Sunday, March 29, 2009

May I Have The Blue Plate Special?


On a quiet Saturday night in the town of Santa Monica I ventured into this seemingly quiet little restaurant and was delightfully impressed with the service and quickness that my food was ready. Somethings I enjoyed, others I was underwhelmed, well not really under, can you just be whelmed?

We ordered Sweet potato fries as our app, big fan of the sweet potato but what we received was more straw looking than fry looking which threw me off. 

The hardest part about these little guys is trying to eat the suckers. Its like grabbing at fragile straws. And forget about dipping them into the catsup or the delicious honey mustard stuff, they just break off. But once you get them in your mouth they are quite delicious. What I believe was honey mustard was very tasty on the fragile tuber.  

On their own though they were lacking, which I felt was the running theme with my meals at Blue Plate. They all needed salt. Once salted EVERYTHING sans the Turkey Club wrap was 100% better. The turkey wrap was beyond awesome as clubs meeting wraps go. I like my toast on my clubs.

Speaking of the Turkey club, wow thing was great. Turkey, avocado, tomato and turkey bacon, TONS OF TURKEY BACON. They used lunch meat turkey in the club which I am a huge fan of. I freaking HATE when restaurants use real turkey. I mean seriously how pretentious are you, use regular turkey, weirdos. I like my turkey process, salt infused and bad for me. The combination of all the items in the tomato wrap was fantastic. The only criticism was that I wish there was a little heat, possibly a spicy mayo or flavored mayo. Just to tie it all together and really make it pop. 











It was a big eating day, I was hungry and felt like ordering with my stomach instead of my brain. I ordered a cup of the turkey chili and was surprised to see how large it was for a cup. Our neighbor had a bowl and I was even more impressed, you could definitely make a meal out of a bowl hell even a cup if need be. The turkey chili was not the greatest thing I ate on this night though. It was slightly watery, not spicy at all and didn't come topped with any cheese. Seriously how can you get chili without a good amount of cheddar on top? I mean Wendy's even puts cheddar on their chili, which is also amazing and better than Blue Plates (sorry), but who am I to play favorites. (read as: Wendy's is way better, and I am playing favorites) 













Last and certainly not least is the turkey meatballs. Nestled on a bed of rice and topped with cheese and some sort of red sauce your mouth salivates. The smell is amazing and you get so excited to dive into the little bastards. And then you bite into it and you are brought right back down to earth, disappointed and left wanting. Something is missing, saddened you grab the salt and shake the whiteness over top. Take a new bite and WAM you are no longer underwhelmed, you have left whelmed and teetering into very very delicious. The combination of all the ingredients are only really experienced once salted. 












Final Bite: All in all Blue Plate was a tasty place to eat. Was I impressed, will I automatically suggest going there if we are hungry and in Santa Monica? Probably not, but I will definitely go there again. Final word: Bring your salt shaker and eat some good food with great service.

Blue Plate
1415 Montana Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90403
310.260.8877

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Foodapalooza Date Has Been Set!!

A date for Foodapalooza fka Gluttony Day has officially been set. On Saturday April 18th we will be venturing out into this world that we call Los Angeles and sampling foods that we find delicious. Co-creator Dana Smith and I have both picked 5 restaurants each and 5+ food items at those restaurants that the other has not tried or had the pleasure of patronizing and we will then eat these delicious treats. 

Yes this sounds like a feat for giants and fatties BUT we will be splitting the portions between the two of us and anyone else we can talk into driving all over Los Angeles over what will most likely be a 10-12 hour day of eating/driving.

As of now the menu consists of:

Justin's List:
Pita Kitchen - Lamb Schwarma and Greek Salad
Belmont - Mac and Cheese
Los Tacos - Chicken hard/soft tacos
Tacos Bonitos - California Burrito
Sushi-mon - Backed lobster roll
POSSIBLE Establishment
Philly's Best - American without

Dana's TENT list:
Cobra's and Matadors - Bacon wrapped dates
Baycities Italian Deli - Meatball Sub
Mastro's - Lobster Mash

These were just suggestions I gave to her per our conversation re: food stuffs. Please be aware - Card Subject to Change.

Once a final menu has been compiled we will map out and time line the day. My mouth will not stop it's salivating.