Taste, Melrose

One of my favorite joints to grab a nice, casual dinner on Melrose is a itty bitty restaurant called Taste. It is consistently good and never fails to leave a lasting impression on your mind and taste buds. They have the best Mac n Cheese in town, that comes bubbling in a mid-size ramekin.

On Saturday night, Angie and I had tickets to catch Donna Summers at the Hollywood Bowl (don't ask, I'm not that into disco either). Instead of making our usual feast/spread, we decided to go out to dinner instead, because it was just the two of us.

It was roughly 6pm and we didn't have reservations and we pondered where to go as we drove to the east side of town. We thought we wanted to be "spontaneous" and try someplace that we've never been before, but when it came down to it, we ended up going to old faithful, a "Taste" of the familiar at Taste.

Luckily, it was early enough that we didn't need reservations, so we stumbled into Taste and had a nice table outside on their patio, which allowed for ample people watching down Melrose Avenue. I had a glass of the St. Supery 2005 Cab (delicious) and the Edna Valley 2006 Cab (meh, but half the price) with my Kobe beef burger and pomme frittes. Ang had the skirt steak with potato puree. We also shared their orgasmic mac n chz.

Both of us asked for medium rare on our meat, but we both got overdone meat. There were parts of my burger that were rubbery, and it was cooked all the way through. However, I really think this was a fluke because I've ordered meat at Taste before and they've never fudged it up like this before.

Outside of being overcooked, my burger was good. It was served with a smoky cheese and arugula, and a garlic aioli on the side. Her skirt steak was also good, again, aside from it being overdone.

Of course I'd go back.

Taste

8454 Melrose Ave

West Hollywood, CA 90069
(323) 617-3756

Sor Tino Ristorante, Brentwood

I had a lovely lunch with my good friend Ang today at Sor Tino. We arrived before the lunch crowd filtered in and dined al fresco. One thing that I noticed was that the host, servers and a large chunk of the clients were Italian, this was appealing to me, because it spoke to the authenticity of the restaurant.

I had an Iced Tea and the Linguine alla Pescadora. Angie had the Rigatoni with eggplant. I wasn't thrilled about her dish, the pasta was a bit too al dente for me and her sauce was just okay, but I went nuts over my dish. The seafood was very fresh, the pasta was slightly al dente, but not crunchy, like Angie's rigatoni.

The dish arrived with fresh mussels, clams, prawns and calamari. The squid was perfectly chewy and the sauce was a perfect tangy tomato sauce.

Their specials list was also impressive, they had a grilled calamari salad on the menu, which sounded interesting, as well as a variety of meat/seafood dishes. I would go back to check out their dinner options.

Sor Tino Ristorante

908 S. Barrington Avenue

Brentwood, CA 90049

310.442.8466

Pho Bac, Irvine

There are some things that the OC does well, and there are some things it really does not. Like for example, chain restaurants and mini malls. If ever the mood for chain restaurant food in a mega strip mall with plenty of parking strikes my fancy, I hop on the 405 and head straight south behind the Orange Curtain.

Another thing that the OC does pretty well is Vietnamese food. Living on the westside, there is a dearth of good Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese food. Luckily, I can make my K-food runs to K-town, and I'm not a big fan of Chinese food anyway, so that doesn't bother me. But sometimes, the mood for some broken rice or pho or just a healthy dose of MSG realy kicks in. What do I do? I hop to the mediocre, yet overpriced pho chain, Pho 99 on Wilshire, suck it up, and have some Vietnamese food that leaves me strangely unsatisfied. At times I make eye contact with other Asian Americans who are obviously kids of immigrants who also have the sigh of resignation on their faces.

So when I was in OC over the weekend, I was excited to go have some authentic Vietnamese food. We were gonna hit up Little Saigon for our usual broken rice spot, where nobody speaks a lick of English and you basically have to point to what you want, but it was a bit of a drive so we decided to go to our other spot in Irvine, which is a little cleaner, and the staff can verbally communicate with you.

I had a big bowl of pho tai, or rare steak Pho. It was fantastic! The soup was fresh, and I could really taste the star anise, the noodles had just been made and the beef was cut into nice thick slices. I got plenty of basil and cilantro (my favorites), as well as fresh lime, bean sprouts and jalepenos. All that for about 6 bucks. The same dish costs about 9 bucks on Wilshire, and doesn't taste as good.

Someone, please, bring Pho Bac to the westside...

Pho Bac
4250 Barranca Pkwy # K
Irvine, CA (949) 857-8808‎

Yogurt Berry, Ktown

After my adventures with Korean BBQ, the guys and I decided to take a stroll down Wilshire Blvd to check out the Korean-Korean Yogurt spot, Yogurt Berry. I call it Korean-Korean because even though the surge of yogurt places (Pink Berry, Red Mango, Yogurt Land) are all Korean owned businesses, and business ideas inspired from the motherland, I wanted to see if Ktown's version of Westerized yogurt places was similar.

The place is really cute, as are most froyo places as of late. It is painted pink with black chandeliers and a funky shabby chic feel to it. The set up is similar to yogurt land where it is self serve yogurt and toppings, and they charge you after for 30cents an oz. They had about 10 different flavors, so I decided to try a triage of peach with cheesecake crumbles on top, pistachio topped with peanuts and cappuccino with chocolate chips.

I really liked the various flavors of yogurts, I think my favorite was the pistachio, then cappuccino, and lastly, peach, but they were all really good and light. I liked it because the texture was less creamy, a little more gritty, and definitely more icy. It was a perfect way to finish off a heavy dinner.

The lady behind the counter-- presumably the owner-- was also very nice, she chatted me up when I asked her about the toppings.

Next time I'm in K-town, I'd go back to this place.

Yogurtberry

3800 Wilshire Blvd

Los Angeles, CA (213) 382-5778

Soot Bul Gui Rim, K-Town

I don't make it down to k-town very often, and if I do, it's usually for one thing, and that's to GRUB on some authentic Korean food. Usually, I'll go for Korean BBQ or my other favorite, soon tofu. One of my favorite all you can eat K BBQ joints is a place called Soot Bul Gui Rim, which translates to "Charcoal Fire Meat" or something.

My friend Jangel, one of the few Korean food aficianados that I can trust referred me to this restaurant, and I've been a huge fan ever since.

I love this place for several reasons. 1. It's all you can eat at a decent price ($16.95). 2. The quality of meat is fresh and good. 3. The service is great, especially for a Korean place. So even though the wait is generally 30-45 minutes long, it is definitely worth it. And 4. They have one of my all time favorite ban chan dishes, a steamed egg that they make old school style in a stone pot.

In short: We GRUBBED. We had three orders of the cha dol, or thinly sliced brisket, bulgogi, marinated beef slices, kalbi, short rib, and a big chunk of rib eye steak, that they scissored up for us. The guys wanted to try some tripe, so we ordered it, but I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to try what resembled a white sponge of meat.

They serve their meat with duk sam, the new trend in Korean bbq, which is basically a Vietnamese inspired accessory to meat. Essentially, they are rice paper wraps that you can wrap your meat in, along with other banchans and the various sauces they provide.

We polished our meal off with four big bottles of hite beer. If you've never had Korean beer, this is pretty much one of the better of the variety, it is refreshing and light! We also shared a traditional bottle of chamesul soju, or Korean-style vodka. It is an acquired taste, as some people refer to it as rubbing alcohol, but once you start to like the flavor of it, it really pairs nicely with the meats.

The only thing I wish this place had were the moo sam, or the radish-wraps, which are basically like the rice paper wraps, but thin slices of pickled radish that really give the meat a nice refreshing taste. Otherwise, this place is great!

Soot Bul Gui Rim

3977 W 6th St.

Los Angeles, CA 90020

Sushi Kinoya, Long Beach

Okay, I'll be frank. One of my biggest pet peeves are Korean owned sushi joints-- or even worse, Chinese owned ones. So when I walked into Sushi Kinoya, even though the decor was lovely (very modern, clean, and nicely decorated), I was a bit apprehensive because it was obvious that it was a Korean owned establishment. However, it was not that bad, especially for a Korean owned place, and the service was really great.

I made a trip down to the LBC to meet my friend Richy for lunch, and to do my dry cleaning (don't ask). He lives by the beach, and my dry cleaners is inland, so we decided to drop off the dry cleaning first and find eats after. On the corner of Bellflower and Stearn, Sushi Kinoya is a recently opened Japanese place.

Right when we sat down, we were greeted with miso and a Tsukemono mixture with octapus and pickled seaweed, which was very delicious and a perfect way to start a nice lunch.

We like to grub, so we ordered a few different things. I had the Salmon Teriyaki Bento (which came with miso, salad and a 4 piece california roll, along with a 5pc spicy tuna roll. Richy ordered the sushi special which included six pieces of sushi, a tempura roll, and then ordered a dragon roll on top of that.

The sushi was not bad. It was pretty fresh. I noticed, however, the pieces of sushi were sliced really thin, which was somewhat of a disappointment. My spicy tuna roll was okay, more Korean style than Japanese style (no mayonaise), and my salmon was a little dry and over sauced.

I was, however, impressed with Richy's dragon roll, because the fish atop the K-rab roll looked really fresh and were cut into much thicker slices than in his nigiri. The presentation was also really nice, the roll was served on a banana leaf on a very nice platter.

The prices were fairly reasonable, his lunch combo was 9.95, and the additional dragon roll was $8.95. My lunch special was 12.95 and I'm not sure how much the spicy tuna roll was.

We each had a diet coke, and I was disappointed that their diet cokes came in cans, which meant no refills, and besides, fountain soda tastes better, so that was a let down.

All in all, it was not too bad, and I wouldn't mind going back.

Sushi Kinoya
5521 E Stearns St

Long Beach, CA 90815

(562) 598-8169

Primitivo, Venice

One of my favorite places on Abbot Kinney is Primitivo, a wine bar/tapas joint. Their tapas aren't purely Spanish, but rather a fusion of Latin and Asian inspired tapas. I love this place because it is cozy, kitschy, and the service is always great. And, of course, the food is phenomenal. I've frequented this place quite a few times now, but because four of us went out for a late night dinner last night, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to blog about my dinner experience.



Our reservation was for 9:00 (moved from the original reservation at 7pm that we couldn't make due to unforeseen circumstances). But when we got there, it was packed and we weren't able to get seated until 9:40ish. The hostesses were extremely nice about the situation, however, constantly apologizing and reassuring us that our table would be ready shortly. Right when we got seated, they were so nice that they brought us a free fromage platter (brie, manchego, sliced baguettes, dates and toasted walnuts with honey. It was a fantastic way to start our montage of tapas.


We each chose 2-3 different small plates. I chose the heirloom tomato salad, diver scallops and bacon wrapped dates. We also had the prime beef carpaccio, BBQ short ribs, lamb chops, shrimp sauteed in garlic, spanish omelette, and paella.

The heirloom tomato salad was delicious, it was sort of like a caprese with a citrusy and sweet twist. There were a variety of tomatoes, including heirloom, yellow tomatoes and grape tomatoes, along with whole basil leaves, fresh mozzerella, and yes, pineapple. It was drizzled with a citrus infused olive oil and some balsamic. It was refreshing and tangy. Very delicious.


My all time favorite dish at primitivo are their bacon wrapped dates, that are stuffed with a bit of goat cheese. They are the perfect mix of salty, tangy, and sweet. Their spanish omelette is also good-- much better than the one at Cobras and Matador in my opinion. Their meat dishes are good, my favorite is the lamb, which has a moroccan twist to it.


My least favorites are the BBQ short ribs and the shrimp. The shrimp is over cooked and the sauce is too watery. I am not a fan of BBQ sauce, so that is probably why I don't really like the short ribs.


As for the paella, I was pleasantly surprised. I never ordered it there, and haven't had it in a long time since my horrible paella experience at ad hoc, but it is actually really delicious. The texture is perfect (not too sticky or dry), and it is very flavorful (has a little bit of a spicy kick to it) and you really taste the chorizo, shrimp and mussels.


As usual, YUM!


Primitivo
1025 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 396-5353

Ciudad, Downtown

Last Friday, I went to meet my "cousin," and good friend Tenacious D for lunch by his new law firm in downtown LA. His office is on the 52nd floor of the US Bank Tower, the tallest building in downtown, located right across the street from the LA public library. The view from his office is amazing, you can see almost all of one side of LA. And the best part of his office is that they have all the free diet cokes you can drink! It is like me and Angie's dreams come true. I even had to take a picture of the copious amounts of diet cokes because I really felt the need to capture the moments. It was kind of like a crack whore sitting in mountains of rock.


I rarely get a chance to go east of Robertson on the 10, so it was a really nice opportunity to enjoy the hustle and bustle of downtown. The area he works in is really gorgeous, it is the closest that LA gets to resembling a condensed metropolitan area, and in recent years, an increasing number of restaurants and bars have been popping up to attract more yuppies to move to that area.

We decided to check out Ciudad for lunch, a place I've wanted to check out for awhile. It is a Latin-inspired fusion restaurant (shocking, yet another fusion resto in LA??) opened by Food Network chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. All in all, it was a great dining experience, albeit the mediocre service.

I had the "Ciudad Classics," (essentially an appetizer sampler) as an entree, which included peruvian ceviche, spinach empanadas, and Piquillo Peppers stuffed with goat cheese. My ceviche was delicious. It was green I think from either tomatillos or cilantro-- or both, and citrusy. There were fresh chunks of crab and a white fish of sorts. The goat cheese in the peppers were amazing. The texture and multiplicty of flavors were really interesting, slightly sweet in varying flavors. The sweetness from the pepper went well with the slight tang of the goat cheese, which was lightly sweetened with either honey or dates. The empanadas were just ok. The spinach was obviously of the frozen variety and the crust was a little soggy. I missed my friend Christin's bolivian empanadas stuffed with either chicken or cheese. :(

Tenacious D had the "Cubano," which was a Cuban Sandwich, consisting of niman ranch pork, ham, swiss cheese, and dill pickles. It was pressed panini-style and served with french fries sprinkled with cumin. It was DELICIOUS. He was nice enough to trade me half of his sammy for half of my sampler, and the sandwich was perfect. The different types of meat with the swiss tasted really lovely, and the french fries were crisp and salty, just the way I like em.

The inside is really funky and cool looking, it kind of resembles Mary Sue and Susan's other restaurant, Border Grill in Santa Monica, with modern with Matisse-inspired abstract art. The waiter was nice at first, but at some point disappeared to the land of never never and never came back, until very later. But the lack of service was not that bad of an issue given the great food.

Ciudad
445 S. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90071
213.486.5171

Kaido, Santa Monica

On the unassuming corner of Yale and Santa Monica Blvd sits one of my favorite, low key lunch spots that I hit up when I want to hook up with my good friend Jessica. The funny part about our lunches to Kaido is that yes, the food is definitely good, but what brings us back here so often is the most arbitrary thing one would never predict. No, not the sushi. Not the miso. Not even the lovely water with fresh lemon wedges. It's the salad dressing.

I know, that probably sounds ridiculous, but it is true. Kaido has the most amazing salad dressing as a part of their lunch special. It is light, yet creamy, and tastes a little bit like ponzu, sesame seeds and ginger. It truly is to die for. But aside from the salad dressing, their food is also very good.

They have a really great combination of Chilean Sea Bass and Sushi (Spicy Tuna or California cut roll) for about $13.00, decently priced sushi combos (roughly $12-14 depending on what you order), and other run of the mill Japanese lunch specials such as Oyako Dons, Chirashis, Udon and Chicken and Beef Teriyaki combinations.

On this particular day, Jessica had the calamari salad and sushi combination, and I had (yes, you're going to laugh), beef teriyaki and a spicy tuna cut roll. To begin, I tried the calamari salad, it was so amazingly delicious. They did a great job frying the squid. The squid was very fresh and tender, it was slightly sweet and not fishy at all. They fried it in a tempura batter, which I thought was a very good consistency, as it made the dish much lighter than a traditional Italian calamary.

The reason I love their beef teriyaki is because they do not use some cheap pieces of meat thrown on rice. They actually use a nice cut of steak, grilled to medium, then sliced thinly with a light layer of teriyaki sauce glazed over it. Their spicy tuna roll could use more mayonaise and a little more kick, but that might just be my Korean side talking.

All in all, you have to try Kaido if you're ever around, it's awesome for lunch. I'm sure its great for dinner too, but I've never had a chance to check out their dinner menu.

Kaido

2834 Santa Monica Blvd.

Santa Monica, CA 90404

(310) 828-7582

Kanpachi

According to yelpers, Kanpachi sushi is supposedly a great lunch spot for authentic and fresh sushi. I sincerely am starting to doubt yelpers' tastes after my visit to the south bay for sushi. I can't even hate on South Bay-ers because a large chunk of the population out there is Japanese and I would assume that they know what's up when it comes to sushi. Well, as my 9th grade Algebra teacher told the class, "You should never assume because you make an ASS out of U and ME." In other words, I assumed wrong.


I mean, don't get me wrong, I've had sushi at other joints in the South Bay, and they were legit-- one particular one I have in mind is Tsukiji Restaurant, on Redondo. But Kanpachi really should change their name to Kan-PUKE-chi or KanCOOchi. The food was just... atrocious, terrible, awful, and disgusting.


My friend Jane and I met there on a Thursday afternoon, right before the lunch crowd stumbled in. We were not allowed to sit at a table, as they reserved the tables for parties of 4 only. I thought this was quite rude, because I did not feel like sitting at the sushi bar, but apparently we did not have a choice in the matter.


We both ordered the "deluxe" sushi combo and shared a spicy tuna roll and a spider roll. The deluxe combo consisted of 1 piece of tuna roll, 1 piece of yellowtail roll, 1 piece of halibut roll, 3 pieces of cucumber rolls, and one of the each sushi: Maguro, Hamachi, Salmon, Halibut, Shrimp, Squid, Unagi, Egg, Ikura and Uni.


I think the safest piece of sushi that everyone can eat is Maguro-- tuna generally is the least fishiest and is pretty hard to get wrong. So when I put the piece of sushi in my mouth and all I could taste was a rotting piece of bait in my mouth, the kind that conjures images of last week's trash covered in maggots, I knew that something was wrong with this place. I had to spit it out into my napkin because it was SO bad. You can see in the photo that the tuna is grayish, because it was probably a month old.


As for the rest of the sushi, the yellowtail tasted old. The spider roll was over-fried and I couldn't taste any hint of crab in it. The shrimp was dry. Even the unagi-- perhaps the safest thing on my plate was a pathetic piece of shriveled eel. I gobbled up the egg because I felt horrible about wasting my money (I think the combination was 17 or 18 dollars). Even the spicy tuna roll tasted like odd... like doughy. There was virtually no fish in the filling.


There was not ONE thing that was even worth eating. The miso soup was a bizarre amalgamation of bacon (yes, bacon), carrots, and brownish tofu. It came with a chinese spoon, which I also found offensive.


I usually love uni, I think it is the perfect way to end sushi, as it has a nice sweet taste to it, but I was scared to try it, in fear of it being rotten at that point.


The weirdest thing, however, was that the place was packed, and with a healthy mix of JAPANESE people! I didn't get it. Was the sushi chef secretly trying to poison us? WTF?



Kanpachi Sushi
1425 W Artesia Blvd # 27
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 515-1391

Hot Cakes Bakes

After a nice light sushi lunch, Michelle offered to take me to a nearby bakery on Centinela called Hot Cakes Bakes. I was curious to try this place, as I've driven by many a time thinking, "That place is cute, I wonder if it is any good." However, I'm not a huge dessert fan, so I've never been completely compelled to stop the car and actually go in and try it. So seeing a great opportunity, I seized the moment and took up Michelle on the offer. Besides, I just had sushi for lunch, which meant I was somewhat guilt free if I had dessert. ;)

Following the suite of trendy cupcakeries, Hotcakes Bakes is no exception. It has the typical modern color theme that all the brides since 2004 have been using Brown + some pastel color, in their case pink. I'm not hating though, because it was cute.

Michelle told me that the french macaroon was good, and I've only tried them once when my sister made them at home, so I was curious to know what it would taste like. I had a pistachio french macaroon, and she had a vanilla cupcake.

In short, the macaroon was delicious, and the cupcake left something to be desired. The macaroon was light and crisp on the outside, moist on the inside and the cream filling was the perfect consistency, not too fluffy. I liked it because it was a little more on the dense side, and yet not overly heavy or creamy.

The cupcake was ok, it was moist, but I thought it could have been moister, and it was served refrigerated, so it was a little too cold. I would have liked it better if it were at room temperature. The frosting was also a little bit on the grittier side. It was no sprinkles.

I considered getting a fruit tart, for later, but it did not look too appealing because the fruit looked like it had been baked onto the pastry-- it looked dry and flat.

I would go back, but just for the macaroons.

Hot Cakes Bakes
4119 South Centinela
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 397-2324

Sakura Japanese Restaurant

A few of my friends mentioned that Sushi Sakura on Centinela was good, so good in fact, as my friend Marnie from New Zealand said, "It really is the best, you have to try it!" I'll admit, I was dubious. From the outside, it looked hokie. The sign is faded and it is located in a run down strip mall in Mar Vista-- not exactly an area of LA where foodies flock to try the latest and greatest.



However, I wanted to keep an open mind and after reading the many glowing reviews on yelp.com, I decided to give it a go, so I met my friend Michelle there for lunch today.



I was really impressed because the sushi was not only really great, but the prices were very reasonable too. I think the most comparable place to Sakura would be Hide Sushi on Sawtelle, but to be frank, I'm not really THAT crazy about Hide (their sushi seems a little catered to white people in my opinion), but I LOVED the sushi here.


I ordered a 12 piece sushi lunch combination, which included one of the following: Octopus, Shrimp, Yellowtail, Halibut, Salmon and Tuna, and a 6 piece spicy tuna cut roll. It also came with miso. It was reasonably priced at about $12.00.



To begin with, I am very picky about my miso soup. I had a friend in college who was Japanese and schooled me on what makes "good" vs. "bad" miso, and how to tell the difference between higher and lower quality bean paste. I think Sakura's miso was really delicious, it was light and flavorful and not too salty. They used soft tofu diced into small pieces, and the fresh scallions added a nice additional layer of flavor.


Their sushi was also very good. It was obviously very fresh, served at room temperature, and some of the pieces of fish melted on my tongue. I'm not the biggest fan of salmon because I think it has to be extra fresh to be good, but the salmon was perfect, as was the yellowtail. I also really liked the flavor of their spicy tuna roll, it was the perfect ratio of mayonaise, sriracha to fish.



The entire experience, I thought was reminscent of authentic, delicious fresh sushi without too much emphasis on the superficial (like decor and fancy fusion plates).


All in all, I would DEFINITELY return to Sakura!



Sakura Japanese Restaurant
4545 S Centinela Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 822-7790.

Captain Kidd's Restaurant

My CK virginity was taken over the weekend, and I have to say, it was orgasmic!! If you are all about good seafood and don't care about sticky tables and toothless food preparers, then you HAVE to try this joint.

Located by the Redondo Beach pier on Harbor Drive, CK is an unassuming beach shack dive of a restaurant, where you pick your cut of fish from the butcher, pick a couple sides and they grill/fry/saute the fish for you within minutes.

I had the Orange Roughy, because I like flakier fishes, and it was grilled to perfection. The fish literally melted on my tongue because it was so fresh. I had the clam chowder as a side-- also delicious, obviously not of the canned variety, with fresh celery, potatoes and large chunks of fresh clams, and the homemade mac salad, also delicious.

J had the halibut steak (it was perfectly textured and grilled), the coleslaw (a little bland but still good) and the rice pilaf (which was amazingly delicious).

I would love to go back in the evening, pop open a couple pacificos and dig into my fish while watching the sun dip into the pacific ocean.

But if you are also wanting to pick up some items to take home and grill yourself, they have a really great selection of seafood, their tiger prawns and scallops looked so amazingly fresh and delicious. The best part was that their shrimp were already de-veined and split, perfect for grilling!

Captain Kidd's

209 N Harbor Dr

Redondo Beach, CA 90277

(310) 372-7703

Pizzeria Mozza

Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich recently joined forces to open sister restaurants Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza on the trendy corner of Melrose and Highland. I have been wanting to check them out for awhile, and was finally able to try Pizzeria Mozza over the weekend, a reservation that was made one month ago.

In sum: Meh.

I mean, don't get me wrong, the food was good, the atmosphere was nice, but all in all, maybe my expectations were too high, but I wasn't amazed. I wasn't thrilled. Nothing was really orgasmic in my mouth, and my pupils were not dilated at any given point during the meal. I suppose, however, that living on the westside, I am spoiled with an abundance of amazing eating experiences, fantastic Italian spots and obviously, great quaint Italian markets that sell the freshest of ingredients, homemade burata, and other yummy eats that create phenomenal Italian eats at home. So for Italian food to wow me, it has to really be over the top.

However, while conferring with the table next to us, I think my review is fair, as they agreed.

For starters, the space is beautiful, it is a modern space, with walls of cerulean blue and a bold red, with cherry wood accents. It is cozy, and expect to talk to your neighbors, as the tables are about two inches away from one another. The lighting is nice, dim, and the large windows gives you a nice view of Highland-- although the view is mediocre at best.

I looked at their wine list first. Not familiar with Italian wines, I was a little disappointed to see that that is all they had. I love wine, and I think that wine is about 45% of a good meal, so I felt bewildered at the list of 15 Italian wines, none of which I had ever heard of. I asked the waiter for a suggestion, telling him that I like full bodied Cabs and Old Vine Zins, and he suggested the Irpinia 2005 Aglianico.
Stupid me, I was thinking in Napa terms, and thought "it can't be bad, it's an 05." Well, I forgot, I don't think we're in Napa anymore Toto. Italy's weather is nothing like the Napa's and obviously the same rules no longer apply.

The first bottle we got tasted like vinegar. I'm not even kidding. At first I thought maybe it needed to open up or I just didn't know Italian wines enough to make a fair assessment. But twenty minutes after the opening, it still tasted like vinegar. When we switched out bottles, it no longer tasted like vinegar, but it tasted like a cheap bottle of watered down merlot. If this is what the italian version of "full bodied" is, I don't even want to try their lighter wines.

I thought their antipasti dishes were more innovative and interesting than their dishes. We had two appetizers, the shrimp with melon and mint, (photo below: sorry for the bad quality, I didn't want to use flash and it was dark) and the Avocado, cherry tomatoes & bacon breadcrumbs. They were really delicious, I think the shrimp dish was inspired by either Thai or Vietnamese cuisine, because it was light, and I detected a hint of fish sauce. The avacado was also good, a little bit more rich than the former.

For main courses, I ordered a Margherita Pizza, and J got the Cod, which was smothered in a ragu. I was disappointed. The pizza was good, no doubt. The crust was almost paper thin (I like it that way), and it was apparent that they used fresh mozzerella. But they were so sparse with the basil (6 shreds in total), and it lacked on the flavor. The cod was over-sauced and didn't have much to offer, other than a basic white fish covered in tomato sauce.

Dessert was good, we ordered a triage of gelati and sortbets: espresso, melon and strawberry, and the Cioccolato, a bittersweet chocolate cake, which resembled a flourless chocolate cake.

Overall, our experience was: meh. But I suppose in order to be like every other yuppie hipster in LA, you have to try it at least once. Would I go back? Maybe to try more of the appetizers, but I would be just as happy at Primitivo to grab some small plates... and I wouldn't have to endure the 1 hour hollywood-bound traffic from the westside.