Orange County: where good bargains go bad.

If I retired in Orange County I think I'd have to hire a live-in chef.

The day began early at 9:00AM, which, on Saturday time, approximates 6:00AM. Fortunately, I didn't have to throw a tantrum to get Mickey and Kathy to drive out of our way to Ikea for breakfast.

IKEA
We saw their $0.99 breakfast advertised in front of the store whilst on our way to San Diego the weekend before (see previous entry). Hours (nay, DAYS) of internet research later, I craved it-- what could be wrong with $0.99 for two strips of bacon, scrambled eggs, and seasoned potatoes?

Nothing, except for the crazy/mentally unstable IKEA employee who served us. Basically, imagine a whole lot of crazy wrapped up in sass with a nice sprinkling of "the Health Department ain't the boss of me" and you've got the woman that served us our food.

Despite the odd environment of the "Bistro" (which, apparently, isn't normal for an IKEA store), I decided to splurge: lingonberry pancakes for $1 more and then a cinnamon bun and coffee to split with Mickey for another $1. While the eggs/bacon/potato portion of the breakfast tasted good, the coffee was watery, the cinnamon bun tasted stale (despite being freshly baked) and the lingonberry pancakes had the texture of the forearm of one of those tough guys who likes to put out his cigarette butts on his person. Burn marks aplenty. Lingonberries are tasty, though.


such hopes and dreams...


ikea breakfast (worth every penny, all 200 of 'em): swedish pancake, lingonberry, potatoes, eggs & bacon (also note, free tropicana juice)


had the ikea staff been on their a-game, they wouldn't have let these babies go unpaid for. they are quite difficult to open however.


A for ambiance.

TORTILLA JO'S
Let me start by saying that I'm generally opposed to "restaurant groups"-- companies that operate multiple facilities with no real focus on the food type, but rather the income segment they're trying to capture. Tortilla Jo's, operated by the Patina Restaurant Group, pleasantly surprised me-- the food, while probably not authentic, was tasty and plentiful.

Still, it came at too steep a price for me to go again. Orange County has tons of cheap Mexican food restaurants, and even though I haven't tried most (or any) of them, this place won't make my Top Ten, simply because $15 for a burrito is too much money.

The environment was pleasant and fun. The wait: almost unbearable after a day at the park (TJ's is located in Downtown Disney).

Basically, I have no doubt Tortilla Jo's is the best tasting and best value restaurant in Downtown Disney, but that's like being the smartest kid in the slow class. While I love Disney, and generally don't mind handing them my hard-earned cash, Downtown Disney Anaheim is a little too "we'll distract you with pretty buildings while we rob you blind" for my taste.


ravi's burrito and strawberry margarita (also note: ravi made the keen observation that their chip to dip ratio was off. they gave tons of chips, and not enough dip for it. however, both were quite salty and tasty)


mickey's carnitas (w/ beans + rice). he was disappointed to report that their carnitas were not tender.


my wet burrito (sans cheese, sour cream and beans). mexicans hate me. it looks albino because i can't operate the flash.


"I SAY, I DEMAND SOME SERVICE!", he bellowed.


My face immediately after some kid popped the balloon of another kid. Another note: Tortilla Jo's margaritas very strong. You could still taste the tequila in Ravi's strawberry (this ain't no Acapulco's) and I could practically whiff the alcohol from Mickey's from a foot away.

In summary: Fortune magazine missed the mark, apparently, when they claimed IKEA was one of the top 100 places to work, and Disney hit the mark entirely when planning a shopping district to win the hearts and wallets of guests.

OVERALL:
Ikea:


Tortilla Jo's:


Chipotle:


All photos and photo comments posted by Kathy!

i could retire in san diego

and eat until my girth matches my height.

last weekend, ravi and i (with mickey in tow) had the delight of eating at four establishments on one sunday. we had krispy kreme for breakfast, noodles&co. for lunch, extraordinary desserts after that and china well for dinner.

KRISPY KREME

unfortunately, you cannot walk into a krispy kreme store and get a free sample of an original glazed anymore. as of january 3, 2006-- only 12 and under punks get this courtesy. when we got there, we each decided to get the 2 donut + 1 small coffee for $1.99. ravi and mickey got the flavor of the month: creamy caramel, so you'll have to ask them about it. as always, krispy kreme has a wide selection of overly sugarly donuts that disappear in nanoseconds. good, but a tad overrated. especially if you don't get free samples. grr.


ravi's original glazed.


blinded by the awesome sight of the krispy kreme.


the creamy caramel (note the oozing caramel)


i want free shit.

NOODLES & CO.

this restaurant is a kind of fast-food noodle place. we came here because some former chipotle executives moved to this company and ravi wanted to check it out. it has different types of noodles with weird american twists to them. mickey and ravi got the japanese pan noodles which were supposed to be udon noodles with ginger glaze on them, and i think that is probably the best thing on the menu. i got the penne rosa which was penne pasta with tomato cream sauce. it was a little too creamy for my taste, but was fairly filling. the food is not really worth the price (~$6) for the quality and the quantity that you get. you get filled with a large bowl, but you can't help but feel slightly stiffed. the food is also very heavy, which kind of makes you feel gross afterwards.


ravi's japanese pan noodles.


mickey's japanese pan noodles.


mmm penne rosa.

EXTRAORDINARY DESSERTS

i was excited about this place-- since ravi had been looking forward to checking it out and my staffer had been telling me how awesome the food is. basically, this place is pricey (for desserts) but their desserts are simply amazing. beautiful yet decadent. however, their hostesses and waitresses are not attentive (unless, i suspect, you are white/old/rich) and their chocolate cakes might be TOO chocolatey for those that are not as dessert-inclined. if you're ever down in SD, and have a hankerin' for something sweet (and someone else is paying), then i would recommend the torta misu (not as heavy as the other cakes, deeeelicious, and only $7 a slice!) oh yea, everything has flowers on it. classy.


creme brulee


some sort of chocolate cake


fruit tart.




napoleons.


rich people don't use packet sugar. they use crystallized brown sugar. duh.


expensive coffee.


kiwi lemonade. kind of gross.


my torta misu!


mickey's au chocolate


ravi's bette noire

CHINA WELL (San Clemente)

this is mickey's uncle&aunt's restaurant, and every time i go, they pile on the delicious foods. if you city search it (google: china well, san clemente) you'll see that many people in the area love the family style restaurant and the great food. this time they gave us chicken chow mein, beef and broccoli (for ravi), pork mushu and this special seven seas dish with seafood in it. yumyumyumyumyumyumyumyum.


we took the picture halfway through the meal because we forgot to take photos when the food first came.


sea food


chicken chow mein


beef and broccoli


quite a day!

I ate food with Eric McCormick from Will and Grace!

being in the next table over at Firefly!

I never understood why The San Fernando Valley had so many wannabe actors until I realized that 1) B-list celebrities live here (Brooke Burns and Sarah Michelle Gellar) and when they don't live here, they dine here 2) Eric McCormic at Firefly and Jessica and Nick at The Valley Inn.

But celebrities aside, Firefly is one of those new hip hot-spots in the valley. And lord knows the Valley is fucking burnin' up (96 degrees in February? Fuck you SFV). If you didn't read the review on citysearch you would never have know that the exterior of Firefly was covered in Ivy and would have easily passed it. Luckily for me, I read the review.

Upon walking in you are greeted with warm scarlett walls, oversized faux-Boroque paintings a bar with plenty of accoutrements including a relatively cute bartender. To your left is a smaller bar dining area with comfy sofas, quite comparable to the couches you'd find in Powell, and two walls covered from ceiling to floor with books. But whether those books are being read, my guess is as good as yours.

The dining area is towards the back; it's a beautiful arrangement. Quasi-outdoor patio dining to be slightly less ambiguous. Tables are arranged around a fire hearth and lighting is completely by candlelight. The menu is short but heavy on the wallet.

One of my dining companions's boyfriend actually was a chef at Firefly so lucky for us, we were showered with free appetizers. We started with succulent steamed mussels with a side of drawn butter. I am usually not a fan of mussels, but these were absolutely to die for. Then we had the cheese platter consisting of three cheeses (Brie, Parmesan, Blue) with lovely flavor enhancers like fig or honey. THEN we had fried olives served with a garlic aoli. For my own appetizer I ordered a delicious non-tomato based minestrone. This was only the first course.

My main entree was a Jumbo free range chicken breast (aptly named) wonderfully grilled with white corn and a wild mushroom and potato skin salad. Annie (my friend) had pan-seared Tuna done medium rare with cucumber carpaccio and avocado. Though everyone was stuffed from the appetizers, we all ate as if it we hadn't seen food for days. We were pretty sure the restaurant workers were absolutely disgusted with how 7 girls and 1 guy could put food away. There was not one bite left. NOT ONE.

Though obviously stuffed and bloated we still ordered dessert. Hell Yes we did.

Now I'm just going to make a list because we did a round robin of desserts

Banana Bread and Butter Pudding= Orgasmic
Baked Alaska= 7/10
Chocolate crepe with almond marscapone and espresso beans=8/10
Lemon buttermilk pudding with fresh berries=8/10
Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brulee= Will eat babies for

But prices were not cheap mind you, Minestrone=$8, Chicken=$20, Bread pudding=$13

Definitely well worth the saving up for.

Firefly
11720 Ventura Blvd. (Colfax Ave.)
Studio City, CA 91604
818-762-1833

Lickity-Split

3 Locations, plus one online: www.lickity-split.com

Bottom line: Citysearch lied. Best Ice Cream in LA? Not even close. I'd put Lickity-Split somewhere between Ben and Jerry's and Yoplait.

With the texture of melted ice cream, frozen custard is allegedly all the rage in the eastern United States. If there's one thing I hate more than people who always tell me about how much better everything is in Europe, it's people who tell me that folks on the east coast are more sophisticated. To paraphrase a movie quote, more or less, from Jack Nicholson's finest: sell your arrogance someplace else-- we're all stocked up here.

The restaurant was empty when we got there, which should have been a clue (that we're still in February should've been a clue too).

9 of us went, and 9 of us were sick of the stuff by the time we had our last bite.

Weirdest of all was the scene that transpired between the restaurant worker (RW) and Eric (EC)-- this is as best as my memory can recount right now:

[Eric finishes his sundae. RW approaches with a broom after sweeping up the rest of the eatery.]
RW: I just emptied that trash bin. If you throw your trash away in there, I'll fucking kill you. We have cameras and I'll hunt you down.
EC: That's funny because I already threw my trash in there.
[they high five]
[it's incredibly awkward for everyone.]

Overall, lickity split made me feel:

























--> Ravi