I am in the middle of listening to the audio version of Fast Food Nation.  I am sure I will get to the outrage part soon enough, but at the moment all of this talk about burgers is really making me crave a Big Mac and fries. And a shake.  And I never eat that stuff.  Sigh.
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So I keep this database of LA restaurants that includes those I want to get to at some point. Part of it consists of all the so-called "premium" sushi places in LA. I have been to many of them with different degrees of success. My favorite is probably Shibucho off Beverly, but that is for another review. For my husband's birthday, we decided to finally hit R23. Scary valet parking, Really cool decor, great art, funky cardboard chairs. But who called this place premium?

The background is that we were huge Michael fans - loved him at WaterGrill. Yet we have been to Providence twice before now, did the tasting menu, and were underwhelmed each visit. This time we went for my husband's birthday with three others. We all agreed to order off the menu and not do the tasting, in hopes of a better experience. Admittedly, we were terrible customers. One person in the party arrived 30 min after we were seated. We brought 4 bottles of our own (very good) wine and only ordered a few cocktails. We were kinda loud. And when they overheard me complaining about the tasteless Ahi/Black Truffle dish ($55) they came by and offered to take it back.

9:15 on a weeknight...we just worked out. Hungry. Where to go to get a light dinner? We just weren't in the mood for Soon Tofu. ...

And more recently, Crudo (Italian Sashimi) and Ceviche have become quite trendy as well.  I was recently in South Beach and South American fusion sushi was all over town.   But not until my experience with the new Sushi Chef at Chez Melange have I experienced...Tropical Sushi!  ...

We love good dim sum but Alhambra/Monterey park is such a long drive we don't go that often unless we just want to kill most of the day.  But sometimes we really get a craving, and are too busy for the trip.  FOr those circumstances, South Bay had two options: Sea Empress in Gardena, and Regal Palace in Lomita.  The last several times we went to Sea Empress it completely deteriorated, so we actually haven't been there in six months.  Regal Palace was the standby. It was generally hit or miss, but there were always a few decent items for not that much money.  So we were quite surprised this past september when we stopped by and it all seemed quite different.  Many of the staff had suddenely been replaced by people we knew from PCH, another chinese restaurant in Lomita that used to be good.  They had a new ...

A friend sent me an email asking if I had been to a new place in Torrance called Rain.  40 wines by the glass, small plates, organic/sustainable, even a waterfall.  All of this AND in Torrance. OMG how could I have missed it? I was terribly embarrassed.  So I couldn't even wait until tonight (fri) to go.  I had to check it out that very night (thurs).  I called, and found out they were open for 8 months (?!) and serve dinner until mignight. It is in the Marriott near the mall. So we grabbed two of our foodie friends and headed out. We didn't even get there until 9:30. 

The first sign something was wrong was when all the cool interesting things on the online menu were missing.  ...

Went to a top 100 party the other night. Attendees were required to each bring a bottle from the top 100 list from any year. No top 10's showed up at the party, but there was a generous assortment from recent years. I had seen the 2007 list when it first came out and wasn't particularly enthused when I saw it contained such gems as Yellowtail Shiraz and Rombauer Chard, both horribly over-oaked and over-extracted high-alcohol fruit bombs (IMHO). It seems that Wine Spectator is really going for the big juicy stuff.

Have you heard?

Santa Barbara CHP grant targets drunken driver 'Sideways' effect ...

Lucques is simply a great place to go with friends to have a relaxing, uncomplicated dinner. They have a small but thoughtful menu that offers enough variety for even your most picky companions.

Five of us visited on Day 3. Ultramodern, open/high-ceiling, strikingly decorated with a white and red-orange motif, nicely contrasted with black linen napkins. Unlike other restaurants in the area, tables are not too close together, acoustics lend themselves nicely to private conversation. JD, our waiter, was a pleasure. Incredibly enthusiastic, he carefully pushed and pulled us to order the "right" items. So we were optimistic at first. JD sold us on the night's appetizer, a very special grilled octopus. Then he came back to give us the sad news that they ran out. We joked that the chef should come out and personally apologize. He did, lol. Unfortunately, as great as the service was the food turned out to be typical of other Patina establishments. It looked pretty to the eyes but just did not deliver in quality and flavor.

We have been to the pizza place and also recently went to B&B in Vegas.  So how would Osteria Mozza compare? We managed to obtain a difficult to obtain reservation when someone canceled.  We packed up a nice 96 Brunello ($20 corkage) and headed out.  Typical HW set up...loud, tables close together.  And they were playing 80's rock.  We ate to foreigner and Blondie.  Funny.  Foodwise, started out great.  Starters were fried pig trotter, grilled octopus, and burrata on leeks.  Pig trotter was reminiscent of scrapple (maybe there is someone out there from philly who knows what I am talking ...

Attended one of the most remarkable birthday parties ever, at the legendary Urasawa in beverly hills.  The birthday family reserved the entire restaurant...10 people at the bar, 2 at a table.  One seating per night.  The experience was reminiscent of Alinea in that it was an amazing dinner and a Cirque du Soleil-like foodie show all in one.  There were about 10 appetizers, 20 individual pieces of sushi, and about 2-3 desserts.  In total, yes, it was the best sushi I ever had.  But if I were to dissect each individual piece of fish, I would have to say I had comparable quality at other high-end sushi places.  The main sushi differentiator here was that EVERY piece was at least as good as the best I ever had anywhere else. 

But trancending the sushi were the small plates.  Especially memorable was a shabu-shabu-like dish involving kobe, lobster, and foie gras.  ...

One of the wines we brought back from a recent trip to Tuscany was a '93 Cerbaiona Brunello.  Now I knew I loved brunello, but I am only recently getting into older wines.  My comfort zone and passion typically lies with burgundy or barolo, but this wine....OMG.  I heard 1993 was one of the best years for brunello, but never got to experience it until now. 

I am not good at tasting notes like the fancy stuff you see in Wine Spectator or erobert parker that often reference obscure vegetation, industrial chemicals, and various land and sea creatures.  But I ...

I was a perfectly happy chowhounder.  Mostly a lurker, occasionally posting a review or two.  THen came CNET and their ruination of what was a perfectly good place to talk restaurants.  I started reading things about people getting banned, but I didn't really believe it.  Until it happened to me.  I actually thought this was a solid post - very fair.  It generated lots of good responses for a couple days.  THen it was mysteriously gone.  ALong with every other post I ever made.  And my account was deleted.  I really don't think I deserved that, but you be the ...

Actually, it was a friend who talked us into going. We read all the reviews, talked to the guide. All of them pointed us to many other gastronomic delights in Lyon. But he said, “How often in life will you get the opportunity to go to a 3 Star Michelin?” Admittedly, curiosity got the better of us so I emailed my reservation. Now, those who know us know we are not strangers to fine dining. We have been to most of the top restaurants in LA at least once, and have experienced many great meals at top restaurants in other parts of the US and beyond. But a 3 Star? How good could it be? When we arrived for our 8PM reservation on a Sunday night, the place was almost empty. (The crowd really picked up by 9:30.) The ambiance and the place setting was everything you would expect, extraordinarily elegant. I did find the oil painting of the the fresh-killed rabbit (a hunting picture) over our table a little disconcerting, but well, perhaps we just don’t understand the French.

We made a pilgrimage to Alinea in Chicago for my 40th birthday.  It was a completely sublime experience in molecular gastronomy.  We did the complete menu with wine pairings.  Length of Dinner: 5 hours.  When we left at about 11:30 the place was still completely full.  Bill total for each couple: $910.72 ...

Unique and facinating, but just not that good. ...

So here is a bit about my attitude towards foodie travels: ...