F Q, Where Do You Go To Brunch?

Things you need for a successful brunch location. 

1: Out door seating

2: Good Food

3: Great Company

4: Arnold Palmer's (or mimosa's or some sort of liquor)

All of which were in place for my brunch with my friend Janey. Janey is awesome and she says trousers which I love. 

We went to the French Quarter Market Place, aka the French Market for those who aren't jerks, there is no need to say the whole thing. We were patrons, 1 because Janey has never been and B it is close to my apartment and from previous posts you know that I am quite lazy. The service is always great and the food there is really tasty. 

I ordered a buffalo chicken sandwich and seasoned french fries. The fries were cooked perfectly and seasoned well and served as a perfect complement to my buff chic samy. The only complaint I had was that the French Market no longer sells shrimp SO they no long have cocktail sauce (I like cocktail sauce on my fries) so I had to make it myself with creamy horseradish and Heinz. Not that I cared, it's just that it's wack that they don't have cocktail sauce. 

The sandwich is great. You receive what I can only surmise as 3 lightly breaded chicken fingers with delicious buff sauce on them. I always get extra sauce because, well you can never have too much buff sauce. I did remember that I do not like bleu cheese on my sandwiches but I forgot that there is coleslaw on the thing so I had to slide that off which I felt bad about wasting. But who really likes coleslaw, and if you do, why?

Final Bite: The French Market is a great brunch place. They have really good food and I think it's not terribly pricey. As an aside, they have really good Pomosa's (pomegranate juice and champagne) shit will put you on your ass if you aren't careful. 

French Quarter Market Place

7985 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046
(323) 656-0874

First Annual Foodapalooza Schedule is Set!!

On Saturday April 18th Dana Smith and I (and whoever else is interested) will be attempting the simple feat of eating. Eating at 10 food establishments and consuming 10+ food items. Below please find the schedule of what can only be described as a marathon of gluttony. Will we finish? I am not sure, but hell we will sure give it the college try. The day will start at 11am and will continue until we are finished or we perforate our stomachs and have to go to the ER. Either way I know one thing. It is going to be awesome. Really, really awesome. 

Let the eating begin!

Bloom Cafe - Smoked Salmon Tartine - $12
5544 Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90019
(323) 934-6900
Hours: 11am - 10pm

Village Pizzeria - Pizza - $11
131 N Larchmont Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(323) 465-5566
Hours: 11:30am - 10pm

Cobra's & Matadors - Bacon wrapped dates - $10
7615 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 932-6178‎
Hours: 11:30am - 11:30pm

Los Tacos - Chicken hard/soft taco - $5, $5
7954 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046
(323) 848-9141
24 hours

Omi Sushi - Baked Lobster Roll
8163 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046
(323) 654-1056‎
Hours: 12pm - 12am

Belmont - Mac N Cheese - $14
747 N La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(310) 659-8871
Hours: 9am - 2am

Phillies Best - Cheesesteak, Tastycakes, Birch Beer
1419 W Olive Ave
Burbank, CA 91506
(818) 840-8700
Hours: 11am - 9pm

Pita Kitchen - Lamb Shawarma, Greek Salad - $6, $5
14500 Ventura Blvd
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
(818) 990-7006
Hours: 11am - 11pm

La Cabana - Empanada - $8
738 Rose Ave
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 392-6161
Hours: 11am - 3am

Vanilla Bake Shop - Mini Cupcakes - $10
512 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 458-6644
Hours: 9am - 7pm

Vito That, Can I Just Get Two Slices?

Along with everything else I've been hunting down to eat, pizza has been one of the most elusive little buggers of them all. There are tons of pizza joints out here and there is always something not just right. Either the crust, cheese, size, price and anything else you can fathom is off in some way. 

Vito's is no exception. I had a borderline perfect slice of pizza at their fine establishment. The crust was thin and cooked perfectly. The cheese was well placed and melted to almost perfect perfection, and the pepperoni was a great topping. I usually like my pepperoni thicker and to curl up like a little cup containing heart stopping goodness, but as pepperoni's go it was normal. 

The sauce on the pizza was just not doing it for me. I am not saying it was bad. I was just not wow'd. Maybe I've been on the west coast too long and the image I have in my mind and what my taste buds remember has just hyped up everything so much. Putting everything on a pedestal so high that even the food I remember eating back home cannot even compare. 

Final Bite: Vito's Pizza is definitely one of the better traditional slices of pizza I have had since living in LALA land. The cost is not terribly high but this is coming from a guy used to buy $1 slices. I will be going back because yes it is still a really good slice but is also a block away, which me being lazy is awesome.

Vito's Pizza
846 N La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(310) 652-6859

Can you wing it?? Yes we can...

On historical route 66 lies Barney's Beanery, home of $14 dollar pitchers and a 'decent happy hour' at a not so decent time. Seriously who on god's green earth is off and can get to Barney's before 7pm during the week and really take advantage of this 'happy hour'? If you can I hate you...lucky bastards.

Barney's has an amazingly large menu with tons of choice for everyone. The salads are good all the way up to the burgers but this isn't a story about those. On Thursday for the PSU vs. Baylor NIT Championship game I ate some typical bar foods and would like to let you know that if you are going to eat wings Barney's is top notch. 

Yes I lived in NY State for a year, and yes I've been to buffalo, and yes I am spoiled with the wings back east. BUT if you are going to eat a wing, Barney's is very good. I get mine crispy with extra sauce and blue cheese, which I feel is the only proper way to do it. You do not have to worry about ordering drums only like you do at Hooters (which is really only good for their 9-1-1 Chicken sandwiches and well...Hooters) because all they give you is drumlettes, very large drumlettes at that. Which is the only fault I find. Yes I LOVE getting my moneys worth like the next man, and with this recession you gotta get as much as you can, but if they DON'T make them crispy for you they just turn out like big too chewy slaps of salmonella. If they were slightly smaller than they would be money all the time. This is not my first time but when they are busy they tend to not care about how crispy they make them for you.

I also despite always being disappointed ordered the mozzarella sticks. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment but I never like them. Not that there is anything wrong with the actual stick, they are just NEVER cooked enough. I want a molten bite of stringy cheese when I eat the thing. I want to burn my mouth and have a piece of melted cheese not break away from its self and swing back and  burn my face. But nope, never happens.

Final Bite: The wings are good and depending on your wing palate they can be great. Definitely something to order if you want some good bar food. The mozzarella sticks should be passed on, but I am sure I will order them again in hopes of cooked to perfectioness.

Barney's Beanery

8447 Santa Monica Blvd

West Hollywood, CA 90069

323.654.2287

Can I smell Your Aroma (coffee & tea co.)?

One thing you learn and learn quick in Lost Angeles is how the people here LOVE brunches. It's borderline ridiculous on how much we love brunch, but oh my god do we love brunch. Its pretty insane. Bring up brunch to a person here and they can talk to you for hours about their favorite places and what is great there. Damn brunch people.

Well let me tell you about the Aroma Coffee & Tea Co. in The Valley, yes I said The Valley, take your Bayside Tiger hatred of The Valley and leave it at the other blogs. (yes I am not a fan of The Valley but some of the food there is amazing)

I went to Aroma Coffee & Tea Co. with some friends and experienced what could only be put like this, It was pretty much the same experience as the Urth Cafe but you feel less pretentious. Not saying that the Urth Cafe has any pretension BUT there is none at Aroma. Same ordering and food vibe but just less "look at me, look at me." I would advise you to take the same care in arriving early that you do at Urth, damn lines, I hate lines.  

What I delighted my palate with was something I have had before but never talked about. Salmon salad. Thing is amazing. It is a perfect size and has everything you want in a salmon salad. Make sure you go towards the bottom where the jems of deliciousness lie. Capers are down at the bottom along with some red onions and other great treats. You get a hearty fork full in your mouth and you can thank me later.

Yes I am sure I could say it needs heat and needs maybe some other salad item, but you can always say something needs to be spicy etc. I was raised with spice so unless it definitely needs it I will try not to cloud your thoughts and let you find out for yourself.

Also if you like arnold palmers Aroma Coffee & Tea Co. has one of the best in the city. Like I said it's pretty much like going to Urth Cafe, so take that amount of drink options and put it The Valley. For all I know Urth owns Aroma and if they don't I wonder who came first and who stole from who.

Final bite: Definitely a great brunch place. Would I drive all the way into The Valley for it? Not unless my friend lived in The Valley and suggested it. Why? I live in West Hollywood, shits far man.

Aroma Coffee & Tea Co.

4360 Tujunga Ave

Studio City, CA 91604

818.508.0677

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

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.