Francine "the rampaging vegetarian" K.'s Profile

A day later and I'm still thinking about how delicious my halloumi, fig and caramelized onion pide was. A fantastic blend of savory and sweet, and straight out of the oven fresh dough... I could go back for another right now. The carrot salad was also very good, and the friends I was with really enjoyed their pita hand wraps.

The only minus to the experience was the lack of ambiance in the restaurant. We were sitting in front of a giant open drink case, which was very loud and cold - and nobody was even using it.

I'll definitely be returning, though!

After seeing a flier at our apartment, we decided to check out Bodhi with a vegan friend. Four of us went for dinner, and we were in a bit of a time crunch since 2 people had to go to the airport. We thought we had left plenty of time, but as it turned out, dinner went longer than expected.

To start from the beginning, Bodhi is in a small strip mall on Pico, and I understand it just opened this month. It looked like it was closed when we got there, since it was pretty dim inside and nobody else was there at 7pm.

The door was open and the Open sign was in the window, so we went in and grabbed a table. The walls are pretty drab save for a few decals which are interesting, but just not enough to make the space feed decorated or designed in any way. They could definitely use a little more art of color on their walls to make the place feel more welcoming.

Among the four of us, we ordered spring rolls, vegan chicken wings, vegan orange chicken, Thai green curry, pad see-ew, and a quesadilla. The food itself was all quite good. The green curry was nice and spicy and I had it with brown rice. Our friends liked the chicken wings, and everyone was happy overall with their meals. They were also presented more nicely than I had thought they would be and looked very appetizing.

The biggest problem was really the service. It was very slow. The appetizers came out after 20-30 minutes waiting (and there were only 2 other people in the restaurant who came in much later than we did), and the entrees to closer to an hour to come from the time we ordered. We also needed to ask for more water and forks, and the food didn't come out all at the same time.

Hopefully the service issues will improve as the restaurant gets over its growing pains, and the decor will improve as well because the food was quite good and reasonably priced.

Marina won't always tell you what you want to hear, but she will tell you the truth -- and she looks out for your best interests. She also saved me more than $200 on a dress.

I took a dress (my bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding) to her a few weeks ago since it needed a lot of alterations. I'd already taken it to another tailor and bought 2 different undergarments to try with it. Nothing was working right. Marina pinned it up, and it looked great, but then she suggested -- rather, insisted -- that I try a smaller size since she thought it would fit, and my alterations would be less.

Well, I wasn't thrilled about buying a second $180 dress, but she was right. I went from needing more than $70 in alterations to needing about $30, and I did away with the $60 undergarment, too, since she was able to sew in a bra.

So I've already saved about $100, when I go to pick up my dress for the final time and she tells me that someone else brought in the same dress from Ross that she bought for $50. Now, I was a bit upset to hear this since I'd spent so much money on this dress already, but she told me to contact Macy's and see about getting the price adjusted. I didn't even realize you could actually do that, but you can -- and I saved another $130, as did the other bridesmaids.

I'll definitely be going back.

I really enjoy going to Anny's. The smoothies are tasty, and the veggie sandwich tastes like something my mom would make for me -- simple and healthy, with lots of vegetables. The prices are reasonable, the location is great, and it's a nice little family-run place to frequent.

The place itself is tiny, but there are a number of tables set up outside that offer plenty of room to having your sandwich, coffee, and whatever else.

I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to come to Anny's, but as a local smoothie, coffee and sandwich shop, I think it's great -- and I walk over often.

I hadn't been to the Austria Hof for dinner in many years. Many years ago, I remembered not finding anything other than a potato pancake to eat as a vegetarian. This time seemed more promising -- the menu we saw at our condo listed a grilled veggie lasagna. Unfortunately, when we got there, there was no lasagna on the menu. There was nothing vegetarian on the menu at all, actually, except for a couple of appetizers.

We asked if there was anything they could do and our waiter said no. We pressed him to ask the chef, and reluctantly, he said he would. The chef said that he could make a shrimp and lobster pasta without any of the seafood so it was just vegetables and noodles. I agreed -- we weren't about to head anywhere else when the roads were so icy.

The meal wasn't very exciting. A few vegetables, pasta, too much butter collected in the bottom of the bowl. And then the bill came -- they charged $29 for the pasta! My meal was the most expensive of anyone at our table, and my parents had ordered osso bucco and wienerschnitzel. We didn't press our waiter about it since he did end up giving us 15% off the bill instead of 10% (my parents had a coupon), but it just felt wrong to have paid so much for a meal that cost less than $5 to make and I could make better at home.

For you meat eaters, my parents did enjoy their meal. I just wouldn't bring a vegetarian here unless you were absolutely certain they'll have something on the menu and with a reasonable price for what's being offered.

If I weren't a vegetarian, I would absolutely give Cafe Cellini more stars.

This is another one of my grandparents' restaurants and I've come here every time I've visited them over the past 10 years or so. They (and most of the rest of the family) absolutely love the food -- lots of steak, veal, seafood and fish -- while I'm usually left wishing there were a more interesting vegetarian option.

Tonight I had the poached pear and gorgonzola salad and angel hair pasta with tomatoes, garlic and parmesan. It was tasty and fresh, and though the simple pasta was good, it was my only entree option. For dessert I had a chocolate lava cake which, well, was surprisingly lava-less, though it was still very rich and chocolatey.

In general, the service is very good, and the atmosphere is realxing. The owner is always out checking on everyone and knows all of his regular customers personally. The presentation of the food is nice, and the valets are very quick. It's also not too loud, so that helps the grandparental communications as well.

This is another one of my grandparents' favorite restaurants and it's always a pleasure to go with them. The pizza is delicious with a nice thin crust and lots of garlic. The salads are large and have lots of flavor -- I've had the Greek salad a few times now, and though it can be a little heavy on the dressing for me, it's very tasty.

I have also tried the eggplant lasagna, which I was surprised to find out comes with a side of penne in tomato sauce. Pasta as a side for another pasta? I was a little confused and felt like it was waaay too much food, though I actually liked the flavor of the penne better than the lasagna. The tomato sauce on the penne was very fresh, while I found the lasagna to have a bit too much ricotta for my taste. I would have liked to have more tomato sauce and less cheese in the lasagna.

Overall, though, it's always a nice experience, and everyone I've gone with has been happy with their food, whatever they ordered.

This is one of my grandparents' favorite restaurants, and I'm happy that they took me here on this trip. They've known Joy for years -- since she worked at another Thai restaurant down the street, which I'd been to many times, and I must say, I like this one even better.

The atmosphere is nice -- the music isn't too loud, the lights are dim and the decor is modern. The dishes have very generous portions and come on some nice plates, too -- I especially like their giant slanted-rim bowls. Most importantly, though, the food is very tasty.

We shared vegetable dumplings a yellow curry with vegetables and tofu, and some noodles with vegetables which were all well prepared and very flavorful. The vegetable dumplings were my favorite -- a perfect start to the meal since they were steamed and light, and packed a lot of great flavors into just a couple of bites.

The service was also very good, with Joy waiting on many of the tables and going around to check if everyone was OK.

The building looks pretty unassuming from the outside -- I think it may have been a diner before -- but it's definitely worth the trip, as it's a place both young and old will enjoy.

After going to taste for a few more brunches and two dinners, Taste has moved up to a five-star for me for its relaxed atmosphere, changing seasonal menus, classy comfort food, delicious drinks and rather reasonable prices -- especially for the prix fixe menu.

I was just here on Saturday night. I made a reservation that day. When we showed up, our table wasn't ready yet because the previous party was taking longer than expected, so we went to the bar for a drink. After waiting 10-15 minutes (and someone in our party still wasn't even there), they told us that our first round of drinks was on the house. That definitely made the wait worth it -- and their drinks are yummy! We had the ruby slipper, the lychee martini, the St. Germain and a virgin concoction for a friend who doesn't drink that the bartender was very nice about.

Our waiter was friendly, we ordered the pear and gorgonzola pizzetta as an appetizer (delicious again), as well as some truffle oil Mac n Cheese and a very tasty pear, pomegranate and goat cheese salad.

We continued our decadent feast with a dinner of squash risotto, chicken paillards, turkey meatloaf and chicken canneloni. I'm pretty sure everyone polished everything off, including a bottle of chardonnay that was nice and crisp and reasonably priced at about $36.

Of course, what is a feast without dessert -- and we went all out. Bread pudding, chocolate decadence and a chocolate devil's food cake. Again, I don't think we left a spot on our plates.

Our waiter was very friendly and appropriately attentive, there was a fun party atmosphere in the place since there was a small wedding party in the other room, and the small restaurant wasn't bustling, but it didn't feel too noisy.

Though it took me a little while to warm up to it, this has becoming one of my favorite nearby dinner and brunch spots.

How did I not know about the joys of Glatt Mart before? And why was I wasting my time at the rather lame Ralphs and Pavilions nearby?

Glatt Mart has a much more interesting selection of produce than the regular markets with many varieties of figs and cherries, donut peaches, persimmons... whatever's interesting an in season, it's there. And normally at a better price than other supermarkets. Seriously, the same pack of NatureSweet tomatoes was more than a dollar less here than in another market I went to a few days before.

Also, as others have mentioned, this is hummus heaven. I think they have every variety of Sabra hummus made and then some. As well as many brands of labne, many types of yogurt and lots of other interesting dairy products.

This is definitely a market for people who like to cook, and people who are cooking for groups. There are tons of spices, rices, flours and beans. And most of the regular dried goods you'd find in any other market.

I can't vouch for the meat or fish (I only do veggies), but I love this market, its European feel, and the Israeli music that's always playing.

Word of caution: avoid going if there's a Jewish holiday starting in the next couple of days. It gets crazy and the small aisles make for major shopping cart traffic jams. Otherwise, it's usually fine.