Food

I had been hearing the reviews about Alma and finally scheduled a date with some friends. After all of the accolades (Best New Restaurant of the Year by Bon Appetit magazine and Ari Traymor being named one of Food & Wine magazine's Best New Chefs of 2013), I was very excited about this meal. Alma offers two tasting menus each night - a 5-course tasting menu for $65/person and a larger one (9 courses) for $110/person (+$55/person for wine pairings). We decided to splurge and go for the big tasting menu, and we were ready to see what was on the menu using ingredients grown in their own Flower Avenue garden, as well as local farms that they work with. Our meal started with little "snacks" - ocean trout, roe and parsnip, mini english muffin with uni, burrata, fennel and roe and tofu and yuzu fritters. The ocean trout was a perfect balance of flavors and textures and the bellini with uni left us wanting more.
29 April, 2014
[caption id="attachment_9488" align="alignnone" width="502"] Three Pickles Deli[/caption] By day, Three Pickles Subs and Sandwiches is a popular deli in downtown Santa Barbara, with a second location in Goleta.  Lunch is served daily from 11am – 3pm and next door is the recently opened the Pickle Room, a classic cocktail bar next door.
27 April, 2014
Curtis Stone opened up his tiny little restaurant Maude in Beverly Hills at the end of January. I called to make a reservation as soon as I heard that it was opening and the first reservation I could get was a 9pm in March so I grabbed it and waited in anticipation for the date to arrive. Maude is a fairly small restaurant that has approximately 25 seats. The kitchen is open and no matter where you sit, you can watch the cooks at work. In a way, it feels like you are going to a friend's house for a dinner party as the space is intimate and charming, like an intimate chef’s table experience.
25 April, 2014
Venice Blvd. in Culver City is lined with ethnic restaurants. Every time I drive down Venice, trying to avoid the congestion on parallel streets, I look at the restaurants as I drive by, and wonder how to chose one to try. So recently, I checked out Tara's Himalayan Cuisine, serving Nepalese and Tibetan cuisine.  Behind the vine covered fence, you enter a space with a tarp covered ceiling, that has lighting coming from behind it. While the decor and ambience are nothing special, Tara's serves authentic Himalyan cuisine from Nepal and Tibet and 10% of any profit earned goes toward education in Nepal. It's a nice idea knowing that we can go out to eat and some of the money we spend will impact the life of women and children in Nepal.
23 April, 2014
The congested Sunset Strip that runs from Doheny to Crescent Heights is filled with clubs, boutiques and many restaurants that have been standing there for years. As a local Los Angeleno, the Sunset Strip was not my favorite street to go out to eat until Eveleigh and then the Churck Key opened. And now, across the street in the shadows of these two popular restaurants is a modern Italian restaurant, Al Bacio. Located in the former Il Sole space, Al Bacio is named after that gesture of approval where you kiss your fingers after tasting something wonderful. Open since December 2013, the restaurant has a fresh elegance to it and reminded me of some of the more modern restaurants I have dined at in Italy lately.
17 April, 2014
While heading down to La Jolla for a weekend getaway, I was looking for somewhere new to go out to dinner. I didn't want your typical chain restaurant and subsequently came across Kitchen 1540, located at L`Auberge Del Mar. Knowing very little about it, we were intrigued and made our reservation. And, what a good find it was! The dinning room is contemporary, casual fine dining with an open kitchen and white vaulted ceilings. But, what sealed the deal in knowing we were in a place that appreciates food was when we saw the servers uniform t-shirts. Also, what made these t-shirts stand out were the fun sayings on the back, such as "My favorite animal is steak" - Fran Lebowitz
17 April, 2014
When it comes time to splurging on a meal, n/naka is the place to do it. From ambiance to presentation to flavors, Chef Niki Nakayama offers a traditional Kaiseki menu that will capture your attention. Kaiseki is the traditional multi-course Japanese culinary which consists of a sequence of small dishes, each artistically arranged. At n/naka, Chef Nakayama uses the freshest seasonal ingredients, including vegetables from her own organic garden and presents them in their most natural and purest states. There is a level of formality to n/naka. The restaurant is in a nondescript building that looks like it was a former house. Reservations are required and when you walk in, the rooms are sparse with simple settings.
14 April, 2014
Justice Urban Tavern is the newest gastropub in Downtown Los Angeles. Located on the outside of the Double Tree Hotel in Little Tokyo, on the southeast corner of First and Los Angeles streets, Justice offers a menu of modern comfort food while looking out at the lights of the Civic Center looming above. The interior sports a bar near the entrance, plus communal seating and tables spread out through a sleek dining room with high ceilings. For those looking to get some fresh air, there’s also a large outdoor patio.
11 April, 2014
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