Hal's Bar and Grill

Hal's bar and grill during DineLA week a few years back.  Daphne and I met here to grab some dinner.

First impressions about the place - half the restaurant is dedicated to tables, the rest to the bar - I think this place is pretty well known for their drinks - an after work spot.  We were there earlier for dinner, and were like one of two groups dining, most people were at the bar.   

A bread roll.  Decent crust on this. 

Tempura shrimp with cucumber salad in the middle.  Nicely and perfectly fried.  

Daphne got the stuffed squid as her appetizer.  She seemed to like it - again not overdone so not too chewy. 

We both got the duck breast - with pureed root vegetables and a really nice cranberry sauce to liven up the richness of the duck.  It was very nice and generous serving. 

Dessert - chocolate cake slice with ice cream

I think this was bread pudding.  I liked the presentation, pretty tasty, although very sweet.  

Good service, I'd go again if I was in the area, although there's a lot of competition for my dinner dollars on Abbot Kinney. 

Lemonade

We stopped off at Lemonade after stopping at Urbanic (very pretty stationary, by the way.)  This place caught our eye...

Salted caramel macaron.  Nice and chewy on the inside.  I ate half and saved the rest for later...not too much later, I couldn't resist, haha.  

Wanted to get their signature drink (after all, the place IS named Lemonade...) This was blueberry lemonade.  A bit pricey but very delicious.  I would definitely get this as my beverage again...the tart of the blueberry and lemonade are very harmonious, and the sweetness of the berry comes through at the end.  

Owen's dessert, a pot de creme - chocolate.  Super rich. 

Owen's arnold palmer drink.  Refreshing. 

Owen's sandwich - turkey, with nice panini grill marks.  Nice light salad side. 

I got their ridiculous pot roast panini sandwich, with mac and cheese on the INSIDE of the sandwich.  On the side, a cauliflower soup.  Everything was so good, but very filling.  

Twain's restaurant

Note:  I wrote this circa 2009, and it was sitting in my drafts for ages.  I'll post this but I don't know what it's like now, or if they have changed their food or policies.  Please bear this in mind when reading this.  Thanks!  

Late night eats at Twain’s – back when I had the night shift with Louisa, I had looked up this place Twains on restaurant.com, I had wanted to use a gift certificate to try out a new place to eat that managed to still be open late. Twain’s wasn’t too hard to find, the place itself was very retro and had an awesome old atmosphere and seating – the cash register was of special interest, as it was super old, and had those big mechanical buttons…so fun.

The place started getting more crowded as the night went on, and it really looked like only 3 people were manning the whole place – one cook, one waiter/cashier/host, one busboy. They did what they could but with all the people starting to stream in and sit on the patio, they were swamped.

This is what we got:

Louisa’s salad that was instantly delivered to the table after ordering, I’m guessing pre-made. Iceberg lettuce, huge chunk of cucumber, dinky croutons, ranch salad– pretty standard diner fare.

My usual order of an Arnold palmer – note the ice chunks. I have a weird appeal for the mini ice chunks, I think mainly because they usually give you so much of it and it turns your drink super cold. Love that.

Louisa’s roast beef dinner, glistening and covered in brown gravy. Really, it’s a marvel of diner food, this is what diner food should look like. She was pretty mediocre on the meat itself, and picked through the vegetables, but she absolutely adored the mashed potatoes. She had said that she was willing to revisit Twain’s just for a whole plate of mashed potatoes and gravy. That’s a serious endorsement.

Garlic bread came with Louisa’s dinner. She ate it. I don’t think there was anything much else to it.

My dinner – well, here’s some wheat toast, buttered. Not much to say about that, I like toast, this was toast….

And here’s the rest of my dinner – or rather, breakfast for dinner – Corned beef hash, with poached eggs, and hash browns. Yep, it’s a trip down carbohydrate street, but I think a good measure for how good a breakfast place is, is how they do their corned beef hash plate. This wasn’t a bad version – Poached eggs were very good, runny in the middle and mixed with the corned beef well, the corned beef itself was a little too salty, but nicely offset by egg yolk and toast. The hash browns were not my favorite– I like the grated potato style and not…well, I guess you can say these potatoes were flaked? They had a decent amount of crispiness and griddle time, definitely edible, but hash browns are not the thing to get here, for me.

Dessert, I wanted to try their dessert after reading about some of it online. Totally a mistake on both our parts.

When we asked our waiter about the available pies, I wasn’t really jazzed at the flavors, so I got a carrot cake slice, not bad, but I really was too full to eat much of it. I ate about a quarter of it before giving up. I feel bad for wasting it.

The travesty which was Louisa’s peach pie slice was unforgivable. The only edible thing was the crust, and even that wasn’t very good. Not flaky enough. The filling of the pie was so disgusting that I think it was a crime against pie. The peach slices were held completely suspended in place by a stiff glutinous substance, I guess it was supposed to be the syrupy sweetener, but it was plain gross. Never, ever again on dessert.

Also, the ending of the meal was further ruined when we tried to use the 25 dollar gift certificate, and the waiter insisted that we could not use it yet, as the computer system mistakenly let us buy the certificate.  So, no 25 dollars off.  

That was upsetting.  But maybe we can use it later?
Twain's Restaurant
12905 Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA 91604
Neighborhood: Studio City

Ocean Avenue Seafood

Another DineLA dinner from a couple years back.  I'm embarrassed, and resolve to catch up with posting some highlights from the last couple (!) of years that I've been away.  They'll probably be quick posts to share some photos of the food, but I really am resolving to 1.  post more.  2.  finally post the redesign of the blog.  Please bear with me.

Ocean Ave Seafood, located in Santa Monica, special Dine LA dinner -

Bread and butter, very good

Clam Chowder - with Applewood smoked bacon.  Very rich and creamy.

Oyster Sampler, 1/2 Dozen - Chef’s selection of fresh oysters.

A close up.  I don't have raw oysters too often as Owen does not like them, but I think I will admit that I prefer their preparation either fried or Rockefeller'd.  These were decent though, very briny and fresh tasting.

Mixed Seafood Pasta - Handmade linguine pasta tossed with clams, mussels, shrimp, scallop and calamari in fresh marinara sauce.  Daphne got this and she seemed to like this a lot.

I think it was some sort of dessert wine, a muscato.  Daphne loves this kind of dessert wine.

Grilled Salmon - with mashed potatoes, asparagus, and pinot noir reduction.  I love me some salmon, and mashed potatoes were excellent.  The skin was nice and crispy on this preparation, and thankfully not overdone.  Very good.

Traditional Crème Brulee - Caramelized and served with raspberry.  Rich, sweet, although could have used more crunchy caramelized topping.

Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding - Served with Vanilla Bean Sauce.  I think Owen would love loved this, as these are two things he loves the most.

Ocean Ave Seafood
1401 Ocean Ave.
Santa Monica CA 90401
310-394-5669
www.oceanave.com

Jer-ne (DineLA dinner menu)

Happy New Year everyone! I hope this year brings you good fortune, good times and good food :) I am so behind on posts, and am currently trying to catch up like crazy. I hope you will enjoy what I've got to share!

Dine LA! I look forward to these special two times of the year, with specially priced menus and a great way to try out restaurants that I wouldn't have necessarily tried out before, but give me a set menu and price, I'm always down to try new things in that kind of environment.

Jer-ne is inside the Ritz Carlton in Marina del Rey, so the place is already very high end. (forced valet, which I dislike, but at least there was a small validation for eating at the restaurant.) I liked the seating and ambiance, very relaxed romantic style. Daphne, Eric and I met up for a late dinner, and it happened to be Eric's birthday as well, so it was a nice treat for him. We all ordered from the Dine LA menu.

My usual drink order, the arnold palmer. A good one, I think. Not much else to say about it, but I remember I didn't get a refill...I stuck with water after I finished this.

Eric and I chose the prawn appetizer- grilled ocean prawns, lime, chiles, cilantro. Huge, huge prawns, atop a grilled piece of french bread, with soft roasted sweet tomatoes, microgreens, and a delicious sauce. I really enjoyed this, and each prawn was massive, which was a joy to eat. This was great, but after seeing/tasting what Daphne got...

...which was the soup - butternut squash, frangelico, pumpkin oil, I wish I had gotten that instead. The taste of her soup was so flavorful, so fragrant - just something special.

Eric got the lamb - t-bone, spinach, feta, kalamata, lemon. The server had suggested it, and it was a great choice. I tried a piece and it was super juicy. Eric seemed very happy with this, I think he finished everything, down to the painted artful sauce on the plate.

I remember craving beef that day, so I ordered the filet - chanterelles, brussel sprouts, zinfandel jus. I remember it being good, but not as juicy as Eric's lamb. Actually, maybe it was more on the dry side than what I would have preferred, but everything was still pretty good. The chanterelles and brussel sprouts were delicious, and everything was very artfully presented.

Daphne ordered the bass. I'm actually not sure what was with it, some spinach and veggies? This differed from what they said was going to be online for DINELA. This was very nice, Daphne gets giddy when she has some awesome fish, and this was some awesome fish.

Daph was really on a roll with her ordering...she ordered the brulee - pumpkin with maple walnut ice cream. The taste I had was so amazing that I ordered one of these to go for Owen to try at home. This was one of the best creme brulees I've had, definitely on the top 5.

Eric and I decided to go with the cheese plate- cypress grove truffle tremor, midnight moon and lamb chopper. I can't remember exactly how each one tasted, but I remember almost all of them were super strong and I almost wanted the cheese to keep going.

A super excellent meal. I will come back sometime for a special occasion.

Jer-ne (inside the Ritz Carlton)
4375 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
310-574-4333
www.ritzcarlton.com

Mozza to go

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/

Ciao Christina

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/

B and B Ristorante - Las Vegas, NV

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