The Unvegan

Dining in Cooks County

January 18th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Say cheese!

You may think that as a meat blogger I am constantly defining which restaurants my girlfriend and I eat at. Often that is the case, and for no other reason than that people are constantly giving me suggestions, but this weekend we reversed the trend and she took me out to dinner at a place from her own to-eat list. The place was Cooks County in Mid-City and although a quick Google search will reveal no county named Cooks, there is certainly at least one Cook County (in Illinois), which may be some sort of basis for the naming of this restaurant. Continue Reading»

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Cooks County, duck, lamb, Los Angeles, meat, Mid City, restaurants

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

Down in Mexico With Red O

August 5th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Wait, is this China?

Rick Bayless is apparently a pretty big deal, and not just because he got his PhD at the University of Michigan. No, he is actually a famous chef who specializes in Mexican food. Now, when I headed off to dinner at Red O, I was entirely unaware of both the existence of man named Rick Bayless and the fact ~~the Red O’s kitchen was run by him~~ that he was Red O’s consulting chef. Clearly this was not going to be an everyday ordinary Mexican meal. The exterior had a design reminiscent of the Bird’s Nest in Beijing. The interior wasn’t too shabby either, but this style came at a price. One of our party was sporting khaki shorts and was nearly denied entry, despite everyone else in the restaurant wearing shorts. This almost knocked the place down a notch to me, but I was willing to forgive if they could deliver some amazing food. Continue Reading»

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lamb, Los Angeles, meat, melrose, Mexican, Mid City, red o, restaurants, rick bayless

Getting Cheesed at Cobras & Matadors

March 15th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Burrata cha-cha-cha.

Taking advantage of a special from Living Social, the girlfriend and I headed to Cobras & Matadors in Mid-City for a bit of a date night. The place specializes in tapas and is BYO with a slight corkage fee. We forgot the booze, so had to make up for it in food instead. The deal was for 70 bucks worth, so that meant we had a lot of tapas to eat. As usual, I eyed cheeses and meats, and was happy to be eating small plates because so much looked good. Continue Reading»

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Bacon, Cheese, Cobras & Matadors, living social, Los Angeles, Mid City, restaurants, spanish, tapas

More Soup than Dough at Doughboys

January 28th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Yes that is a giant bowl of soup.

On a beautiful morning, I got a call from my buddy who wanted to grab some brunch. He suggested Dougboys over in Mid-City. From what I’ve heard of Doughboys, I expected there to be a huge line, so I wasn’t too into the idea, but we still decided check it out with the intention to go somewhere else if the line was long. Fortunately, we found a manageable line and the fact that there were only two of us made the wait just about 5 minutes. Continue Reading»

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Brunch, doughboys, grilled cheese, Los Angeles, Mid City, restaurants, Sandwiches

Tasty Tacos at Tinga

January 27th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

A still life of Tinga.

On a Saturday night the girlfriend and I were sitting around feeling lazy. Neither of us had eaten dinner, and we weren’t terribly hungry, but we knew that we needed some sort of food in our systems. It had to be light, and as I looked over my list of restaurants I wanted to try, only one seemed to tickle our fancies. This was a remotely new (8 months or so) restaurant called Tinga, in Mid-City.

The interior of Tinga has a nice wooden atmosphere that is almost like a bar except that it is BYO. In the middle of the small seating area is a long communal table and the walls are lined with stools. The ordering takes place at the counter and although the full menu is on the side wall, they also have paper menus for those who don’t want to stare awkwardly over the shoulders of fellow patrons. Continue Reading»

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Beef, Los Angeles, meat, Mexican, Mid City, restaurants, short ribs, tacos, tinga

Grilled Cheese Night at Campanile

January 19th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Yes I would like some meat in my grilled cheese.

Every once in a while, my girlfriend likes to say how much she wants to go to Campanile for grilled cheese night. Of course, this night is only on Thursdays and whenever I ask what she wants to eat on a Thursday, she has no opinion. Finally, after talking about it so much, the two thought processes finally collided and we made our way to Campanile on an actual Thursday for their grilled cheese night. Continue Reading»

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Campanile, grilled cheese, Los Angeles, Mid City, miracle mile, restaurants, Sandwiches

A Little Italy at Maggiano’s

May 7th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Oh look, there's a little bit of Italy.

To grab some dinner, and take advantage of one of our seemingly endless restaurant gift cards, the girlfriend and I headed to Maggiano’s Little Italy next to The Grove. When we arrived, there was a pretty long line, but their bar had a first come, first served policy that had the full menu and we quickly found ourselves a nice table there.

Although Maggiano’s is a national chain, I’d never been and dove right in to the menu head first. I found a few things that looked great and had a hard time narrowing down to an appetizer and main course. Fortunately, I found that one of the main courses I was staring down also repeated as an appetizer. Such genius. This was the four cheese ravioli, mmm four cheeses. These were in some pesto-alfredo sauce with mozzarella. After a little browning in the oven, this ravioli looked great and tasted just as good as it looked. The pesto sauce was nice and creamy and although the marinara sauce was unnecessary, it was nice to feel thought-of. Continue Reading»

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Italian, Los Angeles, maggiano's little italy, meat, Mid City, restaurants, sausage

Brunching at Burger Kitchen

April 19th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

What the hell is on that bun?

Inspired by my own awesome burger list and having passed the new place last week, my girlfriend and I headed to Burger Kitchen on 3rd Street over the weekend. The place just opened two weeks before, so I figured it had worked out enough its kinks and was ready for a good old unvegan review. After looking over the 22 burgers (including one for $50 and another for $65!) for a bit and having a hard time deciding, the girlfriend discovered a great deal, The Champagne Brunch. Continue Reading»

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Bacon, Beef, Brunch, Burger Kitchen, Burgers, hamburgers, Los Angeles, meat, Mid City, restaurants

Swinging Low at Swinger’s

March 12th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Damn you hidden pickle!

After a vicious night of partying, nothing makes me happier than a grilled cheese with bacon. This desire has only increased as I have gotten older, so after my most recent mess of an evening, some friends and I made a Sunday run to Swinger’s in the Mid-City area. Swinger’s is like diner, but slightly better because they have grass-fed beef and all that jazz. After waiting about 15 minutes for a table, we were finally seated. I took a long look at the menu, which was possible because of the long wait for our waitress and only found Grilled Cheese with Bacon on one of their daily specials. Unfortunately, that day was not Sunday. Continue Reading»

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American, Bacon, diners, grilled cheese, Los Angeles, Mid City, restaurants, swinger's

Rants and Raves

Living Dangerously

October 12th, 2009

Apparently Russian roulette isn’t the only way to live dangerously. In fact, eating that side salad that came with your meal is like playing Russian roulette with your stomach. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, leafy greens are the most dangerous food you can eat. This has been determined by how often they cause outbreaks, which apparently is a lot. And the greens aren’t alone. They are joined by vegetable cohorts like tomatoes and sprouts in the top ten list.

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.

‘Mid City’

Dining in Cooks County

Classing it Up at The Tar Pit

Down in Mexico With Red O

More Soup than Dough at Doughboys

Tasty Tacos at Tinga

Grilled Cheese Night at Campanile

A Little Italy at Maggiano’s

Brunching at Burger Kitchen

Swinging Low at Swinger’s

Rants and Raves

Living Dangerously

Beer Me Some Breckenridge Agave Wheat

What is this?»

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