Monthly Archives: October 2009

October 14, 2009 · 12:05 am

Lei lounge

Lei lounge in San Diego

More LA posts to come, but had to add a few posts from my San Diego adventures this week. The outdoor tiki-torch lit Lei lounge had heated lamps, but barely needed them last night as we dined on lobster mac and cheese and Cuban chicken with sticky rice. Besides Lei being a year-round outdoor bar, I actually loved it more for the exotic Tom Collins-inspired cocktails. I love a good Tom Collins, and rarely see it being tinkered with on the mixology front. Lei’s offered a slew of vodka versions in traditional tall glasses like the Lemongrass Collins; vodka, lemongrass, lemon juice, simple syrup and 7-Up, an Aloe Vera Collins with vodka, aloe vera juice, lemon, simple syrup and 7-Up, and a Strawberry version with fresh strawberry purée, vodka, simple syrup, and lemon juice with echinecea of all things. Random but sort of genius for cold season. 4622 Park Blvd, San Diego, 619.813.2272

Pazzo Gelato

Scoop of almond chip gelato at Pazzo Gelato in LA

I was lucky enough to hang in LA this weekend with an old friend from high school, and even luckier that she knew about places like Pazzo Gelato. A mandatory visit on our food-heavy weekend, I took one look at the flavors offered in the Silver Lake-located gelateria, tea shop and espresso bar and knew I was going to be happy we stopped. Smokey chocolate, PB and J, malt and cinnamon were just a few of the more exotic flavors among chocolate mint, almond chip, strawberry chip and espresso, made fresh daily in the tiny shop. Just like the Baskin-Robbins ice cream summer nighttime adventures of my youth, they let you taste any flavor, and we may of gone though the entire line-up before settling on one. Every flavor matched its name in an almost freakish kind of way, but without forced or artificial flavors. Malt tasted exactly like malted milkshake in gelato form, but was a bit too sweet, while smokey chocolate would be delicious as a small quenelle on a dessert, but the “chip” infused gelatos, (vanilla, almond, strawberry), were the winners, silky, decadent varieties with dark chocolate drizzled on top and broken into chips as you dig in. Pazzo Gelato, 3827 Sunset Blvd., 323.662.1410

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October 12, 2009 · 12:05 am

Mystery wall

This glowing wall of flowers is in what Chicago restaurant?

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October 9, 2009 · 12:05 am

Menu pics

So, it’s actually not just Asian restaurants that offer cruddy photo representation of their dishes next to a number and description on the menu. I stumbled upon this little breakfast cafe called Cafe Mason in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, where every menu item had a relatively appetizing photo next to the description. Rather than turn me off, the semi-decent food photography actually helped me decide between eggs benedict with spinach and the bay shrimp and avocado omelette with tomatoes (I went with the omelette). Not a bad idea for more restaurants to include a photo of the dish for the indecisive orderer (like myself) or those into playing 20 questions with their server.

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October 7, 2009 · 12:05 am

Suds and sausage!

I love the idea of laundromats with food/drink offerings that go beyond the vending machine or a neighboring Subway, but this just may be too much munchie multi-tasking at once. I’m thinking if only the word “sausage” was written in different font, moved to the side and given some cartoon representation, it could up the appeal of this place. Maybe a little? OK, yeah, no.

Spotted in San Francisco's Union Square

Chinatown San Francisco

We didn’t hit up Empress of China or the especially intriguing Floating Sushi Boat Restaurant (see below pics) spotted in San Francisco’s Chinatown last night, but we did go a little nuts with the family-style at Oriental Pearl. I loved the prawns in candied almonds and orange rinds, and the chicken in a crispy potato nest (literally), but my favorite shots of the night emerged on the walk over.

Floating sushi boat?

Hopelessly drawn to strings of lights

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October 5, 2009 · 12:05 am

Bar Tartine

Sunny, honey

Just when I finish gushing about how much I adore Chicago in October, I’ll actually be spending a few weeks of the month in California for work-related events. I was in San Francisco this weekend (LA and San Diego next) and finally got to check out Bar Tartine, after an amazing experience at Tartine Bakery last fall. I’ll write more posts later this week about Tartine’s awesome bread, sardine and citrus-beet appetizer and ridiculously good cod dish we had, but the Sunny, Honey cocktail deserves a post of its own. The name intrigued me at first, followed by the simple ingredients, Sonoma-based Sutton Cellars dry vermouth (made with a variety of botanicals and herbs) shaken with ruby grapefruit and star thistle honey. Like all the best pre-dinner cocktails, it’s simple yet complex, and not too sweet, with hints of herb, citrus, and sweet that subtly take turns on your palate rather than ruining it before dinner.