The Unvegan

Classing it Up at The Tar Pit

January 10th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

What resides within my gnocchi?

Once upon a time, I read an interesting review of The Tar Pit on LAist. It wasn’t exactly positive, but it only covered their happy hour and seemed to be more concerned with Chef Mark Peel’s children running around than with the food itself. Most disheartening, though, was Peel’s comments to the review. Needless to say, such a big time chef should not have been so concerned about one bad review and his concern made me less likely to go than the review itself. Yet, to The Tar Pit I went, and I was glad for it. Continue Reading»

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American, Arancini, Bars, Los Angeles, Mid City, restaurants, Steaks, The Tar Pit

Doubling Down at Townhouse

September 28th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Not in my Townhouse.

After seeing the frontrunner for Most Gratuitously Violent Movie of the Year (Drive, which is great by the way), some people might not have much of an appetite. Those people, though, are not unvegan and the sight of so much blood made me crave some meat. As we had seen the movie in the Sherman Oaks Galleria, my local valley friends took me to a place called Townhouse Kitchen + Bar. I knew little of what to expect, except that football would be on TV and this was a good start. Continue Reading»

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American, Bacon, Bars, Beef, Burgers, hamburgers, Los Angeles, restaurants, sherman oaks, townhouse kitchen + bar

Plundering Paradise Cove

September 2nd, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Frequented by humans and seagulls alike.

The coastal land of Malibu is populated by celebrities attempting to avoid the real world and regular people who want to avoid the crowds of LA’s more local beaches. It’s also sparsely populated by restaurants that want nothing more than to serve a subpar meal while providing a breathtaking view. Or at least that’s how it usually goes – a great view = decent food. Hoping to avoid that trend, the Danto family brought back memories of high school and college by taking me, their son’s greatest friend of all time, to lunch. The Danto clan had chosen Paradise Cove and I was excited to find out what they had to offer. Continue Reading»

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American, Chicken, Los Angeles, Malibu, paradise cove, restaurants, Sandwiches

Blue on Blue at Coral Tree Cafe

August 23rd, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Worth the drive to Encino?

The drive from North Hollywood to Encino on the 101 during a Friday lunch hour is quite possibly the worst 10 mile stretch of road in the nation. Yet, to meet my girlfriend for lunch, I made that drive without seeing nary a Brennan Frasier-shaped caveman. We met at Coral Tree Cafe and after such a terrible drive I was craving some comfort food to counter the traffic blues I was feeling. We walked up to the counter to order and my eyes quickly made contact with their Baked Macaroni and Cheese. It wasn’t what you would consider an ideal food for a 90+ degree day in the Valley, but looked like it would hit the spot. Continue Reading»

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American, Coral Tree Cafe, encino, Los Angeles, mac and cheese, restaurants

Melting at Marmalade Cafe

June 14th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Toasty

Sure, brunch is a good “meal,” but sometimes even if the clock hasn’t struck noon you need a good hearty lunch. That’s just what happened to me when I headed to Marmalade Cafe at The Grove. I skipped right over the omelets and waffles and jumped to the sandwiches. I even skipped over the burgers since I had tackled one at Ford’s Filling Station the night before. Fortunately there was a meaty unvegan sandwich on the menu that was right up my alley. Continue Reading»

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American, Los Angeles, marmalade cafe, restaurants, Sandwiches, the grove

A Quickie Dinner at Daily Grill

February 28th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

More like Multi-Daily Grill

On our way out of town via the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, we were in need of a convenient place for a bite to eat. Across the street from the airport, we found the Daily Grill, an mid-level restaurant chain for American food that can found throughout California and a little beyond. As we needed to catch a flight, there was little time to dilly dally and I quickly scanned the menu and found their Penne Pasta with Chicken. Continue Reading»

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American, Burbank, Chains, Chicken, Daily Grill, Los Angeles, pasta, restaurants

Getting Stuffed at Spice Market Buffet

January 13th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Not understanding the relation.

In my continuing quest to find the greatest buffet in Las Vegas (and eventually the world!), I may have found one to stand toe to toe with Rio’s Carnival World Buffet. Situated in Planet Hollywood, the Spice Market Buffet doesn’t fit into the Hollywood theme, at least in name. It also doesn’t bear any resemblance to a Spice Market. Nonetheless, it does use spices and the walls are adorned with food-related movie posters like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (two very similar movies). The lunch buffet cost 25 bucks, but as soon as I looked around, I knew it was going to be well worth the price. Continue Reading»

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American, Asian, Beef, Buffets, Chicken, Italian, Las Vegas, meat, Mexican, Middle-Eastern, nevada, Pizza, planet hollywood, restaurats, Seafood, spice market buffet, Travel

Getting Back to Basix

January 3rd, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

This is half of a chicken.

Ordinarily, I am pretty bothered when a place takes a word as simple as “basics” and turns it into “basix.” This kind of goes against being called “basic” because it has overcomplicated a basic word. So, with these overcomplicated thoughts in my mind, I headed into Basix Cafe in West Hollywood, not knowing if should expect something basic or otherwise. What I found was a nice mid-sized cafe with a nice variety of menu items ranging from pizza and pasta to fried chicken and sandwiches. They also had unvegan unfriendly salads and other such dishes, but there were certainly enough vegetable-free dishes to make me like the menu. Continue Reading»

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American, Basix Cafe, fried chicken, Los Angeles, restaurants, west hollywood

Ungodly Food at Damon and Pythias

December 22nd, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Blue cheese and fries is heaven.

Greek mythology tells the tale of Damon and Pythias. It is a tale of friendship that has withstood the ages and while I won’t get into the details, calling a restaurant Damon and Pythias is kind of like saying, “you’re gonna be best friends with this place.” It is quite a claim and one that I was ready to test. Located in the heart of Westwood, Damon and Pythias serves mostly sandwiches and salads, but with some more normal entrees and even some hot dogs. The food is priced a little bit high for college students in the area, but for a working man like myself, the prices looked amazing. Continue Reading»

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American, Damon and Pythias, fries, Los Angeles, restaurants, Sandwiches, steak, westwood

Consuming Mojo at Shakey’s Pizza

July 21st, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Just like the olden days.

Shakey’s Pizza and I have a long history, dating all the way back to when I lived in Japan. I discovered Shakey’s in Kyoto and found it to have the best pizza in Japan, at least at that time. They had a modestly priced buffet and although they still served crazy Japanese-style pizza with mayonnaise and corn, they also had good old fashioned pepperoni and cheese. Plus they had delicious fried potatoes and Melon Fanta. Needless to say, every trip to Kyoto came with a stop at Shakey’s. Little did I know at the time that Shakey’s was not just some Japanese anomaly, but had begun in the US. At one point it was a pretty big deal in the US, but now there are more of them in Asia than in the US. Yet, it wasn’t until I moved to LA that I realized I could enjoy the Shakey’s goodness without a plane trip to Asia. Although I knew of Shakey’s in LA for awhile, I finally got the chance to check it out myself and see if it could live up to my memories. Continue Reading»

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American, Buffets, Italian, japan, kyoto, Los Angeles, mac and cheese, meat, mojos, north hollywood, pepperoni, Pizza, restaurants, shakey's pizza

Rants and Raves

Bacon Flavoring Promotes Dental Care

July 30th, 2009

It’s time to welcome two additions to the world of products made possible by bacon. No, these aren’t bacon-wrapped dates (which are delicious by the way) or even a bacon flame torch, these are products that can actually improve your life.

Bacon Floss and Bacon Toothpicks are now the two greatest ways to save teeth. Once upon a time, people feared eating steaks and popcorn because of the little bits that would get stuck in their teeth. These days are no more, thanks two these new products. Now I fully expect people to order foods specifically to get them stuck in their teeth, just so they can whip out some bacon toothpicks and add that extra touch of bacon-ey goodness to the end of their meal.

(via walyou.com)

Beer Me Some Breckenridge Agave Wheat

The taste of skiing?

Colorado is definitely a beer state, and not just because Coors comes from the Rocky Mountain State. No, it is also home to New Belgium (of Fat Tire fame) and seemingly countless other micro and craft breweries. While in Breckenridge for a ski weekend, I decided I had to at least try one of these, and because it turned out to be the only one available at dinner, my choice happened to come from the creatively named Breckenridge Brewery. The brewery, by the way, is actually no longer in Breckenridge, having expanded and moved to Denver in 1992.

‘American’

Classing it Up at The Tar Pit

Doubling Down at Townhouse

Plundering Paradise Cove

Blue on Blue at Coral Tree Cafe

Melting at Marmalade Cafe

A Quickie Dinner at Daily Grill

Getting Stuffed at Spice Market Buffet

Getting Back to Basix

Ungodly Food at Damon and Pythias

Consuming Mojo at Shakey’s Pizza

Rants and Raves

Bacon Flavoring Promotes Dental Care

Beer Me Some Breckenridge Agave Wheat

What is this?»

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