ericka "america's national flower" L.'s Profile

this store is like the polar opposite of the cost plus in pasadena.

it's huge and well-stocked, and the staff is friendly and helpful. i gave tim a list of the furniture items i wanted and he went to go check on them. he came back and told me they had everything except one item (a dresser), but he was going to double-check for me again in the stockroom. he also told me they should get more in two weeks.

he suggested i avoid the delivery company because of their exorbitant fees. he told me he thought i could fit most of the pieces i bought in my car and said it was fine when i asked if i could make multiple trips if i needed to do so. he also told me about the discount available if i used the store credit card and made sure i received a rain check for the dresser i wanted and checked me out himself. now that's what i call service!

also, as a bonus, a cute filipino guy asked for my digits here. this may be my new favorite store.

let's say you work at a store and i come to you with a list of items that i want to purchase totaling nearly $3000. and let's say you only have some of them in stock. would you:

(a) be apologetic, and see if there is anything else i might like that you DO have in stock?

(b) call some other stores nearby and find out if they can hold those items for me?

(c) shrug and say, "we got cleaned out over the weekend" while not making eye contact and then suggest i drive to thousand oaks or northridge to see if they have what i want?

if you picked (c), then you should get a job at this cost plus! BECAUSE THEY ARE THE SUCK.

to be fair, there was one nice girl there (and there was another nice and super-helpful girl when i bought some stuff a couple of years ago) but apparently all the guys who work here are slow, incompetent, and/or douchebags.

avoid these jerks, and head to the cost plus in glendale instead.

i now live within easy walking distance of three grocery stores - trader joe's, whole foods, and pavilions - and will soon have a fourth option when fresh & easy opens up. yet i find myself going back to this pavilions more than any other store.

it's small but in a cozy, small-town kind of way. everyone there greets you and asks if you've found everything you need. the deli guy always lets me sample little nibbles of things so i can decide what i want. even the other customers look happy to be there.

surprisingly, the prices are really competitive. check out the weekly flyer and you'll see some great sale items. the quality of the meat and produce is excellent. there are some items they don't carry, simply because they're not a huge store, but fortunately, i also live within walking distance of target.

oh, i almost forgot, you can have them carry your groceries out to your car! and one of the bag boys is smoking hot. pavilions...a world of difference.

if i were suddenly transformed into a domesticated animal, i would be an indoor cat. i like to sleep and eat, am wont to occasionally bite or claw without provocation, and most of all, i am a lazy, lazy girl.

however, i have lots of sporty friends who have surprisingly been able to convince me that a little fresh air and exercise never killed anyone. these friends have gotten me riding my bike (occasionally) and hiking (infrequently) and sometimes just going outside and squinting at the sun for a moment before heading back to bed.

because of these friends, i recently purchased a pair of salomon shoes from an online retailer at a great price. when they arrived, i was a little unsure about the fit but i didn't want to risk returning them and not being able to get a different size or having the replacements be too small.

at the encouragement of yet another sporty friend, i went to rei to see if they carried the same style so i could try on a different size. while they didn't have the exact same shoe, cesar had me bring in my new shoes and loaned me a brand-new pair of wool socks to check the fit. he had me climb on the little fake rock and see how they felt when i was walking down. he brought me out a couple of other pairs to try on and check the fit. ultimately, i decided that the shoes i bought were the right size, but only because cesar took the time to help me make an informed decision.

i also picked up some wool socks (three pairs because you get 10% off that way) and a membership - $20 for lifetime membership, which offers an annual member refund, special offers, and discounts.

i really liked the store, even though i felt like an impostor. the cashier could have been nicer, but other than that, it was a good experience. who knows, maybe i'll change from an indoor cat to a mountain lion!*

(or more likely, just a cougar.)

*** edit: oops, i put this under the wrong business. hi, i'm not so bright. ***

i came here for brunch on sunday. i would have preferred the mexican place across the way, but my companion had a flight in the evening and was concerned about the...um, possible effect of such a meal on his fellow air passengers.

from the outside, cactus jack's looks kinda like a grotty, divey joint, but inside, it's all neutral colors, nice tablecloths, and jazz-inspired art. kind of incongruous, but nice nonetheless. our waitress lynne was all sweetness and spunk and almost as excited as me when i ordered the biscuits and gravy. my companion ordered the philly cheese steak despite me vocalizing my abhorrence for onions. however, he made up for it by ordering half fries/half potato salad as his side so i could have the fries. (in fact, cactus jack's does not offer this combination as a potential side, and i'm still vaguely dumbfounded that he was able to finagle it.)

the biscuits and gravy were, unfortunately, an abomination. the biscuits were flat rectangles of brick-like dough slathered in sausage-less gravy. i was quite saddened by this and ordered a side of sausage, which took about ten minutes to come out. in the meantime, i nibbled on fries (thin and crispy, very yum) and ate about half of one of the biscuits. to be fair, the gravy wasn't terrible  - it was nicely peppery, but the lack of sausage cannot be forgiven. and the side of sausage! it was a plate of six long, skinny, browned pinkies. they did not improve the gravy whatsoever.

so then why three stars? as i mentioned, the service was lovely  (the wait for the sausage wasn't lynne's fault) and my fellow diner got an off the menu option. in addition, the sandwich my companion ordered looked really amazing, even though i only had a small nibble of the roll on which it was served because i feared onion contamination. and as i mentioned, the fries were really tasty. and finally...well, they serve diet coke.

prices aren't outrageous ($27 for our meal, including tip) but not cheap; however, it seems like there aren't a lot of places in the area that are in that middle ground, so it's a decent alternative if you're in indian wells.

this may be the only time i've ever said this: it was almost too much meat for me.

dean y. and i met up here for A beer and some dinner. i wasn't anticipating how loud and crazy it would be, but it was so much fun. the staff shouted greetings when we walked in the door, when we ordered beer, when we shared a toast with them...i felt like i should have learned at least a little japanese by the time we left.

we had a ton of food, all of it incredibly delicious. unfortunately, they were out of the bacon-wrapped cherry tomatoes, but we did order the bacon-wrapped quail eggs and bacon-wrapped enoki mushrooms. the quail eggs were marvelous, the smooth but slightly silken-powdery texture of the boiled egg meshing well with the fatty bacon. the mushrooms were also good, with an earthy flavor that was a nice contrast against the bacon.

we also had the chicken with basil (really nice), tongue (okay, but not my favorite), pork belly (deliciously salty and peppery), asparagus (YUM), meatballs (also YUM), sausage (these were like delicious lil smokies), and potato croquettes (these have bits of bacon in them, NOM). i think we actually had a couple of other skewers but i can't remember them all because i went into a meat coma.

we shared four (or was it five?) giant bottles of sapporo and dean made sure to offer glasses to the chefs and our waiter, generating a lot of happy shouting and good will.

i absolutely loved this place! also i want to steal the painting of the giant crab for my house.

dean, you are THE BEST!

oh, man, what can i say that hasn't been said already?

the food is great. the black beans, in particular, are incredible. i could eat a giant cauldron of them. the sangria is EXCELLENT. service is outstanding...you are treated like family, and that means a lot to me.

i feel like i was lucky to find parking in the lot, but culver city is kind of one of those places.

i fully intend to come back and work my way through a lot more of the menu.

i'm a big fan of sarkis (around the corner on washington), but every time i brought dessert over to michael and wendy's house from there, michael would insist i needed to try vrej.

YET I NOTE HE HAS NOT YET REVIEWED THIS PLACE.

*ahem* despite that, i took his sage advice and dropped by one night on the way to the dynamic duo's house. i picked up a slice of grand marnier cake, a chocolate eclair, and a piece of honey cake.

the grand marnier cake was nice, if a touch too sweet, and the eclair was sadly chewy and cold, but the honey cake - damn, skippy! it tasted like a s'more transformed. it's really tasty - a dense honey cake interrupted by thin layers of marshmallow fluff-like filling and topped off with dark chocolate icing. i'll warn you that it's both addictive and heavy. you probably need to share one small piece with another person unless you want to go into a food coma afterwards.

i've also tried the mamoul at vrej and i waver as to whether i prefer theirs or the ones at sarkis. mamoul is a middle eastern cookie made from semolina/farina and filled with either walnuts, pistachio, or dates. i was told that the pistachio are the best and i have to agree. they are a very adult dessert, which makes sense, as the cookies themselves are not sweetened except for a dusting of confectioner's sugar. the exterior is like a crumbly shortcake and the interior is chewy and luxurious. the filling is made of coarsely chopped pistachios, sugar, and rose water; as you can imagine, it smells heavenly. i highly suggest trying these - it's well worth $1.50 for a palm-sized mamoul.

there's plenty of street parking, but don't go around 3pm on a weekday, unless you want to accidentally run over a middle schooler streaming out of marshall next door.

this is one of those local italian red sauce joints that has homey, comforting food and a friendly staff.

it's nothing spectacular, but as michael mentioned, it's good for when you don't feel like cooking and don't want to break the bank or bust out your fancy duds to go someplace with white tablecloths.

the garlic bread is pretty tasty and the salad is LOADED with cheese. i got the sausage and peppers with potatoes and it came with a side of ravioli (1/2 meat, 1/2 cheese). you get a lot of freaking food for around $15! there's plenty of parking in the back or on side streets.

also...

wait for it...

they have diet coke! :D

i really needed a special dessert last night. i was kind of stressing at the thought of going to the whole foods on arroyo, but luckily, i happened to be in hastings ranch and remembered that this whole foods was on my way home.

parking was easy as pie. i headed over to the bakery where i was immediately asked if i needed assistance by amy. she and ashley were super helpful when i told them what was hoping to find and why. i also told them i'd gotten a not-so-fresh cake from the arroyo whole foods once and needed reassurance that whatever i was going to purchase was baked that day. they pointed out the freshest cakes and gave me suggestions on what my two lovelies might enjoy. (he likes chocolate, she likes strawberries.)

i ended up buying a very light chocolate cake with a whipped buttercream frosting that ashley adorned with fresh strawberries and "yay!" in vanilla buttercream.

it was delicious and the perfect way to celebrate and commemorate a big day for my two favorite people.