Birthday dinner time. Had to throw these bad boys on:
I only bring them out on the rare occasion that I forget how much they really hurt or plan to get drunk enough to numb the pain.
When Nick and I were first dating, we would fantasize about Lakers season tickets and nights at the new Ritz downtown. Now we’re done pretending we’ll be filthy rich any minute (at least for now), but we’re not done celebrating like we are.
If you missed the Saban Free Clinic’s 13th Annual “Extravaganza For the Senses” Food & Wine Event, here’s the recap:
Last night was a very special somebody’s birthday and so, in celebration, I met the usual cast of characters at our favorite gaudy 80s Persian living room resturant, XIV.
Remember on Friends when Monica wanted to date Paul, “the wine guy”?
Well Sarah is dating Ben, the wine guy. Except her wine guy is less ’90s and more awesome.
Case in point:
First bottle of bubbly was on him. Cute surprise considering he wasn’t even at dinner with us.
Have you ever waited a really long time to eat at Umami and then been so hungry that you want to order every side possible? And then you’re like, yeah, I definitely want pickles on my burger–gimme the works. But you kind of have the sneaking suspicion that your definition of a side of pickles is different than Umami’s definition?
What am I supposed to do with this? Huh?
Answer me!
Let’s discuss brunch at BLD with the Usual Suspects, Sarah, Diana and Sook.
Don’t bother clicking on the link to Sook’s blog. Blog Protective Services has removed it from her possession on the grounds of severe neglect and placed it in a home where it will never learn to develop into a normal, healthy website.
The best part is she still takes pictures at every meal. It’s like giving your child up for adoption and then buying it baby clothes just in case.
Little bit of this…
Little of that…
A giant blueberry ricotta pancake that deceptively had my name all over it but was not vegan:
Guess they didn’t need my help TCP (Takin’ Care of Pancake):
I got the vegan benedict. I almost took a bite of the regular benedict they brought out by accident and boy would I have been pissed. If I decide to take a bite of something non-vegan, I’ll own it. But if I eat ham, egg, and hollandaise because YOU got my order wrong, Imma have words for you. Also our waiter was kind of a penis.
I don’t care that the sauce was the color of Olean chips…that shit was good.
Sook had a Spanish frittata I think, with chorizo, manchego and paprika:
Diana had what I probably would’ve ordered back in the old days, the warm lentil salad with pancetta, cherry tomatoes, arugula, romano, an egg and a sherry vinaigrette. Good God.
Sarah had….uh…maybe the braised pork and poached eggs…
I don’t normally waste space on the potatoes but these guys earned a spot in the belly. So good.
After brunch we decided to spend the rest of the day drinking and shopping, both inappropriate yet therapeutic behaviors for a basically unemployed person.
On the way to The Grove I gasped at the site of this majestic creature:
Without even saying a word, Sarah knew I needed a picture and immediately flung herself into the shot. Big Up for that one, dude.
P.S. I own these shorts. They fall into the “I don’t wear these out of the house/I don’t rollerblade in them” category.
P.P.S. For this woman, they fall into the, “I wear this exact same outfit as I skate by BLD every single Sunday” category. I swear.
Thanks to all THREE of you who entered the contest below. You ALL deserve a free dinner for two and I sort of wish all four of us could just go eat TOGETHER! Winner will get an email pretty soon. I just have to work up the courage to not make everyone a winner. It’s not easy.
If you forgot to enter the contest/are too shy to comment/are too good for free food, don’t worry. You can still get 15% off between now and May 31, 2010 with this coupon. Lemme know if you like the joint. I’m a fan.
For those of you that make fun of me for eating at the same 5 places, you have nothing against me anymore because I have officially added a 6th favorite to my list. Joining the ranks of M Cafe, Sante La Brea, RFD, Tender Greens, and Lemonade is…
LIBRA BY THE POUND.
LIBRA, owned by Marcelo Ahn of Churrascaria M Grill, is a new buffet style Brazilian restaurant in Culver City where you get to choose from over 40 Brazilian (and other) dishes and you get to choose how much you want of everything! Let’s talk about this…
First of all, any restaurant that has “by the pound” in the name is right up my alley. You better believe if I’m in charge of serving myself that I will pile farro salad upon tabouli upon grilled veggies upon refreshing cucumber tomato salads to no end. NO. END.
And that’s actually pretty much what I did last Thursday when I had the pleasure of joining them for a media dinner:
If you’re nice and clean, you wash your hands first cause it’s a buffet and it’s the right thing to do.
Then check the super reasonable prices and pile on serve yourself food accordingly.
Of course they have meat and chicken and homemade meatballs and chicken cacciatore and all kinds of things you expect from a Brazilian place. But vegetarians also have over 30 meatless dishes from which to choose.
Everything here is made from scratch without using canned or processed foods. Can I get an Amen?
Nice space, right?
Plus exciting, exotic soda and Brazilian sauces, best if not consumed together…
Here’s what I got and what I plan to get every single time I’m there which will probably be, if I’m estimating things about right, three times a week for the rest of my life.
Now I’m gonna do that thing that you’re not supposed to do and post a bunch of different angles of the same meal so you can truly comprehend all aspects of the deliciousness.
K, I’m done. Ha, I always say that after dinner. But then I want…
My food (not including the brownie) and a bottle of water, weighed in at .860 lbs. at $9.75/lb. If my plate were in a fight, it might lose to the plate I plan to eat next time.
You should try LIBRA. Again and again. Cause you can print this coupon to use over and over between now and May 31st, 2010 for 15% off your entire meal! That’s over a month to try over 40 different fresh dishes made from scratch at 15% off.
Remember in Clueless when Mel tells Cher to get her ass home from a party in the valley within the next 20 minutes and she says it might take longer than that and then he tells Cher that everywhere in LA takes 20 minutes? And remember how that was actually kind of true in the ’90s? Well Culver City sort of is the one city in LA that is still only 20 minutes away from you, no matter where you are. So you have no excuse not to use this coupon every night you possibly can.
If 15% off really good food isn’t good enough for you then I don’t think we should be friends I have another offer.
Leave me a comment on this post telling me why you want/deserve/need a free dinner for 2 at LIBRA and I will be a selective asshole use my discretion to choose the best answer. Winner, while still totally allowed to use the 15% off coupon over and over, will get to enjoy a free dinner for 2 people at LIBRA once any time between now and May 31, 2010. Winner will be chosen and notified by email the evening of Monday, April 26, 2010 after 8pm, so leave your comment before then. Might I suggest you appeal to either my humorous side, my soft side, or my dirty side in your comments? It’s just better that way. Good luck!!!
When Joanna sent Lillian and me an email that said, “Westside Adventure?” I prepared myself for both the best and the worst. The best time and, yet, the worst kind of trouble. Last time we had a Westside Adventure my poor iPhone spent the entire night in the gutter outside of her place.
She called the next day to give me the news. “Buddy? The good news is I found him. The bad news is I don’t think he’s alive. I took his little outfit off cause it got all wet.” The phone survived, the outfit didn’t.
Last night we started at Tasting Kitchen on Abbot Kinney where basically every waiter there is super hot in a sort of loser Venice sort of way and super nice in a silly, dance when I bring you your bill sort of way. Except for ours. He was a dick.
Everything below is vegan except the chicken:
Market plate made with just veggies:
Farro with balsamic and sugar snap peas:
Endive with hazelnut and kumquat:
Chicken wings man:
Look, I get it, I’m vegan and that’s annoying. Chefs hate vegans even more than they hate people who ask for the meat well-done. With this awareness, I try to be as appreciative and mellow about it as possible. When I asked our server what was or could be made vegan, he suggested any of the pastas. I told him my concern that pasta typically has eggs and he said, “Well, yeah, I guess, if you wanna go all the way with it.”
Dude. What do you think veganism IS if NOT going all the way with it? I didn’t say vegetarian, did I?!
Dick!
Ok, I’m done I swear.
The rest of the night was fun….I would tell you about it, but, as my dear friend Sophie once advised me….Less History More Mystery.
Vegan turnovers from Mäni’s on Fairfax….Kinda into these right now….
Except they need to be grazed on throughout the day unless you want to feel like a lead belly.
Go for mixed berry or tropical. Apple you’ll get sick of faster than a heartbroken houseguest.
I don’t like crowds very much, and I don’t like competition when I go on a mission for dessert.
So when babycakes NYC came to LA at the beginning of the year, I patiently waited until my inner anxiety meter told me the coast was clear and the time was right. Turns out the time was right last Saturday.
Oh…and you know why I was so excited, about this, right? Because…
In case you need a gluten-free diet thanks to, say, a wheat allergy or celiac disease, it’s easy to tell what you can and can’t eat:
I was eyeing this bad boy but he escaped my wrath this time. I’ll get you next time, Gadget.
K. You hate me cause I keep showing you not-that-good shots of the case and not the amazing blueberry donut and strawberry jam with vanilla biscuit I inhaled daintily ate.
I bet if that donut was a person it would be all, “whoa, back up. why are you taking a picture so close to my face?!” And then I’d be like, “no, trust me, you look really good.”
In the world of vegan food, and particularly desserts, there are things that taste delicious to vegans, but non-vegans will still say “it’s good, but it tastes vegan” (you know who you are).
Then there’s shit like these motherfucking biscuits that taste so undeniably good and unrecognizably vegan. No qualifiers. No “good, but…” Just perfect. And able to hang with all the big (non-vegan) boys.
And that’s why it’s a problem for me that babycakes delivers.
Although before I knew that, I just planned on stockpiling after every visit…
What else should I try here?
Everything?
Are you sure? Well, you know best.
