Panini

I totally <3 paninis so I have wanted to try local chain Panini (clever huh?) for some time. I've only gone to the one in Marina del Rey, but I know there is at least one other location in West Hollywood. Breakfast is served all day, but I of course go for the lunch paninis. My first try was a turkey and brie sandwich with cranberry spread. So good! I loved the gazpacho even more - it tasted just like the one I make without the huge mess in my kitchen. Second attempt was equally as fulfilling with a prosciutto, goat cheese, and red pepper panini that was simply divine! Here's the only weird thing about this place - if you want your sandwich pressed, you have to ask for it. But isn't a panini by definition a hot sandwich? Maybe I'm wrong on this one though.... The Marina del Rey location has a nice little patio they share with the surrounding restaurants as well as a decent interior (think slightly above Panera). Panini is also a bakery with an entire counter full of baked goodies if you make it to dessert. I also should mention that next door is Marble Slab - a Texas treat! All organic ice cream gets mixed with toppings of your choice before being stuffed into a freshly baked waffle cone. YUM!

http://losangeles.citysearch.com/profile/151348/marina_del_rey_ca/panini_coffee_cafe.html

Boneyard Bistro

I was vegetarian once. It didn't last and boy am I glad because I would never of had the greatness that is Boneyard Bistro. This fancy BBQ spot sits on Ventura along a string of other food establishments in Sherman Oaks. Mr. Cecil's California Ribs is only a couple of doors down but the food is so different at each that they can coexist peacefully. Boneyard is pretty modern and manly on the inside with lots of wood, brick, and steel from what I can recall. The two times I've been here the chef makes the rounds to ensure everyone is having a great experience. It's been awhile sice I was here and their online menu seems to have changed quite a bit, but the short ribs and the brisket are what I remember most. Both were really tender and juicy, even after the ribs are slow cooked for hours. Sweet potato fries are always a favorite as well. Even if you aren't eating meat, they've got your standard selection of BBQ fish (i.e. blackened catfish and ancho grilled shrimp). Prices are decent for the quality of food and won't set you back more than about $25-$30 a plate. Self-parking in the area is doable, but if you don't want to exert the effort, Boneyard has a reasonably priced valet service. After eating so much meat though (portions are huge) you may want to walk it off a little before heading to your destination.

http://www.boneyardbistro.com/

Frida

I joined my whole family for dinner at Frida in the new Americana at Brand mall in Glendale recently and let's just say I definitely perfer my Frida in the form of paintings. The margaritas were decent, but at $12 a pop it costs a small fortune to get a buzz. We all wanted to try the different ceviches they have, but unfortunately there's not much good to report. Every ceviche I've ever had comes with a variety of fish in it, but at Frida you choose if you want shrimp or tuna, and I think they're really missing out by only allowing either/or. My sister ordered the ceviche especial, which is the only ceviche that has both shrimp and tuna, but it also has a creamy sauce. It sounded a little weird to have creamy ceviche and once it came out, it tasted weird. It was like dipping fish in mayo. I ordered the ceviche acapulco, which wasn't entirely disappointing, but was still probably the worst ceviche I've ever had (next to the ceviche especial). The shrimp didn't taste fresh at all and the flavors really didn't mesh well, despite that it's the same ingredients in every ceviche. For my entree I had the enchiladas suizas, one of my all time favorite Mexican dishes, and while the enchiladas were way better than the ceviche, they still weren't that great. Not one of the 6 of us was really that happy with the food and I don't think anyone would go back. Most dishes were $15-$20 and for that you can get so much better Mexican food.

http://www.fridarestaurant.com/glendale/menu.html

M Cafe de Chaya

Ever tried Macrobiotics? Didn't think so. If you're willing to give the Yin-Yang diet a shot, M Cafe de Chaya is a good place to start. As a rule, macrobiotic foods are not highly processed, so everything here is very earthy and mostly vegan, with the exception of a few fish dishes. I've tried it twice and think it's pretty good, but the lifestyle is a little expensive to keep up with. The first time I had the sushi, which was decent, though I wouldn't suggest making a trip specifically for the sushi since there is definitely better sushi to be had. The last time I ate here I went to the Culver City location which in my opinion is way easier than the Melrose location. I had the half sandwich soup combo with the panino provancale with the corn soup. The panino came chalk full of grilled veggies, arugula, balsamic, aioli pesto, and creamy tofu cheese (all cheeses are non-dairy). The corn soup was really creamy and delicious as well. Both were perfectly proportioned and I didn't feel too full afterwards. I was tempted to have a baked good because they looked so yummy, but this time around I had to pass. Even if you're not in to super healthy cuisine, this place is worth trying.

http://www.mcafedechaya.com/menu.html

Gyenari

With all of the new restaurants popping up in Culver City, it's a little hard to keep track, but Gyenari is definitely one to look for. This Korean BBQ spot opened its doors last month next to other newcomer, Rush Street. After eating both, go for the BBQ! Though no one, not even the Koreans I work with, know how to correctly pronounce the name of this restaurant, the food and the service is still top notch. The interiors are modern and beautiful with a small fountain and a wine bar to greet you. Once you stop for a drink at the bar (I highly the raspberry acai cocktail - so good!), move on to the dining area. The tables are quite large with a little pit to grill your dinner on right in front of you. The backdrop is a gorgeous lit panel showcasing natural elements and surrounded by dark wood walls. Since we were a big group we sat in the semi-private dining area which was essentially a long, skinny room with a couple of tables big enough to seat 10. The wallpaper in the room was beautiful, but it was really distracting to have flat screen TVs at either end playing ESPN. In my personal opinion, they should have left the TV's at the bar. The website says there is a partition to separate the tables if separate parties are occupying the room at once, but there was definitely another big group in the room and no partition to speak of. Having never had Korean BBQ, I left the ordering (and grilling) up to the experts. I certainly didn't mind ordering my own drinks though! Since we were there the Monday after they opened the bar was out of almost every beer, so I gave Hite, a Korean beer, a try and was pleasantly surprised. The table got a round of sparkling sake too, which was far better than normal sake to me. The term champagne of sake would truly apply here. As for the food, I can remember having bulgogi, wagyu beef, pork belly, and filet mignon. Everything was absolutely delicious! If you aren't into grilling your own meal, I think there are alternative options (black cod, salmon, or short ribs) though you'd really be missing out on the appeal of the place to just order one of these. Since I wasn't paying and I wasn't ordering, I've really no clue what the prices are like here, though I'm pretty sure it's worth it for the great food and all-around great experience I had here.

http://gyenari.com/

Campanile

I'm not sure why, but I always thought Campanile (pronounced Camp-a-nee-lay) on La Brea was an Italian restaurant. Once I got there it turned out I was wrong, but we decided to give the place a shot anyway. Let's start with interiors on this one. The architecture of this building, once owned by Charlie Chaplin, is awe-inspiring. As you enter the front half of the restaurant is largely stone with huge windows to the second floor at the top on either side. When you pass a little hallway with staircases on the left and right you move into a second room with stucco white walls and Spanish style windows. The interiors definitely reminded me of the Spanish castle in Granada, one of my favorite spots in the world. I wish I could say that the food was as lovely as the space, but unfortunately for me, it just wasn't. We weren't starving but went for dinner on a weekend. Three cheeses from their selection started off the evening, though I can't recall exactly the three we got. All were recommendations from the waiter and we only finished one since we just weren't that into it. We followed that up with some oysters on the halfshell. I like oysters, I really do, but these were covered with something resembling a chutney that just didn't work for me. For the entree we went with the special, a lasagna that I could only describe as limp and soggy. I think part of the bad experience food wise could just be that we ordered the wrong things, but by definition when you go to a great restaurant you should be able to eat anything off the menu and be pleased. I have heard that their brunch is decent, so perhaps I just need to go at a different time. Thursday night they do a grilled cheese night that ranges from a classic grilled cheese to a sheep's milk ricotta grilled cheese with roasted tomatoes, olives, and garlic, all of which are around $16-18. The normal dinner menu is more in the range of $20-35 a plate, and for me, just not worth it. Zagat calls Campanile one of the top 50 restaurants in LA, but I'm just not sure it makes my version of that list.

http://www.campanilerestaurant.com/

Chulada Grill

I love Tex-Mex. In fact, I love Tex-Mex so much, I could probably eat it every day for the rest of my life and die happy. It's probably one of the things I miss most about Texas, and it's quite a challenge to find anything comparable in LA. Hole-in-the-wall Chulada Grill almost measures up, at least in the breakfast department. There's nothing to cure a hangover like a couple of breakfast tacos, and Chulada's breakfast burrito is top notch. I had one just this morning (and yes, a hangover was involved) with potatoes, cheese, black beans, and bacon. Together, it's like a good symphony, but when you dissect the pieces, there is a little room for improvement I suppose. The potatoes were fairly flavorless and I hardly noticed them in the burrito except as filler. I couldn't decide if I liked the bacon or not. It was really thickly cut and in small pieces that were few and far between. It also seemed really fatty, which while that's usually a good thing for the flavor, it was a bit of a turnoff for me today. The best part for me were the refried black beans with cheese perfectly melted into it and wrapped up in a soft tortilla. Chulada does seem a little pricey for what it is, about $7-8 per entree. It's such a hole-in-the-wall you would expect it to be super cheap, but I guess they've got to pay the bills. And if you live in the area, they deliver!

http://www.chuladagrill.com/breakfast.htm

The Creperie by Jack n Jills

Who doesn't already love Jack n Jill's? The owners of the Beverly Hills/Santa Monica favorite have a new, more upscale endeavor in Beverly Hills. The Creperie doesn't feel all that fancy, and really the prices are reasonable too (about $10-12 a plate), but the quality of the food is exponentially higher than that of even Jack n Jill's cafe. I came for brunch (personally my favorite time for crepes) with a couple of friends, and I think everyone really enjoyed it. Even though I'm not that much of an egg enthusiast I ordered the Big Easy (ham & mozzarella with scrambled eggs in a wheat crepe under a blanket of sherry cream sauce). The eggs weren't even a problem for me. The cheese was melted just right and the sherry cream sauce was a little sweet and just really gave the dish some umph. A friend had the Healthy and Happy which was a sweet crepe filled with nonfat yogurt, fresh berries & banana, walnuts and a little honey. From the bite I had, I thought it was really good and she liked it as well, but she thought it felt a little like eating dessert. Our other friend had been recently for dinner and had such a great experience she was ready to go back within a week. I can't quite recall what she had, but I know it was something other than a crepe. At any rate, I can at least remember that she liked hers as well! Parking on Sunday wasn't a problem with ample free street parking on Beverly. It was such a cute, fun, delicious little place - I highly recommend it if you are looking for a place to brunch!

http://www.creperiebyjacknjills.com/menu.html

Wilson

You wouldn't guess it, but Wilson on Washington Blvd. in Culver City is an epicurean dream with a retro flare. I've had my eye on this place (and their menu) for several months - certainly predating eatingoutla, and had a date here with Chase last night. He had browsed an online menu somewhere and was really looking forward to a sausage dish he had seen, but it wasn't on the menu when we arrived. We started with a glass of wine (I wasn't crazy about either the pinot grigio or the saviognon blanc Chase had) and paired it with a sea bass carpaccio. The sea bass was a little tougher than I would have liked, but perhaps that's just the nature of the fish. For our entrees we shared the fig & potato tortelli with brown-butter sage sauce and the Dungeness crab mac & cheese with four or five cheeses (I was a little tipsy when I ordered and this dish is not listed on the online menu). I really only wanted one tortelli because I was so in love with the mac & cheese. Chef Wilson's choice of noodle was a penne so it really didn't feel like eating mac & cheese at all. We finished off the evening with a lemon cake topped by merengue and a Wilson cocktail. The cake was a little dry for me, but the cocktail was just right! It was a mixture of tequila, blackberry lemonade, triple sec, and pineapple juice in a sugar-rimmed martini glass. The restaurant seems really small from the front with their small front patio and interior, but there are several more tables in the back. The space maintains the theme of the neighboring architecture museum and is overall a really laid back atmosphere with a great menu.

http://www.wilsonfoodandwine.com/menus.html

The Chicken Lady

The Chicken Lady is kind of a random little spot tucked into a crowded shopping center behind the Beverly Center, but this place had rave reviews on Yelp. I hate to start on a downside, but they're only open for lunch, and I'm not clear if they're open on Saturday or just Monday to Friday. I got the chicken tenders with mac & cheese. The tenders alone weren't anything spectacular, but it's the sweet BBQ dipping sauce that really makes them so delicious. The mac & cheese was good, but nothing too memorable about it. The rest of the menu is chicken dishes from around the world (i.e. chicken tacos, chicken thai sticks, mesquite lime cilantro tenders). The prices are decent with each dish coming in around $7 or $8. The people here are super nice too, which made it all the better. Parking can be a bit of an issue. There is a parking lot with a parking service, but there were cars stacked bumper to bumper. The better bet is to find street parking on San Vicente. I'm hoping to go back whenever I have a day off work, but it's a little inconvenient with the hours.

http://losangeles.citysearch.com/profile/44408531/los_angeles_ca/the_chicken_lady.html#

King's Road Cafe

So maybe August isn't back with as much of a vengeance as I thought, but hopefully there'll be plenty more to come because I have lots of new places to tell you about! Let's begin with King's Road Cafe down the street from the Beverly Center. Parking is a bit of a hassle and you're likely to see several hobo's hanging around, but for the breakfast at least, it's worth it. When Chase and I tried this place, we didn't have to wait long for a table, but once we sat down, service wasn't great. They normally have an hibiscus tea, but unfortunately they were out the day we were there. Chase was trying to order a coffee drink we'd seen go by several times, but the waiter wasn't much help in figuring out what it was, and Chase had to go in and ask the barista what it was and get a new drink. As for the food, I opted for the whole wheat blueberry granola pancakes. I can't tell you how good these pancakes are. If you like pancakes, you've got to try them! I didn't use a drop of syrup and they were truly phenomenal. Chase ordered the chicken cilantro sausage, fontina cheese, avocado, and sour cream omelet. I took a bite and it was really good, but I decided I'd rather eat my entire plate of pancakes. Really, SO GOOD! Atmosphere is average for a cafe, and price is pretty standard as well. Try it folks!

http://www.kingsroadcafe.com/menu.htm

Nobu

There are few restaurant chains that span the globe, but Nobu has managed to do so at 5-star caliber. I had been to the Dallas location several years ago, but recently patronized the newest location on La Cienega. The interior space is pretty ultra-modern with red accents behind a wall of tiny wooden circles. The lighting looked like little peanuts hanging overhead. The waiter offered that we try all the dishes in omakase style, where chef Nobu, who was presiding over the kitchen in the flesh that night, would determine what the table would be eating for dinner. First up, the yellowtail sashimi with jalepeno in a yuzu soy sauce. This happens to be the only dish I remember ordering at Nobu Dallas, and it was as fresh, sweet, and spicy as I remembered. Our second course was a spread of three varieties of fish, all with a miso spice rub. Of the 3, I only tried the trout and the snapper (there wasn't enough for everyone at the table to try one of each). Both maintained the level of freshness set by the yellowtail. One of my co-workers thought the miso rub was a little overwhelming for the fish as it was piled on pretty high, but I found it to be pretty delectable. Now the order of the remaining dishes gets a little fuzzy, but I do recall having the toro tartare with caviar. It comes in an inner bowl surrounded by crushed ice in an outer bowl. I'm not sure that I'd ever had caviar before, and this was definitely the way to start. The toro was rich yet still subtle enough to finish the entire portion of about 2 oz. Hot rocks were served in traditional style with superb Wagyu beef. The dish that stuff with me the most was a serving of brussel sprouts cooked in truffle butter with tempura eel and shaved black truffle on top. Talk about rich, but I would never have a problem finishing my brussel sprouts if they were served like that. We wrapped up the sushi portion of the meal with a small spread of nigiri and an asparagus tuna roll. The roll was pretty underwhelming and I was glad chef Nobu had sent all of the other dishes out first. A couple of bottles of sake later, we pretty much forced ourselves to eat dessert, and peanut butter, chocolate, and jelly were in no short order. Beignets filled with what tasted like nutella and peanut butter were accompanied by peanut butter ice cream with plum jelly on top. Further down the dish were little dark and white chocolate eggrolls with a chocolate dipping sauce. Overall, the dinner was completely satisfying, and apparently the celebrities think so too. I don't see stars that often, but Ryan Seacrest and Brody Jenner sat around our table, not that really is any testament to the quality of the food, just an interesting tidbit.

http://www.noburestaurants.com/losangeles/index.html#501-625-943

Rush Street

So July was a bit of a hiatus for EatingOutLA, but August is back with a vengeance! Let's start with Rush Street, one of Culver City's newest pubs. I had heard good buzz from opening weekend, but didn't really know what to expect when I went with a group of friends. I was counting on more beers on tap, but instead the bar serves a pretty wide variety of 750 mL bottles. Being lovers of Hefeweisen, we were drinking the Pinkus Organic Hefeweisen, which was by far the best hef I've ever had. One 500 mL bottle fills about 2 glasses for $13. As for food, the boys both got burgers, I got the parmesan calamari and the baked mac & cheese, and my friend got the white pizza. I tried a bit of everything, but thought the only thing I'd get again would be the burger. Topped with bacon, cheddar, confire sauce and, natch, fried onions, the burger was just crispy and sweet enough. The shoestring fries that came with it were pretty delectable as well. The calamari batter was too delicate and kept falling off so we were just eating rubbery fish. The lemon aioli and marinara were both pretty bland and leant little support to the appetizer. The waitress claimed to swear by the baked mac & cheese, but I was unimpressed. The cheeses weren't entirely complementary of each other and it could have been much creamier. Lastly, the white pizza & truffle oil came with spinach on top, something that wasn't called out in the menu. The spinach wasn't good and overall the pizza was really tasteless, which was surprising for something with truffle oil. That's pretty hard to mess up. I'd prefer Johnnie's white pizza. When the time came, no one really cared for dessert, so I can't speak to that. Before we left, we spent a little time looking around the rest of the space since our table was right up front. Probably the best seats in the house are those on the front patio, but the majority of tables are next to the downstairs bar. The back area is reserved for big parties, and with bottle service you can reserve the upstairs bar area. The sofas make the upstairs bar space really inviting, but while we were there the outdoor patio only had one light for the whole area. Additionally, there's usually free parking lots in downtown Culver City, but they were all full when we were there and we had to valet. All-in-all, Rush Street is pretty overpriced for what it is: a bar with an underwhelmingly exaggerated bar menu. For $15 drinks and $15-20 entrees, it's just not worth it.

http://www.rushstreetculvercity.com/