Venice Beach Wines

I would never describe myself as a beach person. Even after being a UCSC Banana Slug in Santa Cruz, one of California's favorite surfing destinations, I still hadn't embraced the idea of being a flip-flopper. But places like Venice Beach Wines make it easy for me to forget my beach biases.

Venice Beach Wines is probably the size of my studio apartment. Tucked away in a house within the residential parts of Venice, VBW is a gem for the locals. (Note: I can't say enough about how much I love houses turned into businesses.) Their candlelit patio is modest with merely wooden benches and old wine crates for resting your glasses and cheese plates. They have a wide selection of wines to choose from (line entirely borrowed from a BevMo ad) and have great cheeses and charcuterie to munch on. A nice intimate place to bring another or to meet and greet with other people from the area. Because it's so quaint and so convenient, the patio tends to get full. But no worries, you can always buy a bottle and pedal somewhere else.

Venice Beach Wines
529 Rose Ave
Venice, CA 90291

Spontaneous Tuesday: The Olive Garden!

Allow me to elaborate. On certain days during our routine and predictable lives, my friends (or bandidos, as I prefer) decide to indulge in anything our heart desires.

For example the last Spontaneous Tuesday was two years ago. One of us had one of those heart wrenching days. We all got together. Eventually after several undisclosed strange events, we conducted a science experiment: which is faster "shotgunning" or "chugging"? Needless to say, we all painfully woke up the next morning in a room scattered with many Giant Pocky wrappers. The collection of inside jokes was well worth it. Anyway, you get the gist that anything our minds conjure up may just happen.

Lorenzo's dinnertime cravings always seem like a chance for adventure. (For some reason, he hasn't turned on his gas in his apartment for a year now, thus crippling his stove and therefore, his frugal eating habits) Thanks to modern technology, we were able to mobilize our magnificent seven to the nearest ... Olive Garden. In Burbank. While some may consider all you can eat pasta death defying, it ranks fairly low on the richter scale of adrenaline and will probably never become topic of a reality show. Not to mention that Burbank is hardly the setting for something "extraordinary". We sit down at what looks like a dining room in a rustic cabin. Neverending pasta bowls take over our table. It's lovely how food brings people together. After our stomachs reached maximum capacity, on the way home, Mike notices a Krispy Kreme. Instantly, Nathan makes screeching tires turn into their drive-thru and orders "1 dozen assorted, please!"

Nights like these always remind me of what brings us together. Before it may have been our uncontrollable taste for alcohol and mayhem, now it is pure, assorted, butter-drenched, cheese sprinkled, never-ending gluttony with sausage on the side. All for the sake of having a reliable group of 7 to call whenever you really want or need something.


Photo from Lorenzo's Blog

Who is You? #5

You are my favorite of all time and I'll never be willing to share. There's just no one like you in LA.


You = Milk tea with tapioca from J&S Coffee and Tea House in Richmond, CA

Fat Out: 2008 Taste of Santa Monica

Yesterday, chefs from 40 local eateries gathered at the Santa Monica Pier to sample their best dishes to curious foodies at the 2008 Taste of Santa Monica. It's not as gigantic as its sister event in Chicago or New York, but earns Santa Monica itself a "cute" description as the locals lined up, paid $45, pushed and shoved, to gather teaspoons full of culture.

Mike and I decided to go. (Grace couldn't fight the urge to eat lunch. She apologized.) It was a good opportunity to check out local eateries. While some of the city's most beloved restaurants were not involved (Ivy on the Shore), it was an eclectic mix that ranged from hotel restaurants like Whilst @ The Viceroy to chains like Il Fornaio and Hooters.

My favorites included the samples from seared albacore from Ma'Kai (asian fusion), gelato from Angelato Cafe, iced pear green tea from Evergreen Tea House. Interesting tastes included mascarpone "dry" ice cream from the featured molecular ice cream lab, the shishito peppers from Tengu and the spicy tuna-avocado- Dorito concoction from Wokano. Our strategy was to try to eat as much as possible in hopes of getting our money's worth, which I paid for dearly as I rolled out of the taste feeling more like Humpty Dumpty.

You can see the official website here: 2008 Taste of Santa Monica

Katsuya - Hollywood

My father, who loves TMZ, requested that he see some real papparazzi during his visit to Hollywood. I decided to bring him to Katsuya, a frequent stop for the paps.

Katsuya is entired designed by Philippe Stark, most known for his modern furniture designs including the Ghost Louis chairs. You enter a modern Japanese themed restaurant that could easily be imagined as the set of an action movie. The bar consists of many pedestals topped with knifes floating in plexiglass cubes, or the bigger than life geisha lips that plaster the walls. Candlelight and gothic mirrors then add a sense of warmth.

OK, so beyond the overwhelmingly stylish fascade, the food was excellent. We had several orders of the Katsuya roll and the sashimi samplers which had perfect textures and flavors that had us all grabbing them quickly off the plates, which were beautiful as expected.

A little pricey as sushi tends to be, but really as a taste of Hollywood it really encapsulates the love for themed spaces that characterizes Los Angeles and is spot on.

Katsuya
6300 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90028
323 871 8777

Tender Greens

Like most industrial/studio areas in the Los Angeles area, Culver City is being developed into a more cosmopolitan neighborhood. Leave it to my very health conscious former bosses, now good friends, Melanie and Peter Murray to introduce me to the next healthy good eats: Tender Greens.

It's patio like setting serves sandwiches that are simple and healthy like their tuna foccaccia sandwich and their bbq chicken salad. All their vegetables are fresh and organic with plenty of vegan options. It was the lighter meal that left me satisfied on a typical Los Angeles summer day. We finished off our Arnold Palmers with a carrot cake "muffin top" and a peach cobbler. The desserts were smaller but we love to share. 

Anyway, if you're in the area, it's a great place to sit and talk outdoors. The diverse crowd of studio geeks and relocated hipsters and yuppy hippies are comforting somehow. Don't mind the line, it only proves the food is good.

Tender Greens 

www.tendergreensfood.com

9523 Culver Blvd.

Culver City, CA 90232

310 842 8300