‘American’

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Opening the Expo with The Lazy Ox Canteen

May 10th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Egg and pasta as one.

Sometimes a restaurant sounds incredible, but is in a difficult part of town to get to. It lingers on your to-eat list for what seems like ages until a golden opportunity comes around to seize it. For me, this restaurant was The Lazy Ox Canteen and the opportunity was twofold. First, the Expo Line from Culver City to Downtown LA was finally opening opening and second, Blackboard Eats sent me a 30% off coupon for the place. It was the perfect storm and I rode the newly opened Metro train to Little Tokyo for a piece of The Lazy Ox. Continue Reading»

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Going Global at Plan Check

Fries of the world.

A couple of weeks ago, The Backyard Bite invited me to The Burger Culture Clash, sponsored by Stussy (which apparently still exists) and Plan Check. Plan Check, by the way, is a sort of new (since February) restaurant in West LA with Chef Ernesto Uchimura of Umami Burger fame. As my love of burgers, especially those of the umami variety, I jumped at the opportunity.

Although I arrived alone, I was not the only lone eater. Just next to where I was seated, I met e*star LA and we decided to share a meal called loneliness, because it’s better than eating alone. We made quick friends over our respective blogs and Midwestern roots, then got to work at dissecting the special menu, which Plan Check will be featuring for the next month if anything tickles your fancy.

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A little stretch before eating at Don Pichon.

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Unvegan Friends