The Unvegan

‘Reviews’

A Wine Cellar Dinner at Bottle Inn

September 14th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Little green lumps of happiness

For a restaurant called the Bottle Inn, you would expect them to have a great selection of wines. What you wouldn’t expect, however, is for their wine cellar to become a dining room. Nonetheless, if you have a big enough group, that is where they seat you. It’s almost like a tease to should you all the amazing wines you could be drinking, yet it’s still pretty damn cool. Although the wine was quite distracting, I was able to take my mind off of it long enough to read the menu.

Everything on the menu looked amazing and it took me a long time to decide, but in the end it had to be the Gnocchi al Pesto. While waiting, we drank some fine Napa wine and stared at the stack of Opus wine that was probably worth more than my life. Continue Reading»

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Bottle Inn, California, Cellar, food, gnocchi, hermosa beach, Italian, Los Angeles, opus, pasta, restaurants, Reviews, wine

The Next Level of Fusion at the Marked5 Truck

September 11th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

A pleasant surprise

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find that Marked5, one of LA’s multitude of food trucks, was making its way down to El Segundo, just in time for my lunch hour. I looked up Marked5 online real quickly to make sure I knew what I was getting into and saw that their menu consisted of a sort of American and Japanese fusion. They made burgers, but instead of regular buns, they used rice. I had no idea how this would work without the rice falling apart, but I was eager to find out.

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Burgers, Curry, El Segundo, food, food trucks, hamburgers, Japanese, Los Angeles, marked5, meat, Mobile, Reviews

Going Halfsies on Burgers at Hennessey’s Tavern

September 10th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

I was ashamed to eat near vegetables.

On Tuesdays, Hennessey’s Tavern in Manhattan Beach offers a great special: Two-for-one burgers. As I was running late for dinner on one of these lovely Tuesday nights, I asked my girlfriend to place an order for a Western Burger with cheese. The Western Burger comes with BBQ sauce and bacon. Since she knows my dietary restrictions, I assumed I didn’t need to specify that it should come without vegetables. When I arrived, it looked like she paid no heed to my needs. On my plate, along with my burger, was a pickle, lettuce, tomato and onions. I quickly checked to make sure no pickle juice had seeped its way into my bun. Lucky for my girlfriend, it had not. Continue Reading»

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Bacon, Bar Food, Burgers, California, hamburgers, hennessey's, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, meat, restaurants, Reviews, taverns

The Ultimate Shawarma at Sunnin Cafe

September 9th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Fit for a king. Or sheik. Or whatever.

In the quest to finally find some good schwarma in LA, I made my way to a little Lebanese place called Sunnin Cafe. I have fond memories of delicious Lebanese food back in Michigan, so I hoped that this place would be at least a little awesome. Getting there was a little confusing, though, as it appeared as though there were two Sunnins, right across the street from each other. On further inspection, it looked like the larger of the two is unopened and the small place will be moving in there soon.

The inside of the little cafe gave the appearance of a generic diner. There were seats

Mmm spinning meat.

at a counter and no more than ten small tables. The big difference, though, was the strong smell of the Middle East and the rotating spool of meat where a deep-fryer might typically belong. I also loved that they made no effort to hide the fact that the cooks were Hispanic. It’s a pretty widely known fact that kitchens of ethnic restaurants all over LA are filled with Hispanics, despite the fact that waiters and such fit into the ethnicity. It was refreshing to see that Sunnin didn’t hide that aspect of their business.

We ordered some “hommos” (love the spelling) to start things off. Continue Reading»

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Chicken, food, hummus, lebanese, Los Angeles, meat, mediterannean, Middle-Eastern, restaurants, Reviews, schwarma, shawarma, westwood

A Couple Rolls at Sushi Mashiko

September 7th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Why would anyone want cucumbers?

Despite my not being the biggest fan of sushi, I found myself at Sushi Mashiko in Culver City one night to once again eat some raw fish. Sushi Mashiko was in a very nondescript location in a strip mall without any real sign. I only found it when I looked inside each store front and saw a small sign with the word “Sushi” on it. The place was supposed to be really great, so instead of ordering some sort of chicken or noodle dish, I decided I may as well test out their sushi.

After a long look at the menu sushi menu, I decided on two decent-looking rolls: softshell crab and tuna avocado. Since I would be the only one partaking in my personal sushi, I ordered mine uncut so I could turn the sushi into finger food. Continue Reading»

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California, Crabs, Culver City, kirin, Los Angeles, restaurants, Reviews, Seafood, Sushi, sushi mashiko, tuna

Not Quite Sichuan at Szechwan

September 3rd, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Just gotta avoid the green onions in the Kung Pao.

For a little Chinese lunch, I headed to Szechwan in Manhattan Beach. It had come highly recommended, so I went expecting something pretty good. When we arrived, the restaurant was only about half-full, but we were still told to wait for a table. This seemed strange, especially when were standing around for five minutes looking like fools. Nonetheless we eventually took our seats and got the chance to check out the menu. The first thing I noticed that seemed off was that the food wasn’t quite Sichuan style (Sichuan being the way Szechwan is actually supposed to be spelled). Sichuan style is usually really spicy food and different from what we usually think of as “Chinese” food. Instead, the menu looked like any other Chinese restaurant. Continue Reading»

2 Comments

California, Chinese, food, kung pao, Los Angeles, lunch, Manhattan Beach, meat, restaurants, Reviews, sichuan, szechwan

The Habit I Can Get Used To

September 2nd, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Literally out the door.

The most exciting food news to hit El Segundo since Chipotle is most certainly The Habit. Taking over the dilapidated former building of the Grand Cafe, The Habit put up signs months ago and began renovations. Just this week they opened for business, and I knew it was time for me to see what The Habit was all about.

When I arrived, the line was coming out the door. I hoped and prayed that the line would move fast and my wish was granted. In only five-ish minutes I was at the counter and ready to order. The menu is pretty basic if you stick to burgers, but they also offer salads and other non-burger sandwiches. On the menu, the burgers are called charburgers, which really leaves the impression that they will be overcooked. I hoped this wouldn’t be true and ordered the BBQ Bacon Char. Continue Reading»

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Bacon, Burgers, California, Charburger, Chocolate, El Segundo, food, fries, hamburgers, Los Angeles, malts, meat, restaurants, Reviews, the habit

More Than I Could Handle at Joey’s Smokin’ BBQ

September 1st, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

A whole lotta chicken

For lunch one day I headed out to Joey’s Smokin’ BBQ in Manhattan Beach. I had heard that Luke Walton of the Los Angeles Lakers was somehow tied to the restaurant, which actually made me a little worried, but I still wanted some BBQ. The place was pretty small and other than the Lakers championship pennant, there was really nothing else denoting that this was in any way related to Luke Walton. Besides, half the restaurants in LA have Lakers pennants (I later found out that Walton essentially wrote a big fat check to get the place started, but it pretty much runs without him). With this in mind, my fears of a generic BBQ restaurant were slightly assuaged. Continue Reading»

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Barbecue, BBQ, California, Chicken, joey's smokin' bbq, lakers, Los Angeles, luke walton, Manhattan Beach, meat, restaurants, Reviews

Buffalo-Style at the Library Ale House

August 31st, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Just like the Native Americans

For a nice night out on the town, I went to the Library Alehouse in Santa Monica. After about twenty minutes of waiting, we were finally shown to our table, in an outdoor patio area. I always love eating outside, so this was a definite plus for the restaurant.

Although the menu had a bunch of good-looking options, the buffalo burger really stuck out to me. I always enjoy a good bison, so I hoped the Library would continue that trend. Plus, I try to eat like Native Americans as much as possible, and we all know how much they loved their buffalo. Continue Reading»

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Allagash, Bacon, Bar Food, Beer, Bison, Buffalo, Burgers, Cheese, food, hamburgers, library ale house, library alehouse, Los Angeles, meat, native americans, restaurants, Reviews, Santa Monica

Almost Deja Vu at the Nom Nom Truck

August 27th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Like a shiny beacon of Vietnamese-ness.

A little more than eight months after my first taste of Kogi BBQ, I found myself once again standing in the parking lot of The Brig, eager to take on another food truck inspired by the fusion of Asian and Mexican food. If so much hadn’t changed in the food truck scene of LA since that first taste of Kogi, I would have felt some intense deja vu. Since the arrival of Kogi, it feels like a new food truck is unrolled every week. From the architecturally inspired ice cream sandwiches of Coolhaus to the beautiful women running Baby’s Badass Burger truck, I almost feel like LA offers more food on wheels than it does in restaurants, with more coming. Nonetheless, the official opening of the Vietnamese and Mexican fusion Nom Nom Truck was exciting for me, and I made my way to The Brig in Venice to see if I would have a new friend on wheels. Continue Reading»

3 Comments

Chicken, fishlips, food, kogi, meat, Mexican, Mobile, nom nom truck, Reviews, taco trucks, the brig, vietnamese

Rants and Raves

Trying to be a Vegan?

June 29th, 2009

Well then you’re probably failing. No offense. It really isn’t your fault. It’s not because you’re not trying. It’s just that it’s so hard to avoid eating animal products that even “vegan” restaurants can’t avoid them. Wondering why that vegan taco tasted so good? That was probably because it contained casein, which comes from cows. Curious how chicken made from tofu could actually taste decent? Well, that’s probably because it had a decent amount of egg in it. For more info, check out the full article here.

Thanks to Jeff for the tip.

(via quarrygirl.com)

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.

A little stretch before eating at Don Pichon.

‘Reviews’

A Wine Cellar Dinner at Bottle Inn

The Next Level of Fusion at the Marked5 Truck

Going Halfsies on Burgers at Hennessey’s Tavern

The Ultimate Shawarma at Sunnin Cafe

A Couple Rolls at Sushi Mashiko

Not Quite Sichuan at Szechwan

The Habit I Can Get Used To

More Than I Could Handle at Joey’s Smokin’ BBQ

Buffalo-Style at the Library Ale House

Almost Deja Vu at the Nom Nom Truck

Rants and Raves

Trying to be a Vegan?

Going Global at Plan Check

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Unvegan Friends