so now that you've seen some of the "value-packed" menus that restaurant week has to offer, i'm gonna take it a step back and say that great food deals can be found anywhere ... and it's not just related to the price ... well, ok ... price has a little bit to do with it, but so does taste ... and convenience ... who want to get dressed up and pay a $10 valet charge? ... who wants to wait for a table to open up? .... sometime you just want to eat good food quickly ... and i am all about that ...
why do we get food at bossa nova so often? it's not the cheapest joint in town ... but it is the closest sit down restaurant to my apartment ... and it's open until 4am ... what other joint can offer that without a lengthy drive and desperate search for parking? plus they have bad-ass plantains and their pasta dishes are pretty good (and calorific) ...
and you can get a taste of history in downtown for cheap ... less than $10 will net you a french dip and a couple of sides from philippe the original ... arguably the first place to ever offer a french dip sandwich in LA, the place has been around (at least in name) for over a 100 years ... and even though cole's is technically older, i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that they're not as famous as philippe ... but yeah, a french roll w/ meat of your choice drenched in meat juices ... double-dip the sandwich in meat juice if you want ... or even totally juicy sopping wet w/ tasty goodness ... don't miss out on the side man salads ... i'm a big fan of the mac salad for about a buck ...
and then you want bang for your buck ... we practically ate our weight in marinated meat for under $20 at tahoe ... amazingly not busy around noon on a sunday ... we got full service ... partially because they thought i was korean ... soups, salads, tasty pine-nut beverages ... all included in the AYCE price ...
you definitely don't have to wait for a designated week to get yo' grub on in LA ...
and restaurants need our business bad enough that they'll give away gift cards to get you to come in ... palomino in westwood ... home to many a late night happy hour ... $5 food ... $4 drinks now up from $2 ... gotta make your money somewhere ... but i scored a few gift cards that are worth either $15 or $500 in palomino food ... how do i know how much? gotta rack up a bill first ...
so we met up and got the menu ... the entire menu ... like usual ... a couple mojitos ... a couple pizzas ... a couple cheese plates ... and cheese-y potatoes and salads ... and stuff ... it was delicious and cheap ... about $20 a person to be almost-sick-full ... can't beat that w/ a bat ... but yeah our card was worth $15 ...
if you want to see what the other cards are worth, give us a buzz and we'll check it out together after a couple of pizzas ...
and we planned a nice evening for a dinner and a movie ...
the blue dog in the valley by kelly's old place ... a beer joint w/ a nice bar menu ... we got the veggie chili, greek pizza, meat calzone and the blue dog burger w/ a ton o' bacon ... we finished with a pizookie wanna-be which was delicious, but poorly executed ... ice cream b/w 2 hot cookies? it melts before you get to it ... that's why bj's method works so well ...
people came from far and wide for the movie ... paranormal activity ... and seeing as how i didn't want to spend $13 to watch my palms over my eyes, i opted out ... i don't have a very good record w/ scary movies ... the ring? yeah, i needed the lights on for a while after that ... the exorcist? yep ... emily rose? yep ... i figured 90 minutes of scares wasn't worth the sleepless nights ...
but yeah, i hope the bbc had a blast ... at least the food was rad ...
months in the making ... our third restaurant week outing involved craft in century city ... the restaurant of top chef judge tom colicchio ... and since we're all top chef fans, we had to give it a go ... very good service ... i just wish that that the menu wasn't as dumbed-down for restaurant week ...
family style appetizers ... m'eh salad and salmon spread ... family style sides ... mixed veggies, mushrooms, potatoes ... m'eh ... and individual entrees ... small portions of tough beef short rib and tough sirloin slices ... ordering beef short rib at any sit-down restaurant is usually a no-brainer, but i've never had short rib that tough ...
family style desserts ... i'm a sucker for cheesecake, no matter how mediocre ... rich chocolate cake ... and an assortment of ice cream/sorbets ... strawberry, banana, hazelnut, vanilla ... but yeah for $44 i was definitely hoping for more ... but i guess you can't ask for that in a place that serves a tiny 30oz steak for $100 ... no piece of meat that small is worth that much money ... and this meal was not a deal at $44 ...
but we had a good enough time talking the talk ... shootin' the shit ... and all that good stuff ... we even received a few gift certificates for a future meal ... as long as it's from the standard menu, i might try it ... the minor food issues aside, it's always a happy restaurant week when you're w/ friends ... super props to renee for the reservations ...
honey was available for our second outing ... NineThirty at the W in westwood ... i think i'm trying to get a taste of all the hotel restaurants while there are deals going on ... so yeah, outdoor seating ... it's too bad it's fall ... and when fall happens in LA it gets chilly pretty quick ... and by "chilly" i mean 60-something degrees which sucks for LA ... but yeah the big issue with this hotel food joint is that the service blows pretty bad ... the server was more interested in the after-hours businessguys ordering the high-profit liquor than getting us bread or water ... despite asking two different people twice for bread, we never got any ... the two asian businessguys on a bro date behind us had bread to spare ... take from that what you will ...
when the food got to our table, we partially forgot the shitty service ... a creamy corn bisque w/ a crab fritter ... super rad ... standard salads (asian-ish and italian-ish, not pictured) for the ladies ... m'eh brazil style steak with rice and beans and plantains and a m'eh salmon on mashed potatoes ... filling, but still ... whatevs ...
we finished off the meal with sorbet (a no-no in my book from past restaurant weeks, but honey's an experimenter) and the best ... friggin' ... panna cotta ... EVER ... a lot of inappropriate sounds were made ...
so yeah, if not for the company and the panna cotta, NineThirty would be on my blacklist ... why waste the valet money for servers who don't give a shit about diners?
True
Lifetime
