Bitten: Yet another thing I do, so you don't have to

Or you might want to. Sarah Jessica Parker, of Square Pegs and, of course, Sex and the City, recently unveiled her new fashion line. Much to my and probably your surprise, the line, Bitten, is not just discounted but cheap, and the designs are rather practical -- certainly nothing you'd ever see Carrie Bradshaw wear: t-shirts, tanks, blouses of Indian cotton in solid colors, little skirts, chinos, and jeans comprise the line and, get this, nothing costs more than $20.

Well, naturally I was skeptical, as a long-ago housewife impersonated by Lily Tomlin would say. So when I saw the Bitten logo in the window of where the Old Navy used to be at the renovated-but-still-inexplicable Beverly Connection, I trouped in, dragging S along after lunch (at the Grand Lux Cafe, the overdecorated diner that supports the possibly-just-as-inexplicable-but-more-successful Beverly Center).

Well, ladies -- this is a women's line only -- the clothes are worth checking out. Stretchy jeans for $14.98 in at least three cuts (low, medium, and up-to-the-waist -- remember your waist?). And they were true to size, not skinny mini as Miss SJP is. T-shirts were cute with interesting detail. Cheap flats and flipflops, and a few jackets, some in denim, round out the line. Sizes seem to go from 0 up to 16.

Here's the deal: Bitten is carried exclusively by Steve and Barry's, which -- for those of you who have spent time in New England -- is rather like Bob's Stores, writ small, meaning jeans, shirts, maybe some skirts, etc. Practical wear. The one in the Beverly Connection is the Steve and Barry's closest to most Los Angeles locations, although there's also one in the Fox Hills Mall in Culver City.

Forgive me for sounding like Daily Candy (I'm not a shill! I bought those jeans with my hard-earned credit!) but these clothes are worth checking out.

Just suppress your inner Carrie Bradshaw long enough to find something that doesn't pinch. You can suffer for beauty tomorrow.

Let's eat: The Colony Cafe

The Westside-Pavilion adjacent Colony Cafe is, as famously described in the Los Angeles Times magazine before its demise, a project that Lily Tartikoff conjured up for her daughter Calla. My take: Colony Cafe isn't a vanity project: It's all about the food.

Colony Cafe features sandwiches, burgers, and dogs; its other side, Papa's Porch, features sweets, including a pomegranate limeade that is tart and delicious (I could easily alternate between this and Clementine's ginger limeade like, forever). S and I met there on a recent Saturday; at 12:30, the mostly outdoor tables were not crowded, and we lazed on the front porch, oblivious to the noise of Pico just a few steps away, over our lunch.

S went for the vegetable sandwich: veggies, hummus, and sprouts on whole-grain bread, wholesome and delicious. At the other end of the spectrum, I had a chili dog; the Nathan's dog had bite, the chili was mild but not wimpy, and the matchstick fries I had alongside were difficult to stop eating. They come in a garlic version, too, pictured above -- but that's where I wimped out. There was Nordstrom to conquer across the street, preferably without fire breath.

The Colony Cafe is at 10937 West Pico, near Kelton, across the street and a little west of the Westside Pavilion, and is open daily 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. I will certainly be back; nice to have another choice in that nabe for the weekends when the Apple Pan crowd gets aggressive.

photo from supermod via Flickr.

H&M: Shopping review

Numerous readers have requested that I blog from time to time on my shopping adventures, so here goes:

H&M has finally opened in Los Angeles.

To those of you on the East coast, who have gotten accustomed to a) picking out H&M items on passers-by while thinking, "I know YOUR secret," and/or b) enjoying the sweet sensation when some ostensible fashion snob assumes you bought that blouse at Gucci and NOT H&M, this is NOT news. Sure, I've been augmenting my wardrobe with nuggets from the Manhattan and Boston H&Ms for years....now I guess I can easily be found out.

But what I want to focus on is the nitty-gritty. The rest of you can worry about whether the knockoffs are accurate enough to wear to, say Beverly Hills, or whether you ought to keep them in, say, Santa Monica, where people are a little less snobby about these things. What I want to discuss are....tactics.

OK, so I went to the store the day it opened. Turned out not to be a big deal, whether due to luck or my innate hunter-gatherer shopping instincts, I don't know. The line at 3 p.m. was not too bad, stretching across the front of the store from door to door. I estimated I'd be waiting half an hour, but hadn't counted on the fact that the guards let lots of people in at the same time. Total wait: ten minutes.

Inside, there was a fair amount of pandemonium, but not so crazy that I couldn't assume Zen shopping mode and focus only on the merchandise. I immediately got a wrap dress for 9.90, opening day special--Diane von Furstenberg wouldn't be fooled, but I'll be sure and wear Etro or something else pricey the next time she and Barry pop by for tapas. It wasn't too difficult to negotiate the rest of the store. The women's clothing is at either end -- regular stuff, including the feature pieces by Viktor & Rolf, to the left as you enter, the teenier trendier stuff to the right, with the men's department in the middle. In the back of the store is a smallish children's department.

This store, compared to Pasadena, is much better stocked, bigger, and easier to negotiate. The downside is NO lingerie department, which is sad because H&M has great bra/panty combos that are glam, fit decently if not perfectly, AND cost about $20 in toto. I wondered if the V&R "boutique" might become a lingerie department at some point.

So what do I recommend at H&M? You can always, always find an inexpensive, decently fitted t-shirt in a range of colors. My experience is that they last for a few seasons, a real plus for schmattas. Likewise a cardigan, with Lurex thread or not. The jewelry is cheap and fun, although in London last fall I bought beads that fell apart immediately upon contact. Not a place to make a major investment, although it'd be difficult to do that. The pants fit in capricious ways, so not my favorite. I've found cute and funky dresses there on occasion, that no one would suspect came from H&M.

Other advice: Buy it and try it on at home. The try-on line is endless, and the return policy is a decent 30 days (contrast that with Forever 21's policy). And, please, use the cash register against the wall in the trend department. On Thursday and again on Saturday afternoon, this was the absolutely shortest line.

Can't comment on the men's department...too focused on my own needs. Next time...