Drago Centro

I finally got a chance to check out one of Minty and Vixen’s favorite DTLA Happy Hour places. I love that Drago Centro’s Happy Hours are all night, every day. It should just be called Happy Weeknights. It’s great for people like me who can’t make it to DT until after 7pm…that’s when Happy Hour is normally over.

Happy Hour people are seated at the bar or at the communal table. Beyond their beautiful wine storage is where “real” diners, who are most likely on a date, are seated.



Their $5 cocktail list is very limited. There’s only one vodka drink, so I went with it—the Sea Breeze.

Later, I tried their Classic Mai Tai but it was way too strong, and I think I just realized that I don’t like dark rum unless it’s mixed with diet Coke, so I switched back to a Sea Breeze.


Their Happy Hour menu is marked as the “Small Bites” menu. My friend and I mostly ordered off that menu but we couldn’t resist the La Burrata (burrata, endive, basil pesto, crostini), which costs $13. Before Osteria Mamma’s burrata, all burrata tasted the same but since having Mamma’s burrata…(big sigh) Drago’s burrata was ok. I would have preferred to spend the extra $5 for Mamma’s burrata.

The real bargain is their $4 pizzas. The La Pizza Margherita was not bad –simple bar food.

The Il Tagliere Di Affecttati con Gnocco Fritto (“house selection of charcuterie, gnocco modena style”) was ok. The salami was a bit too spicy for me. We should have just saved $4 and tried a different pizza instead. The Gnocco Fritto tasted just like bread.

Their Due Kobe Hamburgers (mini kobe beef burgers, mushrooms, fontina) are pretty good. This was my favorite of the night.



For dessert we had the I Bomboloni (“donuts, apples, amaretto caramel, ricotta, brown butter ice cream”). Their donuts are nothing like Grace’s…but the brown butter ice cream was nice at least.

Maybe I’ll be more daring next time and try their La Tore Di Primavera (“extra virgin olive oil cake, avocado mousse, grapefruit, basil gelato”). Our total was around $40 each, not including tip…a little more than what I wanted to spend but at least I know what to order next time…

Address: 525 S Flower St, Ste 120, LA, CA 90071
Phone#: (213) 228-8998
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Tokyo Table

Last Wednesday my Bible study group decided to meet up with another group at Dave & Buster since that’s the G-rated thing to do... It was my first time being at the adult version of Chucky Cheese. The organizer wanted us to eat there since you get a $10 play card with an entrée…but their food did not looked appealing whatsoever. I wasn’t in the mood to eat that shit. A few of us decided to dine at Tokyo Table instead, which is in the same mall and close by to Dave & Buster. I’ve been meaning to go to Tokyo Table and when they shut down their Beverly Hills location, I didn’t think I would eat there. I guess there’s a good reason to go to Dave & Buster.

The restaurant is modern. The height of the booths is slightly higher than normal booths offering privacy but at the same time, it might take awhile to get service. You might have to stand up to get the waiter’s attention. The restaurant is slightly too dark for me. If I’m tired, I will easily fall asleep in dark restaurants/bars, but luckily I wasn’t because I was so preoccupied with their lengthy menu --17 pages! I focused in on their drinks first. The Aiko (strawberry & cream sakatini) was my first drink. Purdy. It’s not sickly sweet but still very sweet.

Katz had the tangerine mojito (alcohol is shochu). Meh. I prefer my mojitos with rum.

Natz’s friend had the Konatsu, which pretty much just sake.

I later switched to the Kikuka, the lychee saketini. It tasted like they just open a canned of lychee and pour the juice.

As sweet as the drinks are, you will still get a buzz. When we left the restaurant, I thought it was cheesy that they made the outside looked like an out-doorsy patio…oh wait…we were outside outside and not in the mall…cough. Rewinding to the part when we were ordering our food… Thankfully the waiter explained their menu and recommended a few dishes. He mentioned that they make tofu every 20 minutes. Wow! Natz had to order their tofu. They should spend more time making a better tofu instead of whipping out subpar tofu. It was no where close to Asanebo's tofu in Studio City.

Katz and I shared the spicy tuna on crispy rice sushi. It was ok, not to soggy or greasy.

For our entrée, we split the chicken katsu gozen. Gozen means “complete meal” so it came with miso soup, rice, cold udon, pickles, and mashed potatoes, and that was certainly a complete meal for us.

The chicken katsu was tasty. I personally think it’s really hard to mess up katsu.

Udon is udon –another easy dish to make.

Drinks were better than food but then again, it might be my fault since I ordered the “whitest” food; Katz is Caucasian. I have to try their sushi pizza and honey toast dessert next time, and I’ll be sure to come after 9:30pm—that’s when their happy hours start, ‘til closing. Drinks are $3 and selected dishes half off. If only I lived closer to Tokyo Table…

Address: 400 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007
Phone#: (626) 445-4000
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Maitreya

I made a fool out of myself earlier this week. I had tweeted to find out if Starry Kitchen was opened for dinner as I was meeting up with my friend for dinner this past Wednesday. Starry Kitchen started out their apartment in North Hollywood and my friend confirmed that they’ve moved to Downtown so I assumed that they were opened for dinner, but then I saw that they open ‘til 3pm on their FB page and you never know if websites are updated…so I tweeted. Sinosoul pointed out “they've never been open for dinner ;)”…I am sure there were a few snickers from him and from others…and I am now noticing that there is a phone number...sigh. So I searched and searched for another restaurant and decided on Maitreya.

Maitreya is located in the heart of K-town at the semi-new City Center mall. There’s free 2-hour validated parking if you come on a weekday. We walked to the restaurant since we live close by and also we were going for their happy hour. Translation? Happy hour = comfort food = heavy = walk off meal.

The restaurant’s décor is modern. I like the bar area. You can totally imagine what this place looks like on a weekend –a bunch of Korean men dressed all Euro and Korean women scantily dressed with their LV purses.

We went to the back where the dining area was or was it the front if you’re coming in from the mall..?

So Maitreya’s happy hour deal is half off on their tapa menu, selected pastas, well drinks, and house wines. My friend and I weren’t feeling the vodka so we went for their wines. They only have a house cabernet and a house chardonnay. If you go for the cabernet, let it air out in your glass for ten minutes before taking a sip.

We started with their French fries. It came with their homemade white sauce that was supposed to have Gorgonzola cheese but we think they forgot it since we couldn’t taste it and it was very watery… tasted like milk . It was so bland that I added salt, pepper and lemon juice to it.

The next dish was their popular Ahi Tuna Tacos. We really enjoyed this dish. I would have been happy if we just ate the ahi tuna tacos for dinner. It was light yet filling.




Our next dish was their margarita pizza. As you can see it’s not a traditional margarita pizza with ricotta cheese. The crust was interesting…thin, not greasy…reminded me of those cheap frozen pizzas that you buy at the supermarket for a dollar. The waiter said they make their own crust but then again he had thought their pastas were homemade.


For dessert, our waiter recommended their Classic Tiramisu. I was surprised since Maitreya restaurant is a Korean restaurant but he pointed out that most of the dishes are Italian. Hmm…he’s right but the chefs are Koreans. He was pretty confident so we ordered it. Like the margarita pizza, the tiramisu didn’t look like a “classic” tiramisu as it was heavy on the ricotta…

but once we got to the middle, it looked like a “Classic” tiramisu. It was actually not bad. Be careful on the first bite though because you might choke on the cocoa powder.

Our waiter was kind enough to let us try their homemade (for real) Focaccia bread. It was pretty good. I dare say it was better than their ahi tuna tacos.

Overall, we would go back for Happy Hour. It’s cheap and close. By the way, if you’re not allergic to crustacean like me, you should order their lobster spaghetti. Everyone in the restaurant was eating it.

Address: 3500 W 6th St, Suite 101, Los Angeles, CA 90020
Phone#: (213) 389-0200
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