More LA Stories

So it wasn't all about craft services and catered meals during my week in LA. While I never feel like I do the LA dining scene justice, I did manage to hit a few spots and have a few notable meals during my busy week.

Fat Fish: A few of us met there before going to The Troubador to see Sundown, an amazing band featuring Mr. Moustache and to catch up with Langy, who we recently said 'see you in a bit' to at Pianos a few weeks back. LA traffic being what it is, we had about 30 seconds to order our meal so we wouldn't meet the show.

I quickly went with two appetizers; the first being an order of vegetable tempura. The tempura included sweet potatoes, kabocha, shitake mushrooms, asparagus and oyster mushrooms. I don't normally do tempura and I was pleased with how light the batter was and how well the veggies held up against the coating. The sweet potatoes and kabocha were especially good; their starchy goodness enhanced by the batter. I would have like a bit more substance in the dipping sauce which was a bit bland despite the few scallions thrown in as an afterthought, but luckily the tempura didn't need any help from the sauce.

I also chose the filet mignon salad which came with grilled scallions, crumbled blue cheese, chopped egg, tomato, and curry vinaigrette. The beef was well seasoned and the rich sauce that coated it was extremely tasty. The meat was also super tender and buttery, cooked just the way I like it.

I would definitely return to this restaurant and would hope to have more time to relax and enjoy my meal. The laid back atmosphere and cool vibe of the restaurant were a bit of a surprise for this part of West Hollywood.

Counter: As word of my food blog spread around the LA office, Sir Lawrence told me that I haven't had a burger until I have had one from Counter. Counter's thing is that you basically decide every ingredient that goes into your burger from the meat (or not), veggies, cheese, bread, etc., etc. using their lovely and extensive "build your own burger" menu.

I went semi-traditional and chose beef with sauteed mushrooms, Gruyere cheese, and baby greens on a honey wheat bun. I decided to "all out" and order a side of sweet potato fries which I shared (just a handful) with Apropos in exchange for some of his crispy fried onion strings. The hamburger was fresh and juicy and the fries were fantastic! Crispy, salty and delicious! Thank you Sir Lawrence, nicely done!

Pane e vino: After a late night at the office, a group of us met at Pane e vino for dinner, or I should say I EVENTUALLY met them since I have absolutely no sense of direction in LA and wound up five miles out of the way and about twenty minutes late.

Regardless, we had a great meal at Pane e vino which again was a much more relaxed and unpretentious atmosphere than I expected. We began our meal with a few appetizers including the obligatory antipasto, mozzarella e pomodori, carciofo ripieno, freddo (stuffed artichoke). The antipasto was surprisingly interesting with a great presentation of various Italian meats, roasted veggies and decorated with prosciutto wrapped bread sticks. I would have been satisfied if the meal ended there and had to control myself from commandeering the plate from my dinner companions.

For the main course, I chose bucatini, a dish I enjoy but normally do not order out. The pasta was fresh and al dente and the smoky pancetta and caramelized onions added some depth and texture to the hearty tomato sauce which if I am not mistaken was finished with a bit of butter.

Basix Cafe: For my last night (and meal) in LA, I met up with some former co-workers, Cortez and Mija. It was Mojito Monday at Basix and they make a pretty good one. Unfortunately for me, it was just one since you have to drive everywhere in LA.

I was eating like a champ all week and decided not to make my last night an exception so I ordered an appetizer and an entree. I started with a "pizzatini" - their appetizer portion of their thin-crust wood grilled pizzas. I chose the grilled vegetable pizza which came with Wood grilled eggplant and zucchini, sun dried tomatoes, black olive tapenade, caramelized onion, roasted red peppers and tomato sauce. It was pretty good but nothing like the pizza here; sorry I'm biased!

For my main course I had skirt steak with chimichurri sauce which came with jasmine rice, fried plantains and black beans. The steak was cooked medium rare and was well-seasoned. I particularly enjoyed the plantains and the jasmine rice was nice and sticky. Not too shabby for a casual eatery...

Hopefully on the next trip out, I can squeeze in a few more culinary adventures!

And the popcorn goes to

Craft services!

I spent the week in LA working on the Movie Awards pre-show (hence the lack of posts) and I was hoping the catering would be better than the last large production I worked on. I was not disappointed. The two ladies who ran the craft services were on their game, providing plenty of healthy and not-so-healthy food choices all day long.

The day began with bagels, toast, pastries, fruit, yogurt and hard boiled eggs. Not a bad variety, although I did seem to throw one of the ladies for a loop when I asked for peanut butter on toasted whole wheat. "Are you on a high fiber diet?" Not exactly appropriate conversation for the breakfast table, especially since at this point if I ate one more egg (after a week of eating at hotel breakfast buffet with Apropos and Lambert's Army) I was going to lay one myself!

Midday, the ladies were at it again; passing out smoothies to the crew and adding cheese, crackers and other goodies to the table. Apparently I missed the empanadas that were passed around at Saturday's rehearsal but as soon as I found out, I made sure they knew to come knocking on the video truck door when more food was available.

Show day's "passed hors d'oeuvres" included chicken wings and mini crab cakes. There were also buckets of Red Vines, Starburst mini Hershey's and tons of other grab n'go treats. I didn't say it was completely healthy, did I??? But at least there were some tasty options! And lots of cookies!!!

For Saturday's meal, I actually needed some "alone time" and headed to Wolfgang Puck's on Universal's CityWalk. On a whim, I ordered the shrimp BLT and was delightfully pleased with the freshly grilled shrimp in a light mayo with smokey bacon on some slices of hearty whole grain bread. The side of Caesar salad was pretty nice too; with crunchy Romaine leaves, creamy peppery dressing and loads of Parmesan and fresh croutons.

Unfortunately, Sunday's lunch didn't fare as well. This was a catered meal at the Hard Rock Cafe and I took a bit of a misstep by passing up the hamburger for the dried out grilled chicken. Neither the tomato chutney or the doughy bland roll couldn't help moisten the chicken and the wedding style cake bites (they had run out of chocolate chip cookies by the time I got there) did not make this meal any easier to swallow.

In a word: yuk! Should have stuck with the gals at the craft services table and called it a day!

The wrap party fared much better. I particularly enjoyed the rare prime rib, baby carrots, and sundried tomatoes and mozzarella in balsamic vinegar. I guess I can forgive them for the crappy lunch.

Oh yeah, and we had a great show!