To Eat or Shop in LA

 If I had to choose between going to a great bakery and shopping at a super cute store with a one-day trunk show—I’m not sure what I’d do. Luckily, on a recent Sunday on Ventura Avenue in Studio City, I didn’t have to decide. The just-opened and wonderful Big Sugar Bakeshop sits two doors down from Dari, a hip little boutique stocked with big names (think Stella McCartney and James Perse) as well as less well known local designers; it’s owned by William Shatner's daughter Melanie. Not that Big Sugar Bakeshop is without fashion—besides killer-good red velvet cake with buttercream frosting and fudgy, Oreo-studded brownies, they sell amazing black and red skull-decorated aprons designed by co-owner Mary Odson’s nine-year-old daughter, Hana (her line is called Hana's Kitchen; it's exclusive to Big Sugar Bakeshop). On the other hand, Dari isn’t without snacks—Big Sugar catered the trunk show, and there was a table piled high with their vanilla bean shortbread and pecan pie bars when I walked in. The only thing missing was that scrumptious red velvet cake. Lisa Ritter, Big Sugar’s baker-owner reports: “They said, 'Please, no frosting with the clothes.'”