Ford's Filling Station

Normally places named Filling Station are either a gas station or a burger joint. Ford's is neither and is owned by Ben Ford, the son of Indiana Jones himself. Ford's cuisine is not as adventurous as Indiana Jones, but you know that the Italian inspired cuisine will always be done right. I've only been to Ford's once, but I enjoyed it. I had what's probably the most popular at the restaurant, one of the flatbread pizzas. I went with the pretty generic 4 cheese, but it was still really good. They are pretty large, but not really big enough to share as an entree. Instead, I would recommend sharing a flatbread as an appetizer. Looking at their online menu it seems that they have added several new items since my last visit, perhaps in an attempt to spice up the menu. Some of the most intriguing dishes I saw were the meatloaf sandwich, the buttermilk fried chicken, and polenta cake with pearl onions, mixed mushrooms, tomatoes, and truffled marscapone (yum!). The atmosphere is really nice here with some cozy outdoor seating and a dark bar-like interior. Ben Ford himself is often there chatting with the customers, or at least he was there when I went. That may not so much be the case now that the restaurant is quite a bit older. The guy I had lunch with here had chatted with him so much that Mr. Ford sent out a free creme brulee. Clearly, I need to go back to try out some more stuff on the menu!

http://www.fordsfillingstation.net/newDesign.htm

26 Beach

After going there today and remembering how much I love it, I can't believe that I haven't blogged about 26 Beach yet. Located not far from Venice Beach on Washington, this shabby chic little eatery serves brunch, lunch, and dinner and is incredibly delicious. One of my first impressions of 26 Beach was the large number of items on the menu with goat cheese. They serves a pan fried goat cheese salad in an appetizer or a full salad portion that is dressed with strawberry vinaigrette. You can add your choice of meat, be it chicken or rock shrimp for an extra few dollars as well. The burger with goat cheese is another spectacular dish here, but really it doesn't seem that you can go wrong, which may come as a relief after you sit down and wade through a four-page menu. The bulk of those pages consists of about 20 different salads (roughly $13 each), various entrees and pastas ($15-20), pizzas ($13), sandwiches ($12), and gourmet burgers as they call them ($12). I came here for a third time today and third time was definitely a charm. Despite that the parking lot is small and narrow, the indoor patio is spacious and cozy with shabby chic furniture covering the space. It feels quite like sitting on your aunt's patio, if your aunt is a rich homemaker in the south. When it came time to order, we started with a chicken quesadilla served on a whole wheat tortilla. While it was good, there's really not that much you can do with a quesadilla (with the exception of Doughboy's breakfast quesadilla). For my entree I ordered the ceviche tostada, which was essentially a blend of a Mexican taco salad and ceviche. The ceviche and salad parts were balanced well and it kept me full for several hours after the meal, something that is usually pretty hard for me with salads. The ceviche was particularly good and while I was worried that the lettuce might taint the ceviche, it really didn't. I'm not sure I would argue that it made it better, just that it made it heartier, and it certainly didn't make it worse. Two of the other three girls also got salads, but the real prize winner was the fourth diner who ordered the Polar Bear, which in layman's terms would be croissant French toast served with vanilla ice cream and berries. We teased her for having ice cream for lunch, but it really was superb. I took a couple of bites as dessert, but it wasn't incredibly sweet, so I could definitely see having it as brunch. It was really huge (for only $12) so the rest of us tried to help her finish it. I've heard the rest of the brunch menu is great, and you'll definitely see me back there for that!

http://www.26beach.com/food.htm

Astro Burger

I know it's a little out of the ordinary for me to review a fast food restaurant, but I thought there are probably several people that have never been to Astro Burger. Let's start with the bad and work our way up to the good. Astro Burger is cash only, though they do have an ATM so as not to inconvenience you too much, but you're still going to be charged an ATM fee and depending on where you bank, your bank may charge you for using their ATM too. Second bad thing: while the miniature jukeboxes at each table are cute, they don't work so please don't waste your precious quarters in them, but save them for parking or laundry. Depending on what time you come, it can be difficult to find parking or a seat once you are inside. If you don't feel like getting out of your car, there is unfortunately no drive-thru. On the bright side, the food is delicious and fairly priced. I most recently tried the turkey burger trying to go for the healthy alternative, but it really looked and tasted more like a chicken sandwich. On the same trip Chase got the bacon avocado burger which was probably about 100 times better than mine. We shared an order of fries and I have to say that their fries could use some improvement through one of the following: add salt, add seasoned salt, make smaller, crispier fries, combination of the above. If you don't eat meat or just aren't in the mood for it Astro Burger serves Garden Burgers and really good grilled cheese sandwiches. I don't live close enough to do this, but I have heard that Astro Burger really hits the spot after a night of drinking and they stay open late on the weekends to accommodate this crowd. Astro Burger also serves breakfast, but again, I've never tried it. There is a second location on Melrose at Gower, which I think has additional items within Mexican and Greek cuisines.

http://www.astroburger.com/

Anarkali

While I was having my car serviced the other day Chase and I lunched at Anarkali on Melrose for a quick bite. We went in purely due to convenience, so I really knew nothing about the place, except that they have great lunch specials, starting at $6.95 a person. Chase and I got the Chicken Tikka Masala Lunch Special for two which came with a full plate of chicken tandoori, chicken tikka masala, vegetable curry, rice, and naan. We had the tandoori prepared medium spicy, but it was still pretty spicy and left our fingers stained yellow. It was really good and lemony nonetheless. The chicken tikka masala was probably the best I've ever had. The sauce was really sweet and tasted almost like tomato basil soup. I would have preferred to switch the veggie curry out for aloo mataar, but the restaurant won't let you substitute anything. All of this was more than enough food for two (I think the only think we finished was the masala). We had enough to pack a to go box and walked out with a $22 check, which we thought was pretty delicious. I was a little concerned about the B rating in the window, but once the food came out my worries were relieved. The interior was pretty over the top with several booths lined along each wall, shadowed by Indian fabric that extends across the ceiling. I didn't check the dinner prices, but I'm sure they are just as reasonable. I'd say it's definitely worth a shot, and the lunch specials are available on Saturday too.

http://www.anarkali-la.com/

Kumo & Sweet Lady Jane

That's right ladies and gents, today is my 50th blog and Chase and I really went out in style last night in celebration. We first went to see Craig Robinson (Darrell from the office) at the Hollywood Improv (which was incredibly entertaining, I highly recommend going sometime), then we walked down Melrose, in the cold and rain mind you, to new-ish sushi restaurant Kumo. I'd read online about Kumo, not really any reviews, just about the restaurant itself. Kumo means cloud in Japanese, so the whole interior is white. I had read the menu online, which looked good, but mostly we went here out of convenience. Once we got there, a few of the things we had seen on the online menu weren't listed (i.e. tuna steak with caramelized miso glaze), so that was pretty disappointing. Chase was really wanting something cooked, but I was more interested in the sushi. We both tried ordering some of the things that we wanted, and everything I ordered was pretty tasty, but the things he ordered were not very good. We started with spicy tuna tacos, which I thought was the best dish of the night. It tasted somewhat similar to the crispy sesame tuna dish at Katsu-ya. Large hunks of spicy tuna were stuffed into a taco shell-shaped wonton with a thin slice of avocado, eel sauce, and creme fraiche on top. Next we had the lobster, blue crab, and black pepper roll. It was alright, but with most lobster dishes, it was a little fishy. Pepper on a sushi roll was a little different, but overall the roll was much better when dipped in soy sauce. Next we had the lobster miso soup, which Chase really didn't care for. I didn't much like it either. There wasn't actually any lobster meat in the soup, so I suppose the broth was just cooked with lobster and then it was removed? Or perhaps lobster stock, though I'm not sure there is such a thing? Following that, Chase also ordered a soft-shell crab tempura, which neither of us really liked. For a grand finale we had the Yellowtail Love Affair roll, which was thinly sliced yellowtail with tri-colored peppers. It was really fresh and delicious. For the way it tasted, everything was a was overpriced. The lobster roll was $25, the yellowtail roll was $20. The only thing that I really felt like we got what we paid for was the tuna tacos, at $14, though I believe there is a similar item on the menu at El Toro on Wilshire for much cheaper. We didn't really want to stay for dessert, so we grabbed a piece of boysenberry pie from Sweet Lady Jane next door. We've had a couple of things from Sweet Lady Jane that were really good before (the three-berry cake is amazing), but the pie from last night just wasn't really that good, primarily because it tasted like brandy. Still, SLJ's reputation precedes it and you should still go get a slice or something delectable, just steer clear of the boysenberry pie.

http://www.kumo-la.com/menus.html

http://www.sweetladyjane.com/

Sky's Tacos

I had noticed Sky's Tacos on Pico back when Chase and I were walking down to that area for weekend brunch, but had never been until last night. I guess it's not fair to say that I've been, only that I have eaten the food since Chase picked it up for dinner last night. I had read on Yelp that the lobster tacos were really great so I just asked for that and whatever else Chase thought sounded good. He came home with a smorgasbord of Mexican options. For me, there was a shrimp taco and a lobster taco. He got a beef torta and a steak taco (the special of the night) then a cheese quesadilla to share. All of the tacos came in corn tortillas, which for the fish was good, but we both felt that the steak taco would have been better in flour. The torta was kind of more like a Caribbean burger and neither of us were too keen on it. By far the star of the night was the lobster taco. The lobster meat absorbed all of the flavors really nicely and I couldn't really even tell it was lobster. Since I didn't pick up the food so I don't know how expensive each item was, but the total bill was around $40, so roughly $8 a piece, which in actuality is really steep for a taco. I think the only thing I would consider going back for would be the lobster, though they don't have an online menu, so I am curious what other options they serve. Also, Chase did get a lemonade that tasted like sugar water, so we had to add some water from home. I've heard that they have a really nice patio for outdoor dining but there aren't many seats, so it's more of a take-out place, FYI.

No website, but here's the link to the Yelp page:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/skys-gourmet-tacos-los-angeles

East India Grill

After complaining that there wasn't much good Indian food around our area, Chase and I were delighted to stumble upon East India Grill on La Brea. This place is all Bollywood, all the time. It's tucked away in the cute little eatery section of La Brea with Sante La Brea and a couple of others. We came for dinner on a week night and the place was pretty empty. The servers were attentive, albeit pretty unfriendly. We got our usual: samosas, tandoori chicken, and aloo mataar and it was all really great. Everything tasted the way we prefer our Indian food to be: grilled and a little charred on the outside, but with a tender center, though I do have to admit that I thought the chicken was really dry. Still, definitely worth trying!

http://www.eastindiagrillla.com/
Warning! Very ethnic website!

Meltdown, etc.

Located in the heart of downtown Culver City is the lovely and delicious Meltdown, otherwise known as the grilled cheese place. But oh! do they have so much more. While you may expect to visit here and get a fistful of cheesiness, you should really just expect to get a great sandwich in which the type of cheese plays an integral part. The menu is short and accents both the sweet and the savory sides of cheese. Highlights on the savory side include the classic three cheese grilled cheese with the option to add tomato or bacon, the turkey melt, which features a brie and turkey sandwich with cranberry horseradish mustard on walnut bread, and last but not least the cheddar, ham & apple sandwich. All sandwiches are served as paninis with a fresh homemade dill pickle on the side. The sandwiches are pretty filling, so you may want to share a savory sandwich and then share a dessert sandwich. On the sweet menu is the PB&J or the PBH&J (peanut butter and strawberry preserves on egg bread, add honey for the second variation), the brie and apricot on walnut bread, the fig goat cheese, and honey on walnut bread, and the ever important banana nut (bananas and nutella on egg bread). The drink selection is varied yet specific, serving Calypso teas, Coke in a bottle (made with sugar not corn syrup), mint water, and the like. Come early because they're only open for lunch and seating is limited to about 25 chairs on the outdoor patio, which is completely full by about 12:30 when all of the Culver City workers are released for lunch. One of the sweetest parts about Meltdown, beside the dessert sandwiches and the sweet price of everything being under $9, is the sweet old man who delivers the food and helps you find a table. He's guaranteed to bring a smile to your face any time you visit, if the free parking doesn't do it first!

http://www.meltdownetc.com/

Tour De Austin

As I mentioned, I am on the plane, headed to Austin for my little brother’s graduation. I figured I would take this chance to cover some of my favorite places in A-town since I know many of us are from there/visit often.

Uchi – had to be top of the list. Not only one of my favorite restaurants in Austin, but one of my favorites of all time. Number one dish here for me has to be a toss up between the avo bake (baked avocado with creamy shredded crab and topped with a grilled shrimp) and the Uchiviche, their Japanese take on a traditionally Mexican dish, which means more tender fish and more delicate flavors. They used to have a chai tea crème brulee which was crème de la crème, but sadly, they discontinued it.

http://www.uchiaustin.com/

Eddie V’s – probably the most popular steakhouse in town. While the steaks are savory, the real reason to get here for me is the potato gruyere fritters, something I have never tried to make, but definitely should.

http://www.eddiev.com/

Las Manitas – Known for its Tex-Mex, Austin has so many options in this arena. Las Manitas is my favorite for a couple of reasons. Build your own breakfast tacos are always a great way to start your day, but the enchiladas verdes for lunch is hard to beat. Plus, how can you hate a place that supports local Mexican artists and is connected to one of the weirdest stores I have ever been in. If you need a Mexican wrestling mask, go here.

http://austin.citysearch.com/profile/10202499/

Fonda San Miguel – on the opposite side of the Mexican spectrum from Las Manitas is Fonda San Miguel. Offering more interior Mexican cuisine, their brunch is scrumptious and really has about every Mexican dish you could imagine. It ain’t cheap though, brunch runs at about $35 a person (I believe this includes unlimited alcoholic beverages, but I could be wrong on that one).

http://www.fondasanmiguel.com/

Chez Zee – Like an old timey neighborhood café, Chez Zee has the feel of a piano bar gone daytime. They also serve up a fun breakfast, but can be really hard to get into on the weekends. Luckily for you, that’s why they have board games like connect 4 in the outside waiting area.

http://www.chez-zee.com/

Kerby Lane – No matter how many times you’ve had it, you can still never get over the Kerby Queso. The best location by far is the one actually on Kerby Lane, but that one can also be the most crowded and difficult to get a table at. Breakfast all day and 24 hour service is always a good thing, right?

http://www.kerbeylanecafe.com/

With only a few days here and being in town during graduation and prom weekend, it will probably be pretty hard to get to any of these, but two things are for certain: I will be eating a breakfast taco (how I miss thee!) and I will be having some of the delicious fast food available, be it Whataburger, Taco Cabana, Fran’s, or Sandy’s. Any of them will be welcome in my belly.

Sapori

Out on the crystal blue waters of Marina Del Rey sits Sapori. While I realize that this place sounds Japanese, it’s actually Italian. Judging from the outside you would never be able to guess that Sapori had so much charm. If it’s a pleasant day it’s far better to sit on the outdoor patio, but with the view from the inside you’ll still catch a glimpse of the yachts to dream of owning out in the marina. On the menu you’ll find true Italian fare, for example, shrimp served with the head on. For appetizers, the crab cakes are quite tasty, or if you’d prefer more of a sampler, there is an antipasta dish that comes with olives, proscuitto, and a few veggies. While there are several really delicious dishes on the menu, one of the best things about Sapori is that they’ll customize any entrée you wish. They serve a risotto special every day, but they’ve always allowed me to throw together my own (porcini mushrooms with truffle oil is wonderful!). The risotto is so good that it’s usually what I get when I come here, but I’ve had a few other things on the menu too. The spaghetti is actually quite good as are all of the pastas. During lunch they also serve paninis and some additional entrees, majority being fish. The portions are large (big enough to share or take 1/2 home), but if you can make it to dessert, it could certainly be worth it. I’ve only gotten that far once, and we had the lemon sorbet served inside a hollowed out lemon. It’s crisp and refreshing, like having a iced lemonade at a baseball game. I believe they also serve tiramisu and I’m sure have a few other desserts. You’ll have to forgive me that I don’t have it committed to memory, but I am writing this on the plane!

http://www.sapori-mdr.com/

Mani's Bakery & Cafe

One of Fairfax District's gems is Mani's Bakery & Cafe. Chase and I have been here a couple of times between breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Mani's is a little bit hippie, a little bit hip, and all really good. For breakfast, I've had the breakfast wrap with Yukon gold potatoes, salsa, and turkey bacon and I've also tried the multigrain pancakes. Both were really good, but I always remember thinking that the lunch menu sounded a little bit better. My favorite thing on the menu is chicken mango salad. It's a really full salad with grilled marinated chicken, avocado, mango, tomato, and red onion with a really yummy lime cilantro dressing. It's one of the best salads I've ever had and Chase and I can get full pretty much just off of the salad. Their burgers are also really great and I've always wanted to try their turkey chili. One of the most unique things about Mani's is the 400 calorie menu featuring a couple of egg white breakfasts, a turkey/basil/artichoke wrap, another wrap that is almost like a variation of the chicken mango salad, and last but not least, a veggie burger on pita. To wash down your hippie burger you can enjoy one of the teas (hot or iced) or juices, then to finish it off, grab a pastry from the bakery. I haven't tried much out of the bakery, but what I have had is really good! Eating inside Mani's is nothing special and the tables can fill up pretty quickly on weekend mornings and afternoons, so you might prefer to do take out, though if you don't get a dessert, you may find yourself wishing later that you had. Mani's is definitely a must try spot for people in the area, as it's a viable option for any meal.

http://www.manisbakery.com/

Chaya Venice

Chaya has it's own small empire here in Los Angeles, with Chaya Venice, Chaya in Beverly Hills, and M de Chaya in Hollywood. I've tried two out of the three and it's unclear to me what the buzz about. If you observe a macrobiotic diet, I can understand the lure of M de Chaya, as I'm sure eating this way is pretty taxing to cook on your own or to find at many restaurants. The sushi here is pretty good, but there isn't much of a selection. Another problem here is parking. Located on the same corner of Melrose as Pink's and Pinkberry. Once you've found parking, actually eating here is a breeze. It's cafe style, so you can just go up and order and sit down and eat on your own time. Across town is somewhat uninspired Chaya Venice. I came here for a work dinner and the group of us started off with some run of the mill sushi (i.e. California roll, spicy tuna roll, shrimp tempura roll). All of it was sort of blah. I opted to forego an entree and get the goat cheese salad and the ceviche appetizer. The goat cheese salad was amazing. The fried goat cheese balls were perfectly warm and tender and blended well with the mixed greens and balsamic dressing. The ceviche was good, but different. It was pretty heavy on the red onion and had corn in it. The corn didn't really mesh very well with the citrus of the dish either and it could have been better if the corn was replaced by tomatoes, an ingredient normally found in ceviche. Everyone else in the group seemed to feel pretty unenthusiastic about their dinners. When the dessert menu came around, we ordered about one of everything: a butterscotch creme brulee, sorbet, chocolate croissant bread pudding, apple tatin, and the banana tart with banana ice cream topped with a chocolate covered banana (too much banana if you ask me!). I tried a little of each and have to say only a couple were pretty impressive. I don't care much for soggy bread, so usually bread pudding is out of the picture, but I guess since it was made with a crispy croissant it was exceptional. The butterscoth creme brulee was good, but not really that memorable. Everything else was fairly mediocre. I've also tried Chaya Venice for lunch and been more pleased with their bento box. If you have a hankering for a seafood or sushi dinner, though, I'd recommend finding another restaurant that would either be more affordable (entrees at Chaya are between $25-30) or at least if you are going to pay that much for a dinner, you are getting more bang for your buck.

http://www.thechaya.com/vindex.htm

Home

I had never heard of the restaurant Home in Los Feliz until some friends invited us there for dinner last night. I'm not sure how I missed it before because it is such a great atmosphere and they have such a wide variety of dishes on the menu. When you first arrive, the outdoor patio greets you with it's cedar deck and warm, inviting space heaters on cool nights. We all sat in a large wooden booth outside and it was just a perfect night for it. They supposedly have great martinis, but none of us got any and we all stuck to margaritas or beer (which are fairly decently priced - $6.50 for a regularly sized marg). For dinner, we skipped appetizers and got right on to entrees. I had the caramelized apple salad with pecans, goat cheese and tomato in it. It was really good and really sweet. This is slightly different than your normal goat cheese/pecan/apple salad in that the apples are caramelized, so they are sweeter, tasting almost like you put some apple pie in your salad. Chase had the BBQ chicken pizza, which I tried, and I have to say, I'm not normally that partial to BBQ chicken pizza, but at Home I liked it. The BBQ sauce was tangy, but not overwhelming and really not steering too clear of a normal tomato sauce. The other people in our group had the French toast, which came with 4 medium sized pieces and must have been pretty good b/c he cleaned his plate, the chicken tender salad, which looked really good and plentiful, the BLT, which came with some amazing waffle fries, and the goat cheese salad, which was pretty much like my salad if you swap the pecans for pine nuts and take out the apple and tomato. All of the entrees were between $8-15 and well worth what you pay for. We were all so stuffed that we had no room for dessert and left paying about $30-40 a couple. Due to the casualness of the restaurant, I'm not sure that I would say you should make a special trip out to Home if you don't live close to it, but if you're having a night out in Hollywood/Los Feliz, it's definitely a terrific way to start the night!

http://www.homelosfeliz.com/

Bistrotek @ Custom Hotel

At Custom Hotel, the West side's answer to the Standard, hipsters collide at Bistrotek, the chic bar/restaurant that sits between the hotel and the neighboring Ralphs. Luckily for me, you don't have to be a hipster to go there for dinner, so they let me and my coworkers in. I arrived late and missed any appetizers, but I had the halibut for dinner. It was pan fried and served on a bed of cous cous with asparagus and had an asparagus cream sauce on the side. The fish itself was pretty good, but the asparagus cream sauce tasted a little weird. The cous cous was also pretty good, but has more asparagus on top and overall the dish was just a little asparagus heavy. I had a glass of the Roseanne wine which was served in a cute little decanter that looked like a petite milk bottle. The dessert menu was a little strange and was trying a little too hard to be a new take on old favorites. For the table we shared a coffee and donuts (bite sized cinnamon sugar donuts with coffee ice cream), a grilled cheese (marscapone sandwich with nutella and a raspberry "ketchup" sauce), and a brownie with butterscotch syrup, fudge, and ice cream. The best one was the brownie, but it was a little plain and dull. The grilled cheese was interesting and at first taste was pretty good, despite the scariness of the raspberry ketchup, but left a major butter taste in your mouth. Overall, it wasn't great, but if you are looking for somewhere other than fast food around LAX, it might be worth a stop. Unfortunately, I didn't order for myself since I got there late and I have no idea what the prices were. I didn't get a chance to check it out, but I heard they had a really great poolside bar that might be worth stopping by on a hot summer day.

http://www.customhotel.com/restaurant_and_pool/bistrotek.php

Pizzeria Mozza

The spot on the SW corner of Melrose and Highland had previously been a pizza restaurant, but nothing comparable to the Mozza empire that stands there now. Since it opened last year I have wanted to grab a bite at Pizzeria Mozza, and even had a reservation for about a month ago, but we weren't able to make it at the last minute. Over the weekend, though, Chase and I were finally able to stop by. Even at 3:00 on Sunday the place was packed and there was hardly a space for us at the pizza bar, but after waiting for about 5 minutes, a place was cleared for us. We were seated in front of the pizza chefs and the wood-fired brick oven. As a starter we were torn between the caprese salad and the white bean bruscetta, but ultimately opted for the bruscetta. It was delicious and have a drizzle of truffle oil on top and a chewy onion in the center. For our main dish we split the bianca pizza, which has a white sauce and 4 cheeses, along with what I believe was fried basil. Que magnifique! It was melt in your mouth goodness. The fennel sausage and some of the other meats pizzas looked really great and I plan to try one of those next time. The special of the day was a lasagna and we watched as more than generous helpings were warmed up inches from the burning logs and then shuttled out to the tables. We couldn't help ourselves and had to get dessert. We opted for what we thought sounded like the most unique dessert on the menu: butterscotch pudding and creme fraiche with rosemary pine nut cookies. It was an interesting, but tasty combination and the flavors were subtle and worked surprisingly well as a sweet. The interior of the place looks pretty much like a normal nice restaurant, with a lavish bar on one side and the pizza bar perpendicular. One of the most charming parts of the restaurant is the display of the fresh ingredients they use sitting on the pizza bar. Next to the front door is a private wine cellar with a table set for about 10, that I believe can be rented out. Tables are limited and there are probably not more than 70 seats in the house, thus the ridiculously long waiting list to get a reservation. To go is available, and that's most certainly what we'll be doing next time!

http://www.mozza-la.com/pizzeria/about.cfm

CUT

I'd been told by a couple of people that Wolfgang Puck's latest steak shop, CUT in the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, wasn't worth going to, but luckily, they were wrong. Also, luckily for me, I wasn't paying. I went with a group of girls from work so we really got to eat to our hearts' desire. One of Cut's downfalls - carb overload. When you first sit down there is a box of Parmesan breadsticks on the table. Once you give your drink order, a bread boy visits the table with a spread of baked goods to choose from. I tried the pretzel, which was good, but should have been warmer, and the rye. The other girls at the table had the onion focaccia and all loved it. When it came time to order, the waiter brought a large platter of the various kinds of raw beef to the table. Cut is known particularly for their American Wagyu. My coworker and I split the American Wagyu T-bone, a whopping 34 oz steak for $130. Don't plan on getting any steak here for under $45 minimum. The pricier steaks run $70 and upward. I would have to say that I would never pay that much for a steak myself, but in this case like I mentioned, I wasn't buying. Let's rewind to pre-entree though. For appetizers we all shared a tuna tar tar that came with more bread and wasabi aioli. We were also given a steak tar tar due to a mistake our waiter made. The second appetizer we ordered was the Kobe Steak Sashimi. The tuna tar tar and the steak sashimi were really great, but we all agreed that the steak tar tar neither looked nor tasted very outstanding. Entrees were the natural progression behind the appetizers, and like I mentioned, I split the American Wagyu T-Bone with my coworker. It came with the house steak sauce and I also ordered a side of the wasabi-yuzu kocho butter, which was surprisingly mild, but still ridiculously good. For sides we had the spinach souffle and the potato tarte tatin. When the food runner brings the souffle to your table, they mix in an egg. I personally thought it was a bit too eggy. The potato tarte tatin was mashed potatoes baked inside a potato au gratin. It was good, but pretty starchy, especially when you take into account all of the bread we ate first. The best part of the meal was most definitely the dessert. We ordered two to share between the four of us. First up, the strawberries and cream baked Alaska. This is most likely the best dessert I've ever had. It's a frozen strawberry ice cream center with a baked marshmallow outer shell. Dessert #2 was the chocolate souffle, which is quite possibly the second best dessert I've ever had. It's served in a hot pot with two small pitchers, one of chocolate sauce, one of creme fraiche.

http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/finedining/cut/beverlyhills/diningmenus.php

88 Chinese & Sushi

Now, now, I know what you are thinking, "a Chinese place with sushi can't be good," but I tell you it is. It's not very often that Chase and I have a hankering for Chinese food, but recently we were on a search for the best Chinese food in our area. We'd gotten a flyer for 88 and thought we'd give it a try and it didn't disappoint. On the menu is an assortment of dim sum, sushi, and the usual American-Chinese favorites. We started with the cream cheese wontons, which come six to an order and are not to be missed! Chase ordered the Chinese and sushi dinner with sweet & sour pork. The dinner came with an egg roll, a piece of shrimp tempura, hot & sour soup, fried rice, and a sushi roll. Everything but the sushi comes together for $9.99 and then you pay an extra couple of bucks for the sushi roll, depending on the roll you choose. Chase was gracious enough to let me pick, so I went for the standard spicy tuna roll. I got the crispy walnut shrimp. Everything was superb! I had only tried honey walnut shrimp once before and thought it was good, but this was even better. Chase also tried the Thai tea, which he seemed pretty happy with. Overall it was a great take-out experience and I can't wait to enjoy it again!

http://losangeles.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaId=35&restaurantId=26929

Eating Out the Northwest, Part II

On to Portland! The town reminds me a lot of Austin, with it's artsy little downtown, chic uptown area, and loads of great restaurants in between. Our first night there we ate dinner at Jake's Crawfish, not to be confused with the much fancier Jake's Grill, which is about 2 blocks away in downtown. Both were around our boutique-y and ultra hip lodgings, Ace Hotel. Jake's Crawfish felt a little bit like walking in to a Steak n' Ale, but the food was still pretty good. We, once again, had oysters, trying 6 Sunset Beach (my favorite) and 6 of another kind the waitress picked, which were a little too briny for me. Our second dish was a Dungeness crab cocktail, which was only okay due to the coleslaw-type preparation. I much prefer an order of crab claws, but they were a little out of our price range. We then had a cup of Jake's Famous Clam Chowder, which is cream based unlike the tomato-based New York Clam Chowder they also offered on the menu. For our main course, we split the braised Halibut that came with mashed potatoes and asparagus. This was by far the best part of the dinner. For dessert we had a hard time choosing between the chocolate bag (pretty much a hollow box of chocolate with berries in and around it) and the Jake's Trio which came with small portions of creme brulee, three berry cobbler, and an extremely dense chocolate cake. All were good, but the cobbler was phenomenal. Personally I wished that we had ordered a huge plate of it instead. When we got the bill, we weren't surprised to learn that we'd easily spent another $100 or so.

http://www.mccormickandschmicks.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.display&pageid=96&id=1
(I had no idea until just now that this restaurant is owned by McCormick & Schmicks)

The next morning we got a bit of a late start and had intended to go to Mother's Cafe for breakfast, but discovered once we walked there that they aren't open on Monday's. We asked the concierge at the hotel what they recommended and they sent us to Bijou, which ended up being perfect. I had the pancake special with rhubarb apple compote on top. Now THESE are the the best pancakes I've ever tasted in my entire life (no offense Mom - they weren't in cute shapes like yours!). Chase had an omelet with goat cheddar cheese, which neither of us were aware existed. His was really great too, and neither was too expensive. I think we slid out of here in under $30. Another great thing about this place is that everything is organic, if that's the kind of thing you're into. I'd definitely eat here again and wish they'd open an LA location!

http://portland.citysearch.com/profile/8456458/
(Sorry, no menu)

Unfortunately, that was really the end of our culinary adventure in the Northwest. Now back to LA!

Eating Out the Northwest

Sorry I haven't been able to post for a few days, but I've been playing in Seattle and Portland, Oregon. Here's my foodie recap:

Seattle was full of culinary delights, though sadly none of them any cheaper than what you would find in LA. We had our first meal in the city at Emmett Watson's Oyster Bar in Pike's Place Market. It was delicious and the atmosphere was that of a local biker spot that was first owned by someone's grandmother. The menus are handwritten on large paper bags, starting with oysters, down to clam chowder, and further still to fish and chips, with some fluff in the middle. Our waiter, a tattooed young gentleman brought us an oyster sampler platter with six different kinds of oysters. Unfortunately I don't recall the names of any of them but they were all enjoyable, particularly with the Hefeweisen we were drinking. We then had some amazing clam chowder and a basket of fish and piping hot chips. We wrapped up at around $40. If you're in the city, it's definitely worth your time.

http://seattle.citysearch.com/profile/10767393/seattle_wa/emmett_watson_s_oyster_bar.html

After walking around Pike's Place Market for a while we got some freshly made doughnuts - and the good kind too! For just under $2, this little stand will give you 6 bite-sized doughnuts in plain cake, cinnamon sugar, and powered sugar flavors. Our favorite was the cinnamon sugar. We walked around quite a bit more and then decided to go to happy hour in Pioneer Square. Most places were closed in this area at around 4:00 so we settled down at a small Japanese tapas place called Tig. It was interesting to say the least, but I don't think I'd recommend it. We had a Tig pizza, which was a skillet full of cheese, mushrooms, pork, and what seemed to be ketchup. Not that great. I also tried a spicy tuna roll, which was decent, but not super great. If you're interested, tapas prices range from $2-12 and sushi rolls are around $5 a piece, $11 for the specialty rolls.

http://www.tigbar.com/

That night we had a spectacular dinner at Restaurant Zoe in Belltown. We weren't that hungry since we'd eaten so much that day so we didn't over-order at a restaurant for once. I had the celery soup (tasted very much like celery and pepper) and the citrus salad, which was quite good. It came with candied pistachios, but really this didn't taste much different from your run of the mill candied walnuts. Chase had the lamb loin, which I tried a bite of and it was quite tender. Since we weren't that hungry to begin with, we didn't order any dessert, but the waitress was nice enough to bring us a little taste of chocolate from the kitchen. Overall, a great experience, but still it was $100 for what didn't seem like a lot of food at the time.

http://www.restaurantzoe.com/index.html

The next morning we got a brunch recommendation from the concierge at the hotel where we were staying, Hotel Max. She sent us around the corner to one of Tom Douglas' restaurants, Lola. Lola's was really good for breakfast, and I believe the lunch and dinner menus are Greek cuisine, so I did think it was a little strange that they served American breakfast. I had the pancakes with cherries and vanilla mascarpone and maple sausage on the side. Chase had the eggs benedict and neither of us could finish what we got. They were large portions at about $15 a piece and pretty good, though not the best pancakes I've ever had in my life, which was what the waiter promised.

http://www.tomdouglas.com/lola/index.html

Breakfast was enough to hold us over until around 4:00, when we went to get a small bite and a beer and one of Tom Douglas' other restaurants, Serious Pie. We split a cherry bomb peppers and sweet fennel sausage pizza. I thought the pizza was superior to the menu at Lola's, but they could use a wider range of beers as most were extremely dark microbrews. The great thing about Tom Douglas' restaurants is that they are all pretty much on the same corner and range in cuisine, so you could really get whatever your heart desires!

http://www.tomdouglas.com/serious/menu.html

That night after the Queen laser light show and a drum circle (awesome) we headed back over by our hotel to have a late dinner at Oceanaire. Fancy and full of a variety of fresh fish, Oceanaire filled us up with a dozen fresh oysters, pickled herring, a very fresh sesame crusted tuna steak on top of a bed of potato puree, and salt and vinegar shoestring fries. Everything was fantastic and the tuna just melted in your mouth! For dessert, however, we has a very mediocre vanilla creme brulee that was about the size of a frying pan. And there went another $100....

http://theoceanaire.com/location/menu.asp?id=3

On our last morning in Seattle we couldn't leave without trying Top Pot Doughnuts, certainly the best donuts in the world. With a fancy name for everything, this is surely the nicest donut shop I've ever been in, and it even looks kind of like a dolled-up Starbucks. I had a chocolate donut and Chase had a pink glazed donut and maple-glazed donut with a pomegranate Italian soda to wash it down. Overall, it was great and a mere $11 for 3 donuts and three drinks.

http://www.toppotdoughnuts.com/flash/

Stay tuned for the Portland portion!