World Fare

I was planning on going to Red Hot Kitchen’s tasting after the Brewery Art Walk this past Saturday but then out the left corner, I spotted it, the World Fare Bus. Why drive further east when I have food in front of me?

The World Fare Bus is relatively a new twittering food-on-wheels. They called the World Fare a “bustaurant” since it’s a Double-Decker bus, allowing customers to chillax on the 2nd level and chow…but there are no seats—you chew and stand. As you can figure out from its name, Chef Andi Van Williagan offers global cuisines, but the main attraction is their Bunny Chows, “originally a South African street worker food; a hollowed out loaf of bread with filled” with four meat options (curry chicken, Worcestershire braised short rib, braised pork butt, and meatballs) and one vegetarian (chili). The bread is not vegan. Unfortunately I only had enough cash for a short rib bunny, truffle mac and cheese balls, and strawberry basil lemonade--$10.

The staff let me tried their special drink of the day: a lychee lemongrass mint tea (I think it was tea), and it was awful. They should substitute lemongrass for honey instead. I switched to the strawberry basil lemonade, and loved it! Basil is like ketchup; it makes everything taste better.

The truffle mac and cheese balls were disappointing. I was shocked that I paid $2.75 for three tiny balls. I lined up the balls to a plastic fork just to show you how ridiculously small they are.

The worst part was that they were bland. Where’s the cheese? Maybe the cheese balls were to represent Ireland?

You know that saying, “good things come in small package?” Well that’s the Short Rib Bunny Chow.

The tender and juicy meat was jam-packed in the well-engineered soft bread topped with horseradish crème frache.

I’ll have to come back and try their other Bunny Chows and Andi’s Black Board Specials.

For those who missed out on the Brewery Art Walk, be sure to check out Sean Sullivan’s art…

and Roni Feldman’s art…


For those who haven’t tried World Fare yet, don’t miss out and stalk ‘em here!
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LOLA'S

I finally made it to Lola’s Happy Hour. I’ve been to Lola’s but never for food and Happy Hour. They have 4 small rooms: the lobby, the pool table room, the “restaurant” room and then the “bar” room. Lola is known for their martinis-- over 30 kinds! They offer $5 selected martini during Happy Hour, which ends at 7:30pm and appetizers for $5.50.

Unfortunately, their popular mac & cheese is not on the Happy Hour menu… it costs $10.

I didn’t realize that it was that much at the time I ordered it…was it worth it?

It’s pretty damn good and definitely cheesy!

The cheeseburger and fries were disappointing.

The mini cheeseburger was dry and the fries were cold. My friend's empanadas were cold...ew.

The Happy Hour martini list was sad; they offer 6-8 martinis.

I didn’t want to go with the regular apple martini so I went for the caramel apple martini, which was delicious. I tried the cantaloupe martini and wanted to throw up, but went back to the caramel apple martini to settle my tummy.

Service was lacking. Part of the problem was that there was no bar back and the waitress had to finish making the drinks...for faster service, order your food and drinks at the bar.

Address: 945 N Fairfax Ave West Hollywood, CA 90046
Phone#: (323) 654-5652
Rating: 3.5 out of 5



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CORKBAR

Corkbar is a newly opened expensive wine bar near the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles. Came here with other hungry, hungry, hungry and thirsty hippos who have waddled very far their food/wine tasting at a bargain price of $30.

It was a bit of struggle getting there as a film was shooting in the area, but luckily I wasn’t the only one late and had also scored on metered parking (free on Sundays). The interior is spacious with its high ceiling..causing it to get really loud...

They have a nice outdoor patio section. Corkbar kind of reminds me of the Embarcadero area in San Francisco..without the Bay.

Like the Downtown Standard, they have a communal sink in the bathroom area. Ladies best to keep a mirror pocket if you don't want to do your make up in front of the boys.

Once the herd was rounded up, we indulged into the five California wines with its food pairing, but not so fast, as our first two appetizers had olives in them, and I hate olives.



However, to my surprise, the lemon juice in the green olive tapenade and the 2008 Brander Sauvignon Blanc from Santa Barbara went well together.

Corkbar knows how to pair their food with the wine because I didn’t gag when I tried the black olive tapenede with the 2007 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir.

Our next pairing was the 2006 Keenan Chardonnay with the parmesan risotto.

Corkbar was kind enough to accommodate my food allergies as everyone else had shrimp risotto (normally priced at $14).

Their risotto was heaven!

The entrée just got better with their mac & cheese (normally priced at $10) and 2006 Ethan Sangiovese Syrah. Corkbar’s mac & cheese was absolutely divine and you must order it if you are ever here.

Our last wine was the 2005 Richard Partridge Cabernet Sauvignon paired with the short ribs and polenta (normally priced at $18), which was a bit salty but the Cab helped smoothed out the taste.



Our waiter risked his life and gave us another pour of the Sauvignon Blanc –my favorite. The portions were just right so we could also order dessert. We went with the banana bread pudding.

Everyone loved it…but the texture was too much like oatmeal to meal; I hate oatmeal. The owner was nice enough to comp our dessert.

Overall, we had a blast, and I will definitely be back for their mac & cheese!


Address: 403 W 12th Street Los Angeles, CA 90015
Phone#: (213) 746-0050
Rating: 5 out of 5

TASTE

Thank you Dine LA Week!

My fellow co-workers and I stuffed ourselves silly the other day at Taste. Super Jen and I split the White Truffle Oil and Mushroom Mac & Cheese and the Grilled Artichoke.

The Mac & Cheese could have had a stronger mushroom flavor, but it was still delicious and VERY filling. Artichoke was perfectly cooked -sauce went well.


Big D and I split the Kobe Beef Cheese Burger & Fries and the Blackened Salmon Salad.

I love their fries! Super Jen thought her medium well burger was a bit too red, but ours was cooked right--medium. I still can't tell the difference between "Kobe" Beef and regular beef...I love the sweet caramelized onions that came with the burger.

The Blackened Salmon Salad was yummy -just ask for the dressing on the side...

We were annoyed that their dessert menu did not match the on-line menu. Our options were Chocolate Mousse, Lemon Tart, and Ice Cream. It's a no brainer; we all went for the Chocolate Mousse.

I was hoping to compare their Chocolate Brioche Bread Pudding with Comme Ce's, and the Chocolate Decadence sounds divine. My colleague wanted to try the Tres Leches Flan. Poo poo. There was nothing spectacular with the Mousse. Rats.

Our waiter was great; he didn't mind splitting the bill with 3 different credit cards. They did not wipe the table before dessert...

Nonetheless, Taste tastes great, and I will definitely be back to try their brunch!

p.s. I personally wouldn't dine here with more than 6 people; the space is much smaller ...


Address: 8454 Melrose Ave West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone#: (323) 852-6888
Rating: 4 out of 5

STK

Like Comme Ca, STK is another restaurant that has hired a killer interior designer but not chef...when you walk in, you feel like you're in a music video: sleek furniture, alternative music playing, beautiful, young girls waiting for their dates, sipping on tap water...this restaurant is SO L.A..

One of the vendors I use for work (I'll call him Mr. K) bribed me with dinner...I took the bait. I didn't want to take advantage of his offer, so I picked an LA Dine week restaurant.

We started with STK's delicious free bread.
Sadly this was my #3 favorite food for the night.

For appetizers, we had the Spinach Salad and Blue Iceberg Salad (not a part of LA Dine Week menu -Mr. K's a very picky eater).

What I like about their salads is the simplicity, and the dressing is very light, and what I hate about their salads is that they're too simple.
They could have thrown in some tomatoes, figs, apricots...or a bone.

For the entrees, since Mr. K. was not keen on the fish, we went for the Chicken and the Filet.
The Chicken was slightly over salted, and the Filet was good, not great though, but if I had to pick a #1 food item at STK, the filet would be it.


We also ordered the 3 most raved side dishes: the Mac N Cheese, Yukon Mashed Potatoes, and Creamy Corn Pudding (I think they're $9 each..?).

The Mac N Cheese was disappointing. I don't know what kind of cheese they use...but the flavor is not strong-- tasted very buttery... The Yukon Mashed Potato was good and helped balanced the salty Chicken, but it was no where near Glitretind's Yukon Mashed Potatos (Park City, Utah). The Creamy Corn was amazing the first 2 bites, but then it's like eating Cotton Candy where you get sick to your stomach because it's so damn sweet.

For desserts we went with the Chocolate Tart and the Ginger Cake. The Chocolate Tart was my number #2 item at STK -YUM (but no where near Comme Ca's Brioche Chocolate Pudding).
The Ginger Cake was not bad.

Oh, we also ordered the "Strawberry Cobbler" drink, which was NASTY. The Martini Glass rim is no longer lined with Gingerbread crumbs (I think...), so it's just a "Strawberry" drink, and it tasted like the frozen strawberries in the white box...you know what I'm talking about--sickening sweet, like drinking Strawberry cough syrup. Gag me.

Service was excellent.

I love LA Dine Week. You get to try all these fancy, expensive restaurants and realized that you're not missing much...come here for drinks only (don't get any of their special cocktails, just the basics) if you want to look cool.

Address: 755 N La Cienega Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90046
Phone#: (310) 659-3535
Rating: 3 out of 5

FRANK'S FAMOUS KITCHEN & BAKERY

I hated living in San Francisco, but one of the things that I do missed about SF was walking down Chestnut and ordering a Dutch Crunch sandwich from Lucca Delicatessen.

I began my quest to find a deli shop that offers Dutch Crunch bread in La La Land. To my surprise, searching for Dutch Crunch bread is like finding a four-leaf clover. I read that Togo's offer Dutch Crunch bread on a certain day...but that's not what I was thinking off..I got all excited when I found out that Frank's Famous Kitchen & Bakery offers Dutch Crunch sandwiches in Monrovia, which is in between Glendale and Pasadena.

I got lost finding this place but it was my fault...there are two Verdugo exits on the 2 freeway: one's near Eagle Rock (the 1st exit) and one's by the 210 freeway (the 2nd exit)...take the 2nd Verdugo exit.

Frank's in a small strip mall with a bunch of other restaurants. The interior is cute. Service is like Alcove --pay at the cashier and you take a number stand with you.

I ordered...

1/2 order of #34 Turkey Club- Swiss, Bacon & Maple Balsamic Sandwich on Dutch Crunch Bread-$6.99

and the close up...


1/2 order of #2 Turkey, Pesto & Cranberry Sandwich on Dutch Crunch Bread -$6.99


Kid size of Housemade Macaroni & Cheese - $3.99


The 1/2 sandwiches look like they were 3" long, but technically 4" long and at a price of $6.99/each is a little pricey...no sides, just the sandwich. I was disappointed with their Dutch Crunch bread; I miss SF's Dutch Crunch bread! A regular Mac & Cheese costs $8.99, but there was no way with all that food I can order a full size, but thank goodness they offer a kid size...well kinda.. for $3.50, I thought their m&c would be to die for, but it's not. Yes, it's very creamy but it has absolutely zero personality--Krafts is better. Save some money and skip their m&c. They offer Dirty potato chips and 2 flavors of Gus sodas.

Oh swell, it's a pretty drive and you can check out Monrovia.

Address: 3315 N Verdugo Rd Glendale, CA 91208
Phone#: (818) 249-6100
Rating: 3.5 out of 5



Addendum 4/16/09: Whole sandwhiches are $6.99 and half sandwiches are now $4.99.