...and the Bad

I came back to LA, and ate at another great restaurant, the Beachcomber Cafe in Crystal Cove/Laguna Beach-- it's right on the water, creating a beautiful environment. And they had the most amazing seared ahi tuna, and the juiciest, softest, salmon I've ever had (both delicious even without the savory Asian dressing). They have great service, and even give you blankets so you can stay warm while you eat. It's hidden from PCH, creating a welcomed sense of (tropical) isolation from the city. So the week to this point (Friday), had been pretty delicious. Then came La Dijonaise Cafe. Oh how I loathe thee...

First, a little bit about the menu. This is a moderately priced restaurant (the most expensive entree is $16-- this isn't even Cheesecake Factory expensive). It's also a relatively laid back environment (trendy yuppies mixing it up with the untrendy elderly, etc. etc.). And yet, the menu items are all in French (with English descriptions). What type of bourgeois/snobbish/pretentious kind of place is this?! Either jack up the prices and go all out with the pretentiousness or, give it up. You can't have it both ways! (The restaurant didn't even feel French!)

And now the food: It would probably be better if we didn't talk about it. I ordered the shrimp scampi, which was served with a lemon and garlic sauce. I went with french fries and vegetables, because I didn't want rice. The food came out, and I was already disappointed. There were five pieces of shrimp. And while I was expecting some sort of creamy sauce, I got watery sauce instead. The shrimp was satisfactory, nothing special, nothing I couldn't make at home (although I guess it wasn't necessarily an inventive/risky choice... but nothing else on the menu really jumped out at me). The vegetables (green beans and carrots) were bland... even with salt and pepper. The french fries were the one bright spot. But the "sauce" from the shrimp drenched most of the fries, leaving them soggy (the few that survived unscathed were crisp and delicious). I could only eat the fries with ketchup (to mask the sogginess-- don't try to rationalize this) and a fork (probably the first time I've ever eaten fries with a fork). The fact that this was all $14 made it even more of a disappointment.

I also ordered dessert, a chocolate brownie, for a reasonable $1.50. It was a horrible dessert. You'd think it would be pretty hard to mess up a simple chocolate brownie, but not for them. It was moist, but lacked any real chocolate flavor. It was as if no real chocolate had been added, but instead, the brownie was sprayed with chocolate mist, giving the slightest hint of chocolate with nothing really there to back it up. There was no bittersweet chocolate taste I've come to know and love. It did taste like something familiar, but I still don't know what it was (it's not something "good-familiar" either). A major let-down.

Oh, and the fact that cleaning a table involved sweeping the crumbs off the table and onto the floor, was irritating too. There were pieces of lettuce underneath several tables. That's just wrong.

...I'm pretty sure "dijonaise" is French for "disappointment." ... It's not? Well who cares what the surrender-happy French say. I'm an American. If I want to change the translation of one of their words, then I have every right to. They still owe us for all those World Wars.

{I won't even tell you where this place is.}

Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken

{Ok, I'm new to this, and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, and I ate at this place weeks ago, but I'm gonna post anyways, because that's how I roll...}

Situated in the heart of downtown Culver City, just minutes away from the douche bags at Sony, and surrounded by trendy restaurants and bars (and a Cold Stone) sits Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken. The place is first and foremost a fast food restaurant, so don't expect much in terms of atmosphere. This isn't one of those hoity-toity, uber-trendy Westside restaurants (although it does have cool plasma TVs showing sports/the news).

It's pretty simple, you order at the counter then wait for your food. The wait to get your food is manageable (although it seemed like days until I got my food, probably because I was starving, and had a hankerin' for fried chicken). I ordered a 2 piece lunch meal, which comes with a side of fries and a biscuit (I avoided the side of pickles). So far, it's your typical fried chicken fast food joint, like KFC or Louisiana's Fried Chicken. But the similarities end there.

The fried chicken is amazing. The skin is just the right kind of crispy (with that slight aftertaste of "Oh God, this is definitely not healthy"), and if I remember correctly, a little sweet too. By far, the skin was much better than anything you could get at KFC or LFC. The meat (I ordered chicken breast, but you can also get two legs, or two thighs, etc.) was tender and juicy. The biscuit, although a little salty, was also very tasty (slightly crispy on the outside, nice and soft on the inside). The fries (I think you'd call them steak fries) were pretty good too. I also ordered a lemonade, which was just the right combo of sour and sweet (a little more of the former over the latter, just how I like it).

For those of you who don't like fried chicken (?!), they have a pretty extensive menu, and have pretty appetizing desserts, although after all that food (plus the lemonade), I definitely didn't have room for dessert.

Good eating overall. I was happy.

- Surf

Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken
9537 Culver Blvd.
Culver City, Ca. 90232
{There's also a location in Compton, just minutes from my house, if you wanna come visit me}

Paddington's Tea Room

In an attempt to revive this sad, neglected little blog, I will post about my experience last weekend at Paddington's Tea Room in Beverly Hills. However, I implore all the other Zagat Whooligans to please post about restaurants (including some San Francisco reviews, ahem ahem).

Paddington's Tea Room is an intimate little shop that was basically created and decorated by some crazy British lady who apparently (really, really) loves florals and Paddington Bear. The server was a little creepy, but very attentive and nice. Not quite a recreation of my UK hey-day, but close enough for Los Angeles.

I went on a weekend, so they only serve afternoon tea (3 courses, $25) and high tea (5 courses, $35), but I believe if you go on weekdays you can order individual items from the cafe menu. I didn't make a reservation because it was short notice (the website takes about 2 days) and they did not answer their telephone. Fortunately we were seated when we got there, though it seemed like they only had one small table available because they were saving the majority of the shop for a high tea reservation (which never showed up during the hour and a half we were there... hmm...). If you go, there might be a problem with availability, but it was alright for us. Have a back-up in mind, just in case.

Even though it's $25, it's well worth the money. The tea was delicious, and as mentioned before, the service is top notch. They provide you with an array of tea sandwiches (including smoked salmon, egg salad and I think turkey with cranberry?) I really enjoyed the light cucumbers to cleanse the palate.

After the sandwiches (and many, many refills of tea), they serve you dessert. This includes madelines, hazelnut truffle type things and a third chocolatey thing. However, the real treat are the scones. WARM, DELICIOUS, BUTTERY. They are served straight out of the oven with strawberry jam and DEVONSHIRE CREAM. The cream is so sweet and delectable ohmigoodness so wonderful. I LOVE SCONES. THIS ENTRY NO LONGER HAS ANY STRUCTUREILOVESCONESSOMUCH.

I'm intrigued to try their traditional English breakfast, which is only served until 11am.
Here are some photos to tide you over, but overall I thought it was great tea, scones and atmosphere.


Tea.


Sandwiches.


Dessertssss.


Foodies.

Paddington's Tea Room
355 Robertson Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 652-0624

BLD

Like others who write for this blog (and maybe even people who don't), I have a hard time naming my favorite restaurant. There are too many factors-- are we talking about food only? or food and price? or food and ambience? There's no one answer.

Until yesterday. Even before my food arrived, I knew I had found my favorite restaurant in LA.

Opened just a week or two ago, BLD has it all-- food, environment, friendly servers, and fairly reasonable prices for the quality of food. A few items on the menu are over $20, but nothing is over $30-- we're talking Cheesecake Factory prices. Desserts are about $7.

The restaurant comes from the same team of chefs that brought us Grace. I ate at Grace, and I loved it, but it was pricey-- about $120 for two people.

BLD-- which stands for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner-- cost much much less when you don't include the booze. And about that, beware: I had a Long Island Iced Tea (I was with my parents, and that's apparently my dad's favorite drink) that set me back a whopping $11. For one drink! I can't stress the need for a pre-party enough, people.

I had the construct-your-own-dinner option: I chose the hangar steak with the garlic nage sauce, some fancy name for green beans, and 'taters (of the mashed variety, though they also had a fancy name).

The food, as I said before, was delicious. The service was attentive. The chef came out to meet people. All of that was great.

But I really enjoyed, apart from the food, the atmosphere. I'm a casual guy, but most places with great food require pants. No such requirement here. Come as you are-- the wait staff wears t-shirts and jeans, so you won't feel out of place.

And come early (and often). You probably won't regret it.

Ravi

Eat Well

I suppose I should count myself among the fortunate. Part of the reason I don't write about every place I eat in this blog (though I will try my best to catch up) is that all good food now seems to taste the same-- delicious, but of the same (high) quality. It makes for happy tastebuds and a boring review.

We're talking about the Graces, the Wilshires, the Violets, the Fords Filling Stations, and Fogos of the world. The freshest ingredients wrapped up in an enchanting ambience.

And then you have places like Eat Well. There are 3 Eat Wells scattered throughout the greater LA area, and I knew I had to try it when LA.com said that it's "rare a true Angeleno foodie hasn't stopped by an Eat Well at least once." Well, ok, maybe that's not the exact quote, and I shouldn't have put it in quotation marks, but I'm no journalist.

Whatever. They said I had to go, and being a follower, I went. And boy was I disappointed. The service was rushed, despite the fact that there were only two other tables occupied in the restaurant (which should've been my first clue). And while I appreciate the open kitchen, the food that came out of it was bland.

My vote: in the $5-10 price range, it's more expensive but less tasty than Chipotle. Stay away, unless you're in the neighborhood and crave diner food (in which case you probably don't belong in West LA).

Ravi

mrs. knott's in pictures

the restaurant. cool hat, man.


old newspapers on the wall


dear lord, the heavenly biscuits.



so warm, and buttery.



creamy chicken noodle soup (so salty, yum!) and side salad.



daryl & cindy



fried chicken (!!!!!!!), mashed 'taters, corn.



mindy!



daryl & cindy again (with chicken)



pete



ravi



and this is how you get mo' biscuits.

Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant

There's a song that comes to mind, and I'm not proud to admit it, but you've all heard it. It's by The Fray (will they still be popular in the fall... say, around September 24th or 25th?) and I think it's called "Over My Head."

Heeding Kathy's warning, I hadn't eaten all day (some would argue that, by the time we arrived, I was so famished my stomach was tied up in Knott's, but I wouldn't stoop that low with a pun).

The "deets":
- Salad
- Soup
- Unlimited buttermilk biscuits (while I remain partial to the Fogo de Chao biscuits, these were still delicious)
- Side dish: corn (everyone's wise choice at our table) or a weird-sounding ham+cabbage number
-3 pieces of fried chicken
- mashed potatoes and gravy
- Your choice of boysenberry sherbet or a fruit pie.

In the short time I've lived in LA, I guess I've become "LA." Food isn't enough. Ambience counts for something in my book, and Mrs. Knott's has none (well, it has a truck stop ambience...) but, more importantly, no air conditioning. It was sweltering in there, people. For that matter, virtually all of the "California Marketplace" shops had no a/c, which isn't very Californian.

But back to the food. The chicken was far and away the star of the meal. I won't bother with the sides, because they were predicable and not stellar (you've probably eaten corn before). The chicken, however was moist, tender, and white, with a crispy brown skin. Delicious.

In many ways, Knott's Berry Farm is merely a shadow of its former glory-- the park was sold to Cedar Fair LP about ten years ago, and the food businesses (jams, etc.) were sold to ConAgra Foods about eight years ago. Inexplicably, Cedar Fair's first plan was to add a replica of Independence Hall to their parking lot. I don't know why. I'd like to think the restaurant also deteriorated (because it's easier to blame corporate accountants for cost-cutting than genuine employee negligence)-- once spotless, its most recent regular inspection cited violations for vermin and other small insects in the food preparation areas. Had I known this before... well, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to try the chicken.

And the chicken made it worth the trip.

Ravi

Alejo's Presto Trattoria

Yesterday, Ravi, Mickey & I went to Alejo's in Marina Del Rey. It's near Costco (Lincoln and Washington), in a tiny strip mall next to a 7-11. The restaurant itself is also very small, and has about ten tables where you cram next to other parties.

But the Zagat awards and food critic reviews that are framed on the walls are quite right- the food is awesome. We had: the spaghetti & meatballs (me), eggplant mama mia (mickey), and the shrimp al diablo (ravi), all of which were very tasty and huge portions.

You also get delicious bread with olive oil packed with garlic (yumm). Everyone buys cheap wine from the 7-11, which they uncork for free. We bought $13 chianti.

We were so full by the time we left, we died.
Dead.
You should go too.

Alejo's Presto Trattoria
4002 Lincoln Blvd
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292-5614

Panera Bread

How you let me down.

Oh, I've been before-- which is what makes this post so hard to write. Panera, how I loved you. And how you've hurt me so.

Eric was hungry. Kathy, Colin, Eric and I were driving down Wilshire trying to decide what to do. I suggested Panera and everyone else agreed (they were all first-timers).

We got to Panera. I went to the menu (I had already eaten, but there's always room in my tumbly for a baked good).

Kathy asked, "Ravi, are you going to order something?"
I answered, never one for word variation, "Yeah, probably a muffin or something."
"But what about the grade?"
OH GOD.
I glanced up and there it was. Panera got a B! Panera, a chain restaurant that can afford to pay for reinspections, settled for the B!
But you know what, I ordered anyway (more about that on my personal blog).

As I made my way to the line to order, there was a vision usually reserved for my nightmares: a basket of bread, in which they had placed several loaves, and from which sampling patrons would have to tear a piece of the bread off, and (if they so chose) dip it in olive oil.

EWWWWWWW.

This picture is far too large:




-->Ravi

Diddy Riese Hot Dogs

Working under the assumption that no meal is too trivial to be blogged about, it's time to talk Diddy Dogs (as I now call them).

Problem is, I may never call them by that name again. Indeed, the old Diddy Riese should stick to making cookies, because the hot dog was a little disappointing. Of course, when price gets factored in, I'd probably eat them again-- $1.75 for a hot dog and soda can only be beaten at Costco (but then, what can't be beaten by Costco? Whenever my mom would go to Costco and ask my dad what he wanted, he'd always say: "a new wife," and then she'd get offended and pretend like he hadn't told that joke before, which to me establishes Costco's frequently superior quality-- so much so that my mother would feel threatened by the big box retailer's bride selection).

The main problem with the Diddy Dogs was the way they were served.


Imagine your pre-made hot dog rolled up in a longer version of these puppies (canine imagery galore!). It just isn't right.

Bonus points for having Strawberry Slice on tap, though. You just don't see that kind of dedication to a soda fountain anymore these days.

Next time I'll just stick with the cookies: Cinnamon Sugar, Candy Chocolate, and Chocolate Chip.

-->Ravi