Cafe Rodeo at the Luxe Hotel

Located in the Luxe Hotel, which has a prime spot in the center of Rodeo Drive’s epic shopping corridor, this casual café, upscale without the pretension, is a perfect place to rest your stilettos after a long day burning up the credit card. After a few personnel changes, executive chef Matthew Gladstone (The Mint) now oversees the menu, melding upscale comfort menu with global influences from Asia to Latin America. That translates to a lobster and shitake macaroni and cheese, filet mignon and St. Agur cheese sliders and a duck confit quesadilla. For dessert, the dishes to order are the mango coconut bread pudding and tempura banana, which is Gladstone’s take on the banana split. The interior is sleek and modern – think muted tones and tasteful touches – and the tiny outdoor patio serves as an ideal people-watching perch.

TIPS: For a deal unlike any in Beverly Hills, check out the $3.60 martinis at the happy hour in Bar 360 (three-sixty, get it?). And there’s a great cheese platter, which changes daily according to the chef’s whims, to fill your stomach before you get entirely too sloshed on those cheap drinks.