Drink your milk...and eat your greens!

Sugarfish

2009-12-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

This is from when Marcie and I finally got together one day to celebrate both our belated birthdays. She had wanted to try Sugarfish for ages, and we finally made it there, early enough so we were the first customers of the day on a sunny Saturday mid-morning.

I'm most intrigued by Nozawa's "Trust Me" menus, how for the most part, that's all they offer, you can get a few things more a-la-carte but that's it. Marcie and I both went with the "Trust Me" menu selection (not the Trust me lite, I wanted to try the crab roll!).

A plate of edaname was brought out for each of us to nibble on. Tasty pods of edaname are always fun and a great way to start a meal.

Second dish, a chopped tuna sashimi, with green onions and ponzu sauce. Each piece of tuna was like a glistening ruby, so tasty and fresh. I'd have to say the quality of fish was excellent across the board, very clean and tasty flavors. The portion was quite small, but a great start.

Next up, 2 pieces each of Albacore and Salmon Sushi. Same thing all around - super fresh and tasty. I remember the rice being nice as well, although it was a little more crumbly than I would have liked (a lot of grains fell off en-route from plate to soy sauce to mouth), but the fish more than made up for any minor complaints about rice.

Another small plate arrived - one piece each of Yellowtail and Halibut Sushi. Nothing more can be said about the quality that I haven't said before, just top notch and very delicious.

As the waitress put down this plate, she cautioned us to eat this sooner than later, as the seaweed is crisp and fresh. The Toro Hand Roll was really amazing, the fish was very luscious on the tongue, and the rice issue was resolved by this method of eating, as the rice was enveloped by the seaweed. I could have had 2 more of these.

Last plate was the Crab Hand Roll, same rules applied as the toro handroll. The crab meat was SO sweet, each bite was just like fireworks in my mouth. Hrm, in a good way.

I felt pretty good after that lunch but I think I probably could have done even more, maybe some a-la-carte items to finish it off. I am definitely going again soon.

Sugarfish
4722 1/4 Admiralty Way
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292-6905
(310) 306-6300
www.sugarfishsushi.com

Made this at home: Apple Pandowdy

2009-10-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

I actually cook quite a bit, but I don’t share enough of my own cooking pictures on this blog…every so often I make something super special and it’s so pretty that I photograph it. So this is one of those things, a apple pandowdy, cooling off from its’ stint in the oven. I had wanted to make something a little special for dessert for board game night, and had gotten a bag of granny smith apples….so apple pie was the obvious choice. However, I was still a bit nervous about pie-making…especially about a bottom layer of pie I had to par-bake.

I had gotten a great recipe from America’s test kitchen, for an apple pandowdy, which was a lot easier than having to make a whole pie, and could be a lot juicier and have less complicated cooking time. Peeled apples, some lemon juice, a bit of maple syrup, butter, pie crust, egg white and some sugar sprinkled on top – and here we are. Warm from the oven, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it was a perfect sweet ending to game night.

Kuru Kuru Sushi

2009-11-27T17:30:00.000-08:00

This is awhile ago, when I had a different schedule at work (nights). Louisa and I met up with Bryan at Kuru Kuru sushi, as Bryan had a craving, and we were up for anything. I had gotten some takeout here before (decent) and was willing to give them a shot. The place was pretty full with people from the studios having their dinner, so space was limited. We initially sat at the sushi bar, but moved to a table once one cleared up.

Bryan and I were intrigued by a particular item on the menu - called "Monkey brains". Whaa? So, I HAD to order this - after all, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is one of my favorite movies of all time. This is what arrived at the table...

...hrmm. I guess...monkey brain-ish. Kinda. Far as I can decipher (the waitress wasn't very descriptive, and the menu literally only said "Monkey brains") it was a mushroom, stuffed with tuna or other fish meats, tempura fried and covered in a siracha and teriyaki sauce. The novelty of the name was pretty much the best thing about it, I mean, it was edible but I don't think I'll order it again. The mix of fish meat became quite overcooked in the frying process, the mushroom itself was fine. I guess they did the best they could with presentation.

This was Louisa's salad that came along with her dish. Sad iceberg lettuce leaves covered in ginger-y dressing. Serviceable, but very much a great example of "camp salad" (Owen's reference to how it's cheap lettuce in a bag, that came with purple lettuce and carrot shreds, that he was forced to eat during YMCA summer camp. Oh, the stuff that we endure as kids.)

This was the rest of Louisa's dish, the Chicken Teriyaki dinner. The char-grilled chicken is over a bed of noodles, and white rice on the side. Louisa liked this, I've had it for that one time I had takeout and it's pretty decent. Good grilling on the chicken.

Bryan's sushi cravings were satiated by this roll, I'm not sure what they called it, but considering they named the last dish Monkey Brains, I'm going to call it "Snake Surprise". I think it's a California roll topped with pieces of salmon sashimi. He was fairly happy with this roll, although Bryan is pretty much happy with most things he orders.

I got a chirashi sushi box, scattered pieces of sashimi fish over a bed of sushi rice. From what I remember, it had tuna, salmon, whitefish, shrimp, and flying fish roe. The quality of the fish was not extremely great but it was ok. The salmon was a bit stringy. They were fairly generous with portions though, so I guess I can't complain too much.

I definitely have to try some more sushi places in Burbank to compare but this place falls neatly in the mid-low range of sushi places, but service was friendly and the turnover seemed pretty frequent so I would be willing to come here again.

Kuru Kuru Sushi
521 N Hollywood Way
Burbank, CA 91505-4983
(818) 846-6552

Mozza to go

2009-11-25T23:50:00.000-08:00

Whew, finally a moment to catch up on posts! Thanksgiving vacation is such a blessing.

I was eagerly awaiting the opening of Mozza to go - so exciting to be able to get the amazing pizza at Pizzeria Mozza in a take out window instead of at the restaurant, which is usually very crowded and busy. It's also nice to be able to call them beforehand and have the pizza ready right when I walk up...it's great! The nice part of this very small space is the products you can get, here's a wall of stuff you can buy from Mozza to go...

Dry pastas, canned tomatoes, really high quality products available for purchase. I even hear you can buy soap that they make from their used cooking oil. Sweet!

Bryan tried the Pizza alla Benno: Speck, pineapple, jalapenos, mozzarella & tomato. Bryan's not a picky eater but he loved this enough to want to go back a few days later, and get the same pizza. Once he likes something, he usually sticks with it always. Note the delicious bubbly edges on the crust - one of the best things about Mozza pizza!

I got a Coach Farm goat cheese, leeks, scallions, garlic & bacon pizza. The leeks and scallions added a nice fresh contrast to the creamy goat cheese, and the saltiness of the bacon and mellowness of the roasted garlic. A perfect pizza? I might have to submit this one up for a nomination, for sure.

I got this pizza to go for Owen, his favorite Fennel sausage, panna & red onion pizza. The house made sausage, laced with fennel, with delicate red onion strands, it really stands out as a classic favorite with high end ingredients.

I wish I lived closer to this place so I could actually order delivery from here. Mozza to go is a welcome addition to my "special treat" take out rotation. Oh, I also got a butterscotch budino to go as well, I forgot to take a picture of it cuz I scarfed it down too quick...I think it tasted even better because I was in my PJ's instead of in the crowded restaurant. Do yourself a favor and try some takeout from this place!

Mozza to Go
6610 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038
323-297-1130
http://www.mozza2go.com/

Umami Burger

2009-10-31T00:30:00.000-07:00

Quick quick post on Umami burger, as I'm completely embarrassed that I haven't posted this and I went here around the 4th of July (Oh MAN I've been backlogged on the posts...) My friend Brian was in town for Anime Expo, where we had a booth at Artist's alley, where I sold some of my prints. We met up for dinner with some of his friends at Umami burger, where I had been very interested in going to, as I passed it daily going to work, but hadn't gotten a chance to go to, up until then!

Brian's friends were really nice, and we chatted it up while waiting for our table. And we waited. And waited some more. We eyed the lucky groups of people that had gotten there before us. People were basically camped out there for ages...there were birthday celebrations, big groups of people eating, talking, then ordering SECONDS on their burgers...it got to ridiculous levels. I think we ended up waiting about 2 and a half hours. That was beyond my limit, even for a really hot restaurant, but I guess I really can't blame the restaurant, they just had a lot of people, and not very much space.

Anyways, on to the burgers.

I think this was Brian's burger, he got a Manly burger - beer cheddar cheese, smoked salted onion strings, and bacon lardons. Sorry for the blurriness, we were starving and disjointed at this point. He and I shared our burgers, so we each got a taste. The quality of the meat was very good, the shiny bun encased the ingredients very well. I think the burger was rather small for the price, but I admit I wasn't hungry after eating a full one, so I guess it was satisfying enough. The bacon and onion strings on this one were very nice, added a lot of texture and savoriness (the signature flavor of umami...right?)

This was my burger, the Pork and Stilton burger - blue cheese, pocas port carmelized onions. I actually liked Brian's burger better, I'm glad we agreed to share. It didn't have enough of the poppy flavors that I expected (like a knock your socks off amount of flavorful blue cheese, I think they were rather light handed in the blue cheese generosity department), although I still liked it - again, the quality of the meat was excellent, but I could have used more intense flavors.

This was the truffle burger, and my favorite one that I tried, definitely worthy of an "umami" label. Very savory, deep flavors that stuck with you after you took a bite, and very unique. If I were to go again I would get this burger. Maybe two. Okay I'm a glutton.

Brian's friends insisted to us that their fries were not worth ordering, but I didn't even get a chance to see for myself as they had run out of fries for the night. Oh well. I got the onion rings instead. These were tasty, lots of tempura batter, not too greasy, with their "special" ketchup, I liked it but only about 4 rings for 4 dollars was a little steep for me. I might just rock another burger next time.

Again, I don't blame Umami for the overloaded dining room that night, so I'll be back again at some point, hopefully when they're not so overloaded with other guests.

Umami Burger
850 La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-931-3000
http://www.umamiburger.com/

Portos Bakery and Cafe

2009-10-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Louisa hadn't tried Porto's before and that was a crying shame, so we headed there one day to experience the magic (well, by the way people talk about this place, it's practically epic). A HUGE line was winding around for the bakery section, luckily, we were going to the cafe line which was a lot shorter. The prices were quite cheap for sandwiches and their signature items, I am not sure about each of the cake prices but I think I paid around 25 dollars for everything...here goes...

I got this pretty little chocolate cake with mousse inside for Owen. I think it looked prettier than it tasted, but Owen liked it fine- it's chocolate, after all, and a dark chocolate, at that.

One of the things Porto's is famous for - their cheese rolls. They're really affordable, and really tasty. They're what I want cheese danishes to taste like - flaky, the cheese is not too sweet or heavy, and airy bites of sugar coated pastry. So good as a breakfast or anytime snack.

The second thing that Portos is famous for - their potato balls. These breadcrumb coated balls are pretty dang addicting...I'd liken them to mini portable shepherd's pies....

Here's a shot of the insides. Meaty meat mixture, surrounded in mashed potato, with a fried coating. I think this is the American answer to the Chinese dumpling.

And this is my sandwich, a turkey on a croissant sandwich. It came with plantain chips, a fun twist on the usual potato chip that would usually come with a sandwich, but I still prefer potato chips. These plantain chips had a nice satisfying crunch, though, and a faint taste of plantain, I think when you cut plantains this thin then fry them, you lose most of that flavor that goes along with it. The turkey croissant-wich was great, freshly baked croissant and yummy turkey is pretty much awesome. Also, at a price around 4 dollars, it was a nice change from the usual 9 dollar or more sandwiches I've come to begrudgingly pay for at other restaurants.

I'd definitely go again to sample some more of their baked goods - I had an unpictured mango mousse, which was very tasty and refreshing, with good mango flavor. It reminded me of mango pudding from Chinese restaurants, with more tartness, which I enjoyed. I'll be back again!

Porto's Bakery and Cafe
3614 W Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, CA 91505
www.portosbakery.com

Truxton's American Bistro

2009-10-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

I hadn't seen Brook in awhile, and met up with her for lunch one weekday. Since I had never tried it, I wanted to give Truxton's Bistro a shot (last time I had tried to eat there, it was completely bogged down with a party, and we never even got to be seated - no one ever showed up at the front - a huge negative, there always should be someone greeting, right?) I decided to give the place another chance, after all, there were a lot of people there, that's at least a good sign right?

Scanning the menu, I noted that a lot of the menu items were pretty pricey, but I was still willing to try, if anything to check out the quality. Of course, my usual drink order...

A nice frosty arnold palmer, very welcome on that hot day.

Brook got a meatball(?) pizza, I think it was meatball anyways. The other toppings included red bell pepper, onion and a slight dusting of parsley. The pizza crust was impressive, very thin but still managed to keep all the toppings secure and didn't bend under the weight of itself when picking up a piece. Brook only ate like, a quarter of this, and saved the rest, it was rather big.

I got a turkey club sandwich, with sweet potato fries. I think I got this mainly because this would be Owen's order of choice if we were to go again, and I wanted to gauge how good his order would be, plus I wanted to bring half of this home for him, as he was sick that day (yes, he's sick a lot...a lot of headaches :( ) I remember enjoying the sweet potatoes a lot, as they were crispy, well seasoned and the perfect fry size. The sandwich itself was made of fresh carved turkey breast, a pleasant surprise (I dislike the water packed stuff but have come to terms with it when served this at restaurants, Owen DETESTS water packed turkey and will completely reject a sandwich if it contains it), good mixed baby greens and tomato, with bacon, but I could be wrong as this was awhile ago. This was a very decent sandwich, however, very pricey (I think it was around 12-13 for the sandwich, and an extra dollar or two for the upgrade to sweet potato fries.)

The atmosphere was nice and very busy, I'm sure a neighborhood restaurant is very welcome around these parts, in terms of variety (oddly, there are 3 Mexican restaurants within spitting distance of each other around here...). The price point is a bit high for my taste, but I can see myself coming here once and awhile.

Truxton's American Bistro
8611 Truxton Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90045-3910
(310) 417-8789
www.truxtonsmaericanbistro.com

Back home in Lahaina

2009-10-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

I’ve been here many times but I don’t think I’ve blogged about it yet. Sometimes I get a crazy Hawaiian food craving, and this is our restaurant of choice to satisfy that craving. The restaurant is hard to see from the street, as the entrance faces the back and not street front, but upon entrance, it’s quite festively decorated, taking the Hawaiian theme to heart, with fake foliage, vines and even a fake tree in the middle of the dining room.

I can’t help myself, when there’s Spam musubi, I order it…

Okay, my view on Spam- well, it’s not so bad. My mom and dad used to fry up thin slices of it, and then put sugar on them (because they felt like Spam was way too salty, which it is…but the addition of granulated sugar on top is not a great addition). We’d have this with rice, so this is not that much removed from spam musubi. I admit the Spam slime (the gooey slimy gelatin that encases the Spam in the can) is the most unpleasant part, and would deter most people upon experiencing “Spam in the raw”. Upon opening the can, I would suggest immediately rinsing and blotting the gelatin away, as it does not add or detract from the overall experience, and slicing it up and frying it to get a good crust on it.

Back to the spam musubi, they do a decent one, with a bit of teriyaki and green onion chopped on top. Nice little snacky appetizers to start the meal.

Plate lunch is very popular in Hawaii (from what I remember when I went in, ah, 8th grade!) so they have something similar with their lunch specials, choose one or two chicken or beef or pork, each plate comes with their ramen salad, rice and a scoop of mac salad. Here are the variations that we ordered:

Julian got the lahaina fried chicken and upgraded his rice to bacon fried rice. Almost all food is better when you add bacon. I think the lahaina fried chicken is the thing to get here, the marinade for the chicken is sweet, fried perfectly with fried crunchy bits all over it. The ramen salad is interesting - straight from the package ramen, crumpled up over thinly sliced cabbage, green onion and a tangy dressing. The mac salad is a nice texture contrast, very creamy and overwhelmingly ginger flavored, that's the only thing that I don't really like about their mac salad, how strongly the ginger taste is. The sauce was a teriyaki sauce, but I don't use much of it myself, I usually douse my plate with siracha sauce.

My plate lunch combo was very similar, lahaina fried chicken, BBQ Hawaiian chicken, plain white rice, ramen salad and that scoop of mac salad. Whenever I'm here, I'm quite drawn to this order, but I've gotten variations on this before - I think last time I ended up switching out my ramen salad for gyoza (very freshly fried!), and sometimes I get chicken long rice on the side (not pictured, but think, salty chicken noodle soup with rice noodle instead of thick pasta noodle, with a lot of green onions). I've also had their salmon, which was decent as well.

Also, on another visit, I've tried their premium Hawaiian ice cream. Owen couldn't help himself when he saw that they offered a chocolate, coconut and macadamia nut ice cream. (not pictured.) The generous scoop more than satisfied his cravings, the coconut made the whole scoop very rich, and the macadamia nuts were fun to crunch into. I didn't have much at all, since I'm not really a fan of chocolate ice cream (I know, it's a thing...), but if I did like it, I would choose this one.

This place is one of our favorites and we usually have excellent service. Highly recommended!

Back Home in Lahaina
916 N Sepulveda Blvd, Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles, California
http://www.backhomeinlahaina.com
310-374-0111

Fritto Misto

2009-10-07T20:20:00.000-07:00

I had been wanting to try this place for awhile, after passing it many times on my way back home from 3rd Street Promenade, and had heard great things about it, so I set up a lunch with Daphne and her brother to meet up here. The place was bustling crowded, filled with office workers from nearby. They wouldn’t seat us until we were all there, so I waited a spell and eyed their desserts (I guess all premade and precut, everything was pre-plated and saran-wrapped).

When we sat down, we were immediately served this basket of warm bread. The texture of this bread was not entirely unpleasant but nothing special, as was the crust. The best part about this bread was the fact it was very warm, and was refilled even though there was only one piece left (the lone piece of bread, no one wants to take it…)

My usual drink order, the Arnold palmer. Good ratio of lemonade to iced tea.

As I eyed the menu, I had really wanted to order the namesake of the restaurant, the Fritto Misto. We agreed to order one as an appetizer and share it. When this dish landed on the table, it was a massive mound of fried goods – fresh and hot – containing pieces of broccoli, zucchini, shrimp, carrot, scallop, and eggplant. Cocktail and tartar sauce were provided for dipping. This really ended up being too much, a more appropriate amount for 6 people instead of 3. We could not finish this, which was a shame because re-heated fried food is never the same, so it was a waste. Ahh, waste….don’t tell my mother, please.

This was Daphne’s gnocchi pasta balls, with mini shrimps, in a cream sauce. This was deceptively a big portion, as each little gnocchi dumpling was filled with…

…ricotta cheese, as Daphne is proudly displaying here. She liked it a lot, I think.

This was what Eric ordered, a ravioli in a pink cream sauce, with sundried tomatoes. I think the ravioli was filled with chicken (he insisted that he “needed meat”, so I think that’s what they offered), and he got “full enough” from this dish (a major concern he had when ordering), so I think it was a success.

ordered the lunch special, which that day happened to be lasagna. Lunch specials come with a side salad, and I requested it to be a walnut gorgonzola salad (extra charge) instead of the usual choices of Caesar or house salad, and I’m glad I made the choice – the gorgonzola salad was enough to be a meal in itself. The lasagna had a really rich tasty sauce, which I enjoyed greatly, but I managed to control myself and only have half of this plate, the rest went to Owen who was sick at home and appreciated the treat.

At this point, I was too full to even look at desserts, so I guess that will have to wait for the next time I go! I think I’ll try dinner here next time…

Fritto Misto

601 Colorado Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90407
(310) 458-2829

IKEA cafeteria

2009-07-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

One of life's simple pleasures...

...The swedish meatballs plate from IKEA's cafeteria. Hello, gorgeous. I love the little things about this well constructed, filling dish - the little Swedish flag, the lingonberry sauce, the way they exactly count out how many meatballs per plate, the splash of gravy from a gallon vat, complete with that gravy skin that is oh-so-disgusting/appealing. If you have 5 dollars, it's enough to score you this wondrous product of Swedish ingenuity. But bus your own plates...this ain't the Gordon Ramsay.

IKEA (various locations, but this one happened to be at)
IKEA Burbank, CA
600 N. San Fernando Blvd,
Burbank, CA
818-842-4532

Casitas Taco Al Carbon

2009-10-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

It feels like ages ago since I went to this place with Fernando and Louisa, but I’m finally getting around to showing the pictures for it (don’t hate me, please…) As I do not know many places in Burbank to eat, Fern drove us down to Casitas for some Mexican food, in a tiny strip mall close to Downtown Burbank.

The place itself is extremely small, the kitchen consists of a cramped grill operating directly behind a short counter with a cash register.

The salsa bar is quite attractive for a small place – plenty of ice and a few romaine lettuce heads for display purposes. I just hope they don’t necessarily use those later for people’s salads. I filled up little containers full of pico de gallo, red and green salsa, and chipotle, and waited outside, as there was pretty much no room to linger in the doorway with other people ordering their food.

This is what we unearthed once we got back to work to eat our takeout food…

Louisa and I got steak nachos – my eyes popped out of my head when I opened the Styrofoam container. Generous amounts of pico de gallo, guacamole, and sour cream completely concealed the equally generous mound of tortilla chips, melted Monterey jack cheese, pinto beans and thick cuts of flank steak. There was no way to finish these all in one sitting, and unfortunately a lot of this got wasted, as tortilla chips do not withstand the test of time or slowly congealing cold cheese. The portion was just…ridiculous.

Close up of the meaty cheesy bean-y stuff...

I doubt even the manliest of men could tackle this nacho monster before it becomes inedible and fuses all into one piece. Taste wise, it was pretty decent, although with any kind of nacho consumption, all of it kinda starts tasting the same (gloppy cheesy slightly crunchy spicy.)

Fern decided to go “healthier” and got a chicken Caesar salad, which he claims is the only salad that leaves him satisfied. This clear takeout container must have held at least 3-4 char-grilled chicken breasts, atop chopped romaine lettuce (agh, from the salsa bar?!), and quartered tomatoes. This came with a few salad dressing containers, and one container of shredded parmesan cheese. He threw everything in the container and shook it all around, ‘till it was all mixed up. He finished the whole thing, and seemed pretty happy.

To be honest, (this might be too much information…)my stomach hurt something bad after I ate the nachos, but I didn’t want to blame the nachos for it, and I don’t like lambasting a place unless i give it a second chance (I have grown as a foodblogger….right??), so that’s exactly what I did – I gave it a second chance, and got the chicken Caesar salad that Fern seemed to like so much. The taste was fine, the chicken was a bit on the dry side, the dressing was creamy and tasty enough, and I would have liked the tomatoes to have been chopped instead of just quartered (making them difficult to bite while covered with dressing). The portion was again, generous.

However, I again got stomach distress. Two times I've gone, two times I've been in massive pain. So in the end, as great of a portion and as decently tasty as it was going down...I can't recommend this place. By all means, maybe it was two flukes, just random chances that I got sick both times - but I don't think I can go another round on Casitas.

Casitas Taco Al Carbon
405 N Victory Blvd
Burbank, CA 91502
(818) 848-3242

Ciao Christina

2009-08-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Ciao Christina is a small little restaurant, just recently reopened after a long refurbishment, within walking distance of work, so Louisa and I decided to give it a try. We had heard that they had great gelato, and the gelato case is what instantly drew my eyes when I walked in. After a quick review of what flavors they had, I decided on:

A scoop of hazelnut and a scoop of pistachio. I actually am not usually a pistachio flavor kinda gal, but this was an excellent pistachio gelato, although I think the real pistachios were quite stale and I had wished they had excluded them. The hazelnut was a rich nutty flavor, it was a good accompaniment to the pistachio. I ate this pretty quick - isn't gelato best eaten fairly quickly, before it gets soupy?

The rest of our dinner (yes, we had dessert first while waiting for our "to-go" order, sometimes, dessert first is a necessity) was unearthed when we arrived back at work, and what a pretty sight it was...

This was Louisa's chicken parm sandwich (sorry for the blurriness). The bread was thick, and possibly could have been made in house, it was so good. The chicken had a nice breading to it, and held up its' crispness against the tomato sauce. There were even some olive slices in the sandwich. The potato chips were a real treat - they were freshly fried! Not out of a bag! Extra crispy crunchy, and really fun to eat. (I ended up ordering this the next time I went!)

I had decided on a chicken sausage stromboli (they also have calzones, but strombolis have mozzarella cheese on the inside, instead of ricotta, and for me, it was not a ricotta kinda day.), which was freshly made by request, and it showed. First off, this thing was huge - like, football sized. The bread was really great, not too much chew, not too hard of a crust. I neglected to take a picture of the insides, but the chicken sausage was where all the flavor was, and the cheese held it all together.

This also came with my stromboli - tomato sauce. This was excellent sauce - great to dip pieces of the stromboli in, I was almost eating this as if it was tomato soup. Louisa gave her approval, as an Italian - she mentioned it was "good gravy" (I guess tomato sauce is known as gravy in her family?)

Louisa also had gotten a cannoli to go, as her snack/dessert for later. I should have gotten one too, but I figured my stromboli was going to kick my ass (which it did.) I tried a bit of the creamy ricotta insides...sweet, tangy but mild, with bits of chocolate chips and dried fruit in the filling. I should have gotten one.

The proximity of this place pretty much assures the fact I will return, but I am also pleased it has great food, although I admit it is a little pricey (cept the gelato, which is a steal at 3 dollars for their biggest cup.) I will have to try their pizza next time.

Ciao Christina
4201 W. Olive Ave.
Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 563-2426
http://www.ciaocristina.com/

Vegas getaway

2009-08-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

A mini trip to Vegas! Literally, we went here just to go to a room, sleep all day, and then sleep some more. Is that weird? A vacation to sleep? Considering we live behind a car lot, and a really busy street, I don’t really get to experience pure silence very often, and better yet, air conditioning on a hot day. A hotel provides all these things, and I found a great deal to stay at Caesar’s Palace, so we booked a few days here.

We got off our flight extremely early (well, extremely early, relative to me and Owen) – our flight was annoyingly scheduled for 7 in the morning or something – by the time we rolled into Payard Patisserie, we were ready for a good meal to start us off on a better foot for the rest of our mini-break.

The seating is very interesting here – the cook is in the middle, where he makes everything to order, and the patrons are all seated around him in a circular design. It’s a very different kind of setup, but I found it was fascinating watching the cook make everything, (picking up some cooking tips, hah.) Our waiter was very good, very attentive but not too bothersome. We both ordered a glass of orange juice to start.

I really liked this juice! It tasted fresh squeezed, I think Owen mentioned it was the “best fresh squeezed orange juice he’s had”. It was a really tall glass, as well…I guess in Vegas, go big or go home, right?

Owen and I decided to get two plates, and halfway through, to switch and share. He ordered the French toast with Berry compote. This was amazing, this dish managed to be rich, yet light at the same time. The berries were my favorite kinds – raspberry, blueberry and blackberry, in their own juices, were not sweetened, so it didn’t feel like a over-sugared mess we usually get for something like this. This dish was overall NOT sweet, which I actually loved! And I USUALLY hate French toast, (weird hang-up, I know.), but I liked this a lot – the bread was almost custardy in the middle, the whipped cream was really freshly whipped cream, and not just sugary junk. If there was ever a perfect French toast plate, this would be it for me.

I ordered a croque madame – a ham and swiss sandwich, toasted, topped with béchamel sauce and a sunny side up egg. The plate was rounded out with a stuffed tomato, and mixed baby greens with a vinaigrette. I only had half of this and secretly wished I could have eaten the whole thing, heh. Again, the richness was not too rich, balanced by the tartness of the vinaigrette on the greens, and the tomato, and the bechamel was not globbed on, like other places I've had this before - this was almost toasted into the sandwich already, so it was more a flavorful crunch on the outside of the bread. Excellent meal, and we will definitely be back.

We also picked up some croissants - Owen got a chocolate croissant, and I got a regular plain one. I didn't take a picture of these, but I SWEAR they were some of the best croissants I've ever eaten.

A bit later, while Owen was asleep (I had napped earlier, as I slept much less than him the night before), I went off on my own and walked around the Caesar's Palace gambling area on my own. I was pretty hungry (this was around dinnertime, and I didn't eat since around 10am at Payard), so I grabbed something at the food court. This is what I got...

A Lobster roll with fries. Uh...well, I guess I can't say that my expectations were extremely high, but the bread was extremely burnt, which was a shame because it was a nice amount of buttered brioche. The lobster itself..a cold mash of seafood tasting stuff, but lobster meat was definitely lacking. I don't know if it WAS actually lobster, but...what should I expect from a food court, right? The fries were addicting, but I made an effort to only eat a few, because I knew Owen would be hungry later that night. I also got an iced tea, which was not pictured. I got a lot of mileage out of that iced tea, as you could refill your drinks from the soft serve machine yourself, so during the whole of our stay, I would go back to refill the drink with the same cup...awesome!

After a few games of Monopoly Penny Slots (ahhh, so mindless, those slot machines), a bit of shopping (the Forum shops are MASSIVE!), I went back to check on Owen, who I think, could have slept the whole night if I hadn't had walked back in the room. At that point, it was pretty late, but I knew there was a 24 hour restaurant at Caesar's, and I had gotten a 20 dollar food coupon for the cafe, because I had signed up for their rewards club (might as well, it's free, right?)

At the Augustus Cafe, I felt like it took forever to get our food...a lot of waiting, and then everything came at once. We weren't in a hurry but it really took an abnormal amount of time to get what we ordered.

First off, onion rings. These were really tasty, actually - beer battered, thick, dusted with parmesan cheese, and two dipping sauces (red pepper aioli and ranch). Addicting, and a huge amount of them, we wanted to finish these off because we couldn't save them for later.

Whenever there's a club sandwich available on the menu, Owen will almost always order it. This was pretty standard, oddly with the addition of roast beef, but they were heavy on the bacon (awesome!). These fries were very fresh, oddly better than the other fries with the other sandwich (which came later than this one.) We saved half of this sandwich for later, which was happily devoured by us in our hotel room the next morning.

I had a hankering for french onion soup, which made this an onion heavy meal. This was mouthwatering when they set it down - melty gruyere cheese, on top of a french bread piece, with savory beef broth, and tons of carmelized onions. A huge amount of soup, again, Vegas does not skimp on quantity. I made an extra effort to finish this because there's no way to save this soup for later.

Last thing we ordered (we definitely ordered too much) was a prime rib dip sandwich, which was piled high with quality beef, a little saucer of au-jus, and fries. Oddly, these fries were not the seasoned ones, pretty much the same fries from the food court that I had had earlier. We only managed a quarter of this sandwich, and saved the rest.

We had a few other meals in Vegas but it had been places we had been to before (Bouchon, although it was a dinner instead of the brunch we usually have, I remember sharing a roasted chicken, mixed green salad and creme brulee, all delicious of course). It was a pretty successful trip, I'd say, aside from the horrible early plane flights. Of course, another trip to Vegas will be in the future, so stay tuned!

Payard Patisserie, Caesar's Palace Food Court, Augustus Cafe, all at:
Caesar's Palace
E Flamingo Rd & Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Bouchon is at Venetian Hotel
Spring Mountain Rd & Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Gyenari

2009-08-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

I met up with Annette, for her birthday, at Gyenari, on a really hot day. Culver City was hopping, as usual – tons of people milling around for lunch on a weekday, which made it almost impossible to park in the lots around the area. I lucked out (squeezing in-between two huge SUVs…), snagged a table at the restaurant and sipped on an Arnold Palmer while waiting for Annette.

A decent Arnold Palmer, especially welcome on such a hot day!

Looking around the place, first thing I noticed, I felt really under dressed to be here – really trendy and contemporary, super clean lines, but the ambiance was nice, and the waitstaff weren’t acting snooty, so it was comforting.

Annette arrived soon after I was seated, so they brought some banchan (small plate appetizers) to the table. I’ve been to a lot more Korean restaurants over the years, and I admit, I am used to a lot more of a variety of banchan. I had to remind myself that this was more of an American style kind of place.

From the upper left, going clockwise – bean sprouts, broccoli, kimchi, and a scoop of potato salad. We polished these off pretty quick, as we were pretty hungry. The potato salad was the best, I’d say, with the broccoli a close second. The kimchi had a nice bite to it, not too shabby. Again, I would have liked more of a variety (maybe some daikon, or some spinach? Maybe some japchae? But I guess that’s a separate dish here.)

For an appetizer, I ordered some shrimp and kimchi Korean style pancakes. Not the best I’ve had, (I like more of a crunch on the outside, these were bigger, so they were softer all around) but these were flavorful enough, from the kimchi flavor. I can’t say I tasted any of the shrimp at all…maybe they pureed it so it was just the flavor? The dipping sauce was nice and tangy, the carrot shreds were a nice fresh and crunchy flavor contrast. Overall, filling and tasty, did a great job as an appetizer (even though it came as the same time as our main meal...)

Annette and I each ordered our own bimibap -Korean rice bowls. This is a picture of my choice, the bulgolgi style marinated meat. I love the presentation – all the different veggies neatly placed around the hot stone bowl, with a pretty sunny side up egg on top. I forgot to shoot a picture of the spicy paste that I added to the top of all this (the spicer the better!) and gave everything a quick mix. Rice plus veggies and meat, a perfect combination. I think if I had anything to complain about here, would be that I don’t remember the hot stone being very hot, so the rice didn’t crisp up very much (getting those crispy rice bits is one of the reasons why bimibap is so good!) , but it was a minor complaint.

The prices were pretty fair for lunch, although I suspect they skyrocket, come dinnertime. I might have to come back to try their real Korean bbq, just to see how it compares to my other more “authentic” experiences in K-Town.

Gyenari Korean BBQ
9540 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

(310) 838-3131
www.gyenari.com

Andrew's Cheese Shop

2009-08-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

Daphne had introduced me to this place, insisting I HAD to check it out. And I'm sure glad she did. When we opened the door, a strong pungent smell wafted in our faces. Andrew, the owner, is an extremely patient and experienced cheese connoisseur, and basically, we would ask him for suggestions, which he would happily give, once we told him what kind of cheese we were looking for. I usually ask for "runny" and "strong" cheese, and every suggestion he's given has been spot on delicious. Samples are key to cheese, when I'm at a supermarket, I never know what a cheese is going to taste like when it's wrapped and packaged in a noisy open case refrigerator. Andrew, on the other hand, insists on samples. I'm in heaven. I love cheese.

Now that I've been back a couple of times, I've got a nice little collection of photos from this place. I usually get a sandwich...

This is the first one I've had, the turkey sandwich. I don't know what cheese is in it, but it's nice and sharp, and it's a hard cheese. The bread is a drier, yielding bread, good as a background accompaniment but not the star of the show. The turkey was a little thicker cut than I like, a bit reminiscent of water packed turkey that I avoid, but still good and turkey-ish. The cheese was definitely the best part, great bite to it.

On this occasion I got a bit of the cheese Picolo...a very soft creamy cheese that had the texture of a dry goat cheese, but the taste of a creme fraiche. Mmm.

Every cheese comes with an informational card to remind me what I got for next time. So thoughtful!

The next time I went, I got this awesome smoked salmon sandwich, which is amazing. The capers add a great briny surprise with every bite, the creme fraiche cheese is the perfect pairing with the smoked salmon, the red bell pepper adds the balance of freshness that the sandwich needs. Definitely try this one.

I went with Daphne this past time, and got some Mini flatbreads, on a whim, to go with the cheese I got. They were a bit expensive - 5 dollars for this small package, but they were crispy, savory, and the perfect accompaniment to...

...the small, SMALL wedge of Stinking Bishop that I got! This is not a cheese for the weary, it's definitely stinky, super soft...Daphne mentioned it tasted like a "wet brush". I found it really interesting and tasty on my tongue, but my fingers smelled of Stinking Bishop for the rest of the day...ugh. I would STILL get this again next time, hah.

Another smoked salmon sandwich, this time, there was pesto smear on it! That was like, taking this sandwich to the next LEVEL!

Daphne got the Italian sandwich, a mix of cold cuts, and a strong sharp cheese. I like the arugala greenery, added a nice peppery taste to the sandwich, a great contrast. I might try this next time if they happen to run out of smoked salmon (which they do!)

Hank's Root Beer...this is some seriously good root beer. Andrew swears by it, and I trust his opinion completely. Deep flavors, not very fizzy, less of a "bite" than I'm used to, but more of a rolling sweetness on the tongue. Only enjoy when it's frosty cold.

And Daphne's drink, Curiousity cola. Totally not the usual kind of cola, it was almost like a thick fizzy brew, I tasted much more ginger in this than cola. I love the design of this bottle...I'd probably buy it more for that than anything else.

Andrew's Cheese shop is a must visit...I think Andrew himself is a great guy, he does what he loves to do (share his love of cheeses to the world), and the shop is just a testament to his love of food and cheese.

Andrew's Cheese Shop (look for the big sign - 'This place stinks!")
728 Montana Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90403-1404
(310) 393-3308
andrewscheese.com

Acapulco

2009-07-31T23:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't really go to chain restaurants very often as a personal rule (with so many other places to eat, why bother with chains?), this time I broke my own rule for two reasons: 1. It was at Acapulco, a place made infamous by the Tonight Show with Jay Leno (I remember jokes where they would offer to "send" an audience member to Acapulco, and then reveal that it was really this particular restaurant, across the street from the studio) and 2., it was open later than a lot of other restaurants in the area, and I was meeting up with Bryan for a late dinner. I was waiting for Bryan for a long while, and I ended up ordering for him, because the kitchen was going to close...I made a guess as to what he wanted...

My usual drink order, an Arnold Palmer. Free refills abound.

Chips and salsa, complementary right as I sat down. I remember these chips being very brittle and kind of tasteless. Salsa was okay but not spicy at all.

And here's what I got, an appetizer platter (as my meal...). Pretty blurry, sorry for the bad photo. Going from the top, clockwise: boneless buffalo chicken strips, some sort of pork plantain concoction with sour cream (I think?) on top, southwestern eggrolls, sauce, and then repeat around the wheel. In the middle was some nachos. This was way too much food, I packed more than half of this away for home. That's the thing about chain restaurants, they really give you a ton of food for the price, but this whole plate was horribly heavy food. Nothing was extremely bad, but I can't remember it being super good either. It was okay for what it was.

This was the chicken fajitas I ordered for Bryan, who was not hungry at all (he had eaten before he got to the restaurant, drat!) These came on a sizzling hot platter, which was suspended above the table on a wire stand. I think this is one of the more popular things to order at this restaurant, as it looks super impressive when they take it out from the kitchen. This also came with a plate of condiments (lettuce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole), and tortillas, which I neglected to take a picture of because of it's mediocrity. The chicken was nice and hot, but again, not particularly memorable or flavorful.

I still avoid chains like the plague, if anything for the pre-packaged taste of everything (I have a sneaking suspicion that everything comes in freezer bags, cooked at some huge factory, and then just reheated in the kitchen, but maybe I shouldn't be so cynical?), and my want to support smaller local businesses, but sometimes it's good to maybe mix it up, and have something I wouldn't have very often. Again, it was okay for what it was, and reasonably priced...maybe if I drank alcohol I would probably enjoy their margaritas.

Acapulco Restaurant
3133 W. Olive Avenue
Burbank CA 91505
818-841-4433
www.acapulcorestaurants.com

Huckleberry Cafe

2009-07-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Huckleberry was white hot when I went to visit it, it had only been open for a week or two, and the lines were insane. Daphne and I still braved the lines and managed to barely snag a table (un-bussed, messy). The queue to order was massive, but I was excitedly checking out their menu, written on huge chalkboards stationed high above the cashier. We ordered, and I also got a few things to go.

I love their logo. Cute and simple.

Water here is not just water, it's refrigerated filtered water, in individual bottles with fun cork style tops. Water here is also serve yourself, so drink up!

Daphne got a caramelized banana creme mini pie. So deliciously good, I know this now because I got this myself on another visit...the crust was perfect, the whipped cream freshly whipped and luscious, banana slices on top of rich banana pudding, on top of caramel sauce. Get this, you won't be sorry.

A insane chocolate croissant, that I got for Owen, to go. The chocolate was oozing out of it, super great quality, he noted one of the top 5 chocolate croissants he's had, and that's saying a lot (he loves his chocolate croissants.)

My treat for later, a ham and gruyere croissant, I love my savory snacks, and this was exactly what I wanted - a flaky pastry salty cheesy kinda snack. Not exactly great for me but a real treat.

And here's what I ate right out of the box when I sat down - a chocolate elcair. Pretty tasty, the custard tasted just right, and the chocolate was dark and creamy. This was pretty much gone in a few bites - I was really hungry! We had to wait a long while for our sandwiches, a server finally came by with our sandwiches after locating our number on our table...

My sandwich - the turkey meatball, that came with a fresh side salad of greenery, lightly coated in salad oil. I liked my sandwich ok but the bread was overwhelming, a lot of bread for not a ton of meatball. The tomatoes were great quality, added a nice tartness to the sandwich, but I found myself tiring of the taste of the meatball - I think they needed a bit more salt. I loved the salad, and left most of the bread.

Daphne's roast beef sandwich fared much better, lots of thinly sliced roast beef (I think, roasted in house), a good strong mustard spread, just a pretty lookin' and good tasting sandwich all around. I think I'll get this next time.

I've been back once, since, just to pick up some baked goods. I love the feel of this place and hopefully the rush has died down a bit during lunch hours, and they have gotten a few things more organized. I'll definitely be back to try that roast beef.

Huckleberry Cafe
1014 Wilshire Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA
huckleberrycafe.com

Tudor House Restaurant

2009-07-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

I took Owen's grandma, Nannie, here, because she loves her British food and she can't cook, and this is one of the better places to go (along with enjoying a nice sunny day close to the ocean). We were one of two occupied tables at this place, on a weekday early afternoon, but I think this place gets pretty crowded on the weekends, for people wanting afternoon tea. The one waitress was extremely British, and nice, but it was a lot for her to handle when other people started arriving to eat. Nannie, of course, has to have:

...her tea, she always has to have tea or coffee. I snapped this because of the nice tea set that came with her tea, that creamer is just too awesome.

And here's a cup of Nannie's tea (no sugar, only cream), she chose orange pekoe. After checking out the extensive menu (everything looked so tempting! Fish and chips were strongly calling my name...) I decided upon something I've never had before.

I got bangers and mash, with a choice of beans as my side. This was so delicious - I have never had sausages like this - all perfectly burnished on the outside, the grind of meat on the inside was very smooth, no nubbins of fat (yeah I know, gross, but that's sausage for you), it was just all around tasty. The mash was really nice as well, and the gravy was something to behold. The British definitely know their gravy. Beans were nothing to scream home about but added a nice flavor contrast to the meat and potatoes.

Nannie got the same thing, bangers and mash, but wanted mushy peas as her side. I just think the name is hilarious - "mushy peas"? I think mushy peas need to talk to their marketing department, maybe they can jazz their name up to something less...baby food sounding. Well, mushy peas are very descriptive of what they are - when I saw them on Nannie's plate it was pretty much what I expected. Didn't try them, but didn't really want to try them either. Nannie was quite content with her food, (which was great because she otherwise, I've only seen her eat grilled cheese sandwiches and quesadillas...seriously.)

Tudor House is pretty cool because there's also a store attached to the restaurant, where you can buy British goods, plus they sell pastries and pies, which are awesome to get for later. British candy is also awesome (Cadbury's makes some decent stuff, try a "Flake" bar!)

Tudor House Restaurant (and store)
1403 2nd St
Santa Monica, CA 90401-2301
(310) 451-4107
www.thetudorhouse.com

Hungry Fox

2009-07-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

A visit to my friend Mike in the valley, and I took him out to breakfast to escape his house. We went around the corner to his neighborhood breakfast place, Hungry Fox. I remember coming here during the first year of college, when I was around the valley a fair amount of time. Since then, I've usually avoided going over the hill, thusly, haven't visited Hungry Fox in ages. The place is really welcoming, more of a mom and pop diner style, with mini booths and chairs. A lot of locals come here, and they tout their "homemade jam". This is what we got...

A glass of orange juice. Nothing special, I doubt it was fresh squeezed, but did the job.

Mike ordered pigs in a blanket, three pancakes with sausage rolled in the middle. He scarfed them down pretty quick so I guess they were good, I don't care for pancakes much so I didn't have a taste.

And here's the inside shot of the "pig" in the blanket. They used sausage patty instead of the usual sausage, interesting choice, I don't think it deterred much from the flavor or anything, it just makes it harder to roll up.

I felt like lunch at that point so I ordered me a gyro with fries. This was actually pretty tasty, the yogurt sauce was tasty, the gyro meat grilled again after sliced off the meat cone. Fries were crinkle cut, a fry style I enjoy. Overall, a solid lunch.

Hungry Fox is a cute little place with nice friendly folks. If anything, I'll be back for a breakfast-for-lunch if I'm in the area.

Hungry Fox
13359 Sherman Way
North Hollywood, CA 91605-4442
(818) 765-7111

It's It - the ice cream sandwich of my youth

2009-07-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

Let's have a blast from the past, well for me anyways - It's it was the ice cream sandwich of my junior high youth. They sold these, individually from the cafeteria, for 75 cents each, with a variety of flavors to choose from - vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, coffee, mint. It's been a long time since then, but I realized that Southern Californians did not even know what an It's it was, much less had access to them. I naively thought that everyone had access to these! I guess it's more of a bay area thing, since the only It's it factory that I know of is off 101, right outside of San Francisco. However, one day while perusing the aisles of a...Vons? Ralphs? I forget now, but I saw a 3 pack of It's It! I blindly grabbed at it, and brought it home to share.
Here's a snap of the wrapper - vanilla flavor, old school illustration, same old lettering. I love it.

And here it is, bitten into. The chocolate coating, the oatmeal cookies, the vanilla ice cream. It really is the perfect ice cream sandwich. I think I can only have one once a year though...don't exactly still have that junior high school metabolism anymore, heh.

http://www.itsiticecream.com/
Supposedly, they're available at Albertsons in Southern California, but I don't recall where I got these!

Baby Blues BBQ

2009-07-14T17:35:00.001-07:00

BBQ is a tricky thing. Good BBQ is even trickier. I can't say I'm a connoisseur of BBQ, but I heard great things about Baby Blues BBQ, in Venice, so as a test, I picked up a number of pulled pork sandwiches for my coworkers (since I live way closer to the westside) and we all tried it at the same time. I admit that I probably shouldn't judge too harshly, since by the time I got to taste my pulled pork sandwich, it was rather cold. Anyways, here's a picture of it.

The pulled pork sandwich, which came unsauced, and with a small coleslaw topping as the vegetable crunch. First off, the bun - which was really big for what I was expecting, more of a big unruly grilled on the bottom foccacia style roll thing, which was a lot of bread. I understand the necessity of adding your own bbq sauce right before consumption but since it had cooled, the bbq sauce did not coat everything evenly, like I would have liked, but I really can't blame Baby blues for that. The meat was tender enough, and even though I'm really not a fan of cole slaw, it went well as the crunchy vegetable texture to distract from just the meat.

Here's a slightly closer look...very unsauced. Huge amount of bread. I don't remember finishing all the bread.

Louisa got a bbq chicken sandwich, which really was the same deal as the pulled pork - same bread, just different meat. I remember her liking it.

And here's Louisa's mouth eating some mac and cheese. It was nice and cheesy but I think that it actually needed more seasoning - it needed to be more salty and less creamy. Still good though.

I'm going to give Baby blues another chance - perhaps their ribs - and to eat there next time, so I can get a better assessment of their famed bbq prowess. They were very efficient with my order, though, I had called a few hours beforehand and they had everything packed up and ready to go when I arrived.

Baby Blues BBQ
444 Lincoln Blvd
Venice, CA 90291
babybluesvenice.com

Smokehouse Restaurant

2009-07-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

So, I work next to this old timey restaurant called the Smokehouse, which is supposedly one of George Clooney's haunts. Can't say I've seen him there (but when I do, I will give him a piece of my mind! One of my first questions - "How do you get your eyelashes to be so amazing?"), but Louisa and I have stopped in on numerous occasions now, mainly to take advantage of their $12.99 Prime rib Monday special. Yes, folks, you read it right - 13 dollas' for a sweet slice of prime rib, complete with 2 sides. If that isn't recession friendly, I don't know what is.

But they gotta make their money's worth as well, right? They're known for their famous garlic bread, as shown by their take out aluminum foil bread loaf bag...(this is another time, when I got take out garlic bread by itself...)

"Worlds Greatest Garlic bread" huh? We'll see about that...

And this is what a half order looks like. Old school artery clogging goodness. The topping, Owen has noted, looks and tastes like contents of those Kraft Macaroni and Cheese sauce packets. Processed, powderized cheese and garlic bits. Well, I guess they USED to be garlic and cheese at some point...right? Well, it's all pretty damn tasty still (again, my love for fake nacho cheese probably helps with this). This is where they get yer money's worth out of you, bread isn't free at Smokehouse, half order is like 4 bucks, and full order is like 6 bucks. Hrm, digging into the pockets now for that extra change...okay, back to the rest of the meal...

Here's my Prime rib special, (cooked to my specifications, medium) with my two chosen sides of creamed spinach and mashed potatoes. They have those little extras that are always nice with a prime rib - horseradish sauce, and a little gravy boat of au jus. Tasty...very tasty. This is a usual item on the menu, that costs, oh, 23 dollars? So this isn't that gross cheap 2 dollar prime rib from a shady casino in Vegas (oh so suspicious! why does it cost 2 dollars?!) I'd also like to mention that the service is LIGHTING FAST here. Once you order, I say it takes about 5 minutes for them to deliver your meal to the table. But I guess I'm speaking for myself, since I usually only go on Mondays, when there's less people. But every single time - super fast service.

Louisa's plate looks pretty similar to mine, except she chose the asparagus spears and the rice pilaf. She raves about their rice pilaf, someday I will get it instead of my power combo above.

Smokehouse feels fancy, like taking your grandparents out to a nice birthday meal, but with a deal like that, the fanciness is just the icing on the cake to a great meal. Clooney, I'll meet you there, when, next Monday? Yeah, prime rib's on me, hah.

Smokehouse Restaurant
4420 West Lakeside Drive
Burbank, California 91505
(818) 845-3731

B and B Ristorante - Las Vegas, NV

2009-07-14T00:56:00.000-07:00

Vegas trip, a few months ago - as a celebration for Obray and Will's 30th birthday (a momentous event!) we wanted to go somewhere good for dinner, but we were in a bit of a rush as well, as we were going to see Blue Man Group that night. We decided on the B and B Ristorante, really close to the Blue Man group theater, and in the "Restaurant Row" area between Venetian and Palazzo. I've been wanting to go here for awhile but I think they are only open for dinner, so I was really pleased that everyone went along with it (we had a fairly large group, and the restaurant was happy to accomidate us.)

Our waiter was superb - really patient with us, wanted to go over any questions we had about the menu, really great suggestions. After a long deliberation, we made our choices..I was totally excited when they placed these plates in the middle of the table...

...A small appetizer from the kitchen - chickpeas, mixed with olive tapenade, over toasted bread. The chickpeas, oozing with the tapenade, glowed with flavor. I loved the finish with olive oil over the whole thing, it was really flavorful olive oil, and perfect toast. We were off to a great start.

Our waiter circled the table and individually placed a piece of french bread on our bread plates. -the crust was very crispy and crunchy, the inside soft. We dipped this in olive oil. Wished we got more than one piece each but wasn't going to complain.

Owen and I started with an order of Vegetable misto - Different kinds of veggies - carrot strips, eggplant, green onions, and onions, from what I remember - quickly fried, with a tomatoy dipping sauce. This was excellently fried, the delicate veggies were still fairly crunchy, but by the end of it, it was a bit much. I think we finished most of it, but by the end we were kind of tired of the taste of...fried. I know! How could I ever be tired of the taste of fried stuff?

Owen got The special of the day - Nettle paparadelle, with wild boar. This was a huge winner, Owen ordered this, along with a few people at the table. The meat was really tender, the noodles flavorful. The bite I had, reminded me of a stew my mom would make when I was a kid. Really wish I had gotten this one to have more bites of it.

Beef Cheek Ravioli with Black Truffles and Crushed Duck Liver Cheek meat, in general, is really tops. I tried a piece of this, it was very rich. I think this was a pretty small portion though...that'd be my only complaint.

Horribly blurry picture of my Duck with Cherry and Green Almond Conserva. This was just right, crispy skin, some of the best duck (that's not asian style peking duck) that I've had. I picked these bones clean.

I think this was Bryan's pasta dish, which had all sorts of seafood in it. He had no complaints. I like how all the pasta was very fresh (they made this in house, right?), but I have no idea how it tasted, so moving right along...

Pappardelle Bolognese was Obray's choice, sorry for the blurry ass picture. Not everyone is used to my snapping of pictures, and all of us were pretty hungry. I love papparadelle...I'm sure this was a tasty version, Obray certainly enjoyed it, I think.

And, for dessert, as it was Obray's 30th birthday, he got himself a bananas foster cake, with a nice "Happy birthday" written in chocolate sauce. Festive, fancy, and delicious. I can't think of a better combo.

And to finish the whole meal off, a plate of mignardises. There were little brownie bite things, awesome orange jelly things, and biscotti bites. My favorite out of all these were the orange jellies, very soft and homemade tasting, with fruity flavor.

Service, as I mentioned earlier, was excellent, and I definitely wouldn't mind coming here again, but there are so many places for me to try still...and it's difficult because they are only open for dinner, no lunch service.

B and B Ristorante
website
at the Venetian
3355 Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 266-9977

Lemon Moon

2009-06-22T03:00:00.000-07:00

Restaurants that are only open on weekdays are so frustrating, especially on my schedule. Even worse, is when they're only open for breakfast and lunch. Why should I ever need to jump through both of those hoops to get a meal? Well, I made the hoop jump one of those days to go to Lemon Moon. The place is almost a secret, residing at the bottom of an office complex, only open during the exclusive hours of breakfast and lunch on weekdays only. Really dang tough to get to, but I think it's worth the effort once in awhile...

It's one of those places where you order, get your number and sit down, and then they bring the food out to you. We snagged a seat outdoors (I love outdoor seating!), in their secluded patio area. Chatting for awhile, our food arrived - it looked really tasty and we dug right in...

Daphne got a Pulled Pork sandwich, with cole slaw, and a side of mushroom polenta. The mushroom polenta was super rich, each bite was like eating savory cheesecake. So good. She was fairly pleased with the pulled pork, although probably there's places that taste better, this was quite serviceable, and she finished off the whole thing.

I got a turkey burger, with teriyaki sauce, and french fries. This was pretty tasty, actually! The turkey burger was moist, flavorful (especially with the teriyaki sauce), and the bread to meat ratio was pretty good, usually there's too much bread. Fries were decent. This was overall a decent plate o' food.

Not saying this place merits a "skip work to try this restaurant" kind of aura, but it's definitely a "I wish this place was closer to my workplace so I could eat here more often" kind of vibe.

Cafe Paradiso

2009-05-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

Way too much catching up to do, I know. I'm doing my best...I have so much to share still!

Daphne and I went on another food adventure, using another Restaurant.com certificate. Cafe Paradiso was fairly close to her place, but was a bit hard to park around that area. We managed to find metered street parking, which I am always paranoid about. Ah, well, we found it okay.

We walked into an empty restaurant...which was a little worrisome, this was during major lunch rush hours. Our server was very friendly though, and was quite attentive. Daphne was STARVING that day, so she was ready to chow down.

I got an arnold palmer, my usual drink order. It was presented in a vibrant pink grapefruit cup, which is kind of misleading, but almost made my drink taste better - I love the design on it, makes me want to drink pink grapefruit juice!

A bottle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar was placed on the table, this was some decent balsamic, very flavorful. This would be great on a salad.

Fresh bread, placed at the table. The bread was pretty fresh, chopped focaccia, the same kind that would later be on my sandwich.

Daphne ordered a minestrone soup to start, I had a small taste and thought it was decently tasty, veggies were well cooked, and good deep veggie flavor. The serving size was just right, I think - not too much where it's an overload and not too little to make you feel like you only got a taste.

Daph got the catch of the day - I think it was red snapper - which came with some simple pasta with butter sauce, topped with red pepper flakes. The fish was really good - cooked just right, moist, topped with fresh veggies. She cleaned off this whole plate.

I got a steak panini, and honestly, I wasn't digging on this sandwich. The steak was overloaded with balsamic flavor, and I think the problem was that it WAS just steak, pretty much. I think a slice of tomato was in there. I just wouldn't order this again, I only ate half and I wasn't looking forward to eating the other half. The caesar salad was good, standard caesar salad, heavy on the parmesan cheese which I liked.

Close up of the half of panini sandwich I ate...see...just meat stuff and tomato. I need a little more variety, maybe some greenery?

For dessert, Daph and I shared a lemony tart thing. The texture was nice, it was drier than I thought it should taste, but sufficient as a dessert. I like the raspberry sauce, which tasted fresh.

Overall, it was an ok lunch but I think they overcharged us (as in, they didn't apply the restaurant.com coupon properly or something). I don't think I'll go out of my way to come here, but it might be better for dinner, and Daph's meal looked good, so maybe I'd give it another chance.

Cafe Paradiso
2408 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 828-0218