BARBRIX

I am finally writing about my dining experience at Barbrix (yes, I fudged the date)—that is the problem when you eat more than what you can write…the evening had started incredibly rocky.

I had made the reservation a week ago just to find my two friends and I to dine all the way in the back at the counter, sitting on the stools right in front where the chef cooks…now I normally don’t mind sitting in front of the chef but there were 3 people and it’s not sushi. The hostess attempted to fool us to thinking that was those were the best seats in the house, right by the chef…and next to the bathroom. No seat that is next to the bathroom is good. If looks could kill, mine certainly would; my evil glare went on autopilot. The hostess seated us outside, and at the time, Barbrix did not have outdoor heating lamps (they do now); we froze to death, but luckily they knew we were not happy campers as our teeth were chattering, and seated us at an inside table.

After five minutes, the owner came up to us, apologizing that we had to move as he had promised the table to a client. I believed all our jaws dropped. SO…we waited for a side table to clear up. The inside is a backward L-shape. At first we were annoyed that were seated at the side table (closer to the front) instead of the main area (the mid –“L” part) but then realized that it was best there as it’s SUPER LOUD inside. Do not take a date to Barbrix unless you are sitting outside. The hostess continued to dig herself in a deeper grave by saying, “we don’t have much option” (something along that line), as we would have had she placed a “reserve” sign on a table! The owner felt bad about our situation and treated us extremely well after we were seated –REALLY well, our jaws dropped even lower than the first time.

Enough about the huge hiccup and let me move on to the important stuff –the food and wine! The owner recommended the Qupe-Syrah, which was excellent—simple and smooth.


I heard about Barbrix through the Zagat. It had noted the owners are from La Terza and I was sold. I am in love with La Terza, which is now called Minestraio Trattoria. I have yet to try Minestraio Trattoria, but am confident that the food is just amazing as it was when it was La Terza. Unlike La Terza and Minestraio Trattoria, Barbrix is a wine tapas bar/restaurant. The portions are small reasonably priced and meant to be shared. That said, we ordered a lot—not every woman is on diet (ironically I am on a raw diet now…) and here are the dishes we had:

Deviled eggs: safe, nonetheless delicious

Spring faro salad: you must order it! love it!

Wild boar sausage w/ bean ragu & green apple mostarda: The sausages was not too spicy.

Prime skirt steak “tagliata” w/ arugula, parmegiano-reggiano, balsamico: good

Crispy grilled polenta w/ shitake mushrooms & creamy gorgonzola fonduta: another must order!
Roasted Alaskan halibut w/ fregola, leeks & asparagus w/ tomato-caper salsa: good –just remember halibut is not a flavorful fish

Burrata w/ eggplant caponata: another must order! the eggplant is not overpowering; I hate eggplant.

Monkfish w/out chorizo and tomatoey chickpea sauce: this dish was another surprise because I’m not a fan of chickpeas but find myself enjoying this dish

Shrimp and chickpea flour tortilla: I’m allergic to shrimp but my companions seemed to enjoy it.

Lemon torte: We were disappointed that they didn’t have a chocolate dessert, the lemon torte suffice our sweet tooth. It wasn’t too “lemony.”

Adria’s Favorite Ginger Shortcakes: My companions liked this dessert more; I just not a fan of ginger.

Despite the gad awful start, the food won us all and the service was stellar after we finally reached our final destination. We will be back very soon.

Address: 2442 Hyperion Ave Los Angeles, CA 90027
Phone#: (323) 662-2442
Rating: 4 out of 5

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ORTOLAN

I am befuddled.

Came here for the Yelp's tapas event, and my first impression of Ortolan was, "WOW the main dining room is gorgeous." I don't mind the foo foo-ness. The greenhouse bar area is cool. On one side you have rows of herbs that Chef Christophe Eme uses -talk about freshness. My 2nd impression was, "WOW there's no one here but us."

Despite it being completely dead early on, we couldn't make the bartender smile. He left his personality at home. I've never met such an unhappy bartender. Oh, he seemed to cheer up a bit when his friends showed up. Well, I cheered myself up with a chocolate martini.


It's better than the pear martini, but the Edison's chocolate martini kicks Ortolans's by far.

We started off with 2 Amuse bouche:
Vegetarian spring roll:

and cheese-it puffs (???): The spring roll was alright. I called the 2nd amuse bouche the "Cheez-It" puffs because they literally tasted like those crackers.

Burrrata and chorizo:

I had thought it was impossible to make a bad dish with burrata but Ortolan proved me wrong. It tasted like a thousand island dressing...

Braised short ribs:

My friend wanted to get the short ribs entrée, but why pay $41 when you can sample it for $14, and thank goodness, it was salty, not as salty as the Foundry's though. A few Yelpers thought the ribs weren't salty though, so go figure.

Quiche with truffle:

I'll admit it; I normally don't eat quiche. As my friend said, it's hard to mess up a quiche.

Salmon appetizer dish:

Some slices were meh and some were alright.

Chocolate soufflé:

Hallelujah! It's a better-than-sex chocolate. I think it costs $12..? Totally worth it. Loved the dark chocolate gelato too.

For the bathroom lovers:

I need this mirror in my bathroom..


Chef Christophe Eme was great. He seemed to really care about his food and customers--went around asking everyone how was our food....er...I took a big gulp and said, "Everything went well..." I know, I'm a liar.

There was a bit of a circus act when we closed out our bill. I advised the waiter that we wanted to split the bill with our plastics. I had a feeling that he thought my Asian friend was this other Asian (who had her cc at the bar), and yes, I was right, he charged the complete meal on my cc. All Asians look alike. After the waiter voided the cc transaction, he came back with our receipts. I realized that he had accidentally charged us for the scallop appetizer. He was quite insistent that we had ordered the item, but I shut him up when I told him that I'm allergic to scallop. He went back again and voided the cc transactions. I'm thinking third time is the charm...right? Nope. I'll admit it was partially my fault; I guess I completely blocked the braised short ribs out of my mind; yes, that dish is forgettable. At this point, I got tired of our waiter voiding out the cc transactions, so we made up the difference in tip. What's the lesson here? If you have a short term memory, use a pen and pad when taking orders.

If I do come back, I won't order from their tapas menu but try their John Dory or the Turbot, and of course the chocolate soufflé.

Thanks Dawson for organizing this event!

Address: 8338 W 3rd St Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone#: (323) 653-3300
Rating: 2 out of 5

Bazaar

Despite Bazaar’s great reviews, I'm going to have to go against the grain...

Lee, Dee, and I agreed to check out Bazaar’s LA Dine Week menu. Lee was like "When are we going to check out Bizarre?" I corrected her & said it's "Bazaar," but turned out that Lee was right...

Lee said that their interior was inspired by the famous Spanish artists (Dali, Gaudi, Picasso, etc), & that's why you feel like Alice in Wonderland. You have the 2 restaurant areas to the left, the "studio 54" bar in the middle, candy land (you are courted to this area when it's dessert time...) in between the bar and the open "store" where you can buy ugly puppet fingers for $90 to $30 shoe horn. They also sell Commedia Dell'Arte figurines. Oh, there's a cool hill billy outdoor patio with free Wi-Fi.

After realizing that everyone who came after us, & yes I had reservation, were seated before us, I was determined to be seated immediately. I was in front of the hostess who completely ignored me & helped the lady behind me!! I was like, "HELLO!?" Are you blind!? No, no I wasn't going to have my own Christian Bale rant n rave, "WTF is wrong with you!? Are you a professional?!" Needless to say, we were seated immediately.

Unfortunately service was just as slow as getting a table. We ordered 40 minutes after our reservation time. I will have to say they were good at refilling our water. Anyhoo, so we ordered:

"Philly Cheese Steak" beef : It was the size of a potato wedge (4"x1"). I had the beef & it wasn't memorable, but forgettable. Seriously. I don't recall anything...

King Crab ($16) : I'm allergic to crustacean, but it looked like the sickly, sweet pineapple Chinese dishes that you just want to hurl. Lee & Dee confirmed my intuition.

Galician Lobster Medallions ($15) : They said that this dish was the worst. Thank goodness I'm allergic to crustacean.

Not Your Every Day Caprese ($12) : This dish was not bad...I've never had "liquid" mozzarella. It's just too bad they didn't give more...

Scallops ($10) : I'm allergic to scallops, but Lee & Dee said the scallops were underseasoned.

Tuna toro nigiri ($16!) : The watermelon was not ripe & the overall taste was bland.
Seared Tuna w/ red bell peppers ($12): It was standard & safe, --probably the most filling tapas that I ordered.

Lamb loin ($14): I don't eat lamb, but Lee said that it was overcooked. Potatoes & mushrooms were good.

Japanese Tacos, seared eel ($10) : They should call this "Japanese Cigars" & not "Tacos." Not filling & put too much ginger -I couldn't taste the eel.

Japanese Peach w/ Persimmon & Goat Yogurt ($12): This is actually a MUST order dish. Unlike the other dishes, which tried too hard and failed, the sweet, salty combo flavor really worked wonderfully. Should you come to Bazaar just to order this dish? No.

However, if you really needed a reason to come here...You have to come here not for the food...but... for the bathroom. Did you think I was going to say desserts? Their bathroom is AWESOME! Before I start praising it let me return to wasteland...

As noted before, you get to go to the "candy land" area and check out the desserts, but we were forbidden; the area was too crowded, so we ordered off the menu & ate...

Clementine Sorbet & Rose Ice Cream ($10): This was the best dessert, but is it worth $10? Hell no.

Chocolate Cake ($10): It reminded me of cheap milk chocolate.

Creamy Chocolate Heart ($10) : I thought it was going to be a heart shape? Nothing spectacular, but better than the Chocolate Cake.

Let's move on to the best part of Bazaar -the bathroom. After we paid, I told Lee & Dee that we must go to the bathroom & shoot ourselves, not for being robbed, but to fulfill the narcissistic side of me and take pictures of the millions me in the bathroom stall... they didn't believed me when I said it was going to be fun taking pictures in the bathroom...1 star for the fun, cool bathroom.

Bazaar was more of a fiasco than Katsuya-Hollywood. I was still hungry after my meal! Thank goodness I didn't order any cocktails cuz my tab would have been $100 on nothing, but a good strong buzz. Poor service, poor food, poor portions AND pricey! I'll need to be dragged here again...or if I want to take more pics.

Address: 465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone#: (310) 246-5567
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LOU

I don't get it, maybe we orderd the wrong thing at Lou or it was probably because I was sobered...oh wait, I had one glass of wine, so yeah I was sobered, but I was not impressed with Lou.

We had...

Pig candy (carmelized bacon..I think..yeah, dont' get too excited)
Olives and candied almonds (nothing unique)

Sweet corn & avocado soup (yum!, my favorite)

Macaroni & cheese (not bad, top slightly crunchy, filling)
Niman flat iron steak, bistro potatoes, and wild arugula (ok)

It is a cute restaurant for what it is --at a strip mall --you can do your laundry next door. We went there around 9ish, and the place was full. I like how they have tasting prices, so if I had to go back, I would just have some cheeses and sample more of their red wines (if you're a pinot grigio drinker --don't try their white wines, go for their reds).

Address: 724 Vine StLos Angeles, CA 90038
Phone: (323) 962-6369
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Photo credits: Eli G.

BAR PINTXO

1 star because Bar Pintxo have good wine.

What was supposed to be a "20 minute wait," turned into a 45 minute wait, and had the hostess said it was going to be a 45 min wait, I would have dined elsewhere. Now, that's not why I'm giving a poor rating; I don't believe in giving a restaurant a 1 star if I have to wait for ever (after all, if there are that many people waiting, the food must be good). I WILL give a 1 star when people who are AFTER me on the wait list are seated BEFORE me. 3 couples who were after me, were seated before me. WHAT THE HELL IS THE WAIT LIST FOR? When I was finally seated, the guy who signed up after me FINISHED his meal, and when I complained to the hostess, her explanation was that area was not really an eating area (which seemed like a total lie because a couple before me was there....). Don't you think I would rather be seated instead of waiting for 45 minutes? I mean there's no real good seating section (it's tiny, packed like sardines). Furthermore, the hostess was offering some people who have been waiting only a fraction of my waiting time. Hello? Where's my wine???

Enough about me ranting and raving about my horrible experience with the hostess; let's talk about the food now. In a nutshell, the food looks better than how it tastes...

Chorizo & fried quail eggs: It was served on cold BURNT toast...who eats charcoal? cold dish.
Esparragos blancos con romesco: don't order it. cold dish.
Crimini mushroom jamon & diced vegetables: 2nd best dish
Dates wrapped in bacon with cabrales cheese: This was the best item out of the 6 dishes, but bacon could have been crispier. cold dish.
Tortilla Espanola: It's more like a quiche. Very rich. actually a warm dish.
Croquetas de Pollo y Jamon: disappointing

I won't be coming back here.

Address: 109 Santa Monica Blvd Santa Monica, CA 90407
Phone#: (310) 458-2012
Rating: 1 out of 5

CELADON

The food presentation is impressive, and the service is excellent.

We ordered the Tuna Tartare Lollipop (very filling), the Kobe Beef Spicy Tahina Slider (ok, tastes like a regular burger), Middle Eastern Style Hamachi Spoons (my favorite out of the 4) and the Hummus Parfait (the zataar bread is yummy). If I had to pick at something, it would be their lychee special drink --where's the lychee? It tasted more like a margarita...The next time I'm around, I'll know to order one less dish, so I have room for dessert.

Oh, if you're having trouble parking, just park at Farmer's Market for $2 --don't forget to get it validated...

Address: 7910 W 3rd StLos Angeles, CA 90048

Phone#: (323) 658-8028

Rating: 4 out of 5

Update 3/16/09: R.I.P. - It's CLOSED.

112 EATERY

Figuring that downtown might be a little slow after all the turkey stuffing, that was not the case, but luckily there was bar seating on the 2nd floor. It's a cute restaurant with a good crowd. It was hard to decide what to eat because the menu consists a lot of food that I don't eat (i.e. lamb, veal, foie gras, pork, prawn).

I ordered the bacon egg & harrisa sandwich, pan-fried gnocchi w/ parmesan reggiano, cauliflower fritters, meanwhile my friend ordered the stringozzi w/ lamb sugo. The server said that the harrisa sandwich has a little kick, let me tell you, it had a lot of kick! It's spicy that despite my effort scraping the sauce off, my stomach was flipping through out the whole night. The gnocchi is whatever, but the cauliflower fritters was yummy --be sure to add the lemon juice. I wished they made stringozzi with another type of meat, because the stringozzi pasta is very good. We finished with a chocolate pot de crme --a very rich chocolate mousse.

The restaurant has a great wine selection. I had the pinot bianco, niedermayr, dell'alto adige, italy 2005.

Address: 112 N 3rd St. Minneapolis, MN 55401
Phone#: (612) 343-7696
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Photo credit: Mercy B.

AOC

I was expecting the restaurant to have a better white wine selection since AOC is known to be a great wine bar/restaurant, but after the third wine test, I decided to stick to my first glass. The bartender was very nice and patient --no attitude. Hence the 4-star, not a 3.5 star. My friend and I ordered four dishes, and the only dish that wow'd me was the egg & proscuiotto sandwich--heaven.

Address: 8022 W 3rd StLos Angeles, CA 90048
Phone#: (323) 653-6359
Rating: 3 out of 5