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Sunday, February 15, 2009

II SOLE RESTAURANT

My boss must hate his wife...yes, that's really him at Il Sole...

He picked Il Sole, the overpriced, below average Italian restaurant to celebrate her birthday.

I made reservations in advance, and they seated us at the worst table in the restaurant, one of the two tops in the "lobby." I specifically noted that it was for my boss' wife's birthday. The hostess was trying to convince me that we got the best table in the restaurant. Are you kidding me?! Uh, yeah, I just love to sit at a table with a bunch of people standing behind me, accidently knocking my head as they wait for a table...furthermore, the espresso machine is in the same area, and OMG, every time the busboy made a drink, he yanked the...I don't know what it's called...but you have to refill it with coffee each time you make an espresso drink, causing it to SCREECH like nails clawing down on a chalk board...I just cringed through out the meal. Yeah...we got the best seat in the restaurant. Oh, there's an eating area to your right and to the left. The hostess said she couldn't seat us in the left dining area as they close the section down around 9:30pm...and that's why they seated a 5-person party (I think) at 9:40pm. Can we say LIARS!? If you really want bad, overpriced Italian food, to the right (if you're entering the restaurant) is the best seating area -the most space and light. We were practically eating in the dark.

Sigh. Let's move on to the food...I started off with the Burratta Di Pomodori; it's difficult to mess up a burrata salad.

Even though this was $20, it was the most reasonably priced (and good) item of the night as they were generous on the burrata portion. The bday girl ordered the Shaved Artichoke Salad for $16, and I'm so glad that I didn't ordered it. Bland.

There are two kinds of waiters. The first type is one who has sampled the food and really gets into the food and drinks that they serve. The second kind is one who's just there to make the bucks and doesn't give a damn about the food. I think our waiter was the latter, because when I asked him if I should go for the Dover, the lasagna or the prosciutto pasta dish, he asked me if I felt like having pasta or fish. I responded (again...), "What do you recommend?" He gave me a blank stare (no ounce of passion) and told me to go with the Dover, and when the bill came I knew why...it's $50! Even though the fish was supposedly imported from Italy, I didn't expect the Dover to be more than the Filet Mignon...I felt guilty for ordering it; the boss paid for it. Taste-wise, it's good but not worth $50.

The bday girl ordered the Penne Pomodoro for $21, and it tasted like shit.

They must have just opened a can of tomato paste and dumped it into the pasta. The pasta was cooked perfectly.

The boss ordered the Asparagus gnocchi for $26. It looked like 4 larvas.

Luckily it tasted better...but I've had better gnocchi.

Il Sole was kind enough to give the bday girl free Tiramisu, and thank goodness as the Chocolate Ganache sucked.

Their tiramisu was delicious!

I didn't try the Ravioli Aragosta

and the Coconut Sorbet ...

there 's just so much food I could eat!

My first and last time dining at Il Sole...glad I didn't pay for it...thanks boss!

Address: 8741 W Sunset Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone#: (310) 657-1182
Rating: 1.5 out of 5

VITO'S PIZZA

Dear Vito's,

Thanks for not being cheap. You impressed me when I ordered a slice of mushroom pizza. I was expecting regular white mushrooms, but WOW, you showered me with practically every mushroom...

Your meat special pizza was really good too --lots of flavor in your sausages.

My friend Chrissy enjoyed his slices -

Best of all, you're easy on my wallet --$10 for 2 slices, bottle of water & tip.

Sincerely,
The Hippo

p.s. Your pizzas are only tasty dine-in only. You need to work on making sure delivered pizzas are just as good as dining in.

Address: 846 N La Cienega Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90069

Phone#: (310) 652-6859

Rating: 4 out of 5

KATANA

Larry David said that it sucks to be bald, and he's right!

There's a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode (forgot which one...) where Larry is complaining to Jeff Greene that bald men are treated poorly. Larry is completely ignored by the waitress and Jeff thinks he's overreacting. Lo and behold when Jeff goes into the hospital, the nurse thinks Jeff is a cancer patient and shaves his head, and that's when Jeff realizes that there is truth to Larry's observation.

I'm not bald, but there is a good reason for bringing this up...my colleague celebrated his birthday at Katana and there were seven of us, one of them was bald (I'll call him Joe). The only pretentious staffs we dealt with were the hostesses. You can stand in front of them and they won't acknowledge you; you literally have to bark at them to get their attention -guess they like to be treated rough. The bartender was nice; drinks semi-strong for me, but super strong for the lightweight birthday boy. We had the Ginger Lychee Mojitos ($14/each), which in my opinion it could use more lychee juice. I kept my tab at the bar so it would be less hassle when the dinner bill arrives.

I decided to order the Open Table's Stimulus plan as it made the most sense -you start of with and an appetizer, (3) robatas, (4) sushi pieces, (1) roll, and dessert for $35. My appetizer was the Chicken dumplings -- good!

For the Robatas (Skewers) we got: Salmon w/ pesto, Chicken Meatballs, and Shitake Mushrooms--fantastic!

Lots of flavor in the Chicken Meatballs. The Salmon w/ pesto was delicious -not too fishy. You can't go wrong with Shitake Mushrooms. When sushi time arrived, I had a Spicy Tuna roll and the 4 sushi pieces: tuna, albacore, red snapper, and salmon.

Come here for the robatas and not for the sushi. The tuna was fishy. The other fish weren't bad, but I've definitely had better. Spicy tuna roll was good. My meal ended with some kind of a chocolate cake, which was good but not orgasmic.

I also sampled the bday boy's wife's Sticky Rice, which was pretty gross...all I could taste was the charcoal...

Bald Joe ordered the more interesting and more expensive food... There was the Foie Gras (Filet Mignon wrapped around Foie Gras & Asparagus).

I don't think there was Foie Gras... as I hate Foie Gras and couldn't taste it. The Filet Mignon wrapped around the Asparagus was delicious. Even better was the Kobe Pepper.

Joe also ordered the Rainbow & Dynamite Rolls

and the Albacore Tuna w/ Crispy Onions.

Birthday boy got a delicious chocolate cake from them:

Now I would have easily given Katana a 4 -star, maybe a 4.5 star because we had great service (the chef accommodated my food allergies, the manager and waitress were attentive, bartender memorized my drink)...except Joe. Poor bald Joe. The waitress totally ignored him, and Joe was the one who ordered the most expensive items on the menu!

Here are the misfortunate incidents of being bald...After Joe had ordered drinks from the waitress, I went outside to feed the meter (my car was parked on the other side), ordered another drink at the bar, and somehow I managed to do all this before our waitress brought Joe his drink, which came 5 minutes after I was seated! Also, when the bday boy finished ordering his sushi, the waitress walked away before Joe could order his rolls. We had to help Joe out getting the waitress' attention. Sucks to be bald...

Overall, we had a great time except for Joe...I'll come back here on someone else's dime. As long as you don't order drinks, your tab should easily be under $50...otherwise expect to drop $80-100 with drinks.

Address: 8439 W Sunset Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone#: (323) 650-8585
Rating: 4 out of 5

Friday, February 6, 2009

BAZAAR

My friends, Lee and Dee, and I agreed to check out Bazaar after our CNY dinner, known for their molecular gastronomy food. Lee was like "When are we going to check out Bizarre?" I corrected her & said it's "Bazaar," but turned out that she 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 my friends that we must go to the bathroom & shoot ourselves, not for being robbed, but to fulfill the narcissistic side of me and take a million pictures of 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
Rating: 1 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.

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

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

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

ITACHO JAPANESE RESTAURANT

Celebrities' sightings do not guarantee good food...

My colleague was craving sushi the other day, and since Itacho Japanese Restaurant was participating in LA Dine Week, we were like, let's try them out...oye.

Even though their prefix menu only costs $16, it really wasn't a bargain--sizes were small and quality was poor. We started off with the Spicy Yellowtail Crispy Rice.

Please don't let the picture fool you. The dish tasted like it was premade hours ago. The rice was not as warm as I had hope to be and it was really chewy...at least it wasn't oily.

The yellow tail tasted the most fresh. The Spicy Tuna roll and the Albacore were disappointing. There's no way that tuna and albacore were fresh. If so...I don't know... Each piece of the Spicy Tuna was about an inch--yeah, small. I ordered an eel avocado cut roll for fear of starving, and that was a mistake -it was gross.

Luckily they serve good Green Tea Ice Cream (not too sweet); otherwise, I was going to be mad as hell and I wasn't going take it anymore! My total came out to $27 (including tip) -pretty pricey for a bad lunch.

Sorry, I don't understand what all the rave is, but then again, Itacho might be a place for Japanese food only and not sushi.

Address: 7311 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone#: (323) 938-9009
Rating: 2 out of 5

Monday, February 2, 2009

HAMASAKU

If you love crazy rolls, come here because Hamasaku has over 60 different rolls!

Hamasaku was previously Kumo; I think they kept the same décor and added some "grass"...on my never-ending quest to try all the best sushi in a hippo's life. I checked out Hamasaku last Friday. Apparently there are two locations; the 11043 Santa Monica Blvd is more popular or has more reviews (the Melrose joint was packed on a Friday night).

Hamasaku is "very modern," which seems to be a necessity for a Weho restaurant. The bar is tiny; I imagine people who are waiting for a table hang out there. If you dine at the sushi bar, there's a ledge between you and the chef, so it's good that you extra room, but bad because the chef might get your order wrong because you're far away...

I wanted to compare the prices to Sushi Ike, so I ordered the same items. Oh, the sushi rolls range from $10 - $27 (mostly $16 & up). My eel avocado cut roll turned out to be an eel cut roll. It costs $8! Wow! I think Nobu's is cheaper... crazy. The pieces are small-- not the generous Noshi Sushi's roll, and the sauce were separated. The chefs are into "painting" the dish; it's all about the presentation. They didn't have Mackerel...but gave me something similar...don't know but it was fresh and good ($6); I just wished they had more of a variety. The spicy tuna hand roll ($6) was a tuna hand roll...The albacore sushi ($6) was ok; I've had better. While you're waiting for your sushi, you get to trip out on the acid anime. Despite getting my orders wrong...the chef was nice and attentive.

Mary Adams writes a good review with photos taken by Chris Marx on Buzz of LA.

Hamasaku cost $3 more than Sushi Ike, but then again I didn't ordered any of the $27 rolls...yes, prepare to make a dent on your plastic.

Address: 8360 Melrose Ave West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone#: (323) 651-5866
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Sunday, February 1, 2009

ANN'S PANTRY

**Delivery only

Stick to breakfast here...

Ann's Pantry is another Korean owned deli/cafe in the Wilshire/ Miracle Mile area. I've never had a problem ordering breakfast from them. Their breakfast burrito is gigantic because they add potatoes. I like their "breakfast" potatoes --not hash brown, but round "home fries."

I ordered a "protein" style turkey burger, and I thought the lady comprende that I wanted my burger wrapped with lettuce...big sigh. I think I need to stick to ordering "protein" burgers at Garden of Eating, because Ann's Pantry gave me this:

Well...she got the "no bread" part right. The turkey burger was dried. They forgot the mustard. The side pasta overdose on mayo. I also ordered a skinny latte and let's just say you should stick to Coffee Bean or Cappuccino's.

Address: 6420 Wilshire Blvd # LL Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone#: (323) 655-7315
Rating: 2.5 out of 5