The Blue Velvet

A friend had originally wanted her birthday shindig at the Blue Velvet but some rich kid rented the space out and her party was kicked out. This unfortunate situation did not stop me from dining at the Blue Velvet prior to her birthday gala. I had purchased a $100 gift certificate for like $10 on restaurant.com, and all I can say is THANK GOD because the Blue Velvet will leave a dent on your blue card.

The Blue Velvet is located in the less desirable outskirt part of DTLA. They have valet but we found street parking –don’t forget to your lock your doors and put any valuable items in your trunk…The restaurant is sleek and beautiful. You feel you’re in a music video. You enter into the main dining room, to the left is a small lounge-bar area and to the left you can head outside to the pool where you are encourage to take your clothes off and get wet. I am told that it’s a party every weekend during Happy Hours in summer time.

The view of Nokia Live and other downtown buildings is beautiful. It was pretty dead and remained that way until my friend and I left. It’s a good thing they have a good vodka cocktail list to keep us company. The Lychee martini is better than the Creamsicle martini. The Creamsicle martini tastes more like a nauseating orange martini.

We started off with the Filet Mignon Wrapped Asparagus (walnut ponzu reduction). It was a bit too salty for my taste buds but my friend loved it. She loves really salty food.

The Seared Albacore was good but did not stand out from all the other seared albacores that I’ve had.

Now the salmon carpaccio in truffle essence was delicious. This is a must order dish because it will just melt in your mouth, leaving you ravishing for more.

At first I hated the Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass (sake nage, carrot purée) because it was very salty but then my friend pointed out that it’s only the carrots that taste like the Dead Sea. Once the carrots were gone, I would have to say that Blue Velvet’s Chilean Sea Bass is one of the best I’ve had. It was cooked perfectly and had all the right flavors.

The Filet Mignon (thyme infused butter, red wine Bournaise) was good too. The sauce was surprisingly sweet –too sweet for my friend though. I’m sweet and she’s salty, and together we make a great team.

We didn’t have the clams but our busboy wanted us to take a photo of it. I guess he was bored.

For desserts our waiter recommended the Coffee Crème Bulee. It tasted more like mousse, and it was divine.

We also had their homemade plum ice cream. My friend loved that it came with cacao nibs.

Our meal was spectacular! I was amazed that we ate all of our food and still managed to get up easily. The portions are not big, and I guess it’s because the meal was mostly proteins and not carbs? Service was excellent.

I’ll definitely come back --with another Restaurant.com gift certificate!

Address: 750 Garland Ave. LA, CA 90017
Phone#:(213) 239-0061
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JAMES JOYCE IRISH PUB

B wanted me to check out Ybor City last weekend. Ybor is like Bourbon St. in New Orleans minus the people puking on the street. Since most of the bars/clubs had a cover charge, we settled on JJIP, which had no cover charge, live music, a pool table, and 2 dart boards. Service was good --no long waits for a drink. You can smoke inside. Overall, we had a good time.

Address: 1704 E 7th Ave Tampa, FL 33605
Phone: (813) 247-1896
Rating: 3 out of 5

BABALOUIE'S GRILLE & SPORTS GARDEN

We settled at Bobalouie's last Friday as we were too tired to drive to Ybor Street. It's an official USF bar, so plenty of college kids shooting pool (think they have 4-5 pool tables), singing horribly (they have karaoke here...just to be fair, I'm a horrible singer too), or watching sport games. You have a bunch of locals as well --there's not much a nightlife in Tampa--near Lutz, Fl.

There's a little bar area separated to the left of the main room playing R&B/rap music. We decided to stick to the main room, grabbed a booth --they have video games for each booth except the one near the stage.

Drinks are weak but cheap - $5 for my cape cod. People can smoke inside. I think they close at 3AM on the weekends...call and double check.

In a nutshell, it's a typical divey sports bar with a karaoke twist.

Address: 1913 E Bearss Ave Ste 200 Tampa, FL 33613
Phone: (813) 971-1243
Rating: 2.6 out of 5

FAST EDDIE'S SPORTS & BILLARDS

I was here at Fast Eddie's Sports & Billards a couple weeks back on a Friday celebrating my cousin's birthday again since it was her actual bday (man, I wished I can celebrate my bday a million times..), and I was suprised of the make-over --for the better. The place was called 'Sharks' the last time I was in VA. This place has everything - pool table, full bar, dance floor, juke box, TVs, outdoor patio, and a cigarette vending maching (you can smoke inside).

We were there for maybe 2 hours (??) shooting pool and drinking and spent a little over $100 (don't know how many drinks we had....they're not strong).

Overall, we had a good time in the burb.

Address: 9687 Lee Hwy Fairfax, VA 22031
Phone#: (703) 385-7529
Rating: 4 out of 5

SHOOTER'S BAR & GRILL

We went there last night to watch a friend of a friend's stand up act...yeah, I know at Shooter's. Suprisingly the 3 out of the 4 comedians were quite good. It's ashame that the bar wasn't...so I give them...

3 STARS for providing FREE entertainment and supporting comedians.
1 STAR for having (2) pool tables, an electronic dart board thingy

However...NO MORE STARS FOR PRETENDING THAT YOU HAD JACK DANIEL WHEN YOU DIDN'T AND THAT'S WHY YOU POURED THE DRINK BEHIND THE COUNTER -- minus 2 stars!!

Note to all bartenders: If you're out, just say that you're out.
Note to all future comedians: Be prepare and never talk about a $60 blow-up Va-J-J for 15 minutes.

Address: 152 S Brand Blvd Glendale, CA 91204
Rating: 2 out of 5

SEVEN GRAND

I was teetering and tottering on rating 7 grand a 2 or a 4, but decided that they deserve a 4. Now, let me explain.. I had reserved a table for my boy's bday a week ago and when we showed up, they couldn't find our reservation. I didn't confused it with 7grand the restaurant as I specifically requested an outside table (there's no outside seating at the restaurant). The manager was nice, but could not do anything about the situation (all he has to do is just kick some people out --just kidding!) Luckily, we snagged a table in a less crowded area. Our friends had some trouble getting into the bar (typical around 11 on a Friday night) and the manager allowed us to make a list for our guests so they could bypass the line --guess that's the least they could do, but no, that's not the only thing they did, one of the guys (forgot his name...) who worked there kept checking in with us to see if we were fine and that's why they deserved a 4-star! The waiteress was nice --gave us a free drink.

If you plan on going to 7grand and it's crowded, order from the waiteress (p.i.t.a. to order @ the bar) and when you're half way done with drink order another one. Oh, and if you make reservations and they don't call to confirm, call to confirm...and get the name of the person who you spoke to.

Address: 515 W 7th St 2nd Fl Los Angeles, CA 90014
Phone#: (213) 614-0737
Rating: 4 out of 5