Mizu 212

Yes, I do frequent this place often, despite the high prices. I just like being able to eat healthy!

Last night, I finally ordered the seafood shabu with BROWN rice. I know, shocking. I never eat brown rice, but in an effort to continue my pescatarian eating habits, I decided I might as well eat less bad carbs.

Seafood plate was decent. I didn't care for the crab legs, just don't want to deal with the small pieces of shell that kept getting stuck! Scallops were delish. Salmon was okay. Shrimp was okay. However, the veggie dish they give you still rocks my pants.

I love the dandelion greens, tofu, bok choy and cabbage. Mmm Mmm Good.

Previous Mizu review

Blue on Blue

I was so excited to come here for DineLa last night, but the food was just mediocre at best.

Started off with a martini each. I had the lavender lemon drop and she had the elixir. The martinis were really good! Best part of the meal. Well, at $15 each, they better be damn good.

My appetizer was the Seared Scallops - Creamed English Peas, Vanilla, Sharp Cheddar. The scallops were super duper salty! It tasted like someone just dumped a ton of salt on there in a haste. Not good. The vanilla tapioca was good though, quite interesting.

My friend had the spinach salad and it was so boring and tasteless that she barely ate 2 bites.

My entree- Crispy Salmon - Celery Root Fondant, Chard, Purple Mustard. The veggies were the best part of this dish. Salmon was pretty tasteless and boring. I have made tastier salmon on my grill.

She had the Flat Iron Steak - Baby Fennel, Cannellini Beans, Grilled Scallion. Since I don't eat meat, I didn't try it. She said it was okay, but didn't even finish half of it.

Dessert- Chocolate Cake - Toasted Coconut, Brown Sugar Creme. Not half bad! And I'm not a fan of dessert. I liked the toasted coconut and the vanilla sorbet it came with.

GF had the Cheese Flight - Brilliant Savarin, Manchego, Aged Gouda. She said this was the best part of her meal.

So, would I come back? Nope. The service was good, but the food was just subpar. Dinner was $34 each. At $62 per person, I just didn't feel like I got my money's worth. Blue on Blue made me blue!

Blue on Blue

9400 W. Olympic Blvd

Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Pancetta Pasta

I was in the mood to whip up a new pasta dish. Looked in my fridge, saw the pancetta I got from the store a couple weeks ago and decided to try out this recipe I found on the net.

Pancetta Pasta

Yum yum.. I followed most of it, minus the onions and cheese. 

Alcove Cafe and Bakery

Very chill place to lounge n have a convo on a lazy weekend afternoon. 

Dropped by today for some mint tea, but they didn't have any... so, I settled for lemon ginger instead. It was good, and I added a ton of honey to it. 

We also shared a coconut and banana cake which was the size of my head. Not bad cake, but I had 2 bites since I was still stuffed from all the Chinese food we ate at lunch. 

Good atmosphere and tons of chairs/tables.. I heard this place gets packed, but it was just fine for us today. Prices are comparable to Urth Caffe, maybe a tad bit cheaper. I still like the tea at Urth better though. 

Alcove Cafe & Bakery

1929 Hillhurst Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90027

Sasabune

Had omakase here tonight.. pretty good sushi. Pix and thoughts to follow. Here's a pic of moi at the restaurant.

LA Food Show

This place is huge and offers a variety of food. I'm not sure how they came up with the name.. It suggests that someone is going to come out and demonstrate something to me.

We came here last night for impromtu dinner. No reservations, but got seated in a big booth right away. Our waitress was really nice and came by several times to make sure we were doing okay.

I ordered the chicken piccata and he had the mahi fish tacos. We shared the chicken lettuce cups. I was tempted to try the cotton candy martini that she mentioned was their most popular drink, but opted to to just drink water. I know.. lame.

Chicken lettuce cups were pretty good, but the sauce was off the charts spicy! I wish it came with a warning sign, cuz it made me cough up my other lung.

Chicken piccata was meh.. I wasn't too keen on the lemon on my chicken.. It just makes it look kinda cheap. Also, it said the chicken was pounded, but it did NOT look pounded at all. Roasted red potatoes were tasty as were the grilled zucchini.

I had a bite of his fish tacos, but didn't like them at all. Too fishy! However, the onion rings were not bad.

Guess what? I ordred dessert.. *gasp*. Yes. Key lime pie. And it was actually really good. I've never had key lime pie except as a martini. The pie was a bit sour, but the fresh whipped cream balanced it all out.

I'll come back and bring my kid next time. Maybe she can help me with the cotton candy martini. Just kidding!

LA Food Show

252 N. Beverly Dr

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Paco's

Headed back to Paco's tonight with the girls to satisfy our Mexican craving.

I had 2 strawberry magaritas and they were pretty darn good, albeit not as strong as the regular margaritas. Yeah, well, I'm sick, so I didn't want to overdo the imbibing.

For appetizer, we shared the guacamole with chips again. Good and fatty, just the way I like it. Least it was good fat. Haha.

I had 2 carne asada tacos combo with rice and tortillas. The rice was good, tortillas were off da hook delicious, but the tacos were a let down. Wahhh. The beef was hard and chewy and didn't taste very fresh at all. I should have got the damn tostada! 

My friend had the burrito and it was the size of a newborn baby. See the pic. She said it was good, although I didn't have any. But, she ate half and was stuffed. 2 meals in one!

Oh wells, dinner is part food and part company. The company was fun so I can't complain in that department. 

You guys really have to eat the handmade tortillas here. They taste good just plain. 

Paco's

4141 S. Centinela Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90066

W Hotel

One of the best things about the W Hotel in Westwood is the Backyard.

Yesterday, it was such a beautiful day, a balmy 82 degrees in the middle of January. Only in Los Angeles.

We came here and had some food and I ordered some mint tea to soothe my cold.

The food was okay, nothing to write home about.

Tuna tartare didnt seem to be really fresh, but it was edible.

Margerita pizza was thin and simple, albeit too salty.

Crab cakes were tiny, and salty as well.

French fries were hella salty.

Sweet potato fries were actually NOT salty.

I hate salty food! I mean, I like my food seasoned, but don't go salt happy on it.

Mint tea was a delight. I added a ton of honey cuz I do not drink tea by itself.

Ambience was chill and it wasn't packed. However, dont we have a law against no smoking in a dining establishment in CA? I guess they didn't uphold it here. Whateves.

W Hotel

930 Hilgard Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90024

Mako

I can't believe they would actually serve this food. You know that I am always very fair in my reviews and I give the benefit of the doubt, but last night's dinner was just not edible.

I wanted sushi and we saw this place so decided to pop in. Um.. what the F. I will say that the service started out good, but at the end of the meal I have to take off the star for service. I'll explain why later.

So, we order mint tea since I've got a cold and needed something warm. Tea was good and the honey helped soothe my scrathy throat.

Food-

Sashimi platter- this was not fresh at all! The salmon was chewy, the yellowtail was bleh and the ahi tuna was ok, but still not up to par. Look man, if you are gonna charge $14 PER sashimi, then you best get that shiet up to speed. I felt like the fish was frozen and it just tasted gross. We had to leave pieces uneaten.

Black cod- this was the only decent dish of the night, but it was still too salty. Look, I'm picky, but hey, this was $26 and if you are gonna charge that much, the fish best be soft and flaky. This was overdone and over seasoned. I did like the black mushrooms it came with though.

Spicy tofu- brown tofu cubes, lightly fried and heavily seasoned. Not spicy at all, more like salty tofu.

Veggie pad thai- WTF. How can you even call this pad thai?!!! This was freakin chow mein with bits of tofu in it. I didnt see any veggies. OMG. What a disgrace. I can't believe they would put this on the menu and try to pass it off as pad thai. We had 2 bites and were thoroughly disgruntled.

I had a side of white rice since I eat rice with everything. Guess what? I had rice leftover! *gasp* Why? Cuz the food was so bad that I couldnt eat it with the rice.

We left 80% of all the dishes on the plate. The busboy asked us if we wanted to take the food home and we shook our heads no.

I'm in shock that they could charge astronomical prices for this kind of food. Panda Express would have been tastier.

Here's the kicker- The waiter brought us the check and we just gave him the credit card without looking at it first. When he brought it back to be signed, we looked at the bill and noticed he had added on TWO PIES that we never ordered. WTH.

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but if you are gonna try and pull the wool over my eyes, then you're on the shit list. Funny how everything else on the bill was correct, EXCEPT for those 2 pies. We looked around and guess what? No one had any desserts on their tables. HMMMMMMMMM.. interesting.

Don't waste your money here. Or your taste buds.

Mako

225 S. Beverly Dr

Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Nanbankan

Craving some meat on a stick? Get yo azz over here.

They have an extensive izakaya menu complete with land animals, sea creatures, and veggies. 

I took my friend here last night because he had never been, or even heard about it. Since I ate here once and liked it, I suggested coming here instead of Sasaya.

We were immediately seated upon arrival at the bar surrounding the grill. Front row seats! Yay! 

Items we ordered:

Agedashi tofu- my fave! I love the sauce it came in so much that I made the waiter leave the sauce so I could put it over my rice. What? I'm Asian, I like rice with everything. The tofu itself was very good, lightly fried and flavorful. So good that we asked for a second order. Oink.

Tomato, green pepper and mushroom skewers- pretty self-explanatory and standard kabob. 

Grilled scallops- I love scallops, but this dish was a disappointment. Too dry and a bit overcooked. I guess I enjoy my scallops seared way better. Would not recommend.

Tsukune (chicken meatballs)- Great dish! Love balls! Get this if you love balls on a stick!

Rib eye steak- Ehhh.. this was alright.. pretty forgettable. A bit too rare for me. 

Quail eggs- OMG. I love quail eggs!! I could eat quail eggs forever. These are so cute and petite. Perfect for a dainty girl like moi.

Dark meat chicken with scallions- decent meat, but not as good as the meatballs! 

All in all a very enjoyable meal. It was a bit cramped at the bar, but I got used to it after a while. Good, attentive service which is very important to me. I like having my water glass filled, especially when eating food that makes your thirsty. 

Nanbankan

11330 Santa Monica Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90025