Had to go check out the new bistro on Abbott Kinney.  We have another player in the whole Eat Local/Small Plate/Bistro Atmosphere phenomenon that has become all the rage in LA.   Up until Gjelina, (silent "G") Akasha was our most recent experience of this genre.  We hated it.
...

A casting director from The Food Network sent me an email and asked that I post their latest concept: They are looking to fix bad cooks.  Sounds like a funny concept.

Sal was in Italy, not at the restaurant.  We eventually figured this out, and that was most likely why they had trouble handling just 5 tables.  And their concierge quit.  And our waiter had just started there.  He did fine, but clearly the kitchen was experiencing serious chaos. 

But the food? Really good.  But dinner took 3 hours.  ...

Rumor had it Blue Water Grill had a new menu and perhaps a new chef.   I have always liked the venue.  Great views, big tables with a lot of room between them.  It was a good sign when I had trouble getting a Friday reservation.  They were booked solid until 8:30. 

We had a great table with both a view of the boats as well as into the open kitchen where they were grilling fish.  They opened our rose that we brought ($10 corkage.) We were very optimistic on how the evening was going to go. 
...

If Donald Trump ever decides to put a sushi bar in Hollywood, he will have a hard time trying to outdo the Kress.  Nightclub-cum-Sushi Bar, the Kress has given Hollywood a completely new category of luxury entertainment and excess.  Woohoo!
...

Soft opening this week; only open for lunch.   Three of us decided to check it out, as we love Crudo.   Sadly, it is a shame they did not actually have any on the menu.  They did have about 4 carpaccio items but were unfortunately out of one of them (the beef tartare.)  Honestly, if we did just not drive across town along with our dining companion who did the same thing, I may have just walked.  But we decided to go for it and ordered the tuna and salmon carpaccio. The salmon had so much citrus on it is was much more memorable of a ceviche than a crudo.  A shame; it was nice fatty salmon from the belly and should have been good.  The tuna was fine but not memorable.   We shared a a dreadful mushroom truffle salad. There were a few truffles shaved over the top that ...

..I think the best way of explaining Red Fort is to explain what it is not. It does not resemble Addis Tandoor (probably their stiffest competition in the area) in any way..

I am really torn on how to handle this review.  Lots of extremely positive things, and but also many negative.  I will just put it out there and let you judge for yourself based on your personal priorities. 

I must preface this to say I am a regular at Pacific Fish Center and Restaurant just below them on the pier.  THey have the best dungeness crabs, lobster, fried oysters, and live shrimp I have had anywhere.  Except when they are having a bad day and I  get the occasional mushy creature.  And the service is consistently awful as well as the long wait on weekends.  And they use the most absolute cheapest disposable plates and napkins that dissolve if you look at them funny.  And they charge you corkage if you bring wine but give you plastic cups to drink it out of.  But the crab is SO good I ...

...To quote my brother: "This is the single best restaurant you have ever taken us to." We don't get back to philly that often, but he is comparing it to Vetri, Morimoto, and the like. I have to say I completely agree.

...Atlantic City is often described as horribly inadequate by foodies. The "good" restaurants are mostly Las Vegas celebrity chef outposts with a few philly extensions like Buddakan thrown in. The whole area is going through a gentrification process right now; there are Coach and Louis Vuitton stores just a few blocks from the pawn shops and payday loan stores. In three to five years, it is going to be a very different place. But for now, I needed a solid place for dinner following the food and wine expo at Bally's. I figured you can't go wrong with fresh seafood, and Dock's has been around for over 100 years so we decided to give it a shot.

This past Friday we went with another couple to the very last night of Table 8 in their current location.  We sat at the bar and ordered everything off their lounge menu.  I finally got to try deep fried olives filled with Chorizo.  We all had the same favorite menu item: Grilled cheese with shortribs.   MMMMMM

I can't wait until they reopen. 

Today, we went to Taste of the Nation in Culver City.  ...

Subtitles:  "The Emperor Has No Clothes" or perhaps, "Well, At Least the Bread Was Good."

Suffice it to say, this is  one of the single worst opening nights I have ever attended.  Both  Craft and Paperfish  were better and that is not saying very much.  ...

From here, I would have to compare things to a wine tasting.  ...

With all the mixed reviews I have been hearing,  I thought I would check it out myself.  First off, it is certainly far better than Coccole, no contest.  Plus, the space has been completely redesigned so it is much more comfortable and better lit. ...

No, not LA as in Louisiana, I mean Los Angeles!  Ok, Garden Grove, actually, but still, that is WAY closer than New Orleans.  This is "The Crawfish House." A gem of a restaurant that is completely Vietnamese owned and operated.  There are a number of similar places in the immediate area (eg Boiling Crab), but my understanding this one is one of the "quietest" with the "shortest lines."

This is a place to order authentic boiled-in-a-bag crawfish, shrimp, crab, and more all in a delightfully spicy Cajun seasoning.  ...

We are regulars at Shin Sen Gumi in Gardena. We have been to most of the Yakitori haunts around town, but we find ShinSenGumi by far the best. We hate that it is so loud, but appreciate the authentic tradition that is behind it. So when I read this passionate post about a new kid on the block that proports to be better than ShinSenGumi, we had to try it.

uch a heavenly creation, the French Macaron.  The first time I ever had them was about 15 years ago, in Switzerland.  They were made by the confectionary Sprungli and called "Luxemburgli." They were tiny little "burgers" that would melt in your mouth with a buttery, creamy texture within a meringue like shell.  Back then, there were only a few flavor options, but each one would burst in your mouth with incredible purity of flavor.  I had to travel to Zurich a number of times on business back then, and I would make sure I always grabbed about $20 worth (which bought about a pound or so.) I had never had any dessert before or since that was so incredible.  ...

I love Santa Barbara spot prawns and am used to paying a premium for small tastes of them in restaurants. I also adore them in the form of ama ebi at the sushi places. But so expensive and hard to find. So when I saw a reference on Chowhound to getting live spot prawns at Ranch 99 Markets for a mere $16/lb. I know what we were doing on Friday!

I believe it would be a terrible thing to ever ignore the plight of a fellow foodie. And people who run taco trucks, well, I have seen the passion in those taco creations and they count. So when I heard of their plight, well, we had to come out and show our support.

We went here for my birthday; it came highly recommended and Irene (LA Times) had very nice things to say.  I wish I had read the recent not-so-nice review in LA Magazine that showed up on my doorstep the next day...perhaps I would have reconsidered. ...