PETE'S CAFE & BAR

So I was there last night because it's my friend and her girlfriend's spot. Every time they dine at Pete's, they always order the same thing: chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, house salad, the blue cheese fries, and of course, they seal their meal with Pete's bread pudding. To their surprise, the chicken and the blue cheese fries were no longer that kickass meal they recalled; they think there's a new chef in town...

I ordered the burger, and as Nancy pointed out, the medium burger was on the rare side. Nonetheless, very good and hit the spot. I was disappointed with the my shoestring fries...I was hoping the fries to be actual "shoestring" fries --you know, the really super skinny fries that you think there's less fat just because they're so thin.

According to my friends, they got the bread pudding right. Best bread pudding I've ever had.

The ladies bathroom is spacious and nice--you almost want to have your dinner there.

Address: 400 S Main St Los Angeles, CA 90013
Phone#: (213) 617-1000
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

CAFE DES ARTISTES

Cafe Des Artistes is a perfect date place. Music is not too loud with dim lighting. The tented outdoor patio is adorable and warm enough for people like me who's always cold. I decided to be adventerous and tried their specials--non dairy broccoli soup and tilapida. The soup was surprisingly creamy and tasty. The tilapida was perfectly salted. For dessert, I ordered the caramel brioche, which was good but looked more like a flan....Service was a 5.

Address: 1534 N McCadden Pl Los Angeles, CA 90028
Phone#: (323) 469-7300
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

BLOWFISH SUSHI

Blowfish Sushi To Die For BLOWS! I just had the narliest, soggiest rolls tonight.

I had heard great things about this restaurant and am HUGELY disappointed. Don't order the garlic soy sauce edamame! For such expensive rolls, they sure skimp out on the unagi and tuna --I had to d/c if there was any fish in the rolls. The unagi sauce tastes like the cheapest bbq sauce at a grocery store. I didn't bother to look at the dessert menu. My friend and I ordered 3 regular rolls, edamame, 1 special roll, 1 order of mackerel sushi, and tea, and the total came out to $60 not including tip. I've had better food and a glass of wine at Nobu for $30.

Service was fine. 1 star because the food is overpriced and gross.

Thank goodness I found metered parking. I would've been pissed paying $8 for valet parking!

Address: 9229 W Sunset Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone#: (310) 887-3848
Rating: 1 out of 5

NAK WON HOUSE

I'm not a Korean food expert, but every time I order Nak Won House's dduk-mandu-guk (dumplings in beef broth), it hits the spot. If you're like me who hates kimchi, you'll be happy to know that their dumplings are kimchi free. Their parking lot is a pain though...

Address: 1001 S Vermont Ave Ste 103 Los Angeles, CA 90006
Phone#: (213) 388-8889
Rating: 4 out of 5

TERRONI

Terroni has TERRIBLE SERVICE. My boss and I went here for lunch today, and I waited about 30 minutes after ordering before asking our waitress for our food. Our waitress completely forgot to put our order in...And then she had the nerve to ask if we wanted bread...um, shouldn't you have given us the bread in the first place? Needles to say, we waited 50 minutes for our food. My pasta dish was whatever.

Address: 7605 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone#: (323) 954-0300
Rating: 1 out of 5

LA TERZA

Oh man...La Terza should be La Primo.Since it was the last day of LA Dine Week, I wanted to try one of the participating restaurants for lunch, but my boss who always prefer comfort over venture, opted for La Terza, and I am really thankful that he brought me to La Terza as it's definitely one of the top Italian restaurants. I started off with the bietoline al cartoccio (red beet salad with burrata and baby arugula), and then I went all out and ate the nidi di rondine "maddalena fellini" (gratin rolled pasta with ragu, ham, mozzarella and bechamel). I probably added five pounds from that meal, but damn, it was worth it! The pasta was delicately rolled up with ham in between, sitting on the most heavenly, rich bechamel sauce (white cream). If you're going to clog your heart, might as well clog it up with good food. I also sampled my boss' aspargus soup and spinich mushroom ravioli. The next time I come here, I have to be sure to leave room for dessert. I am so full that I won't need to eat dinner tonight.

**2/29/08 Update: I took my friend's mom there, and I ordered the risotto mushroom and sausage entree--AWESOME!!

Address: 8384 West Third St. Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone#: (323) 782-8384
Rating: 5 out of 5

DIN TAI FUNG DUMPLING HOUSE

I love dumplings! I can eat them in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening. And I love Din Tai Fung dumplings!

My Maryland aunt decided to give me a call at 6AM yesterday, and checked if I wanted to have dinner as she happened to be in La La Land. Since it was Chinese New Year, I wanted to take her to a nice Chinese restaurant. I mean I couldn't take her to a crappy restaurant near the LAX when there are so many Chinese people living in the city, there must be plenty of good Chinese restaurants, and it's just weird not eating Chinese food on Chinese New Year.

I drove two hours from my work to her hotel to Din Tai Fung (I got lost a couple of times). As I was nearing Arcadia, I am thinking, D.T.F. better have f-ing good dumplings, and they have f-ing good dumplings! The steamed pork dumplings were juicy and yummy as everyone said so. When I was in Taiwan over the winter break, my Taiwan aunt explained you can easily tell if you're eating good steam pork dumplings by the taste of the juice. As you place the dumpling in your mouth, you break the skin a little and suck the juice in, and then you dip the dumpling in soy sauce and eat it. I also highly recommend their pork and glutinous rice shaomai and any vegetable dishes (you have to ask the waiter).

The only problem that I had with D.T.F. was that I had to ask the waiter three times to bring us tea (they flew back to China to buy some more tea).

Address: 1108 S Baldwin Ave Arcadia, CA 91007
Phone#: (626) 574-7068
Rating: 4 out of 5

Photos credit: Eileen T

RED SEVEN

I wished I could rate Wolfgang Puck's Red Seven higher, but I just can't because I found a 3" dirty blonde hair in my "Hong Kong Style" Atlantic Salmon. Let me start from the beginning...As I entered Red Seven, I felt like I was boarding a space shuttle and as I turned left, I find myself in a high end modern diner--something on the Jetsons. The manager and hostess were very friendly, and we were seated immediately.

I was dying to try the food I picked out: Seared Hamachi Salad, Cilantro, Jalapeno Ponzu Vinaigrette, the "Hong Kong Style" Atlantic Salmon, Baby Bok Choy, Soy, Jasmine Rice and the Almond Roca Samosa, Caramel Banana Chocolate Dipping Sauce. Everything was going fine until I noticed the dirty blonde hair--Eww!!!!!!!!!!!!! What's even more gross, was that I was so tired to track down our waiter and complained about the food as I had only slept for 2 hours, I took the hair out and ate the salmon. It's exhausting being a bitch. I hope the hair was clean. As my friend pointed in her review, the waiter never asked us if we needed anything else or if there's hair in our food!

Oh, and when the bill came, we were charged wrong- $10 short. We decided to be good citizens despite the crappy service and corrected the waiter.

I probably would have given Red Seven a 4 if it weren't for the hair and our server.

**Red Seven validates for 90 minutes

Address: 700 N. San Vincente Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone#: (310) 289-1587
Rating: 3 out of 5

GRACE RESTAURANT

After making a zillion phone calls to see which friend would join me at Grace Restaurant last night, I was really happy that I made the extra effort.

My freind and I were seated immediately in the nice back room decorated with panty hoses roses. The servers were very helpful and attentive. The salad with four squared goat cheese was delicious. However, I wished I had ordered my friend's winter squash soup, because that was f-ing good! I normally hate squash! My medium grilled filet of beef farro was perfect, but it could lose the plastic cheese and sausage. When the cheese looks/taste like plastic, leave the cheese off! For dessert, I had the famous Grace donuts. I don't know why there were some bad reviews, but my donuts were so fluffy that I wanted to sleep on it and eat it.

Address: 7360 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone#: (323) 934-4400
Rating: 4 out of 5

ALL' ANGELO

Since this is the last LA Dine week, I figured I should try as many restaurants as possible. For those who are unfamilar with LA Dine week, participating restaruants offer low prix fix menus. All' Angelo was my first pick as it's one of the few participating restaurants that is highly rated and on the $$$$side.

My boss and I went there yesterday, and I was shocked that it was dead--now I know why it's participating in LA Dine week, yeah...Melrose is not really a fancy lunch area....good news for us! Easy parking and no waiting!

I love cauliflower so I opted for the Timbale of Cauliflower with Mascarpone Sauce as my appetizer. Yum! It was so rich--thank goodness I order the the light Oven-baked Black Cod, Porcini Mushroom Sauce and Sauteed Rapini as my entree. I was hoping that their cod would blow me away...but cod is cod and very diffcult to make the bland fish flavorful. Nonetheless, the mushroom helped add some flavor to the fish. I finished off my meal with a Panna Cotta with Blueberries and Aged Balsamic Vinegar and a bite of my boss' dessert, the Meyer Lemon and Polenta Pudding with Lemon Sabayon.

Address: 7166 Melrose AveLos Angeles, CA 90046
Phone#: (323) 933-9540
Rating: 4 out of 5