the next day.

— Angelique Platas, associate editor