The summer is palpable for those of us in the Northeast. The April showers brought a lot of colorful brightness in the May flowers … and also some fun travels I’d be remiss not to highlight. Though my trips were centered around work, there is always room for great dining and some leisure time.

I started out West in early April in Los Angeles, where the weather felt like a sweet escape from the last winter days in Philadelphia. Warm afternoons and cool evenings were the perfect balance for a productive and enjoyable week of meetings throughout the city.

My Delta Air Lines flight out of Philadelphia International Airport was smooth. A connection in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport allowed for an extended lunch before our later afternoon arrival in the City of Angels. The first stop was Hertz to pick up the rental for the week and then on to Beverly Hills.

My home for the week was the elegant Cameo Beverly Hills. Conveniently located between Beverly Hills and Century City, the property offered a more modern approach to its luxury: clean patterns and a perfect balance between statement and soft colors. The service and amenities were amazing, but my favorite part had to be the breathtaking sunsets from my eighth-floor balcony and the stillness and quietness that accompanied them. Just what one needs after a packed day of client meetings, lunches and networking.

View from the 8th Floor at Cameo Beverly Hills

No bleisure trip to LA is complete without adding a new restaurant to the list. Night One took us to Viva La Mamma — one of West Hollywood’s newest restaurants with “an Italian soul and rebellious edge,” as they call it.

The colors were vibrant yet elegant, and the overall ambience was a mix of contemporary and traditional rock and roll. We started our tasting with The Ultimate Antipasti Mix Per Due — the perfect way to taste multiple dishes without over-ordering. The platter included oven-fresh garlic Focaccia della Mamma; crispy and golden calamari tossed with parsley and lemon; lamb and beef meatballs in an I-swear-a-grandmother-made-this pomodoro sauce; and, my overall favorite, the Love Affair, consisting of marinated roma tomatoes and roasted wild mushrooms tossed with fresh herbs.

The Ultimate Antipasti Mix Per Due

Rightfully so, we had to taste the signature Neapolitan pizza and opted for the Some Like It Hot. And hot it was, my friends! A harmonious balance between the San Marzano tomatoes, salami picante and the basil, nonetheless.

Some Like It Hot

Night Two took us to Bacari in the heart of Beverly Hills. Known for its Mediterranean-inspired, tapas-style menu, Bacari has a few locations throughout the region. I had the gin ’n‘ juice cocktail, a refreshing mix of gin, Aperol, yuzu, basil and orange bitters, and we opted to share several of the small plates so we could really sample their offerings. Although, it was still difficult to narrow down our choices given a menu filled with so many delicious options!

Bacari Beverly Hills

In the end, we settled on the fried chicken sliders; Moroccan cigars (no, not those kinds of cigars!); charred green bean and snow pea salad; and, my favorite, the scallop medallions — seared to perfection atop a carrot parsnip purée, melted leeks, crispy capers and beet chips, drizzled with a light white truffle oil. The atmosphere was fantastic as we enjoyed the awning-covered sidewalk dining section on that cool Los Angeles evening. My only note: Unfortunately, this experience did not translate to the quality of the service — which was subpar and underwhelming, given the locale.

Bacari Beverly Hills

Bacari’s Scallop Medallions

By night Three we were more laid-back and went to Erewhon to load up on goodies and keep it casual. We had been driving from Beverly Hills to Santa Monica to Santa Clarita and back to Beverly Hills and were more than ready to just relax for the evening and take advantage of our luxurious hotel rooms to rest back up for the last meeting of the trip as well as the dreaded red-eye flight home. Although always a fun stop to peruse, I’ll still never get over the prices at Erewhon, and that’s coming from someone who lived in Manhattan for eight years.

My spring fling might have started on the West Coast, but stayed tuned, and I’ll take you south for our next read.

— Yasser Gallagher-Ogando, executive media director