Niko "Living in my own private Idaho" X.'s Profile

Finally! A decent bar in the valley!

LA is by no means known as a beer town... but lets face it, some of us imports are beer guys from elsewhere. It's nice for once to walk into a place where you aren't pre-sumed an un-cultured ruffian just because you refuse to drink an overpriced Arnold Palmer.

The room is a medium sized  rectangular strip with traditional tables along the wall and a communal high top serving at the bar's backbone. Seating is at a premium, but if you grab a drink and relax a bit, you'll easily get a table. We waited perhaps 20 minutes and found ample seating at the high top for my group of about 8.

Come to Laurel Tavern to enjoy good beer and wine... if you want a red bull and tonic, jump over the mountains to Skybar and debate valet parking with the douche-bags in the white jumpsuits.

The staff were real, and serious about good beer and wine. They were helpful and didn't try to rush us into ordering when we inquired about the various offerings.

I didn't partake in the food, but perhaps next time.

One of the darkest bars on the planet.  

I think I'm on to Liquid Kitty's business model:
Coming in from the blinding sun of happy hour in the summer... you are so blind for the first ten minutes, you can't even differentiate the bills in your wallet when you pay for your first drink.  

LK is known for it's daily special: "the low-life"  ...  a Pabst Blue Ribbon in a can with your choice of any house well shot.  At $4, a couple of these will (to quote a friend) "get you a healthy buzz for $8."

I've patronized both during happy hour and later at night.  The crowd is pretty chill, and the staff are nice.  A curious and always fun feature are the dimly projected videos on the wall to the right of the bar... on which I've seen everything from vintage pornography to the film OFFICE SPACE.

Now this place...

Absolutely fan-mother-flipping-tastic.

The line is absolutely off the hook pretty much all day... but I would wait in it if it were double. Hands down, the best panini  I've EVER EVER had. They hit all the details right... enough olive oil in the bread (which was of the finest sourdough variety), grill marks not to light not too dark, prosciutto cut thick enough to feel substantial but not tough, and just the right amount of crispy vegetables and cheese to provide a refreshing mix of textures.

...and that's just the sandwich!

The baked goods here were also incredible... I think we spent about $40 bucks on croissants, cookies, lemon tarts, etc. Everything that wasn't eaten was the next day's breakfast at the hotel!

I'm too much of an ice cream purist to truly appreciate some of the creative flavor combinations a place like Bi-Rite comes up with.  I mean, unless a place has some profound version of espresso chip, or something involving either vanilla, chocolate, or coffee with actual chocolate chunks in it... it's lost on me.  I'm just too in love with the above flavors.

I do have to say though, Bi-Rite was incredible.  I've become a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan of the salted caramel flavor...and I'm a guy who doesn't really like caramel!  

The staff were nice, though not overly so... and they seemed patient with requesting samples.  

My verdict...this is a great place to go with a small group of friends...everyone orders something different and round and round we go.

It's not that Royal Cap was bad... I've just had better...

I'll start with the house special lobster. I think they overdo it... lobster has a tenderly delicate and complex flavor...and chopping it up and loading it with spices just masks what I consider one of the great delicacies of the sea. I qualify myself as a purist New Englander who would have difficulty accepting lobster any other way than traditional NE style... but as a compromise I just wish Royal Capital would just ease up just a tiny bit on the grease and spice... just a bit.

I was also not much of a fan of most of the other "house special" dishes I ate. Maybe the whole style is just lost on me... but the whole buttery flavor just doesn't seem to work for me in Asian cuisine.

I did very much enjoy the fried tofu and fried squid (these do not include the house special sauce thank God). The pea sprouts were also great.

Besides the food, the restaurant itself seems kind of sticky and dingy. I'm by no means a food snob about atmosphere...but I felt dirty here. I hear there are other locations...maybe it's just this one?

Dukes is a classic example of location and view over culinary inventiveness.

For appetizer, the calamari had a nice batter, but I was disappointed it wasn't the whole squid, including tentacles.  

...BORING, NEXT!

I opted for the fish and chips platter as a main course.  The fish was beer battered and tasty, but I found the tiny portion of fish and HUGE portion of waffle fries a bit backwards.  To be fair, the fries were very good...coated variety with extra crisp texture and soft potato inside; and the fish itself was decent quality.  

The most disappointing thing I saw on the menu was the seared ahi tuna one of my dining companions ordered.  Seared tuna, if high quality is a pretty sold dish that is ridiculously difficult to mess up.  Further, being a Hawaiian theme, I'd assume Duke's would make sure to get this one right--nope....   A large chunk of tuna was seared to cook the very outer layer, and plated as is as a thick mass, completely uncut.  This is bad....because no standard table knife is sharp enough to cut raw fish without turning what should otherwise be a beautiful piece of fish into a disgusting looking pile of torn and mangled fish flesh. (yuck)   Any smart chef would slice the seared tuna into thin bite sized slices fanned appetizingly on the plate.  

The above situation is something I really can't gloss over; it is absolutely unforgivable.  The ahi was one of their most expensive dishes, and was highly recommended in the annoyingly scripted pitch given by our sycophant of a server.  This lack of attention to detail is absolute proof that Duke's is nothing more than a formulaic chain that woos patrons through the door, blinds them with a view and over-enthusiastic employees, and doesn't give two shits about culinary excellence.

I love this Starbucks because after a really shitty Monday at work, when I'm feeling blah because of the depressing economic times and horrific prognosis of things at my work, the barista truly made me smile when she laughed at my funny tshirt while I was waiting in line.  It wasn't much of a big deal... but it lifted my spirits in a way the caffeine in the coffee couldn't.  The 5 shot espresso macchiato they made me was superb as well!

Tabento?

The area is not one where you'd expect to find a fairly authentic seeming Japanese sushi / izakaya style restaurant? Located in a strip mall on Mesa Verde just off Harbor, this apparent valley-girl owned establishment kind of a quiet little hideaway?

We ordered a few rolls and a bowl of udon? The crunch roll is one of the craziest I've ever seen? It's got crab and shrimp rolled inside out with rice... and instead of battered and deep fried it's covered in a huge pile of tempura crumbs? I prefer this as the roll has a cool mouth-feel, and isn't oily? The caterpillar role was also very tasty, with very tasty unagi?

The udon was incredible? Firm but tender noodles, not too mushy, and a well balanced light but flavorful broth?

Despite the stupid name, this place is one of the better values for sushi in the valley. Best known for its all-you-can eat special, which ranges from about $20 - $25 depending on the day and time, you can get lots of bang for your buck here.

I've been here maybe five times, indulging in AYCE on two of those visits. The AYCE is only at the sushi bar, and I found the sushi chefs to be friendly and eager to please. The AYCE is limited to one hour...which presents kind of an issue as I tend to rush and not really enjoy when I'm eating. I think 90 minutes would be better, at least for me, because I'd order the same amount but spend more time enjoying it. I after my second visit I stopped doing the AYCE because I couldn't deal with the food coma that comes on afterward.

Put prosaically, the place looks like a quasi-shithole from the outside.  Once within however, the clean dark wooden spacious interior is inviting and pleasant.  The staff are all very friendly (Korean I think).... and are a large part of what keeps me coming back.  

Overall the fish quality is average, with some bright spots... their yellow tail always seems to hit the mark. Do I think this place can compete with an expensive place... no. Is it for sushi snobs, no. Does it work for me, a avid fish lover on a budget? You bet!

Look everyone knows the dumplings here are good.  My only issue is that they could be soupy-er... I need these things to practically pop when I bite into them, spraying my face with scalding hot delicious broth overflowing the plastic asian soup spoon.  

That out of the way, let's focus on something more significant (at least to me)...

Din Tai Fung is all about choices... and we're not JUST talking about choosing between juicy pork or crab pork, boiled or pan fried... you have to make a choice even before you walk through the door. I'm talking about old or new... or as I like to say fobby or not-so-fobby.

Din Tai Fung is actually two semi-adjacent restaurants in the same strip-mall! There's the old side which is your basic 80s era tile floor rectangular room nondescript Asian restaurant... or the new super swank Chinese movin' on up late 2000s side. For me this presents a tremendously complicated dilemma: a lover of all things fobby... I generally feel the best Asian foods are found in the most utilitarian of establishments. Additionally, I take a long hard look at the clientele... if they are the namesake people of the establishment's food style... I know I have a good place.

What makes DTF tough for me is this. The fobby side hits every mark for me: bare bones atmosphere, mostly Chinese people, but the downside is a HUGE long line. The non-fobby side is less crowded, more diverse crowd, but a REALLY REALLY nice atmosphere that despite my pretensions about nice places, my inner-whiteness takes over and it attracts me like brass to a doorknob.

The dilemma always resolves itself the same way: under tremendous personal guilt I always attend the non-fobby side where you get the same food, with virtually no wait, in a very cool atmosphere. Hey... we all have vices.