Everybody has them. Those neighborhood joints you walk/drive by a
million times but never go into. For no good reason. The place looks
nice enough and clearly has customers, but you always just pass it by.
We've lived in the Valley for over a decade, within walking distance of
the Great Greek and we never went until last month. Our friends, S and
K (who used to live nearby) were horrified. Turns out the GG is one of
their all time favorite places. Or so they claimed. You'd think if that
were true they would have drug us there long before the night K was due
to leave the country for an extended length of time. Of course, it was
the one restaurant she just had to eat at one more time before she
left, so that has to count for something. I guess there isn't a lot of
Greek food where she's going.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
The Golden State
I recently joined Facebook and that is another story for another time, but its relevant to what I’m telling you because I’ve never made a friend this way until recently.
I was reading my favorite magazine, The Believer. I always turn to Sedaratives when I first get it and this month it was written by a girl named Julie Klausner. It was very funny and caused me to look up her web site where I read some of her other material. Even funnier. I wrote on her “wall” telling her how much I liked her writing. One thing led to another and I was taking her out to lunch because she was here from New York on a book tour. Her book, I Don’t Care About Your Band, had some of the funniest things I’d ever read about relationships.
When trying to figure out where to eat, she assumed that I might have that “California” thing and be all ‘food restriction-y”. I told her I was a native and that kind of crap was usually behavior adopted by people who move here. One thing we got out of the way right immediately was that neither of us was a vegan or vegetarian. We had some really arch things to say about people who are, but I’m not going to repeat them because you never know, right?
So, I thought, “Burgers!”
Canele
A canelé is a specialty of the Bordeaux region of France. A
small pastry with a soft custard center and a dark caramelized crust.
They are eaten for breakfast, as a snack, and for dessert. Canelé
is also a favorite neighborhood restaurant. Just a few walkable blocks
from home. Robert and I were there on a recent Friday night. We have
often wondered how the recession is affecting restaurants. It didn’t
seem to be having much of an affect on Canelé this particular night.
The restaurant was full and people were still waiting for tables when
we left around 9:15 or so.
It’s great to see this place doing so well. The food has been called French-California-Mediterranean. And it is, but some of the menu items are classic French. Those are the ones I like the most. Like the bouef Bourguignon with buttered noodles I had on my first visit, and the pissaladiere with herb salad. They also have sides like pommes Anna, a very old-fashioned potato dish of layered potatoes and butter; starters like leeks vinaigrette, and brandade, a salt cod dish originating in the Languedoc and Provence regions of France.
Olio Pizzeria
I think there might be a reason most of the neutral or positive reviews of Olio Pizzeria focus mainly on breakfast. Their overhyped pizza crust tastes like english muffins. And, unfortunately, it's not quite Thomas'.
It's a tiny restaurant – in a neighborhood pizza parlor way, not a candlelight date kind of way. Not that there's anything wrong with pizza parlors. I am borderline obsessed with Vito's and sitting at a sidewalk table at Village Pizzeria on Larchmont always puts me in a great mood. But Vito's and Village won't empty your wallet and their locations don't force you into shelling out for valet (a completely ridiculous thing to do if you're going out for a slice). At Olio, dinner for two cost almost as much as dinner for two at Sushi Ike.
Baby Blues BBQ
After a screening of the frightening (and somewhat hilarious) Paranormal Activity
my pals and I wanted to grab a drink and maybe some chow. Three of us,
on separate occasions, by different people, had Baby Blues BBQ
recommended to us.
This is a place with a great vibe and some pretty delicious BBQ. We all
chatted and laughed over a few beers, some sloppy ribs and crumbly
delicious cornbread.
I opted for The Deuce, which is a platter
consisting of 1/2 a rack of Memphis style ribs, 5 of their BBQ shrimp
(which were recommended to our table by some random cook who came out
for no reason other than to tell us we should order the shrimp - they
were delicious), cornbread and my choice of two from an extensive list
of "fixins". It reads like a who's who of barbeque: collard greens,
potato salad, baked beans, mac 'n' cheese, okra - fried and sauteed,
mashed potatoes, stewed tomatoes, pork 'n' beans, etc. I opted for cole
slaw and fried okra. At $22.95 this wasn't such a bad deal.
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