Ronnie M.'s Profile

i really like taco bell. I really love del taco. In fact, del taco is way superior to taco bell because they use thinner shredded cheese. (but taco bell has the better chicken quesadilla)

Tito's is like half way between a fake taco and an 'real' taco. It's like they tried to make the taco bell taco authentic by subbing in a real fried tortilla and 'real' shredded beef. It's like replicating a Guess bag. Ew and why.

Frying a tortilla makes it unnaturally hard and I personally enjoy Taco Bell's flavorfull ground beef and the nice thin taco hardshell.  

Not to mention Tito's hard shells makes your jaws work. No bueno.

Space - Great.

It's a beautiful space. Bi level and open. They have the main cabin, the outdoor patio, a private room upstairs and seating along the balcony overlooking the central bar area. There must have been over 15+ TVs all huge. All in HD. It's the sport's bar of your dreams.

Service - Crap.

The service was pretty shoddy. REALLY shoddy. In fact, 25 minutes in with no one even coming to take a drink order or give us a menu, I was contemplating on leaving. Luckily, the manager made an effort. It's not his fault his waiters are incompetent. He told the busboy to buss the shit out of those tables over there, put more paper towels in the bathroom AND told our waitress to take our order it one walkthrough. And he sincerely apologized for the wait which was nice.

Food - Generally crap with one highlight.

We ordered the calamari which was rubbery and the sauce was heavy. The fish and chips which was really fishy and cooked unevenly. One piece I had was awfully hard and chewy while another tasted fine. The redeeming food item was the mac and cheese. It was fantastic. Pasta shells, bacon, green onions and mushrooms = all my most favorite things in the world. Mmmm.

The drinks are delicious but I question how much liquor is in it cuz I drank two huge cup fulls of vodka lemonade and I didn't feel a thing. :-/

I finally realized why it was OK for them to give us crappy service (or ignore us completely) when we got the bill and notice that they automatically tip themselves 20%. Mind you, we were a party of 3. Whatever.

Patrons - Be white, graduated from college 6 years ago but still secretly enjoy beer pong, fratty, loud - one or all of the above.

Nothing against the bar itself but when your only redeeming value is your mac 'n cheese. It's not the greatest incentive for me to go. Besides, I don't really like partaking in delusions and tool academy rejects believing that this is anything more than their version of a "matured" college frat scene.

I'm ultimately not a bro. or a bro's gf and I don't wear clothes that used to be trendy in 1998. If it's any help or gauge of audience, Brody Jenner and Jayde would LOVE it here. Heidi and Spencer would think these people are losers, Lauren Conrad would pretend to like it in a passive aggressive way and roll her eyes at the 1998 fashion rejects and Kristin Cavallari would love it cuz she's like the female version of a bro. She, like, totally loves burping, beer and sports dude. Of course you do.

Meh. I'd only come here if I wanted to dump my man.

It's pretty and impersonal. It's distracting and packed. It's loud enough so you can ignore him when he asks for his Jay-Z collection back or glaze over the fact that you screwed his best friend.

The food is cheap but pedestrian and mediocre enough that it won't build up any new happy memories that you'll reminisce on and wonder if you should give him a 2nd chance. Much like Joan's on 3rd, BL exists on smoke and mirrors. It's cute and elegant enough to give unsuspecting LAers a 'downtown NY' experience and then bamboozle you into Cheesecake Factory quality food.

We ordered a couple dishes to share. Decided to split a pizza into two flavors - Bianco and Clam. Both were really really heavy on garlic. The Bianco was rather 'milky' tasting possibly from the overload of ricotta and mozzarella. The arugula on top was kinda odd and unnecessary. The clam was meh. Kind of chewy.

We also got a side of marinated shrimp which was a throwaway order but ironically the best thing we had all night. It was light and refreshing in contrast to all the oily fried food we ordered.

Speaking of fried foods, the portobello fries that everyone raves over? Tell me it's interesting after the first two. I dare you. Yea. It's fried mushrooms. Go get that shit and your local hamburger hut. The novelty was there...... for 3 seconds.

And the chocolate souffle and calamari we ordered? Not even worth mentioning. In a blind taste test, I wouldn't be able to separate Bottega Louie's food from Olive Garden.

If you have a horrible palate but want to "feel" like you're in a chic New York hot spot for a night, come to BL. If you ignore the surroundings outside BL, the lack of bustling crowds and energy on the streets, the bums, and the low rent food, it's EXACTLY like NY.

....and I'm really Megan Fox.

With a name like Pho Show, half the fun is in the name (and making corny 40 Year Old Virgin jokes. Easy Steve Carell.) There's a steady lunch crowd but never had a wait.

I usually go with the regular combination pho with tripe, tendon, brisket, meat balls, and rare beef and eggrolls. Sounds like a lot? Don't worry. You only get two pieces of each listed meat. Oh no! Worried that you'll have a horrible ratio of noodles to meat? Oh, don't worry. You only get a small handful of noodles too. Meh. You get a weight watcher's XS portion of everything. Sweet. God's way of telling me to ease up fatass or do more coke like a responsible adult.

The eggrolls are measly and strangely similar to those at chinese restaurants rather the more traditional flavors that viet eggrolls carry - there's no vermicelli, pork flavor, and those crunchy black things.

But the question is, is it still passable? Let me phrase my answer carefully... with enough sriracha and condiments, you can turn any bland bowl of broth into an acceptable meal. Being one of the only 3 pho places on the westside, I suggest you start learning how to mask your tastebuds. Adjust accordingly.

Apparently everything is 2 dollars.
Apparently everything tastes like trash.

I know I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to chinese food but meh. this place has seriously gone downhill.

Everything is lukewarm.

The pushcart ladies try and lie and say its fresh from the kitchen. Um. No it's not. I've seen you pushing the same cart for 34 minutes. No I don't care that you remind me of my mom. Don't test me.

Don't be misled by their menu boasting of black bean clams, jellyfish, scallop dumplings and shark fin soup. Come on, it's 2 dollars. Do you really think it's real shark fin? It's SO vermicelli.

And those awesome specialty items on the menu? Good luck trying to hunt down the cart for them. The only carts we saw revolving was the har gow, siu mai, and turnip cake. Meh.

False advertisement.

And who really eats push cart dim sum these days? This isn't 1997.

Everytime someone says "i'll take you to a cool bar in jtown" You can almost bet your grandma's right kidney that they mean "the little bar in the alley"

I like this place. Like. Not love. The drinks are strong. I especially the mango one and i'm not a fruity drink kinda lady (i like vodka tonics - remember that for the future.) The crowd is a hit and miss. Sometimes I come here and it's packed like sardines for a private party. Those are the meh days. If you enjoy crowds you might as well walk across the street to Daikokuya.

Then there are days when the crowd is sparse and hey... what a nice surprise. There's a jazz band playing. I love live music especially jazz at a quiet lounge. There's something so private, sensual and secluded about soft jazz, outdoors, a sectioned off couch, and the slow burn of alcohol. Yup. Ramp your PDA scale to 11. The illicit, dramatic, dangerous, selfish, passionate kind.. mind you.. not the "i'm dry humping my bf at a keg party" type. Gross.

Come here. Have fun. Get transported.

What do you think when you hear Nobu Matsuhisa?

Nobu's signature miso marinated black cod!

To be honest, miso marinated anything is delicious (especially seabass!) and the black cod at Izayoi was no exception. The dish was delicate, sweet, hot, just all around mouthgasm. Found the recipe from the "Nobu Cookbook" and hoping to recreate this dish at home. *cross your fingers*

We also had the yellowtail sashimi. My favorite type of sashimi along with salmon (yes. i'm pedestrian. sue me) OMG. Generous, fresh, thick pieces. I would come here just to eat yellowtail all night long.

The mushroom medley and ginko root appetizer was amazing also. the portions are generous. The hot sake pairs well with everything.

Another wonderful neighborhood spot that's not in my neighborhood. *sigh*.

5 stars for amazing sound and close proximity to the stage.

1 star for not allowing wine bottles. Have you ever chugged two whole bottles of wine in 10 minutes?

This was my first time at the Bowl. To me, the bowl = nice evening under the stars drinking wine and eating cheese and meats. Not sitting on a curb outside downing wine and missing/watching the opening act (Common) on a 12 inch TV.

Say what you want but I'm all for classis.. *cough* i mean seatism. If you are paying 250/pp for tickets, you deserve to be treated differently. And by different I mean better.

Yea, I'm a brat.

Being sick for the past week, I was in dire need of good pho, which means choosing to drive to the south bay or hit up the SGV. The SGV obviously being the better choice. Now, the Chineser in me tells me all Asian places in the SGV close at 2am right? So imagine my surprise when the recommended Saigon Flavor was CLOSED! CLOSED at 8:30pm! Who eats this early?! In a mad panic, we detour to Golden Deli barely slipping in the door at 8:59.

I seriously felt like such an asshole. Everyone else is wrapping up their meal. Who goes and orders two bowls of pho with extra beef balls and extra noodles, a side of charbroiled pork, AND eggrolls 2 minutes after closing? Luckily this place is quick. Within 3 minutes of ordering, all our food was served piping hot. I got the #1 special pho with tripe, tendon, rare beef, beef balls, etc. Thank you pho gods for granting my wish. Two other people got turned away 5 minutes after we sat down. Ouch. Enjoy your del taco tonight.

Maybe it's because I had my mind set on pho. Maybe it's because I felt so accomplished for making it here on time but the broth was absolutely mind-blowing. I was sweating and slurping down the noodles as fast as I could. Felt like I was detoxing. The side of pork was delicious with green onions and garlic bits. The egg roll was greasy but equally amazing. And guess what? All that food for less than 25 bucks? Where else can you find this kind of satisfaction?

My only dilemma is I can never decide if I want pho or try something else since the pho is so good and I know I'm hardly in the area so my choice is crucial. Next time I'll just order both and pretend that my 'friend' flaked on me and lord knows its bad form to waste food.  

[btw. Serious question: Asian gangsters don't eat pho past 9?]

You would think that with the abundance of Asians on the westside we'd have a cheap asian market, a good pho place, and marginally decent chinese food.

But i digress.

The westside is full of whiteys, wannabe-asian-whiteys, wanna-whitey-asians and overpriced produce at their fancy Whole Foods and their hippie ass Trader Joe's.  

But there are days when I move beyond self hate and declare a revolution against myself. No more paying 3.99/lb for bell peppers! .99 for ONE bunch of green onions?! WTF. 1.99/lb for ginger? The nerve of them!

Too lazy to drive to Freshia in the Southbay, Jenni recommended the Koreatown Galleria as my first foray into KTown soil.

Highlights of my produce extravaganza:

Green Onions - 4 bunches for 99 cents
Huge tupperware of minced garlic - 3.50
Italian Squash - .69/lb
Ginger - .99/a full bag
Red onion - .99/2lbs

Amazingly low prices on red potatoes, white potatos, persian cucumbers, asian pears, oh my!

*blows mind*

They have a live fish station as well as fresh fish laid out in ice. Selections include abalone, monkfish, sole, cod, sea bass, massive lobsters, etc. They also have marinated beef, pork, cuts of meat that you wouldn't find at Ralph's (aka sliced beef butt, snout, etc)

While I still think living on the Westside is the best thing since sliced bread, I am super excited to add Koreantown Galleria to my grocery store repertoire......for those rare days when I think about how angry my Chinese mother would be knowing I don't even balk at paying 6.99 for a small bottle of asian chili oil.

Shame on me.