great birthday trip to la

I never fail to have a wonderful time when I visit Brendan in LA, as you know from former posts of our adventures in food and more!  Brendan had some great things planned . . .we went to The Broad museum in downtown LA, a private collection of modern art not to be missed.  The Broad is a beautiful building right next door to another gorgeous piece of architecture, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, home of the LA Philharmonic---designed by Frank Gehry.  After your museum tour, take the tram down the hill to the Grand Central Market for a food court extravaganza!  We opted for old school Chinese--egg foo young!

The adventure continued with a great dinner at Lares Mexican in Santa Monica.  We saw Ocean's Eight while we were there, and it is a fun must see, especially for all the clothes and jewels!  Try breakfast and a sidewalk table at Sweet Butter, stop at Nespresso in BH for a fabulous salmon platter and visit the incredible mall at Westfield Century City, which features 3 stories of Eataly, an all Italian emporium filled with every Italian food and beverage delight you could possibly imagine---try the Roman pizza, known for its distinctive chewy, bubbly crust---we selected the prosciutto with green olives . . . words can't describe.  Brendan is a great griller and we enjoyed ribeyes and filets on grill the last night!

la, food and the pageant of the masters

Just got back from a wonderful visit to LA with my dear friend, Brendan Eisan.  It was a belated birthday celebration for me and an early birthday celebration for him.  One of our adventures included going to the amazing living art show, The Pageant of the Masters, in Laguna Beach.  Laguna Beach is a artsy beach town 2 hours south of LA--yes the traffic was awful getting down there--but worth it.  Part of the world-renowned annual Festival of the Arts, the festival's highlight is The Pageant of the Masters.  The festival was started after the end of the depression as a means to draw business back to the art colony at Laguna Beach.  The Art Association struck on the idea of a summer art festival, to be held the week following the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics in hopes that visitors would travel south to Laguna Beach before journeying home.  A smash hit at the festival was the Living Pictures show created by artist and vaudevillian Lolita Perine. She dressed local residents in costume and seated them behind a makeshift frame.  In 1935 Roy Ropp, a local construction worker, realtor and amateur artist, expanded Perine’s concept and developed the performance into its present-day format---A ninety-minute stage show of “living pictures” – incredibly faithful art re-creations of classical and contemporary works with real people posing to look exactly like their counterparts in the original pieces. An outdoor amphitheater and professional orchestra complete the amazing performance. 

Food wise, we did well!  We had a delicious dinner in Laguna at Tortilla Republic, with salsa verde chicken enchiladas, pork fajitas and great guacamole. Saturday night, birthday dinner at Pace on Laurel Canyon--cedar grilled salmon and molten chocolate cake.  In LA, Sunday brunch at the Little Next Door, featured a wild mushroom/gruyere omelette and creamy potato gratin with coconut cheesecake to finish. For casual lunch in Sherman Oaks--- 8oz Poke. Build your own poke bowl with a variety of fresh fish, sides, sauces and toppings.  My poke bowl was a ridiculous amount of fresh ahi tuna poke and spicy tuna on baby greens with rice, wonton chips, avocado, cucumber and seaweed salad for $10.95??  I dream of a repeat every day!

cafe midi and laurel hardware in la

No trip to LA is complete without a couple of good restaurant sightings and this recent trip was no exception.  Brendan took me to lunch at an unique spot on Le Brea, Maison Midi and Café Midi.

You enter through a wonderful store, Maison Midi, chalk full of retro home décor, tabletop and kitchen/dining goodies worthy of any Parisian mercantile.  In the back of the store is a charming French bistro called Café Midi. The menu boasts no less than 49 different salads, each more interesting than the next, dozens of sandwiches and burgers and of course a selection of croques-monsieur--I had the tuna and avocado croque-monsieur, smothered in melted Gruyere--the ultimate French toasted cheese!

Brendan and I celebrated his birthday at another interesting store transformed into a restaurant called Laurel Hardware on Santa Monica in West Hollywood.  The original hardware storefront gives way to a cool club/dining room with outdoor patio seating in the back.  Highlights included the lollipop sprout salad with avocado and pumpkin seeds, the beef cheeks, so tender you could cut them with your fork, and the thin crust pizza--we had the homemade sausage with rapini and red onions--all washed down with organic cucumber vodka, fresh juiced watermelon and lime.

beso hollywood and more . . .

Had a great time in LA recently, visiting my best friend, Brendan and helping him celebrate another great birthday.  (Last year we went Las Vegas).

We had his birthday dinner at Beso Hollywood, co-owned by Eva Longoria.  It is a very cool space located right in the heart of tourist mecca on Hollywood Boulevard, one block off of Vine.  The place, with it's huge high ceilings and dimly lit glass fixtures feels smoky/noir, a bit of another era, especially with the cool booths and diamond tuck upholstery.

Food was delicious, we started with Eva's guacamole, continued with lamb rack w/rosemary and pepito paste and sea scallops with truffle oil mashed potatoes and pomegranate sauce.  We ended with a deconstructed banana split.  The restaurant gets more interesting later in the evening, when the bar scene turns into a full blown night club, very LA.

The weekend continued with a great off, off production at the Ruby Theater at the Complex on Santa Monica called Geeks vs Zombies.  This wacky production about the end of the world was great fun and had a packed house on Saturday night.  On Sunday, we drove down to Malibu and had a delicious lunch at Malibu Seafood, Market and Cafe.  This casual outdoor picnic table spot features really fresh seafood--our fish and chips perfectly cooked and washed down with fresh lemonade.

You know we couldn't go without a Mexican fix, and Brendan has found an amazing new taco place on Beverly at Stanley called Escuela Taqueria.  A simple concept--a small menu with daily original combinations of mouth-watering tacos.  Think braised beef short ribs with dill pickle, shrimp with chorizo or pork belly with pickled onion.  Add sides of rice and beans and voila!  Yum.