Love Life, Hate Kittens

Best steak in los angeles. I swear.

I have never turned down steak in my life. Good steak, bad steak, Hong Kong cafe steaks, steak from Sizzler’s, steak from Denny’s, I’m all in.

Strangely enough, I have never had steak at a major steakhouse (i.e Cut, Ruth Chris’, etc.) and I don’t think STK counts considering I only went for drinks, cute boys and marathon flirting. Problem with steakhouses is that it’s so damn pricey! Upwards to $150 a steak, holy jesus! The only thing I like more than steak is more steaks. Do you know how many Bossa Nova steaks I can buy with 150 bucks? (answer: a million.)

After an uneventful encounter with an all packed Tar Pit, my dining companion and I headed to Carlitos. Unassuming Carlitos.

Carlitos Gardel is a romantic, quaint little place. This is a place where you tell your lover to meet, a place where anniversaries are created. This is a place for old lifelong friends, a place your grandfather wants to pass on to you. This is a place you grow old with.

We started with mussels and garlic fries. Delicious. Garlicky and fresh. Tried not to soak up too much of the sauce with bread. Must save room for steak. For our mains, I got the special 18oz NY with peppercorn/mushroom sauce and he got the 14 oz ribeye with chimichurri. STOP THE FUCKING PRESSES. The ribeye was the most decadent steak I’ve ever had. Almost rare, juicy, soft while retaining the meatiness of a steak. Unlike Wagyu which is way too fatty/buttery for me. This was perfect. My NY was great, but the ribeye was zomgamazing. Why so delicious, steak?

I honestly cannot eat another piece of steak without comparing. I want to go back tonight, tomorrow night, the night after. I want to go back weekly. I will be one of those old ladies that never changes her order EVAR. Ribeye, you are my best friend.

By the time we hit dessert (the peach cake), I was stuffed and content.

So this is what bliss feels like.

What are you waiting for? Go try it now before I chase you down like Sam-I-Am.

Carlitos Gardel
7963 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 655-0891
www.carlitosgardel.com

Tar Pit = Viceroy of Mid-City.

[Duck Sliders - tastes better than it looks. Pic from Sook W.]

Newest creation from Mark Peel of Campanile fame.

Shiny. Pretty. Frivolous. I love the decor. I love pretty chairs. A bit gothic, a bit Victorian or in order words, a bit Anna Sui.

Note: Do not come here without a reservation on the weekends. Thought we’d come here on a whim last Saturday (Friday?) and it was an hour wait at 10PM.

Note #2: Their kitchen closes at 12AM for you classy nightbirds.

The booths are really cozy. While I would never come here for a full meal (the food isn’t that good), the ambiance and mood makes it the perfect place for afterwork drinks, happy hour with friends, or an adulterous affair. Though if you’re having an affair, going to a high profile restaurant probably isn’t your best bet.

The food is split between bar bites and dinner. I’d give the food 2 stars overall. There were some (one) highlights and the rest were pretty average. In fact, it reminded me of hotel food or museum restaurants. Fancy but no dice.

Food:

Duck sliders - tasty. if you’re familiar with chinese pulled pork, this is what it tastes like but with duck. The bun was slightly toasted and gave a nice crunch.

Clams Casino - Fail. Overcooked clams with a small slice of bacon. Something you’d bring to a ‘my first potluck’ party.

Oysters - n/a. It’s oysters. The only thing I can comment is that they weren’t too plump.

Lobster and Scallop Newberg - Easily the best dish of the night! Healthy chunks of lobster, light sauce, perfect for bread dipping. Loved the mushrooms and carrots.

Fries - The fries were OK but the dipping sauce is what sets it over the top. Tasted like truffled mayo. Mmmmm. mayo.

Tuna Tartare - Served with cucumber. They should consider taro chips. Flavors were OK. Nothing exciting. A bit bland.

Mussels - These were OK. It’s not Tasca, it’s not Nook, it’s not even Father’s Office.

If you’re into places like Copa D’Oro and the Varnish, they boast a really nice drink menu. We tried a couple such as the Dark + Stormy, Gin Gin Mule, and Agave Bravo. All were good but I’m not a big cocktail girl so while tasty, I don’t really get wet over it.

Last note: All bottles of wine are $38 which is a good/bad thing depending on how much you know wine.

I’d come back. Only cuz I’m pretty plastic myself.

The Tar Pit

609 N La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
www.tarpitbar.com

Just another zombie movie. Only awesome.

Zombies are zombies are zombies. Are we sick of zombies yet? Have they been surpassed by werewolves and  vampires? Can we ever sexify a zombie?

Calling Robert Pattinson. We need you stat.

Riding the trend of ‘government’ created zombies or shall I say ‘viruses gone wild’, The Crazies’ plot is simple. Man and wife lives in small town. Small town gets infected by disease in water. Goes wild. Government knows about it and shuts down all communication. Man and woman fight to live until sunrise. /cue credits.

Same story, awesome execution.

The difference is that these zombies aren’t mindless monsters. They all react to the virus in a different way. Some walk onto a baseball field with a shotgun (creepy), some burn their kids and wife (creepier), and some sing while riding pink bicycles (creepiest). Each zombie seems to retain a bit of history, a sense of self. It’s like winning the lottery. If you were an asshole before, now you’re an even bigger asshole.

No one is reading wind patterns or talking to a tree. Yes The Happening, I’m looking at you. The characters act as if a normal person would act. In fact, above and beyond how the average person would act. I never seen anyone hustle so fast in a horror movie. The woman is not whiny or weak. (Yes Jennifer Carpenter, can you shut up for 2 seconds in Quarantine?) She’s pregnant but there’s nothing corny about it. No gratuitous scenes of her husband asking her about the status of the baby or her not being able to move properly. It’s real people doing real shit. And by real shit, I mean staying alive.

There’s unexpected jumps and scares. Keeps you on the edge of your seat in a good natured way. There’s no profound statement or twist. It’s entertaining. I like.

Top 10: Ways to flirt (or get completely shut down forever)

No.3 - Tell her she’s naughty

Another fun way to tease a woman in a sexual way is to accuse her of being “naughty” in her everyday activities. For example, if a woman tells you she was just in the shower, ask her how it was. If she gives any positive response, reply with something like: “Nice shower? Interesting. What exactly were you doing in there that made it so nice? I’m curious.”

………please don’t.

For more awesome ‘gems’ - see here.

Father’s Office minus the burger. Blasphemy I know.

[via Sherry R]

Oh my, it’s been a year. A year ago I came to this Father’s Office and had the burger. Fantastic burger. During this fine time, they served fries in little shopping carts which we may or may not have stole. They have since discontinued the carts. Coincidence I tell you!

Well, FO is just as popular as day 1 even on a rainy Wednesday. We chatted over our first beer and circled the place looking for any hints that anyone was leaving. There’s a simple strategy. Avoid the TVs. If there is a game on, the mens will sit. Forever. Luckily we preyed on a lady and her two man friends paying the bill. Sweet!  Even sweeter if they didn’t hop into a 5 minute impromptu make out session. Jesus lady. Do that at Jack in the Box. I’m hungry.

Note: Btw. ladies, if you’re looking for hot, young men… FO is your wonderground.

Never realized FO had such an extensive menu. Bone marrow! Duck! Pork Belly! WTF! And did yo know that FO has oysters? *dies* Unfortunately by 9PM, they ran out and we went with our 2nd choice, the mussels. Also tossed in duck confit salad, sonoma lamb, and regular fries. Ultimately FO is a bar and they are not going to pace your food especially with the high volume of customers. So everything sorta came out all at once and disturbing fast I might add. Like 2 minutes fast. Freaky.

Maybe it’s my low expectations of bar food but everything was……good. Shockingly good. The duck confit was fall off the bone and just salty enough to cut into the acidity of hte salad. The mussels. OMG. I’m so glad to have delicious mussels so close to home. Fat mussels just barely cooked in yellow curry. Tasty! I started dipping the fries in the curry. Mmmm. The portions are pretty big so by the time we tackled the lamb I was a bit full. The lamb was cooked in a Mediterranean/Greek style on a skewer and it was flavorful. The mint sauce was sorta overpowering but eh.. can’t complain.

4 dishes. 5 beers. 73 buck. Fantastic time with friends.

I really do love LA.

Father’s Office

3229 Helms Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 736-2224
www.fathersoffice.com

AOC. More twists than Shutter Island.

[squid ink risotto via fifi l of yelp.]

me: I’m taking you somewhere nice for your birthday.
him: Does it start with A and end with OC?
me: I hate you.

For our group birthday dinner, AOC was a no brainer. We probably drive by AOC twice a week. Pored over the menu a dozen times yet never stepped foot in. Too pricey? Too ritzy? Too special for a weekday dinner? Whatever the reason, I was happy for an excuse.

Crowd and decor: I always thought that AOC had high ceilings. Very misleading windows. Always assumed that it was dressy. Not quite I must say and compared to other ‘high end’ restaurants, there were quite a few tables with younger children. Interesting. The tables are a bit close together but we had a side booth close to the entrance. Can’t really tell if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. Good because the other tables looked a bit close together. Bad because it felt detached from the main room.

Service, drinks and bread: We started off with bread and spicy tapanade (tomato chili paste?) and some iced tea and wine. I ordered a flight of sparkling wine cuz I love the bubbly. Strangely enough, the wine flight was brought out all at once with stickers numbering 1, 2 and 3. Odd. Maybe I expected the flight to be like Joe’s where he gave them to me during my meal and kindly paired it. Having so many glasses on the table made me feel forced to drink faster to clear space (it was a small table). Service was a bit odd. Our waitress showed up sparingly but the bus boys really cleaned up her act. Bread was refilled many, many times and plates were cleared quickly.

Which brings me to another point. At Tasca, I’m used to the waiters pacing our food. Maybe two items would come at once but usually its pretty well sequenced. At AOC, we got our meat plate and asparagus first. Then 15 minutes later received our fish, chicken, squid ink risotto, and duck all together. Before long, our steak, beef cheeks, and potatos came. All at once. We had a table full of plates. Did I mention it was a small table?

Not only did we have to eat fast to maximize space, we also didn’t want anything to get cold.

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Sacrificing taste for pretty people.

Saturday brunch makes me feel mature.

After having a nice girly mani/pedi morning, the girls decided to meet their mens for a late brunch at La Grande Orange in Santa Monica. How suburban. Service was pretty fantastic considering we all arrived at different times and didn’t put in our order until the last person arrived. Given the crowd that was growing by minutes, our waitress was patient. The table ordered 2 pitchers of sangria (white and red) and the red was far superior. The white tasted like concentrated grape juice (before you mix with water). Meh.

I ordered the hash brown benedict with bacon. Basically its two poached eggs on top of two pieces of honey bacon on top of some potato hash. Lack of flavor. Lacked salt. Could have been from Denny’s. Some people ordered the burger + fries but had to put salt on the burger also. Fries were good. Also had a nibble of the brussels sprouts salad which was pretty tasty. Their ribeye steak was horrible. Not a hint of pink in sight even though we ordered it medium rare. Gross.

In short, the food was awfully mediocre and bland but I do love the open space, the crowd (young and pretty), the location and the red sangria. A-OK. Although I would not be coming back unless invited, I would see how this would be a great place to grab a casual brunch with work folks or casual friends. And besides…… the food was fairly reasonably priced (hash brown benedict was $8) albeit flavorless..

Just avoid the 18 dollar ribeye (steak + eggs).

La Grande Orange

(310) 396-9145

See you in my nightmares

Spoilers Alert!

The inconsistencies we tend to overlook. The truths we choose to disbelieve. Are we the viewers just as willing to be fooled? Is there beauty in ignorance?

But the clues are there. Never subtle. Never in hiding. The repetition. The jarring truth thrown in our faces. “Baby, why are you so wet?” The scene where he holds Dolores and she’s bleeding in the stomach. We never once questioned why. Director’s choice perhaps. The irony and significance of “Teddy, you go after Andrew Laeddis and you’ll die here”

Then there’s Chuck. Chuck unable to take his gun out of the holster. Chuck talking to him in a soothing, calm therapist voice. Strange for someone that just met no? The way the other patients spoke to him. With pity and warning. The way the other man tried to rile up Teddy by almost breaking the story. Dangling the story of the mother drowning her three children in his face. Cruelity knows no bounds.

Teddy’s aversion to water. The way Teddy was able to get past all the guards. The menacing, rough cop act. I am a US federal marshal. Taken straight from fantasies. The way he breaks open the ‘locked gate” with his gun. We all giggled at the time because it seemed so easy. Like why did he hit so hard? Overacting perhaps.

Overacting indeed. Because he had to. He is pretending to bash the gate. Pretending to be the hero. The one that saves. He HAS to save Chuck.

Why didn’t you save me?

Why didn’t you save me?

Why didn’t you save me?

Guilt is a funny emotion, isn’t it?

The beautiful part of this movie is not only the colors, the cinematography, but the dreading fate. Of course the viewers knew there was a twist but even up until the lighthouse scene I was holding out hope. Maybe he’s right. Maybe they drugged him. Maybe its delusions. Just maybe…

But sometimes, it’s easier to float in lies than to believe the absurdity that is the truth.

Shutter Island: In theaters now.

30% off Sushi Mondays @ Yabu

I’ve been excited all week because I thought Yabu changed locations. Thought they moved down the street from their little hole in the wall on Pico and I was dying to check out the new digs.. Turns out all they did was add a huge banner and a bigger nameplate :-/ Ha! Tricked me.

Well played Yabu, well played.

As much as I enjoy ramen and pho, there’s days when I just want something cold. Warm day + Refreshing soba washed down by iced green tea. Perfectly firm noodles dipped in soy, green onions, and wasabi. Heaven! Paired with light, fluffy shrimp/veggie tempura and chicken karaage. My favorite lunch meal in West LA. For those fat days when anything else just seems so heavy. Strive to be “less of a whale, more of woman” as my mother always says.

One gripe I do have is their lunch specials. It’s not really a “special” when it’s 12 dollars.

Yabu

11820 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 473-9757

I will wait for 200 years

二百年後再一起 應該不怕旁人不服氣
誰人又可控訴廿個十年 仍然未捨棄
換個時代再一起 等荊棘滿途全枯死
這盼忙很悠長 撐到尾

就算貧病或失憶 都爭口氣從旁保護你
頑強地等再過廿個十年 等整個世界換風氣
歷劫還是再一起 這種堅決無人可比
看戰事多悠長 亦決心打到尾 心不死