Rockin’ ‘round L.A.

Gavin Rossdale and his rock band Bush broke up around 2001, but the singer-songwriter immediately began building a new team. He married No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani the following year, and now they’re a family of four living in the Hollywood Hills with their two toddler boys.

Professionally, Rossdale has done smashingly as a solo act (his latest album is “Wanderlust”), and he has a new video single out later this month, “Forever May You Run.”

“It was one of those songs that just came tumbling out,” Rossdale said of the single. “It’s about that feeling at the end of the night when you put a blanket around a friend, when you have people around you in turbulent times; it’s a message that everything’s going to be OK.”

Rossdale and singer Leona Lewis will be at the Palladium on Thursday (free tickets available at T-Mobile outlets).

Fancy friends

One of the best places in L.A. is Osteria Mozza, which is Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton’s restaurant. When I was in New York I happened to go to Mario’s place there, Babbo, and I was so blown away that I wrote him a letter. He had the Cure’s “Disintegration” playing and Weezer’s first record, it was an incredible meal, everything was perfect. Then while I was on the road, he sent me this package of wine, olive oil, cheeses, cookbooks, the whole thing, and from there we became pretty good friends. I knew I had to try his place here as soon as it opened. And it turned out to be a great place. They have a duck that’s incredible.

Sweet treats

There’s a Portuguese bakery on Ventura right next to Casa Vega called Natas Pastries. They have the craziest doughnuts filled with pastry cream, custard cream. It’s the naughtiest place in town, it’s super-indulgent. You get a box of assorted things and some of their really strong coffee.

Draft pick

You don’t have pubs here, which is probably the biggest thing I miss out of England because it’s so much a part of our culture, but you do have the Drawing Room on Vermont in Los Feliz. They have Stella Artois on tap. The place is the perfect mixture of being so dark you can’t quite see anyone, and cold beer. And despite what people here think, English people like cold beer.

Still in mourning

The Cook’s Library just closed, [the store is open until April 30] which is a tragedy. It was just a brilliant place, a whole different experience. It was a real communal experience for people who enjoy books.

Culture crawl

Bergamot Station in Santa Monica -- to go around there and see all the art galleries there in one place, it’s a brilliant way to spend a day. And there are obviously great galleries in Culver City and up through Hollywood, but Bergamot is a very special concentration of them. You just feel better coming out of there. You feel slightly smarter somehow.

And the L.A. County Museum of Art is amazing, a fantastic museum.

On his list

And one place I still have to get to is Alcazar in Encino, which was recommended by Jonathan Gold, who doesn’t seem to put a foot wrong about these things.

mark.sachs@latimes.com