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

Sushi Ozekii

In the little strip of San Vicente Blvd. between Beverly Hill's Restaurant Row and the Beverly Center is a small sushi joint called Sushi Ozekki. When we moved back over to this side of the hill, Chase and I wanted to find some additional backup sushi restaurants and this was one we came across with top marks on Citysearch. Now with Citysearch you have to be careful because you never know what's legit comments from consumers vs. what the restaurant owner/competitor has placed on there trying to come off as a consumer. We've been to Ozekki twice now and neither time had to wait for a table (even at 8:00 on Saturday once). For the purposes of this review, we'll take that as a good thing. There's really only about 45 seats in the house, so it is pretty small. So far we've tried the tropical salsa (tuna skewers with pineapple and tomatoes) and the ceviche hamachi appetizers. Both were good, but by no means would rank up in my favorites. Ozekii does have a large selection of rolls, most of which I've never seen anywhere else. We've tried the Red Blossom, which is spicy tuna on top of a spicy yellowtail roll (if memory serves correctly), and the albacore delight. Again, pretty good but not in my top 20, the specialty rolls are big though and worth the value of less than $12. The best thing here in my opinion are the hand rolls. Simple, but the freshness of the fish speaks for itself. I prefer the yellowtail hand roll, while Chase's favorite is the lobster. Both are around $6 I believe. I think I'd go back just for that. Two hand rolls and I full for less than $15. So while not my favorite sushi restaurant, I'd still have to recommend this place if you are looking for something different than your normal sushi spot offers. 

http://www.sporq.com/losangeles/sushiozekii/480ssanvicenteblvd

Lemonade

Friday I went with my sisters to try Beverly Hill's newest lunch eatery, Lemonade. While they do have four or five kinds of lemonade and some lemon desserts, I was a little disappointed with the lack of lemon flavorings in the main course options. The interior space is reminiscent of your elementary school days with colorful plastic cups arranged as an art installment on the ceiling and lunch trays of the same color scheme hung on the back wall. Grab a tray of your own to walk through the lunch line. Several cold sides that change daily appeal to your senses as you make your way down the row. I chose the cous cous with cherry tomatoes and feta to go along with some seared ahi tuna with ponzu dressing. Both were really good, but I got kind of sick of eating the cous cous after a while. If you want something warm, there are several pots at the far end of the line with hot dishes from macaroni & cheese to a couple of duck dishes. Also available are a few sandwiches and salads. The best thing I had was the blueberry mint lemonade. It was quite minty, but still superior to the original and the peach ginger flavors we also tried. Unless you really like the taste of ginger, I wouldn't get that one, it was pretty overwhelming. I think the only flavor we didn't try was the kiwi lemonade. Sadly, we didn't try any of the delicious looking desserts. They had some lemon squares and cookies among others. If you are really thirsty for some lemonade, they sell all flavors by the half gallon as well. Give it a try!

http://www.lemonadela.com/

Jack N Jill's

In honor of their new restaurant opening, I wanted to pay homage to Jack N Jill's. With one location in Beverly Hills and one in Santa Monica, there are certainly rich families filling the seats, but it's not due to high prices. It's all about the great food, great location, and great atmosphere. Chase and I have come here a couple of times and really enjoyed it both times. For one of the first times since the creation of this blog, I am having a hard time remembering what I ate here. I do recall once having the California pear salad (pears, peppers, feta, raspberries, walnuts in a citrus vinaigrette), which I remember being good. Looking over the menu again, everything sounds great, especially the breakfast goodies. I believe the second time we were here is was for breakfast, and I tried the Savannah Strawberry Oatmeal Pancakes. Yum! Good reason to believe that their new restaurant, The Creperie, on Robertson will have superb breakfast! Other intriguing dishes on the Jack N Jill's menu include the Malted Belgian waffles, country fried steak sandwich, chicken ponzu wrap, and last but not least, the Louisiana Banana Pudding. The atmosphere is very relaxed and family friendly; don't expect anything fancy here. Free 2 hour parking is available up the street and you can do a little shopping on the way back to the car.

http://www.eatatjacknjills.com/home/bh_menu.html

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